DRJ # 3 Hamlet Act 3
My initial reaction to Act 3 was that it was one of the most intense acts. Both Claudius and Gertrude feel the weight of their actions and with that comes immense guilt. This is also where Hamlet makes his first kill. This particular act doesn't remind me of anything in my life or in current media but it is ever so powerful.
I chose to talk about King Claudius. He is definitely an antagonist to Hamlet. Once Hamlet sees his father's ghost and suspects the truth of the ghost's accusations of foul play, Hamlet's life is forever changed. He was already disgusted with the speed of the marriage and the fact that they were related if only by marriage. Claudius I feel while a despicable character begins to feel immense guilt for his deeds. We are not privy to know what type of person Claudius was before the murder. Nor do we know what the Previous King Hamlet was like. Was he a good person? Was there a reason that drove him to the murder? These are things we do not know about Claudius. All we know is he killed his very own brother and then took his wife in a mere two months after the death. These things sound like the deeds of a loathsome man. I know if this happened to me I would be disgusted.
The theme I chose to discuss was ambition. In act 3 this is where all Hamlet's ambitions or at least some of them come to fruition. In this act he is able to have his play that he wrote the words and scenes for acted out in front of Claudius and his mother Gertrude in a ploy to gauge their guilt or innocence. Because of his plan he was able to see how King Claudius reacted to the very similar situation of his guilt and based on Claudius abrupt departure of the play Hamlet was able to confirm his suspicions of guilt in the murder of his father King Hamlet. He was also finally able to have honest words with his mother in what he thought was private. He tore into her character and her sense of goodness. He then because of his ambition to see this thing through was able to discover that Polonius was acting as a spy for the King Claudius. He was so angered and also needing to protect what he knew, killed Polonius.
I like the theme that you chose, it fits well with this act. If Hamlet didn’t have ambition then he wouldn’t have acknowledge the truth with Claudius’s actions, or been able to confront his mother as we all know he needed to. Although I feel that the outcome of the play recharged Hamlet’s ambitions which are why he went ahead and confronted his mother in the manor to which he did.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct in that we are not really told what kind of person Claudius was before the murder. Nor were we directly told about the former King Hamlet. However, there were parts of the story when others spoke very highly of King Hamlet. Also, his son spoke very highly of him. Based on what others have said about him I would say King Hamlet was a pretty decent man. As far as Claudius goes, I believe any person who would murder his brother and marry his brother’s wife is a disgusting, self-serving individual. Since we know that people don’t change over night, Claudius’ true qualities are actually revealed through his actions.
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