King Claudius is overriding his concern about maintaining his political power as he hopes that “his poisoned shot may miss our name and hit the woundless air” (43-44). He hopes that his friends spare them terrible deed done.
In act II, Hamlet is actually very fond of his friends and is excited they came to visit, although hesitant to believe their motives. Hamlet refers to them as a ‘sponge’ that the King “needs what [they] have gleaned, it is but squeezing [them], and sponge [they] shall be cry again” (19-21). The King uses them and retrieves information, but once the info is gotten, he disposes of them and dries them up like a sponge.
3.Hamlet is somewhat sarcastic and cynical. King Claudius asks where Polonius is and Hamlet states he is “at supper” fattening himself for all the maggots” (23). Hamlet is npt back to madness because he is subtly telling the King that Polonius is in fact dead. It may sound like gibberish but he is referring to Polonius’ death.
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The theme echoed by Claudius in these lines is that people judge others based on their appearance and not how they really are. The people love Hamlet, but “like not in their judgement, but their eyes” (5). The irony is that people love Claudius because he is King not for who he is even though he murdered King Hamlet. He is criticizing Hamlet but the people love him because he is royalty as well.
Hamlet’s attitude toward Claudius and Polonius is anger and humor. Hamlet loathes Claudius, implying that he is going to hell as if he does not find Polonius in heaven “seek him i’th other place” (35). Hamlet is getting under Claudius’ skin and sees Polonius’ as a meddling old fool who got what he deserved.
Fortinbras is Hamlet’s foil, which means they are opposite characters. Fortinbras wants to ‘march over [the] kingdom” (3-4). Fortinbras is a man of action who loves to fight, clearly with his army ready to attack, and Hamlet is neither a man of action or “violent’ like Fortinbras.
The theme in Hamlet’s words is that of an ongoing revenge. Hamlet does not believe all the chaos that “will not debate the question of this straw” (27). There is a pointless matter that is being fought over because revenge. This is an allusion to Hamlet’s soliloquy about his lack of action.
Hamlet understands that his plan will not go on because of how much of a coward he is. He has all the willpower and motivation to do it but just has never gotten to it. Hamlet is admiring Fortinbras because he puts his life at risk, not only for good but defend his honor. Comparing himself to Fortinbras, Hamlet knows that his thoughts must be violent or he will consider them worthless.
In lines 58-61, Hamlet expresses his feelings about himself claiming that he after all reasoning in front of him, why hasn’t he done anything. Hamlet is “shameful” (61) because he hasn’t done anything. I don’t believe his vow, because he never goes on with his plans and has had all this time to take revenge and nothing has been done yet.
Ophelia wants to speak to the queen and is completely crazy, acting insane. The cause of her madness is that her father is dead and he died in the hands of her lover, Hamlet. The man says “she speaks much of her father, says she hears there’s tricks i’ th’ world” (5-6), referencing her father’s death. She has become mad and her words don’t make sense.
Ophelia’s father’s death and Hamlet’s cruelty are on her mind. Referring to her father, Ophelia states “He’s dead and gone. And his head is a patch of green grass, and at his feet there is a tombstone” (29-31). Hamlet’s cruelty is on her mind where she refers to him saying “before you tumbled one, you promised me to wed” (63-64). She though Hamlet loved her but he killed her father.
The recent events of Ophelia’s madness, Polonius’ death, Hamlet’s madness, and Laertes; return to rumors makes Claudius fearful and distressed. He feels trapped and emotionally worn out. The news he shares with the audience is that “her brother is in secret come France” (89) surrounded by ‘gossip mongers” who fill his ear with wicked stories about his father’s death. Now, people will ask about Polonius’ death and blame Claudius for the crime. Claudius is finally getting what he deserves as he “in many places gives [him] superfluous death” (96-97).
The initial description of Laertes is vengeful and blood thirsty for the life of his father’s murderer. He is similar to Hamlet that his father was killed and he seeks the life of Claudius to achieve revenge but different in that he actually approached him without knowing if he actually was the one that killed Polonius. While Hamlet took into careful procedure and took his time to take action. Laertes confronts Claudius stating “O, thou vile King, give me my father!” (118-120) unlike Hamlet who never confronted Claudius about his.
Laertes’ intentions are to take revenge for his father as he clearly states, only I’ll be revenged most thoroughly for my father” (140-141) even if the price is his conscious. This is different to Hamlet because he was discreet and melicious when planning his revenge in secret. Hamlet cannot bare guilt but Laertes does not care about his conscious and will do anything for revenge.
Laertes will avenge his father’s death and Ophelia’s madness so he is ambitious and angry at everything happening to his family. The characters are foils because both of their fathers died and will take revenge for them. Laertes states “by heaven, thy madness shall be paid” (163) and will take action quickly unlike Hamlet. Laertes has no plan but is assertive and ambitious, and Hamlet knows how to act and decieve people.
