DRJ #4 Hamlet Act V

My initial reaction to this final act is: Wow. There is so much pain, irony, and loss. The King, in the book and in the Brannagh movie, displays the greatest grief when he watches his wife lift the cup and drink. He has lost everything when he watches her drink the poison. It was a very powerful moment and probably the most powerful lesson in the novel. Shakespeare shows us that if we covet something and then gain it by nefarious means, eventually, sooner rather than later, we will pay a price. Laertes learns this lesson as well, with his desire for revenge, on Hamlet, ultimately getting nothing for his efforts. Fortinbras, the most patient and cunning in the end gets everything.

Horatio, Hamlet's best friend, really does seem to me to be a genuine and honest human being. He tells Hamlet in the beginning of the ghost and helps him at every step along the way toward revenge. In reality, Horatio's blind loyalty is Hamlet's biggest blindspot. Perhaps if Horatio had been the greater kind of friend who could tell Hamlet that revenge may not be the best choice. If Horatio had refused to participate in the revenge plot, and instead counseled his best friend to choose the more magnanimous position of forgiveness, no one would die in the end. I don't think Horatio a sycophant, but, he was too loyal to Hamlet, and Hamlet needed someone to stand up to him. Hamlet needed someone to be the voice of reason, pointing out the long term rather than the shortness and futility of revenge.

The theme for this ending chapter is the futility of revenge. Both Laertes and Hamlet who wanted revenge end up dead along with all of their families, and the dethronement of the Danish crown to Fortinbras. Fortinbras the only of the three who had the long term vision to see what could be gained by not seeking direct revenge. Instead he entered into treaty with the King and gained the time and ability to move his armies into Denmark untouched. Fortinbras saw the bigger picture, is the big winner and yet has the smallest part in the play. Again he is the only person who did not seek direct revenge against an individual and yet ends up with the state.

What would the play have been like if Horatio had been a better friend to Hamlet? What would the play have been like if Fortinbras had had a greater part in the story; more background? Finally what if the story had divided into three parts, each about the three different sons?

DRJ #3 Hamlet Act 3

This was a great chapter, some very rich monologues by Hamlet and some very clever plays on words by him as well. He is intentionally harsh but sly of tongue to his mother, Ophelia, and especially to the King and Polonius. I love the use of the play, The Mouse Trap, to put in the face of the King his own actions. The play is really a mirror for the King to see himself and feel his guilt of breaking up a marriage, of killing his brother and King. Most of all the play is Hamlet's chance for certain confirmation of the King's guilt and therefore his greenlight to seek revenge. This moment is where the play slopes downward into blood and tragedy; the body count begins in this act with the murder of Polonius.

Hamlet is a sharp youth, and depending on the information available in the Mish-Mash, he is probably about 20 years old. He is very astute for that age. His plan to use a play to Catch the consience of a king, is worthy of a chess master. It is many moves ahead of his enemies. He follows this with his own knowledge that they will send him away. He decides that he will play along and do as the King wishes. He also convinces his Mother to defer the wishes of the King after he gives her a viscious monologue about the previous king's regal nature and the current kings commoner stature. He also kills Polonius, the one person the king leans on for everything and his only advisor. In doing this he isolates the king.

I think Act 3 is about conscience. Hamlet has finally decided to seek revenge and thus abandons his conscience, which he had considered to be cowardly. Hamlet also brings the King to his conscience as well as his mother to hers. He uses the play to shine the light of truth in the face of the king. He uses a powerful speech to bring his mother to her conscience. Lastly he kills Polonius and in turn destroys the woman he loves, Ophelia. This action will eventually bring Hamlet back to his conscience when later he sees the burial of Ophelia. In this third act, however, Hamlet has decided that revenge is greater and more important than conscience, than doing right.

What do you think the ghost means when he says to Hamlet: O! step between her and her fighting soul; Conceit in weekest bodies strongest works: Speak to her, Hamlet. What is it he means to tell Hamlet?

DRJ #2 Hamlet Act 2

This was a fun chapter to read. We see Hamlet frustrated and wandering aimlessly, or so it seems to everyone around. He is really planning in his head. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, at the behest of the king, and tell Hamlet of the coming actors group, he seems to immediately spring forth with a plan. A pretty ingenius plan at that; put in the face of the murderer king his own actions using the actors. We earlier see in the chapter that the noble Polonius is not such a nice guy afterall when he sends Reynoldo to follow his son and try to get him into mischief and therefore back home. Most of the characters are plotting in this chapter all motivated by self interest.

Ophelia, is one character who really does not seek to plot against anyone, however, she agrees to help her father in trying to determine what is at the heart of Hamlet's perceived madness. Shakespeare really makes her such a week character. This job is not something she is ready for or capable of doing. Conspiring is just not in her, she loves Hamlet, and does not seem to be able to get from him what others want to know, chiefly the King. She also cannot stand up to her father and tell her that she loves Hamlet and that he loves her back. Her father does not even think her worthy of a Prince as he states to Ophelia: Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star.

This chapter was definately the setup for what is to come. Hamlet is now decided that he will pursue the King and make sure the ghost of his father was not the devil in his mind toying with him. The King has now begun to bring in people, Rosencrantz and Gulderstern, to try to find the root of Hamlet's madness. Polonius is manipulating his daughter to find out what is going on with Hamlet and also sending Reynoldo to watch and lure his own son into mischief. The most significant thing that occurs is this: the King agrees to allow Fortinbras to move his armies through Denmark for war against the Polak. Obviously the whole Hamlet issue has blinded the King to the foolishness of the above agreement. No country ever allows their potential enemy to move his armies into his land unopposed. So in essence while everyone intrigues against everyone else the house of Denmark is on its way to being overun without a fight.

Had Shakespeare made Ophelia a stronger character, one who could have stood up to her father and up to Hamlet, might Hamlet have come out of his funk and been able to see the foolishness of the revenge he sought. Second question, is the King almost a comical but profound prophecy of what Neville Chamberlain did when making an agreement with Hitler just before the outbreak of World War 2?