What would you like to know about Hamlet? It's your turn to ask a question about anything about the play that you have always wondered about, that confused you as you read, or that just seems like an interesting question. After you send your question to the "Comments" section, read through what others have written and attempt to answer any of them you can. Look for an opportunity to engage in a discussion on a topic on which you think you can shed some light and do so.
Refer to specific passages in the text by citing Act, scene, and line numbers (e.g., 3.1. 22-23 for Act 3, scene 1, lines 22 and 23).
41 comments:
I guess I don't really understand why people call Hamlet a wimp. I mean, it's serious business killing someone. And I think it was smart for him to test what the ghost told him--it means Hamlet thinks--he isn't a crazy, impulsive lunatic; he's an intelligent man with a heart and a conscience. I don't have specific lines from the play for this, it's just that as I've studied Hamlet, people have always judged him for his "indecision," but I admire him for it. Does anyone think he's an indecisive whimp?
I have a question about Fortinbras. At the beginning, he's plotting to march his army against Denmark until his uncle stops him. Then, he turns his forces toward Poland. Was attacking the Poles just a ruse to let him get close to (and then attack) Denmark without his uncle or the Danes suspecting? I think that's what he did, but if anyone can confirm, I'd appreciate it.
I was just wondering how I am supposed to interpret the King's speech in Act 3 Scene 3 when he is talking about how sorry he is. Since he is alone saying all this I assumed he was truely sorry, but then at the end of his speech it seems like he isn't sorry because he is not ready to give up his gains. Is that how everyone else interpreted this part?
I would like to know what you think about Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia. I mean he's gambling with her love while pretending that he is mad. Do you think he really loves her? Because I think he could have found other ways to revenge his father's death without hurting her so much. I don't know if he could have done all his revenge so easily if he really loved her. But on the other hand, he shows at Ophelia's funeral that he has real feelings for her (Act 5, scene 1, line 272...)
What do you make out of their relationship?
@ stace: At first I also thought that he is really sorry and that he regrets what he has done. But then he says in lines 53-56 that he is still possessed by the things for which he murdered. So I think you are right and Claudius isn't really sorry for the murder because he would never give up his aim being the king.
@Julieta: I think that Hamlet really loved Ophelia - your quotation, I think, is the most important proof for that!
Before the funeral, he did not show his feelings that explicitly. But I think that this was just a result of his diappointment - he was so upset about her betraying him to her father, that he finished up with her.
But now, when she is dead, you see that he had really loved her - or he even still does.
@ jynx: I really think that if you put yourself in Hamlet's shoes, anyone with that much loyalty to their father would do the same. It is hard enough as it is losing a loved one, but in addition to your mother marrying your uncle, I certainly would act differently than my normal self. I was actually sympathized and respected Hamlet throughout the play.
Why does Hamlet wait so long to kill Claudius? What are the reasons for his hesitation? I understand that Hamlet is a dark character, but he is very suspucious from the begining about Claudius, and the marriage to the Queen so quickly.
@ julieta. I seems to me that Hamlet had an obsession for Ophelia and truely loved her, until he realized that see was lying about the where abouts of her father, then and there he felt betrayed by her, and wanted her to leave "to a nunnery"
@hermione. I think at first Hamlet had to be sure the ghost was telling the truth about Claudius. He did not want to kill an innocent man, even if that man, Caludius, did marry his mother. Then, when he accidently killed Ophelia's father hiding behind the tapestry instead of Claudius, he felt terrible. Claudius was still alive, and held all the power as king, and was constantly spying on Hamlet. Hamlet had to be very, very careful and not make a mistake again.
To me Polonius is a major hypocrite. One of my favorite lines of his is "to thine own self be true" but he himself does not live by these words. Many people go back and forth about whether or not they believe that he deserved his fate. I personally believe that he deserved what was coming to him but my question to all of you is-do you believe Polonius got what he deserved?
My question is about the Ghost. In Act I, Scene V, the ghost claims to be Hamlets father (line 10) and to have been murdered by Claudius (line 41). He calls upon Hamlet to revenge his death (line 26). Hamlet considers that the ghost could be an evil spirit sent to deceive him. Is the Ghost really what it appears to be or something else?
@sparkle: I think that the ghost is really Hamlet's father, but I understand your question because it wasn't really ever confirmed was it? Can anyone else point out a confirmation on this?
I was wondering about scene 4 in act 3. Hamlet finds out that his mother didn't know that Claudius has murdered her husband. But do you think that Gertrud believes Hamlet? Or does she think he is mad? Because she says in lines 97-99 "Oh speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter my ears. No more, sweet Hamlet!" Does this mean that she believes him or not?
