Hamlet
Act III Questions
1. 3.1 is perhaps most well known for its "To be or not to be" speech. What would it sound like if you paraphrased it in everyday, 21st century, modern English?
2. The idea of Hamlet's madness takes greater hold in this act. Is it merely an idea, though? What support can you find for Hamlet actually being mad? For him faking madness?
3. What is the significance of the inclusion of the play within the play?
4. What function do the players serve? Beyond performing the play in which to catch the king, what themes do they underscore? How is what they're doping like or unlike what othe characters in Hamlet are doing?
5. Act III has Hamlet saying some very harsh words to Ophelia. Why does he want her to get to a nunnery? Does he say this out of love or hate or both?
6. Why doesn't Hamlet kill Claudius? Should he have used his opportunity?
7. Does Hamlet really know who is hiding behind the arras? Could he possibly really believe it was Claudius? After all, he had just seen him praying.
posted by dconlay @ 11:39 AM
24 comments
24 Comments:
SStratton
P3
1. Hamlet is basically questioning life and existence. Whether or not to exist. “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Whether it’s better to suffer from an unbearable situation or to fight back and end the problems. He then talks about death, and it’s the fear of the after life that keeps us dealing with evil burdens rather than hurrying into adventures that we know nothing about. “And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?”
2. Hamlet is mad. He is running around and changing attitudes towards different people. He also debates suicide with himself, another characteristic of madness. “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die:” (act3scene1). He makes rude remarks towards Ophelia and in scene 1 of act 3, he kisses her and tells her he loves her, but a second later he goes insane and grabs her tightly, pulling her around the room. At the end of act 3, in the last scene, he talks to his dead father’s ghost, which his mother can’t see.
3. The play is put on by Hamlet because he wants to see Claudius’ reactions. Hamlet wants Claudius to feel guilty for what he has done, and he wants him to admit his wrong doings so that Hamlet can then step in and take over.
4. The actors of the play serve to resemble Hamlet, Ophelia, the dead king Hamlet, the new king Claudius, and the Queen Gertrude. Their actions are made to resemble those of the real characters, but more intense and dramatized so as to get the idea across.
5. I think Hamlet might be speaking harshly to Ophelia because he cares about her but he wants to protect her from Claudius and his own madness. Hamlet knows he is going crazy and that he is having issues, and he just wants to protect Ophelia from it and not hurt her.
6. When Hamlet is about to kill Claudius, he hears that he is praying and he thinks that if he kills Claudius when he is praying, it will do no good because he will be forgiven and go to heaven. So Hamlet decides to wait to kill Claudius when he is sinning again on a later day. Hamlet should have taken the advantage to kill him though because after he leaves, Claudius admits that he can’t even be sincere with his request for forgiveness. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below” (act3scene3).
7. I think by this scene, Hamlet is just crazy and is sure to snap. He is threatening to kill his own mother and then when he hears a noise behind the curtain, he just acts on instinct and kills the figure, thinking it was Claudius, but it was in fact Polonius. Hamlet doesn’t really know who it was, but he just snapped and let his first thoughts and instinct get the better of him. He was finally coming to terms with his crazyness and was scared of others finding him out, so he just reacted quickly with stabbing.
1. If “To be or not to be” was paraphrased in modern English it would sound somewhat like “ is it better to live or to die”.
2. I think the idea that Hamlet is mad is only an idea. It is not true. It is just a way for the king and his mother to explain what is going on with him. There is not much support that he is truly mad. He seems to be in his right mind. He may be faking madness so his uncle does not catch on that he knows about the murder.
3. The play within the play works as a way to foreshadow an event.
4. The players serve as a manifestation of what the uncle committed. They underscore the theme of love and foreshadowing.
5. He wants her to go to a nunnery so she never has kids. I think he says it out of love. He cares about her and knows he can’t have her so he prefers no one haves her.
6. He does not kill Claudius because he wants to wait until he does something bad. If he has killed him then people would have been outraged at it. If he waits then people would see it was the only way to stop him from doing whatever bad thing he was committing.
7. Hamlet does not know who is behind the arras. He may have had a suspicion but not have known for sure. He could not have thought it was Claudius because wanted to kill the king in the middle of a horrible act. If he thought it was Claudius he would not have put his sword through with the intention of killing the eavesdropper.
evelez-sanchez p.3
1.“To be or not to be” could be paraphrased in our everyday lives, like in the twenty first century modern English. Basically what this quote is referring to is to live or not to live. But to some people, this can be a phrase of committing suicide. For example, Hamlet is tortured because he just can’t handle living in the King’s court. He just cannot live with the fact that his own uncle, King Claudius, killed his father. “Ham-The dread of something after death, the undiscovered country, from those who bourn, no traveler returns, and what rather bear those ills we have” (83).
2.During Act 3, Hamlet does not show or express his madness. The only event that hamlet shows his madness, is through the play where he included some of his own lines, to show how he is going to avenge his father. “Ham-Marry, this is miching mallencho, it means mischief” (82). Throughout the play, we can see that Hamlet speaks in pauses because he wants to express his anger to the murderer.
3.The significance of the inclusion of the play within the play of Hamlet is to demonstrate what truly happened to his father and so people can wonder who the real murderer was. Also, in the beginning of the play, Hamlet shows how his mother is very weak and how she accepted to marry his Uncle Claudius right after the death of his father. “Ham- Now, mother, what’s the matter? Queen- Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended”(87).This quote shows how Hamlet does not care about how much he offended his uncle, although, his mother tells his that why did he offended his father.
4.The function that the players served throughout the play is to express the feelings of what Hamlet felt. “Ham- Be not to tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with his special observance, that you not the modesty of nature” (87). This quote shows the how the play and the acting of the players got the attention of the King and underscored him to remember about the murder and how he killed him.
5.The reason why Hamlet wants Ophelia to go to a nunnery is because he does not want her to be without a man. Also, in my opinion, he believes that man is a sinner and he does not want her to breed one of her own. “Ham- Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me” (Scene 1). In other words, he thinks that men are pure evil, which that reflects the things his uncle has done and the things he is about to do.
