Hamlet - Acts 3,4 & 5

After finishing reading these three scenes, one thing that stood out to me was how Hamlet acts in such a "crazy" matter throughout all of the scenes, and play for that matter. His thoughts and actions seem to worsen as the play goes on. Three topics that follow through these scenes are love, death and suicide.

In Act three, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are supposed to figure out why Hamlet is acting so insane for the King and his mother, but they fail to do so. Ophelia's father, Polonius tries to prove that the reasoning behind Hamlet's actions is due to the strong love he has for Ophelia. During this act love and suicide are both demonstrated together. It is thought that Hamlet is talking of suicide because of his love for Ophelia. He speaks of these suicidal thoughts not realizing he is being spied upon by Polonius and King Claudius. His thoughts and word concern both of them and King Claudius tells his mother, Queen Gertrude, that she should talk to him privately and attempt to figure out what has brought these thoughts and feelings to him.

In Act four Hamlet's actions lead him to kill Ophelia's father, Polonius. Death plays a strong role in this act. After he kills him, King Claudius says that Hamlet is to be shipped to England as soon as possible. This is because he is too well known in Denmark to be punished severely, so he must send him away. However, King Claudius has secretly told England to murder Hamlet when he arrives. The death of Polonius has driven Ohpelia to become insane.

In Act five, Ophelia's death is questioned on whether it was an accident or suicide. She had drowned, but due to her insanity it was unsure if she had done it on purpose. However, the coroner says that it was accidental, which allows her to have a proper burial. Many are upset over her death, especially Laertes. Him and Hamlet cause a scene at her burial. This is also another demonstration of death, suicide and love.

The love Hamlet has for Ophelia causes him to act in odd ways. The love Ophelia has for her father who was murdered by Hamlet causes her to lose sanity and her life as well. It was interesting to me how three simple topics could lead to such detailed acts and plot.

Hamlet - Post #2

After reading Act II of Hamlet, I was able to take a lot in from it. One of the main things were the pattern that he uses throughout his play that I noticed. In Act one he focuses on Vision, Perception, and Belief. In Act two he focuses on Tragedy, Love, and Greed. This helps me to read the text and take in what is needed in order to understand what is occurring during the scene. For me, these three main focuses keep me interested because as the reader I depict which scene or action matches up with the main focus he has given us. It is interesting to me that the simplest concepts can be broken down into such detailed sections. The way they all tie into eachother is also interesting to me as the reader. Having read many of Shakespeare's plays before, I have noticed his pattern in doing this in most of his plays. I think that is a wonderful way to keep the reader tied in with the play, because by using these everyday issues, people relate to them. His way of portraying these concepts keeps me as the reader interested, and it was what stuck out to me the most.

As I mentioned in my first Hamlet post, I sometimes have trouble staying on topic. Keeping your eyes open for any point you notice me going off into another topic or just not sticking to the topic would be what I ask everyone to look for. Also, in both posts I sometimes have trouble with grammar. Not as much as switching topics, but you could also look out for that.