Looking at I,ii when Claudius and Gertrude urge Hamlet to forgo his mourning and to remain at the Danish court, you can observe something very interesting concerning their choice of addressing each other: King Claudius addresses Hamlet with “you”, while Hamlet - on the contrary - addresses Claudius with “thee”/”thy”.
In Shakespearean times “thee”/”thy” was indicating informal addressing, while “you” was used in formal discourse.
So here you can interpret that King Claudius shows up his distance to Hamlet by the choice of “you”. They do not have an intimate relationship, so he also keeps distance by the usage of language.
On the other side there is Hamlet, who addresses Claudius with the informal “thy”/”thee”, which is an indicator for not respecting and accepting him.
Can you show up other important parts of the play where language takes over a major role looking at relationships between characters, at moods, etc.?
another testing
@sunshine: I guess that the scene in act 4, when Ophelia appears to be mad, is a metaphor for a lot different parts of the play: nobody understands Ophelia, 'cause she is out of her mind. This indicates that communication does not work between the protagonists anymore. I thought that this missing communication is a sign for the frailty of the whole court...apart from showing that Ophelia mourns so much about her situation and her father's death, of course.
What I don't get is why Hamlet doesn't ensure who is behind the curtain before stabbing through it. It seems to me that you should be sure you know who it is that you are killing before you do so. I understand that it would have taken away the element of surprise, but wouldn't that be the smarter thing to do? A fair sword fight is pretty eminent when you read through the whole play.
@ jynx: I think that Hamlet is a wimp. I mean, he killed Ophelia's father, who was behind a tapestry, trying to kill Claudius. The brave thing to do would be to confront Claudius, have a sword fight, then kill him, not sneak up on him.
@Jynx—I also don’t think that Hamlet is a wimp. I think he could have been a little smarter with his revenge, but he is definitely not an indecisive wimp. Although the people thought he was mad, he was just doing what his father asked him to do. His approach was good, especially the play. He truly loved his father and was just doing what needed to be done.
@Stace—I agree with you. He was sorry (at that moment). He wasn’t just acting. He was speaking to himself (or thinking out loud), and he really felt that way. But I don’t think that he was truly sorry. He did not want to give up his power and his gains. I interpreted that part the same way.
@Julieta—I also agree with you. I think Hamlet really did love Ophelia, but he cared more about revenging his father’s death than he did for Ophelia. He could have been smarter with his revenge.
My question is also about the Ghost. I want to know why the Ghost didn’t tell anybody about his murder sooner. Why did he wait so long? I understand why he would want to wait and have Hamlet handle the revenge, but if it was me, I would want to get revenge quickly. I guess King Hamlet, or the Ghost, was smart to wait for Hamlet??? Is Hamlet the one meant to get revenge?
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@canterburyfan. In my opinion, Hamlet probably assumed that it was claudius because the bedroom is not a common room for just anyone to be in. So his thought process was probably that the Queen and Claudius were having a conversation and Claudius hide due to his shaky relationship with Hamlet? I put a question mark because its not a technical answer, just a thought! However- I do agree with you about how it would ruin the element of surprise if Hamlet actually checked behind the curtian.
@ms. whatsit. I think the ghost of Hamlet's father could not appear to Hamlet before because he had to suffer in purgatory a while for his sins before he could enter heaven. That was the religious belief of that time period. Act 1, scene 5, lines 13 and 14 reads, "Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away." After suffering, the father can then appear to a blood relative and ask him to avenge his murder. He would never appear to a woman, so he turns to his son, Hamlet.
Here is my question: In act 5, scene 1, lines 243 to 246, the queen is at Ophelia's funeral and said, "Sweets to the sweet! Farewell. I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife. I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, and not t'have strewed thy grave." Would Hamlet have been allowed to marry Ophelia? OR -- Was that not allowed because she was not a princess, even though it is alluded to by the Queen?
I don't understand why everyone had to die in the last act. Yes some revenge needed to happen but some of the people who died did not deserve to die. It also left one person living. Are they suppose to run both countries.
The question that i have been wondering about is that Hamlets family knew that the possiblity of Fortinbras army invading Denmark was there. So wouldn't it have made more sense for them to have worked together to solve that little problem and then do the whole revenge thing on each other that ultimately allowed Fortinbras to just walk in take the thrown and do what ever he wanted to.
@ vlad nefarious I pretty much agree with your theory as to why Fortinbras attacked Polland. I also believe though that Fortinbras had plans to invade polland anyway but with his uncles intervention he switched the order in which he would invade. So instead of taking Denamark and striking Polland from there he attacked Polland first which proved to be smart since he basically got to just walk into Denmark and take it.