6.The reason why Hamlet does not kill Claudius is because he sees him praying and does not want to kill a man when he is praying for repentance. I believe that he should have not have killed Claudius because this is not the way Claudius killed Hamlet’s father.
7.I believe that Hamlet did not know who was behind the arras. He believed that it was Claudius because he suspected Claudius of spying on him. But the real person that was behind the arras was Polonius, which at the end, Hamlet killed.
imuradian, p3
1. 21st Century paraphrasing of the renowned "to be or not to be" speech would be much more easy to follow for the contemporary reader. It could be translated into something like: One must wonder whether continuing life at this point is worth it. What will death have in store, if you chose to check out early?
2. Hamlet's apparent insanity in this act is, after closer look, an illusion. He appears to be mad because of current issues regarding the death of his father, but in actuality he bares the same thought process as any sane human being. Furthermore, his situtation with Ophelia makes him appear mad with love, but he proves not to be with his thoughts.
3. The play within the play serves the significance of creating a parallel. Both the play within the play and the general play have overlaps in plot, and the guiltiness of the King is shown through the play within the play.
4. The players in the play within the play serve the function of lining the themes in the main plot of Hamlet. The themes which they parallel are the insignificance of infatuation and the sorrow and remorse which crimes cause. They do so by sharing a similar plot in their little play to that of Hamlet.
5. Both love and hate drives Hamlet to say harsh things and want Ophelia to get to a nunnery. In the loving sense, Hamlet wants to steer Ophelia away from the eminent danger that lurkes in the castle. In terms of hatred, Hamlet wishes to drive Ophelia away from him permanently by sending her to a nunnery.
6. Hamlet does not kill Claudius because he feels as though he does not have enough supporters to do so. In essence, he has not established Claudius's corruption and evil nature, so killing him would be seen as treason on his part. He wishes to wait until everyone agrees that Claudius bears much evil before killing him.
7. Hamlet does not really know who is hiding behind the arras. He believes that it was Claudius but does so with no proof because he had just seen him praying. He just believes that Claudius is corrupt and thus suspects him of all questionable actions.
1. In modern terms the monologue would talk much about why people live on. It would go something like this:
"To live or not to live... Is it worth living and simply accepting all of the bad things that happen to oneself, or should one oppose these things and die in their effort? Oh death... the bringer of dreams... Dreams that we don't don't understand and fear in our ignorance. How sad it is that man would accept the wrongs in life merely because he is afraid of what is after life. Doesn't this fear reveal us all as cowards?"
2. Hamlets madness is very hard to discern as being real or fake. For one, he often says that he is going to act crazy before doing so, which would obviously suggest that he is not actually crazy. However, if he is faking he is essentially partaking in self-destructive actions as he ruins his relationships with various characters for little to no reason. Also, Hamlet seems to act very passionate while he is in his fits of "madness" which would point to him being actually crazy instead of just faking it. Perhaps he has faked his madness so well that he has actually become mad in fact?
3. The play within the play is meant to judge if Hamlet's uncle is actually guilty of murdering his father. He makes the play mimic what his father's ghost told him happened to him at the hands of his uncle. Hamlet believes that the play can prove if his uncle is innocent or guilty. Furthermore, he is using this as a test as he is not sure that the ghost is not actually Satan or a demon who is trying to cause chaos.
4. The players in the play within play serve as a medium wherein the themes of Hamlet are expressed. These themes being the needlessness of infatuation and the sorrow/remorse that crimes eventually cause. They are unlike the actual characters because that are completely direct instead of being discreet in any way with their actions.
5. Hamlet wants Ophelia to go to a nunnery to leave him, or so it seems. His command could also be interpreted as him trying to separate himself from her to prevent her from being hurt further, or even to ensure that though he might never have her that she will not marry anyone else. This statement seems to come out of love for her more than anything else.
6. Hamlet does not kill Claudius in this act because he is not certain that he will be punished fully. He desires that Claudius is punished both physically and metaphysically. He concludes that he wishes to know more of God and the afterlife before he kills Claudius. He probably should have used this opportunity seeing as how it's impossible for him to be certain of faith.
7. Hamlet does not really know who is hiding behind the curtains, as it is impossible to tell. He only believes it to be Claudius because he is thinking extremely rashly instead of being concentrated on his task. It's ironic that he chooses to act know at a moment where he isn't even sure if it's Claudius instead of murdering him when he had an accurate chance.
Josie Flores
Basically, in Hamlet’s famous speech featuring the phrase “To be or not to be” he is actually speaking of suicide. It seems as though he could be talking about committing suicide or just having a crazy discussion with himself. Paraphrasing it in everyday language…. “Should I go on with this cruel life, or should I end it now?”
In my opinion, some parts of the play show that Hamlet may be acting a little crazy on purpose, but it seems as if he is actually crazy. Some or his actions seem too irrational and too illogical for him to just be acting crazy. For example, when he is having his conversations alone. In his famous speech it seems as though he’s talking with someone…who is not really there. Its almost like he has two separate personalities. If he were just acting crazy, why would he have to act with himself as well?
The significance of the play which Hamlet put on was to try to find out clues to whether or not his uncle did kill his father or not. He had the play performed so it was almost identical to what the spirit had told him. Hamlet and Horatio both watched closely to see the new kings reaction to the play.
The play within the play is similar in many different ways. Firstly he retells the way the former king Hamlet died by deception. Even though it was his brother and not his nephew in the play within the play. The play reveals unforgivable grief and misfortune.
Hamlet says that he wishes for Ophelia to go to a nunnery so she will not be able to betray any man with her beauty. Hamlet things of her as treacherous and does not want any children to come from her. He no longer trusts women in general and grows a hate for Ophelia especially because of their relationship beforehand.
Hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius, because he sees that he is repenting his sins that he has committed. Hamlet would feel too guilty killing Claudius, which he was in the state that he was in at that moment. Also, people would not realize why Hamlet would kill Claudius, and Hamlet would be seen as the villain rather than his Uncle.
