Hamlet Acts Questions

...

a recorder is “as easy as lying.” (360) So if Guildenstern and Rosencrantz can’t play the recorder what makes them think they can play and lie to Hamlet? Do they seriously think Hamlet is easier to play than a recorder? Hamlet is offended and says “you cannot play upon me.”(375) He is disappointed that his “close” friends have tried to play him.

Nero kills his mother after having sexual intercourse with her but he kills her out of guilt. “I will speak daggers to her but use none.” (399) Unlike Nero, Hamlet won’t kill his mom but he will kill her with words. He will emotionally destroy her. He is tempted and wants to kill her but he can’t because of his dad’s wish.

Act 3 Scene 3

Hamlet is absolutely sure that Claudius did kill his dad and can now get his revenge without any limits. In other words “It’s on”. He knows the truth and isn’t as confused. Hamlet can now act out against Claudius physically because he has evidence. Nothing can stop Hamlet now. We can now trust the Ghost and realize it’s real and trustworthy. “That his heels may kick at heaven,/And that his soul may be as damned and black/As hell to whereto it goes.” (93-95) He’s truly angry and ready to send him to hell.

Gertrude allows Polonius to spy and now becomes an enemy to Hamlet and chooses a side. She’s just like Ophelia, controlled by the men in her life. She has no control over life and sticks to Claudius’s idea that Hamlet is crazy. The readr stops seeing her as just a Queen but a human being with feelings, a mother and wife. We see how weak, dependent, and sensitive she actually is. She chose the side opposite to Hamlet, just like Ophelia. She stops supporting her son and her rank lessons., even if she’s a Queen she’s still being controlled.

He doesn’t want to give up the power, the crown, or the Queen but he feels guilty about his sins. He’s trapped in a paradox of wanting to redeem his soul yet keep the treasures his evil deed has done. “May one be pardoned and retain th’ offense?” (56) He doesn’t know what to do and is conflicted.

Hamlet doesn’t want to reward heaven to Claudius while his father has purgatory. “A villain kills my father, and for that,/I, his sole son, do this same villain send/ To heaven./Why this is hire and salary, not revenge.” (76-79) Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer eternally and it’s be a favor to kill him while he confesses his sins. He wants to catch him the act of sinning so he can go to hell. “When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,/ Or in th’ incestous pleasure of his bed,/At game a-swearing, or about some act/That has no relish of salvation in’t...And that his sould be as damned and black/As hell, whereto it goes.” (89-95) He wants Claudius to go through the same thing his father had to endure.

Act 3 Scene 4

Hamlet makes Gertrude feel more guilty. He tells her actions are all wrong and sinful. He tries to make her see her errors so she can fix them and live a pure life. He uses wordplay to prove his point and make her feel guilty. “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.” (10) and Hamlet replies by saying “Mother, you have my father much offended.”(11) Her intention was for Hamlet to know he had offended his step-father Claudius but he twisted it to say she has offended his actual father by being with Claudius. He repeats what she says and twists it to stump her. Gertrude says “Come,come, you answer with an idle tongue” and he twists it by saying “Go,go, you question with a wicked tongue.” She was asking him to come closer and tell her why he’s acting so foolish and he tells her to go away from him because all she does is questio him with evil intentions. It makes the Queen as something bad to the point where she asks if he’s forgotten who she is.

At first he feels bad for killing Polonius “a bloody deed- almost as bad.” (29) Even Hamlet recognizes that it’s bad. However later he sees that Polonius deserves it for being a “wretched, rash, intruding fool.” (33) It shows how he has no feelings. “If damned custom have not brazed it so/ That it be proof and bulwark against sense.” (38-39) His habitual wicked ways are now strong and made to not feel anything.

Gertrude feels guilty and begins to think that she has betrayed her husband by marrying and having sex with Claudius. She might actually change and leave her husband to support Hamlet. She realized everything she did was useless and dumb. All she has done is commit sins.

Hamlet is disgusted by their intimacy. She has been married with his father two months ago and is now having incetuous sex with his brother. He finds it unvirtuous and appalling.She is now impure and full of sin. “Heaven’s face does flow/ O’er this solidity and compound mass/With heated visage, as against the doom,/ Is thought-sick as the act.” (49-52) Heaven looks down with shame at her horrible deeds, just like if it was an apocalypse and is disappointed at the thought of the deed. Her remarriage is shameful. “Where every god did seem to set his seal...That was your husband. Look now what follows./ Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear/ Blasting his wholesome brother.” (62-66) He’s mad that she stooped so low from a virtuous husband and marriage to incest and a husband who is a sinner and murderer. There is no excuse for what she’s done and it’s not love. “You cannot call it love, for at your age/ The heyday in the blood is tame. ” (69-70) She’s too old for any sexual excitement or love. Gertrude has no right judgement choosing Claudius rather than his dad and it frustrates him.

Gertrude is now sure Hamlet is mad (line 109 “Alas, he’s mad”) because she thinks he’s imagining his Ghost dad and think he’s making it up. It also shows how Ghost Hamlet still loves and cares for Gertrude despite her betrayal to him. He asks him to pity her because she’s weak in judgement and soul.“O, step between her and her fighting soul./ Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.”(117-119) Hamlet is still obedient to his father and leaves her alone just for him. It shows how relentless he is with his mom and his true feelings that he has towards her.

Act 4 Scene 1

There’s 2 ways of interpreting the scene because as Hamlet expresses the problem he’s facing with Claudius and his emotions she later on tells Claudius what had happened. Some readers think this is Gertrude betraying Hamlet and siding with Claudius. Some readers however notice that she leaves out some parts, such as the Ghost and Hamlet acting crazy. They think she’s lying to protect Hamlet and confuse Claudius as well by making him think Hamlet actually is crazy.

Act 4 Scene