Going off of Julieta's comment about if Hamlet really loved Ophelia I have the same feeling that you have about it. It's hard to think that if he truely loved her he could really treat her the way he did just because of his anger towards his uncle.
In response to Stace:
I believe that he is sincerely apologizing for what he has done. After all he has killed his brother. The fact that he does this in private only speaks to his probable sincerity. ALso, you have to remember that he would be speaking to the audience, or for the audience's benefit so that they understood his character better or saw a different aspect of him rather than the aspect of him being just a vile villain. Which of course, he is, however this apology makes him more human and gives him more depth than if we were only allowed to see him through his pompous speaches and the view point of Hamlet.
@ Diana:
I am not sure of the legalities or customs relating to Hamlet being 'allowed' to marry Ophelia because of her lower station than his. However, due to the prior scenes, where Laertes and Polonius are warning Ophelia not to get too involved with Hamlet because all he wants from her is her 'affections', I believe that he could have married her. I believe this because once Polonius believes he has solved Hamlet's 'craziness' with Hamlet pining for Ophelia, he and the king test the theory out in hopes of curing Hamlet's ails by getting him and Ophelia back together again. As far as I can tell from the play, I would assume since the King was willing to try and fix Hamlet by hooking him up with Ophelia, it would have been fine for Ophelia and Hamlet to wed. Again though, this is just the opinion of my own interpretation of what I read in the play and how I percieved the boundaries and so forth of class to be drawn. Hope this helps!
@ Hermione:
I agree with Diana and I also think this: I think that Hamlet took so long in killing Claudius because he wanted to figure it all out. I mean, not to macabre or anything, but imagine if your uncle had killed your father (if you do not have an uncle or father, pretend for a moment please), you would want to careful lay out how you were going to get revenge. Especially since it would be very hard for Hamlet to prove that Claudius killed his father. I mean, what has he to go on except for the ghost of his dead father as evidence that Claudius was the one to kill 'old hamlet'? I thought that Hamlet took so long because he was consumed by so many other things happening in his life. He was constantly being brought from one scene to the next: dealing with his friends, saving his own life from his disillusioned friends good intentions to take him to England; Polonius constantly trying to spy on him and figure him out; Ophelia acting like she loved him and then didn't, then acting like a nut, then killing herself; Laertes returning... That's a lot going on in one's life, especially if you are being tortured by the idea that your mother is sleeping with not only your uncle, but the man who murdered her husband and your father! Sheesh...
My question
My first question is on the importance or influence of Rosencrantz and Guilenstern. Why did the king send them to visit Hamlet? In the film, it seemed like they had been sent there to cheer him up and maybe get information for the king. However, when I read it on my own, I had interpreted their purpose differently. Does anyone have a different take on these two characters?
My first question is on the importance or influence of Rosencrantz and Guilenstern. Why did the king send them to visit Hamlet? In the film, it seemed like they had been sent there to cheer him up and maybe get information for the king. However, when I read it on my own, I had interpreted their purpose differently. Does anyone have a different take on these two characters?
My second question is on madness? To me, it seems Ophelia is truely driven mad. The king also seems to be going crazy and getting really paranoid because of what he did to his brother. Hamlet, on the other hand, is said to be pretending to be mad, but I think that he has also gone mad as well. When he kills Polonious he seems to be more crazy than angry. In act III scene iv, when Hamlet confronts his mother and sees the ghost he is obviously not of sound mind. Do you really think he is faking his madness, or has his act made him crazy?
Here's my question: Why in the heck is "To be or not to be" the most famous line in probably all of theatre?
@mikalou
Regarding Ophelia's perceived insanity, I believe that it truly is a state that has not been created solely by herself. As you mention, Shakespeare portrays her as being driven mad. I believe that Shakespeare intends for the reader to get the sense that she has been put between a rock and a hard place, due to her love for Hamlet and her father's warnings to stay away from him. The nunnery comment made to her by Hamlet doesn't help things anymore. As for Hamlet, I feel that what was once a portrayed madness on his part has become a sort of maddened obsession. Fueled by the wishes of his father's ghost, he begins to act out on so many peculiar whims and wishes that it is almost impossible for me to believe that everything is truly on a feigned madness by him.
Another question, although we all have already posted our questions and comments: what is your favourite scene in the play? I thought some time about it and decided that my favourite is Act5, scene 1, when Hamlet meets the gravedigger. It's such a great speech when he holds the skull and reflect about life and death. It makes you watch life differently and moves to tears.
What are your favourite scenes?
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