Hamlet can’t be positive of Claudius being the real murder. He does not fully believe the spirit which visited him and the play did not display any really noticeable guilt from Claudius.
J-Aranda Per. 3
1. “To be or not to be,” speech from Hamlet could be paraphrased differently in modern time. “To be or not to be,” could mean in the 21st century as saying to live or not to live. This saying would imply that the person is thinking of suicide. Hamlet makes this speech to think whether he should continue to live through all this pain and misery in the King’s court. Yet, Hamlet does not know what to do with his life if either to continue on or find out what happens after death. “ Hamlet-But that dread of something after death,/The undiscovered country, from those who bourn/No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And make us rather bear those ills we have,/Than fly to others that we know not of?” (Scene 1: Lines 78-83)
2. Hamlet’s madness is not an idea during Act III. Hamlet is actually expressing his madness through the play which he has proposed to the King’s court. He shows his madness of wanting to avenge his father’s death by using the players to act a scenario which relates to his father’s death. “Hamlet- Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief.” Hamlet can’t hold back his thoughts and speaks every few moments through the play in anger.
3. The significance of the inclusion of the play within the play of Hamlet is to prove to the people what truly happened with Hamlet’s father and what are Hamlet’s thoughts. Hamlet proves also through the play that his mother is weak. Hamlet chose this play to be acted so he could see how his uncle responded and to foreshadow his killing. “Hamlet- So you mistake your husbands.-Begin,/murderer. Leave thy dimmable faces and begin./Come, the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.” (Scene 2: Lines 258-260) The King does not really pay attention to the dumb show in the beginning, but reacts to the play more closely because it makes it clear that the king is murdered by his nephew.
4. The function that the players serve is to express true feelings through the play. Make the play seem as it was something that was truly going on. “Hamlet- Be not to tame neither, but let your own/discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the/word to the action, with his special observance, that/you o’ erstep not the modesty of nature.” Hamlet wants them to catch the attention of the king and underscore the theme of revenge and death. The players are alike to the real characters within the play of Hamlet. They are alike in the fact that there is a king and a queen who are married. The nephew in the play portrays Hamlet.
5. Hamlet wants Ophelia to go to a nunnery because he does not want her to be with a man. He believes that a man is a sinner and he does not want her to breed one. “Hamlet- Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be/ a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest,/but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were/better my mother had not borne me:” (Scene 1: Lines 121-124) Hamlet says that men are full of evil. Hamlet tells her to go to a nunnery through hate and not love. He told her that he doesn’t love her. He only told her through hate because he is mad of everything that is going on.
6. Hamlet does not kill Claudius because he sees him in his knees which he thinks he is praying. If Hamlet kills Claudius during prayer he would go to heaven and Hamlet wants to kill him to go to hell. He should have not used his opportunity because then Hamlet would not avenge his father’s death properly.
7. Hamlet does not really know who is behind the arras. He thought it was Claudius because he suspects of him spying on them. Yet, the person behind the arras was Polonius and Hamlet killed him.
kZichp3
1. Paraphrased in everyday, 21st century, modern English, Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech would come out to be something along the lines of this: Is life worth living or would death be a plausible escape from the sufferings of life? However, the dread of unfamiliar and unknown territory makes us choose our current burdens. For this reason, we as humans are cowards. This process of though causes ventures of the highest importance to go off track and lose their impetus.
2. Although Hamlet appears to be consumed by madness in Act 1, the idea of Hamlet’s madness takes greater hold in Act 3. However, Hamlet is not mad in the slightest, but is of completely collected rational thought, thus proving his “madness” to be fake. Hamlet seemed to be mad during his meeting with Ophelia and Ophelia was obviously distressed by Hamlet’s madness when she said “O, help him, you sweet heavens.” Hamlet seemed to be faking madness during the play when he was denouncing his mother’s love for his father and Ophelia’s love for himself.
3. The significance of the inclusion of the play within the play was to prove that King Claudius was guilty of murdering his brother and make Hamlet and Horatio sure of it.
4. The function of the players is to underscore the themes that parallel in Hamlet’s reality. What they are doing is like what the characters in Hamlet are doing in that their actions have the same motives.
5. Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery so she can reserve her chastity and not give birth to any sinners. When reading the play, it seems as though Hamlet says this out of hate but it could be very well possible that he said this out of love in that wants to protect her from any danger that resides within the castle and she would be safe in a nunnery.
6. Hamlet does not kill Claudius because if he was to kill him while he was praying, he would end up going to Heaven and Hamlet wants to damn Claudius. He decides to wait until Claudius is engaging in a sinful action or in a sinful state until killing him. Hamlet should not have used this opportunity to kill Claudius in that he will most likely get more chances later in the play.
7. Hamlet most likely knew it was Polonius hiding behind the arras and probably knew it couldn’t be Claudius because he had just seen him praying. He shows no remorse or panic or even surprise after he killed Polonius. The only emotion he showed was frustration and anger, proving that he must have known it was Polonius behind the arras.
Taylor Brown’s
1. In Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” speech, the whole time he is arguing with himself on whether or not he should kill himself. He puts up both sides of the argument and seems very undecided in the end.
2. Hamlet could be mad because he has recently found out through his father’s dead spirit that his uncle murdered his father. But, I don’t think he’s actually mad, I think he’s just faking it to some extent. I think he’s faking it because it’s easier to scare the truth out of people than it is to get them to just tell it to you.
3. The play within the play is important because it helps Hamlet realize that his uncle is guilty of killing his father because the play was based on a similar scenario and the new king became very uneasy while watching it.
4. The players serve as Hamlet’s pawns in an attempt to trap his uncle. They show how people can be manipulated to do what Hamlet wants. They are similar to the other characters in Hamlet because everyone else is kind of out of the loop and are all getting sucked into Hamlet’s affairs.
5. Hamlet wants Ophelia to go to a nunnery because he thinks she is becoming a sinner and blames her for everything. I think he says this out of a little bit of both. I believe he’s still in love with her even though he says he’s not, but at the same time I also think he’s starting to go mad.