The lines where Claudius says that he gives permission to Laertes to kill whoever is proven guilty of his father’s murder. “And where th offense is, let the great ax fall” (225) proves the foreshadowing of future events.
Hamlet was kidnapped by Pirates on the way to England and instead of fleeting away from the pirates, they “put on a compelled valor, and in the grapple [he] boarded them (18-19). Hamlet states they treated him “nicely” only because they wanted a favor from him. It could be he planned this so they would attack the King or he was in fact kidnapped.
Laertes is extremely hateful towards the murderer of his father. The “sickness in [his] heart” (56) describes how emotionally devastated and distraught he is by losing his father. There are strong hateful feelings in that sentence.
The reason that he couldn’t execute harsher punishment is because his mother and the public love Hamlet too much stated “the Queen lives almost by his look … the other motive .. is the great love general gender bear him” (19). So, if he hurts them. He will end up hurting himself. In the later lines he states he will go against Hamlet to punish him. He will hear more about his plans when he says “you shortly shall hear more” (34).
Line 106 describes Hamlet’s character. The line states “Did Hamlet so evenom with his envy that he could nothing do but wish and beg” (106-107). His character is described as jealous that all he does was want things for himself. I do not think this description is accurate since he is getting revenge for his father’s death and has no reason to envy anyone.
He baits Laertes by questioning his true love and devotion to his father. He gives him the okay to go through with his plan to take revenge on Hamlet. This reveals that Claudius has no heart and will take advantage of others.
He wants to make Hamlet challenge Laertes to a fencing duel. He wants to make sure that upon Hamlet’s arrival, he won’t stop hearing about the praise of Laertes. Then Claudius will get people to place bets on the duel. Before they begin they can get sharper tools and Laertes suggests t poison the tip of one sword which will be fatal to Hamlet.
Gertrude tells Laertes the story of how Ophelia, his sister, died. She drowned as “her clothes spread wide. And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up” (172-173). He uses these sensory imagery and details to vividly explain how Ophelia died, adding a sickening effect to the scene. It is disturbing.
The gravediggers are discussing the death of Ophelia which has been ruled a suicide. The grim humor is whether or not she deserves a Christian burial since it is a sin to commit suicide. According to them, “the more pity that great folk should have count’nance in this world to drown or hiding themselves more than their even – Christian” (27-29). The rich have more freedom to commit suicide. In act IV, Hamlet jokes about Polonius’ hidden corpse.
The joking riddle is who can build something that lasts longer than anything. The theme of the joke is that death is the greatest joke on mankind because in death, all men are equal. The riddle is “who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?” (42-43).
The gravedigger tells the other gravedigger a saying to stop beating himself up for trying to figure it out. The figurative language used is a saying that goes, “for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating” (57-68) meaning beating a slow donkey will not make it go faster. Clearly, the gravedigger is calling him dumb adding to the comic effect of the scene.
Lines 92-94 clearly express Hamlet’s deepest thoughts on death. Hamlet contemplates life and death and the reality that everyone dies eventually. The bones represent a person now reduced to bones which the gravediggers toss like a game.
Each bone was once a person and the gravediggers have no emotion toward each bone their digging up. Hamlet imagines that one of the skulls “may not that be the skull of a lawyer” (99-100). Since they are beating the skull, it is considered to be a lawyer because it would charge the gravediggers for battery by tossing the skull around.
There is a play on words with “lie” and “man” and “women” in lines 120-138. The word “lie” is being used as a verb and noun. A verb as laying down and lie as in not telling the truth. The semantics of the words play on the theme of lying and scheming throughout the entire play. The words have different meanings as the characters have different intentions when they interact with one another.
The audience realizes that they are talking about Hamlet while talking to Hamlet himself. It shows that he’s willing to be made fun of at his own expense and keep lying and deceiving to get the truth out of the situation after “he sent into England” (152).
Everybody dies and even when people are living, they are dying. Clearly, the idea of death is hitting Hamlet hard with thoughts such as “how long will a man lie i’ th’ earth ere he rot?” (166) and the gravedigger makes it into a joke by stating that a “tanner will last you nine year” (170).
The lines that most clearly state Hamlet’s state Hamlet’s thoughts on death are 218-219. Here, Hamlet states that even the greatest most noble people are turned into dirt and are useless after. Hamlet expresses “that the Earth which kept the world in awe should patch a wall t’ expel the winter’s flaw!” (218-219). In the other lines, Hamler is noticing that the people die and end up as bones and dirt, they are all equal when dead, worthless.
Clearly, Laertes is very upset with the world about the death of his family members. We can tell he is upset when he yells “may violets spring! I tell thee churlish priest. A ministering angel shall my sister be angry at Claudius when confronting him about the murder of his father in scene IV.
