Sunday, March 4, 2012

DRJ#3

DRJ# 3 The first thing that came to mind in act 3 is the continual planning of deception by most of the characters. Polonius is one of those type of people who love drama and really want to be in the middle of it. I work with a guy like that who drives a forklift around and parks it in certain places to see what people are doing. He will park it in places like the parking lot and watch for people to leave for lunch, which we are not supposed to do, yeah right! Similar to Polonius he will report to the king what he sees, even though he really gains no higher position for doing so. The guy I work with has been a forklift driver for a long time and is due to retire soon and has nothing to gain by snitching on people to management. He just loves to be a rat spy like Polonius. In act 3 Hamlet is continually messing with people or prodding at the characters such as the king, Queen and Ophelia. He says things like how could they kill such a noble guy to Polonius, when referring to his Julius Cesar role in a play he was in. Hamlet also talks about how his mother is seemed happy after the death of his father and refuses to sit next to his mother during the play. Hamlet sarcasm and messing with these people is used to create tension between the characters and sets up the audience for the Kings reaction to the play being performed. In act 3 scene 3 the theme of guilt/sin is very present and obvious during the performance of the play. Shakespeare gives the audience the reaction from the king we are expecting of course. At the beginning of act4 the king decides once and for all he needs to get rid of hamlet. After Claudius speaks to himself about feels guilty he decides “all may be well” in line 70. This short statement is shake spheres way of foreshadowing the need for Claudius to kill hamlet.

1 comment:

  1. Nice work. I too find act 3 to be full of deception. I also think Hamlet’s sarcasm and toying are forms of deception. It seems like there would be less conflict if people would be more honest with each other.

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