6. He doesn’t kill him because Claudius is praying at the time he wants to kill him so he is asking for forgiveness for his sins, which would end up letting him go to heaven and Hamlet doesn’t want that for him. He probably should have used this opportunity because I don’t think he’ll have many more chances when the king is alone and at the end the king says how he wasn‘t praying sincerely so he wouldn‘t have gone to heaven.
7. No, Hamlet doesn’t really know who’s hiding behind the arras. But I think he wanted it to Claudius so bad so he could kill him, that he used no logic because there was no way it could have been Claudius because he was just praying.
ParsonsS
1. In this speech, Hamlet is arguing with himself about whether or not he should commit suicide to end his suffering and grief. In his speech, he reasons that his life in its current state is completely miserable and not worth living. “And makes us rather bear those ills we have, than fly to others we know not of? Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all;” (p.121, 3.1) He argues that even though he has no way of knowing what it would be like for him after death, he would rather face that unknown than have to live without his father. This monologue to is a good example of how much turmoil Hamlet is in.
2. It is hard to tell whether or not Hamlet is truly mad or not. The way that he acts definitely implies that he is mentally unstable, but the question is whether or not this is just an act, or if he truly has lost his mind. Evidence that he has actually lost his mind, is when Hamlet speaks to Ophelia. “I did love you once…you should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not;” (p.123, 3.1). Her rejection causes him to go completely insane saying one moment that he always loved her, and then saying that he was lying the next. On the other hand, it seems that his madness is just an act when he speaks to his friend Horatio about his plan. He seems to go back to his old self, making it look like the way he is acting is all part of some big scheme.
3. The play within a play was to test Hamlet’s uncle. With the use of a play that followed the exact sequence of events that Hamlet believes happened, he can indirectly let his uncle know that he knows something is not right.
4. The players represent the characters in Hamlet. While minor details vary, such as the King being killed by his nephew, rather than his brother, the actors mirror the major plot lines. The themes that the players underscore include betrayal and revenge.
5. Hamlet says harsh words to Ophelia because he feels hurt. It is obvious that he still loves her because when he first greets her, he embraces her warmly and kisses her. His explosive reaction occurs after she gives him his love letters back, signifying that she doesn’t love him anymore. This angers him, and makes him feel even more alone, so he says things to hurt her such as, “enter a nunnery rather than becoming a breeder of sinners” (III.i.122–123). He says these things intentionally to hurt Ophelia for hurting him by rejecting him.
6. Hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius because when he has his opportunity because Hamlet comes upon his uncle while he is praying for forgiveness. He decided to wait until he was sinning because if he murdered his uncle while he was praying for forgiveness, he would go straight to heaven. I think that if Hamlet wanted to murder his uncle to make him suffer, than he did the right thing to wait, because otherwise it would be an empty killing.
7. I think that by this point in the story, Hamlet is truly beginning to lose it. He becomes too paranoid and his tunnel vision regarding the revenge on his uncle starts to take over in his mind. The fact that he saw his uncle praying in the other room before makes it impossible that he made it to the room that quickly to spy on him. This part of the story, is a kind of turning point for Hamlet because a kind of true insanity begins to take hold.
Chelsea Leon
Hamlet
Act III Questions
1)The main question in life is should I live or should I give up? Is life really worth living? What is the point? And what are we really afraid of after death?
2) Hamlet actually shows true madness when he is alone and talking with himself furiously and then seems bi-polar when he suddenly stops and talks softly then works himself up again. Hamlet faking madness would be when he speaks with Ophelia and tries to send her to a nunery when he knows that the castle knows of their activities together and finds it a logical explanation for him to just be madly in love and angry from not fulfilling his desires.
3) Shakespeare likes to make the point that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” By having a play within a play, you see actors perform what really happens in true life.
4) I didn’t understand how the female character in the play was supposed to mirror the queen. Some of the things she said were very pleading toward the player. She seemed to love the king very much. Which could be understood to show the readers that even though she may have claimed to love a man with all her heart, it could easily be stolen within two months time; making you more toward Hamlet’s side and pitty them less.
5) The way he throws her around and presses her against walls, it seems as if he hates loving her. He claims to have loved her once and that she should have never believed him. He tells her she is an awful person and that she should repent her sins by joining a nunnery. I think Hamlet thinks that she’d be safer in a nunnery than the castle, so it may be out of love. However since he knows people are watching and listening, he does the whole scene for effect, whether she be in on it or not.
6) Hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius because he is more noble than that. He wants everyone in the castle to learn the real story about the king’s death and he wants people to feel something of regret toward the loss of their dear former ruler. No, I think by holding back what he really wanted to do, Hamlet became stronger.
7) Hamlet seems very mad, and I’m sure that he believes anything is possible (especially with all the secret passageways throughout the castle, one minute you can be on one side and then a minute passes and you’re on the other). He seems as if he’d convinced himself it was Claudius listening in.
Hkeenawinna Period 3
Act 3
1) The whole monologue is about Hamlet deciding about Suicide instead of going through this turmoil. He mentions that the miseries after death is what people are most afraid of and they would rather face that than what happens after death.
2) Hamlet’s madness is fake. Even though he answers people with a strange sort of wording, you cannot help but notice that he might be doing that on purpose. “Nor do we find him forward to be sounded, But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof, When we would bring him on to some confession Of his true state.” His friends notice that he acts this way maybe to throw everyone off balance, make them confused because he has something else on his mind. “Out of my weakness and my melancholy, - I'll have grounds More relative than this: the play’s the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.” This quote is right before the end of Act 2. This tells the audience that he is waiting for the moment to attack the king.
3) The inclusion of the play within the play is that it is meant to show a sense of forbearing and it was an act to prove the King’s guilt. It goes to show a king and a queen in love but by bitter means and that the kind will soon be murdered by none other than his nephew. They start to explain the reason why when the king cries for light. It was proof that Hamlet knew the truth and that it was the King who has murdered King Hamlet.
4) The players may be a relief from what is going on at hand. They are the “many faces” of the world. They’re able to tell a story and make it seem real. They are the ultimate liars, yet they do it for art and the people in the play do it to hide themselves. The actors do it to survive life while the characters in Hamlet do it to survive their lives with each other.
