Hamlet 17 Essay Research Paper HAMLET 1

Hamlet 17 Essay, Research Paper

HAMLET

1. As the play opens, Hamlet is troubled by the turn of events following his father’s death. It seems (and later becomes apparent), that Hamlet’s upset is caused more by the remarriage of his mother and her love and devotion towards Claudius so soon after King Hamlet’s death, than by simple mourning of his fathers passing. This is shown in lines 147-162 “Why she would hang on him / As if increase of appetite had grown / By what it fed on. And yet, within a month / (Let me not think on’t; frailty, thy name is woman!) She married, O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” [Act I, Scene II, Ll.147-162]

2. Hamlet seems melancholic and satirical at the beginning of the play. When Hamlet appears in Act I, Scene II, his first words are “A little more than kin and less than kind.” [Act I, Scene II, L. 67] in response to Claudius addressing him as both his nephew and son. The King (Claudius) then asks Hamlet “How is it that the clouds still hang on you.” [Act I, Scene II, L. 68] and Hamlet puns in response once again, saying “Not so my lord; I am too much in the sun.” [Act I, Scene II, L. 69]. In both of these quotes (L. 67 & 69) Hamlet shows a depressed detachment and an obvious satirical mood. In lines 79-89 of the same scene, Hamlet opens up a little more to his mother after she asks him why it is that he “seems” so distressed/depressed by his father death, explaining to him “All that lives must die.” [Act I, Scene II, L. 74]. In response to his mothers question Hamlet explains that he does not act his depression, and he is still truly grieving, saying “I have that within which passes show, / These but the trappings and the suits of woe.” [Act I, Scene II, Ll. 88-89]. Then, near the end of the scene, Hamlet delivers a soliloquy – giving the most vivid picture of his mood in the beginning of the play. In the soliloquy, Hamlet laments his religion’s “canon ‘gainst self-slaughter” [Act I, Scene II, L. 136] and curses the world and his mother (for her marriage to Claudius) as well, exposing his deep depression in full.

3. In Act I, Scene II, Claudius makes his first appearance. The impression of Claudius I received from this scene was one of a very “kingly” character. Claudius’ opening speech addressing the royal court was very well controlled and evenly balanced (in my estimation) – and these qualities I assumed would be reflected in the King’s person as well. Then, the swift synopsis and solution delivered by Claudius regarding the situation in Norway [Act I, Scene II, Ll. 17-38] drew Claudius out to also be a good, efficient statesman.

4. Polonius is anxious to a (in the end, fatal) fault, proud – almost delusional, and most definitely over-presumptuous. Polonius probably displays his anxiety best through what seems to be his favorite past time; spying. In Act II, Scene I, Polonius meets with Reynaldo and tutors him on the finer points of such inquiring espionage, acting like a master artesian divulging creative secrets to his apprentice; “See you now / Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth; / And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, / With windlasses and with assays of bias, / By indirections find directions out.” [Act II, Scene I, Ll. 69-73]. Again and again, Polonius also shows his proud-presumptuousness in his actions. In the play, Polonius ironically pre-judges Hamlet a number of times (not many people can pull that off). First Polonius pre-judges Hamlets intentions toward Ophelia, then his “madness”, and also the nature of this supposed madness (love for Ophelia), saying (after jumping to a conclusion regarding Hamlet and finding himself to be wrong just recently) “If he love her not, / And be not from his reason fall’n thereon, / Let me be no assistant for a state, / But keep a farm and carters.” [Act II, Scene II, Ll. 178-181].

5. I am going to refute the basis of this question and argue instead that Gertrude is ruled by those people around her in her everyday life. I do not believe that Gertrude can be ruled by her emotions because she lacks the (moral) independence to be happy or sad as a result of situations surrounding her. Throughout the play this theory is supported, Hamlet is shocked and cannot understand how the Gertrude he remembered – who lusted to be one with his father, could have married and apparently fallen deeply in love with Claudius so 1-2 months after the Kings death. The Kings death was unexpected and there is no way anyone should be able to recover that quickly, in Gertrude case it is a laughable idea (if she had her own emotional center)(hence Hamlets confusion and anger), yet Gertrude cannot bear any pain or conflict in her world and thus falls into whatever force (person or idea) that will sweep her off her feet!

6. Polonius and Laertes are worried about Hamlet’s interest in Ophelia because they question Hamlets intentions and Ophelia’s judgement. The first such display of this concern was in Act I, Scene III, when Laertes met with his sister Ophelia to say goodbye before he leaves Denmark to return to France. Laertes gives Ophelia and long talk on how she must handle herself and her relationship with Hamlet, and thus she should be careful not to give up her “chaste treasure”, saying “Perhaps he loves you now but you must fear, / His greatness weighed his will is not his own,”[Act I, Scene III, Ll. 17-20] and “If he say