Hamlet Part 2

Today in class, we had a discussion about the ghost’s intentions. Is the ghost noble or selfish? One could make an argument about either side. The ghost’s revelations obviously had a profound impact on Hamlet. After Hamlet learned what really happened from the ghost, he becomes consummated by these revelations. His mental stability is also in question after seeing the ghost. In Elizabethan times, a ghost was a bad omen. Many thought that ghosts were the spirits that reached neither hell nor heaven. They sought eternal salvation by “working off” their sins in purgatory. In that sense, maybe the ghost was trying to restore order. Thus, the ghost’s intentions would be pure and noble. The counter argument to that would be the fact that the appearance of the ghost itself disrupts order. Also, some would say that the ghost’s intentions are not noble because it planted seeds of revenge in Hamlet. Regardless of the ghost’s intention, the ghost greatly affects Hamlet. Hamlet becomes all disheveled and approaches Ophelia. There is irony in the scene with Ophelia and Hamlet because Ophelia believes that Hamlet looks all depressed because she listened to her father’s advice of not seeing him anymore. The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia isn’t lucid at all. Shakespeare never directly states their relationship. The audience knows that they both have some feelings towards each other. But, the audience doesn’t know the extent of their relationship. In some of the renditions of the play, Ophelia and Hamlet are portrayed as a real couple. In other renditions, they are portrayed as people who have feelings for each other but haven’t had the chance to express their love for each other. Their relationship also led some people into thinking that Hamlet was just “playing” without Ophelia since he is a prince and she’s not worthy enough. However, I think that act 2 disproved that view of Hamlet. The fact that Hamlet visited Ophelia is significant. It shows that in times of despair and unrest, he comes to Ophelia. In other words, Hamlet has opened up to Ophelia. That scene is also interesting because Polonius was in it as well. In the video we saw today, Polonius was secretly observing the pair. Polonius as well as Ophelia doesn’t know why Hamlet is really acting the way he is. As a result, they both begin to think that Hamlet looks so depressed because he is separated from Ophelia. An interesting point to note here is Polonius’s character. From spying on his son to his daughter, Polonius seems like a very conniving kind of character. Also, in the court with the king, he manipulates the ambassadors in an attempt to try to impress everyone. That brings me to King Claudius. He is definitely worried about Hamlet and “hires” Hamlet’s childhood friends to spy on him. In that sense, King Claudius and Polonius are alike. I look forward to reading rest of the play as I want to see Hamlet revenge his father’s death.

hamlet

Now that winter break is over, it’s time to blog again! I want to talk about hamlet. Although we’ve only read the beginning parts of the play, it’s clear that the character Hamlet has his way with words. His very first line was very witty and was a fitting opening line for him. Even knowing that Hamlet was clever with his words, I didn’t catch all of the puns in his opening line. I then realized that I had to really pay attention and look up words in the dictionary to fully appreciate Hamlet’s mastery of words. In reality, Hamlet’s play on words reveals Shakespeare’s genius nature. It really is unbelievable how he can think of all these “punny” lines (unintentional pun). But then again, it’s Shakespeare. He’s not the greatest playwright ever for no reason.

From what I’ve read, it seems that Hamlet is extremely upset and angry. He is lonely in the sense that everyone else has moved on after his father’s death—including his confusing mother. On top of all this, hamlet has to put up with the patronizing Claudius who became king instead of hamlet. If you put yourself in his situation, you can’t help but feel he has every right to be mad and rebellious. However, hamlet controls his raw emotions and hides it in public. What he doesn’t hide is his grief for his passed away father. It’s strange how everyone else seems to have already moved on, especially his mother. In less than a month after his father’s death, Hamlet’s mother married his brother. This really baffled me as I couldn’t understand why or how his mother could do this. Shakespeare doesn’t leave the readers with any clues as to why she did this. Perhaps she had an affair with Claudius before the death of hamlet’s father. If this were true, the death of Hamlet’s father would be very fishy. Also, I still don’t get why Claudius became king when Hamlet was old and capable of taking the reins himself. It all seems so fishy. Nonetheless, hamlet hides his resentment very well. But at the same time, he expresses this resentment subtly. For example, hamlet talks to his mother and plays with the word “common”. His mother has no idea that hamlet is subtly criticizing her. His mother is a very confusing character. Once again, Shakespeare doesn’t leave many definitive clues as to if she is a mere pawn of Claudius or the mastermind behind the death of hamlet’s father. Whatever the case, Hamlet is absolutely disgusted with his mother. And understandably so. In the early stages of the play, hamlet doesn’t really translate his feelings into action but I have a feeling that he will in the later parts of the play