5) He wants her to go to a nunnery so that she may never have to “breed Sinners”. It would be the safest choice if she were to protect the world from people like her, who lie. He doesn’t say them out of hate; he says it out of anger. He’s confused and he does not have time for love so he spurns her to get him off his mind until he can deal with his father.
6) Hamlet doesn’t kill the king because he is praying to God, absolving himself of all his sins or making known to God of his sins. Hamlet doesn’t want Claudius to go to Heaven after death and so he doesn’t kill him. Even if he did kill the king, he would never have proven to anyone that Claudius killed his father, they would have believed that Hamlet was mad and in his madness killed the King while he was praying. Nothing would have come of it.
7) I think that Hamlet didn’t know who was behind those curtains because he was so passionately involved in the argument with his mother and to have someone listen in just pushed him toward the edge. He did something rash as most people might do when they aren’t calm but worried and angry. He didn’t want to kill Polonius, again even if he did what would he gain out of it. He was not mad, he was sharp and he knew what he wanted. He wanted revenge on Claudius and him only.
L. You
Per. 3
Act. III
1. I think that if the most well known phrase of Hamlet, “to be or not to be”, were to be paraphrased into everyday modern English, it would be “what should I do.” I figured that Hamlet’s quote is asking about how should one act in a certain situation.
2. Hamlet’s madness does seem to take a greater hold in this act and I think that Hamlet is torn between faking madness and actual insanity from everything that has been going on. I still believe that Hamlet has some hold on his sanity, but is loosing his grip because his act and reality are blurring together when he becomes almost obsessed with revenging his father. When he goes on about everything to Ophelia, I thought that he was really losing his mind because of his obvious insane behavior. In my opinion I think that the opinion of his sanity or insanity depends on the reader and can sway either way.
3. The significance of the inclusion of the play within the play is that Hamlet can identify on Cladius’ face if he did indeed murder Hamlet’s father. Hamlet believes that if Claudius sees his sin in front of him in a play, then if he is guilty, his discomfort will show on his face. So the play within the play plays a great significance to Hamlet’s evidence of his father’s murderer.
Amikol per3
1. Paraphrased in English, It would probably be something like:
To live or to die. Life gives and takes away. The life that is given to you is not yours, but only you control it. The things you do in life dictate what happens in other's lives.
2.Hamlet's madness, is not being mad as more it is seeing illusions that are not there. A bodily horomonal imbalance that causes him to see the things he wants to see, but cannot visibly see them, so his mind makes them up for him. The support of him actually being mad is that he sees his father's ghost while his mother cannot in 3.4.
3. The significance of the play within the play is to foreshadow and signify what is potentially going to happen next. The play in the play being broken up by the king could show that the king is going to ruin Hamlet's plan.
4.The players serve a function of being human to the humans and show the emotions and the reality of their own feelings and doings and the exclusionment and hurry of the passing of Hamlet's father. The themes that are underscored are betrayal, love, hatred.
5. Hamlet wants Ophelia to go to a nunnery because possibly she can helped there, and also because she does not want to be loved or he does not want her to love another man besides himself, or he does not want other men being hurt by her emotions. He says these words out of a feeling of hatred because of the pain and the troubled mind that he has.
6. Hamlet probably doesnt kill Claudis because he knows that because he was the last one to be seen with him, that he will be killed and not be served as king. He will be executed for killing the king. He was smart in doing this because he thought about a better way to have revenge and that would be to kill him as Claudis killed his father.
7. Hamlet doesnt know who is hiding behind the arras until he stabs the curtain and we know that it is th lord. He only thought it to be Claudis because of the fact that Claudis could be hiding from Hamlet.
Per3
ppham
1. The “to be or not to be” in modern English would could sound something like; Is it worth it to continue life in this gloom, would it be better to commit suicide, or would it be worse to face the terrors that await me in the afterlife.
2. Although Hamlet appears to be more aloof in this act, it seems like a mere mockery of those around him. With his obsession with his father’s death and his conflict with Ophelia, he seems to be drifting into madness but, Hamlet’s thoughts justifies his actions.
3. With the inclusion of a play within a play it personifies the play’s significance, and its purpose is to catch the conscious of the king.
4. The players function as a palpable example of what the actual Hamlet play is trying to display. It shows the audience the main themes such as the need for grief and the lackluster of the second round.
5. Hamlet tells Orphelia to go to a nunnery out of love and hate. Hamlet wants to protect Orphelia from the drama and traumatic events that about to ensue in the castle. But, this ploy is also used to remove Orphelia from this life because, he tired of her antics.
6. Hamlet does not kill Claudius yet because, he as not exposed Claudius as the scum he is to the public. If he took his chance it would look as though he was mad, thus he waits in order to display that his act is righteous.
7. Hamlet did not really know who is hiding behind the arras but, he can indicatively believe that it was Claudius.
J Hellmich
1. In Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech, he's contemplating whether to kill himself or to keep on living through his misery. If it was written in the 21st century, it might sound a little bit like this:
Should I kill myself? Is it better to stay alive and suffer, or end it all now and be in peace? Death, to never sleep again, is to sleep forever in peace. And when I sleep in peace I'll dream. What will I dream of? What happens in the afterlife? Here is what's wrong with the world: Oppressors, proud men, despised love, and the law. Who would want to go through all of this? No wonder more people don't kill themselves, they're afraid of the unknown of what comes after death. No one returns from death. Our conscience makes us fools. When we think of suicide, our minds talk us out of it, and then the moment is lost.
2. Of all the things that are going wrong in Hamlet's life, it's agreeable that he has become a little mad. He says he's only mad a certain times, but that is the talk of a crazy person. We see him as mad when he claims he once loved Ophelia, and then he says he has never loved her. We also see how crazy he is when he is trying to confront Claudius at the play. He is so filled with rage over the murder of his father. He truly is mad!
3. The play within the play helps with the theme of illusions versus reality. The play puts the murder in full perspective and lets everyone know what really happened. It also allows Hamlet to be able to explain the murder without having to bring up the fact that he spoke with his father's ghost.