Another motive besides grief and shock that might cause him to act out the way he does is that of his love for Ophelia. Hamlet clearly states that when he says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brother could not with all their quality of love make up my sum” (275-277). He would so anything to bring her back.
These lines are important to the development of the plot because they hint at a foreshadowing unfortunate turn of events. Claudius says “we’ll put the matter to the present push” (301) saying that they’ll take care of the problem soon and the queen should keep an eye out for Hamler. Things are getting suspicious.
Hamlet gets up from his cabin to dig through the King’s documents. In those documents, England and Denmark as discussed as well as the killing of Hamlet. He reads “my head should be struck off” (25) so then he rewrites the document to save his life. Discovering the letter makes his plan for revenge easier. The theme about lying and scheming is portrayed with the forging of the letter. Hamlet is just as sneaky and mischievous as everyone else because of how he forges the letter.
The tone in Hamlet’s voice seems to shift consistently throughout the play. For example, Hamlet asked many questions stating them with “does it not think thee” (64) meaning don’t you think as sort of contemplating continuing with the revenge. He knows he must kill him and has reasons to but never does.
Hamlet ridicules Osric in line 84 and criticizes social customs in lines 66-90 on an aside with Horatio. He calls him a “waterfly” (84).
Osric shows up to Hamlet to bring him news from the king. As a way to show respect he takes off his hat and hold it in his hands. To ridicule him, Hamlet tells Osric to “to [his] bonnet to his right use. ‘Tis for the head” (94) and not to hold the hat on his hand.
Osric continues to conform to society. He agrees with Hamlet and does not have his own opinion. Also, Hamlet keeps telling him to fix his hat but Osric says “Nay, good my lord, for mine ease, in good faith” (106).
Hamlet ridicules the affected speech of Osric in lines 158-160 when he refers to the carriages as hangers and not carriages.
Hamlet believes they put up of front of fancy lingo and phrases but once you call them out on it, you burst their bubble and they cannot pretend any longer. He believes that if one “[blows] them to their trial, the bubbles are out” (193-194).
There is much evidence of foreshadowing. For starters Horatio tells Hamlet “you will lose this wager, my lord” (209) as he will lose the bet. Also, Hamlet confesses he “thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart” (212-213) and how he has a bad feeling in his gut about the bet. He has a bad suspicion, meaning something bad is going to happen to him.
He claims he never would have done those deeds if he never became mad. These are plausible because he not taking responsibility for his actions. He says “What I have done that might your nature, honor, and exception roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness (229-231).
Laertes requests another sword until he gets the one he wants — the one that is poisoned — in order to carry out the plan he and the King made. “Let me see another” (264) is referring to a better, sharper, poisoned sword.
The lines that notify the audience of an important bit of stagecraft needed to advance the plot are 271-274.
Verbal irony is when words express something contrary to the truth or someone says the opposite of what they really feel or mean. The king says “Here’s to thy health” when he is about to poison Hamlet.
Laertes finally confesses his guilt to Hamlet. Laertes finally embraces the truth and both come together even in the midst of theri deadly fight. He takes initiative unlike Hamlet when he wounds him first “have at you now!”(308).
He admits to his “own treachery” which he would have just thought revenge rather than something deceitful.
Hamlet finally takes action and kills Claudius after learning the King is responsible for his mother’s death as well as planning his death. He finally kills the King “[King dies]” (333) and took initiative.
Hamlet compares death to a sergeant whose rules and commands one follows. Clearly, you have to follow the rules of death for he “is strict in his arrest” (344). This compares to his situation because death follows and is near.
Line 380 notifies the audience of important events that occured off stage. The importance of these events is that “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” meaning something terrible is happening to Denmark.
The theme is tragedy and Horatio is willing to tell the story of the vices and sins of human nature in Denmark. Many tragedies occured in the play and Horatio expresses them with phrases such as “bloody, unnatural acts, accidental judgements, deaths, and casual slaughters” (390-392).
Fortinbras is a foil to Hamlet because while they are both in the situation where their fathers were killed and wanted revenge, Fortinbras lived while the entire family of his father’s murderer died, and Hamlet lost everything. Fortinbras will “sorrow embrace [his] fortune” (398) while Hamlet is dead.
References
- https://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/shakespeare-quotes-hamlet/
- https://www.gradesaver.com/hamlet
- https://shakespeareglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2016/02/05/the-role-of-the-play-within-the-play-in-hamlet/
- https://literarydevices.net/climax/
- http://bardweb.net/features/corruption.html
- http://dahammer.wixsite.com/shakesrepot/fault-in-hamlet
- http://helenoftr0y.tumblr.com/post/117079991580/the-appearance-vs-reality-in-shakespeares-hamlet
- https://litchapter.com/act-3-hamlet