4. The players serve to re-enact the real murder of the Hamlet's father, and bring up the guilty emotions of Claudius. The other characters in Hamlet are all trying to figure out why Hamlet has gone mad. In the play, they're not so concerned with the crazy nephew and as they are with the murder of the King and the marriage that happens after.
5. Hamlet tells Ophelia he wants her to join a nunnery so she doesn't have to be "a breeder of sinners." ln 132 He claims he never loved her, but he does still have love for her. He is in a time of need where he needs her love the most, and she is leaving him to try to get over his madness and sorrow all by himself. He is angry with her for deserting him. Everyone needs someone they can trust and rely on. Ophelia is giving up on him.
6. Hamlet doesn't take this opportunity to kill Claudius because he not only wants to kill him, he wants to damn his soul as well. He can't kill him just to have him dead. This revenge is very important to Hamlet, and he wants it to be perfect. He could have used this opportunity because Claudius says "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below," meaning he can't ask for forgiveness yet. If Hamlet had killed him then, he probably still would've been damned, but then no one would have proof that Claudius really murdered the king. So it was better that Hamlet waited.
7. Hamlet really thinks that it is Claudius hiding behind the arras. We know this because he says "Nay, I know not. Is it the king?" I think at this point he doesn't really care who it is. He is completely mad at the world and just wants his revenge.
TMorley P3
1. Should I kill myself or not? Is it better to live and put myself through this crap or to avoid them by killing myself? Dying is nothing more than an eternal sleep that ends the problems and heartaches of this life, and it seems perfect. But even once asleep, who knows what one will dream. This is what naturally prevents us from killing ourselves.
2. He is clearly crazed, shown in his play and his comments during it. He shows more when he pins Ophelia against the glass and physically overpowers her. Men, although the head of the house and what not, were not allowed to touch women in any such way, just like today. He shows his madness when he breaks the code of society and overpowers Ophelia.
3. It aims to show the power of theater and to create a sense of “we are watching a story unfold, not watching a play” while the other play is going on. I know it would make me see the story much more seriously and in a lot more detail.
4. The players are ones that can change form and create any kind of mood desired by the audience. Because of this they are important to the overall theme of illusion versus reality. They are real people, but they assume roles only real in the imagination. They go hand in hand with the ghost and other forms of illusion in the play.
5. He wants her to go to a nunnery to protect herself and to remove the temptation. He is in love with her and sort of realizes that it won’t work, so he wants the temptation gone. He says this out of love because he doesn’t want to see her hurt by him, and out to f hatred because, unless you want to be there, a nunnery is a crappy place to be.
6. He doesn’t kill him because he is praying and his mother is waiting. He also wants to wait until he does something directly and obviously wrong at the time of the murder, so it doesn’t look like he has been plotting this. He should have used the opportunity, because waiting solves no problems. He is going to be dead either way, so why not kill him while you got a shot. The result would be no different.
7. I don’t think he really knows, and considering his mental state he would be quick to jump to conclusions. He might have a very good idea, but he is not a reliable character at this point.
1. In act three scene one, Hamlet says his well known speech “To be or not to be.” If it were to paraphrased in modern English, it would sound like, “I either live to suffer or just die to stop this suffering. It hurts to live because of the pain that I have to go through. In a way, I'm scared what is going to happen after I die.”
2. In act three, Hamlet's madness gets worse. In the previous acts, he still had control of what he is doing, but he is starting to lose his control when his plot is becoming a reality. During his conversation with Ophelia, it shows that he is losing control, “O heavens, die two months ago and not forgotten yet!” (lines 25-26). Hamlet is still upset about the death of his father. When he is talking to the Queen in act three, scene four, Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, while the Queen thinks he is mad because she can not see the ghost. “Alas, he's mad” (lines 115-116).
3. The significance of the inclusion of the play within the play is that the play, which the players are acting for the people, shows the audience what happened when Hamlet's father died. They reenacted the play, so the King can realize what he has done. “One scene of it comes near the circumstance which I have told thee of my father's death” (lines 72-73). Hamlet wanted his uncle to remember what he has done to his father and see how cruel it was how he killed him.
4. The function of the players serve is to show what Hamlet knows so far in the play. The themes the players underscore are lies, love, and secrets. There were secrets that his uncle had and he had to lie about it. Also, the Queen had to lie about her love. The player king and queen, are just like the real life, but they tell how they feel and they're honest about they're feelings and opinion.
5. Hamlet wants Ophelia to go to a nunnery because she has not been herself. “I have heard of your painting well enough. God hath given you one face and make yourself another” (lines 150-155). Hamlet says this out of both because he does love her, but he feels betrayed by everyone to be nice to her. He wants someone to love and be loved for their true selves.
6. Hamlet doesn't kill Claudius because he was told by his father that it is wrong to kill another person for revenge. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (line 29, Act 1, Scene 5). When he thinks about his father, he thinks the murder. “And am I then revenged, to take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage?” (lines 88-90). He does not want his uncle to go to heaven because he is a murderer.
7. Hamlet still believes that Claudius killed his father. “That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat of habits devil, is angel yet in this, that to the us actions fair and good he likewise gives frock or livery that aptly is put on” (lines 177-181). Even though Hamlet saw him praying, he thinks that Claudius is a devil in disguise. That is the reason why he is warning his mother because the King can fool anyone, except Hamlet, with his charm and confidence.
T. McClanahan
1. In essence, Hamlet’s “To be or not to be soliloquy” is a philosophical debate on suicide. He asks whether it is more noble to take one’s own life or to suffer “heart-ache” and “thousand natural shocks,” and whether being dead is better than being alive. He says that people do not know what is beyond life, and if they really did know that there was “heaven” or something better beyond, no one would “bear the whips and scorns of time” and everyone would commit suicide. He notes that, from the “undiscover’d country” – death – “no traveler returns” and no one knows for sure what there is after death. Thinking about this, he quips, deems people cowards and makes them “turn awry, and lose the name of action.”
2. In the first scene of Act III, we see Hamlet’s speech on suicide – “to be or not to be.” But once Ophelia walks in, he acts very differently. Even though we know as the reader that he has said that he’s going to “act” crazy, some of the things he does make him actually appear mad because they do nothing to advance himself in his mission and are actually self-destructive and self-deprecating. He makes himself appear fickle or emotionally withdrawn, not crazy, when he says “I did love you once…I loved you not.” He even contradicts himself with those phrases. When he begins to speak of a nunnery and man as a “sinner”, he is trying to act crazy, even though he may actually believe some of the things he is saying.
3. The play within a play further promotes Hamlet’s “acting” – his being ‘mad’ when really not – and serves to try and get a reaction out of Claudius to see if he actually killed Hamlet, Sr. The play is essentially the same thing that happened in the actual story of Hamlet, with the brother of the king murdering the king through the ear. Hamlet has all of his friends watching the King, and they get the reaction they were looking for.
4. The players serve to show the power and persuasion of acting and believable illusion. They produce something that looks real and parallels reality, but is not real, such as what Hamlet is doing. His acting looks real, and could be real, but we know (or think we know) that it is but an act. They also have more than one “face” like Polonius’ two main characters or the King’s many sides.
5. Hamlet wants her to go to a nunnery to escape from the madness of the royalty, while also preventing her from being a “breeder of sinners.” He claims that all men are “arrant knaves” and should not be trusted, and he believes that the world would be better if he had not been born, because he is proud, revengeful, ambitious, and with more offences at [his] back that [he] have thoughts to put them in.” He says such things out of disgust of what he has seen in royal relationships and out of his love for her. He does not want to see her in such a situation has he sees surrounding him, and feels that she shall be protected in a nunnery from the corruption of royalty.
6. Hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius because he believes that because Claudius is trying to repent for his sins, his soul will go to heaven – and this, in Hamlet’s eyes, is not sufficient punishment for his sins. He resolves to kill Claudius during a time of sin, “when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed; gaming, swearing, or some act that has no relish of salvation in’t.” Because I don’t believe in killing, especially revenge killing, I don’t think he should have taken the opportunity to kill him.
7. Hamlet could not for sure know who was behind the arras, but being in his mother’s room, it would be logical to assume it was Claudius, not Polonius. Hamlet sees is as an opportunity to kill Claudius, as he was spying on the conversation of mother and son – if it had been Claudius, he would have been sinning and killing him would satisfy Hamlet’s desire to strike him down in the act of sinning.
post by Julia Tasedan
1. 21st Century version of this speech would be the simple contemplating of suicide. People of this day and age have found such ideas are more comfortable with the idea because people of this time and place are very much privileged. The privileged are sometimes bored with like or are so used to being comfortable that any perils are unfathomed able to live with to a life of luxury.
2. I believe the only madness that Hamlet allows is all the things eh does to everyone he is around. The state of the mind is not how others perceive you but how you seem to keep you mind at a stable cost. He is unsure what to do with the situation of his fathers wishes. He is unsure of the loyalty of his friends. But everyone else is convinced e is a madman. The danger of this is that he must also prove himself worthy as a sane man or he will never have a court when he becomes king, if he becomes king. Basically he is digging himself a hole and I believe it is all just too confusing for even him to comprehend.
3. The significance of the inclusion in the play within this play is the loyalty it represents. It has to coincide with the happenings of the untimely death of the late king. The idea that everyone must be included to a situation is a theme of the play altogether. That we are all connected to each other.
4. the player or actors purpose is to prove is King Claudius is a snake in the grass. The do not know this of course but they try their best to represent the story of Aeneas and Dido. The similarities between the two stories are significant. The king and the queen love eath other dearly, the king dies and the queen is sorrowful. The only difference is the queen true loyalty to her dead husband, in Hamlet the queen is forgetful of her last love and moves on all too quickly.
5. At this point Hamlet believes that Ophelia is against him as his enemy. He feel wronged to have believed that she used him to get to the information about his plans. He feels regret of having allowed someone to be so close to him and his thoughts. Because he has lost his trust to Ophelia I believe that he has lost his love as well and is terribly torn by what he sees as her wickedness.
6. Hamlet believes he is justified by all means to finish off Claudius, but he understand that it is not so easy a thing to do because he does not wish to ruin hi sown life and be put in a mental hospital. He has to calculate a way to prove to the people that he was justified by his actions then kill Claudius.
7. Hamlet doesn’t necessarily believe that Claudius is behind the curtain but I do believe that he is very against anyone in the room when he speaks with his mother. He’d rather have no intrusion at that point then to have to explain himself to another being. He does not seem to have any sadness for Polonius because he saw Polonius as one of those to despise as he is a politician and only treats him idly because of his powerful position.
1. When Hamlet is talking to himself, he is contemplating suicide. “To be or not to be” can translate to him asking ‘To live or not to live’.
2. During the scene of the play, Hamlet is running around adding commentary to the play. He gets angrier and acts crazy throughout the play trying to get a confession out of Claudius. However, in other scenes in the Act, Hamlet is behaving perfectly normal, which makes us believe that when he does act crazy, he could just be pretending.
3. The play the court watches is similar to what the story of Hamlet. It talks about someone murdering another person. Hamlet chooses this play to see because he wants his uncle to feel uneasy and perhaps confess.
4. The players represent the people in the story of Hamlet. They are acting out a scene that is similar to what is going on. They serve to try and get a confession out of Claudius.
5. Hamlet is angry with his mother and he feels angry toward all women. He cannot believe that his mother would marry he uncle so quick after his father’s death and therefore thinks that all women can be this evil. When he tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery I think he’s saying it out of hate and love.
6. Hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius because he was afraid that if he killed him while praying he would go to heaven. Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer, so he waits for a better time in which to seek his revenge.
7. I don’t think that Hamlet knew who was hiding behind the curtain. When he went and confronted his mother he was extremely angry and when he heard a noise come from the curtains, he probably assumed it was Claudius. If he knew it wasn’t Claudius he probably wouldn’t have killed whoever it was. He felt bad for killing Polonius, who was innocent
Hamlet – Act 3 Responses
1. 3.1 is perhaps most well known for its "To be or not to be" speech. What would it sound like if you paraphrased it in everyday, 21st century, modern English?
The paraphrase would sound dry compared to the actual speech since the paraphrase would lack many details. The speech in its entirity revolves around many details to prove its point. For example, Hamlet discusses the difference between death and sleep and uses the example such as how death could possibly create dreams with an unknown outcome.
2. The idea of Hamlet's madness takes greater hold in this act. Is it merely an idea, though? What support can you find for Hamlet actually being mad? For him faking madness?
Hamlet’s madness becomes greater within this chapter since he kills Polonius, an unecessary victim within his plot to kill Claudius. The proof that shows Hamlet’s remaining sanity is seen when Claudius reveals his murder to the audience proving that Hamlet is not completely mad since he is not imagining the murder.
3. What is the significance of the inclusion of the play within the play?
The play within the play reveals that the murder of Hamlet’s father was implemented by Claudius revealing that Hamlet’s madness was never completely real. Hamlet’s madness begins to show when he does kills Polonius whose death was not necessary within Hamlet’s plans.
4. What function do the players serve? Beyond performing the play in which to catch the king, what themes do they underscore? How is what they're doing like or unlike what other characters in Hamlet are doing?
The players represent one of the themes of the overall play, which is betrayal. The players are representing Claudius, the father of Hamlet, and Gertrude within their play since the players portray a king who is killed by a man who wins the hearts of the king’s wife afterwards. This is similar to Claudius who kills the king and wins Gertrude’s heart.
5. Act III has Hamlet saying some very harsh words to Ophelia. Why does he want her to get to a nunnery? Does he say this out of love or hate or both?
This is another point where Hamlets shows signs of his madness but shows his true feelings. He gives an overexaggerated but reasonable reaction to Ophelia since she rejects Hamlet by returning his letters to him and calling him unkind. In fact, she claims, “Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind,” on page 142. This infuriates Hamlet since he is in love with Ophelia, but his love is not returned according to the statement since Ophelia calls Hamlet unkind and rejects his letters. Therefore, Hamlet gives a terrible reaction out of love and madness. Hamlet shows his affections by calling Ophelia, “The fair Ophelia!” on page 140, which was very spontaneous at the moment Ophelia arrived. Hamlet also said to Ophelia on page 142, “I used to love you.” This proves that he did love Ophelia at one point.
6. Why doesn't Hamlet kill Claudius? Should he have used his opportunity?
Hamlet did not kill Claudius since he wished to send him to hell. Hamlet even states on page 192, “To take him in the purging of his soul when he is fit and seasoned for his passage?” This quote signifies when Hamlet realizes that he would not get his revenge if Claudius would not suffer for his crimes. By killing Claudius while he was praying according to Hamlet, Claudius would be sent to heaven and not suffer for his crimes.
7. Does Hamlet really know who is hiding behind the arras? Could he possibly really believe it was Claudius? After all, he had just seen him praying.
Hamlet has no clue of who is hiding behind the tapestry. In fact, he screams, “How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!” on page 196. He is probably expecting a spy who was sent by Claudius since he refers to the intruder as a rat.
Avery WIlliams
Period 3
1. The “to be or not to be” speech is a famous quote taken from Hamlet as he contemplates was action he should take. He wondering about suicide and death a common theme among many tragedy. In a twenty first century paraphrase of the speech it would sound similar to this : If we do in fact commit suicide what is in store for us in the after-life? Is the risk of not knowing the impeding doom better then living a life on earth?
2. Hamlet’s insanity in this act is after a careful analysis simply an illusion. As were are able to understand the complex character of hamlet we learn that he has a clear conscious and is able to process his thoughts as any human being. Many people in the play feel that hamlets abrupt madness is a result of the inner turmoil due to the dealt of his father. As it is true that Hamlet grieves over his lose he does not go mad. Also so believe that the Prince has fallen madly in love with Ophelia. This is another illusion as Hamlet’s love for Ophelia is not his main priority at the present.
3. Hamlets main objective is the two plays is to find out the reaction from his guilt ridden Uncle. It is a parallel the the play within a play as it has overlapping plots.
4. The players in the play within the play serve the function of lining the themes in the main plot of Hamlet. The themes which they parallel are the insignificance of infatuation and the sorrow and remorse which crimes cause. They do so by sharing a similar plot in their little play to that of Hamlet.
5. Hamlets words to Ophelia were out of love as well as hate. He wishes her to a nunnery or a church to become a nun out of love because he wants to shelter her from not only the scheming court but from men in general. He wishes to banish her out of hatred because he can’t deal with her right now. Perhaps another point is that he is frustrated by the fact that he cannot give Ophelia what she seeks in a partner due to the pressure that he is facing right now.
6. Hamlet refrains from killing Claudius in the church because he feels that God is watching him and his crime may not be forgiven. Also if he kills Claudius at the present he may be tried with treason as he does not have enough evidence to prove Claudius was in fact the murderer and to convince everyone else of his Uncle’s quilt.
7. Hamlet cannot be positive that it is in fact Claudius behind the arras. He did just see him praying however The thought of Claudius seems to have consumed all of Hamlet’s thoughts. He feels so strongly that his Uncle was responsible for the death of the late King that he is willing to take the life of an innocent bystander.
DDomurat
Period 3
1. To commit suicide or to live on. Hamlet asks himself this question within this monologue. He could give in against this huge ordeal or stand up with courage against all odds and fight for what he believes in.
2. Hamlet is slightly insane. He claims to see a ghost, which in modern age is rather unbelievable, let alone have the ghost be his father and tell of a plot of murder committed by Hamlets uncle. Hamlet contemplates killing himself which isn't a sane idea. The way Hamlet treats his mother as though "in love," in act 4, the Queens closet, Hamlet speaks to his mother as almost attracted to her.
3. Hamlet puts on this play because he plans on exposing the truth of his father's death by his uncle. If Hamlet can get King Claudius to think Hamlet his onto him, the king may do rash actions, therefore exposing the truth.
4. The players act as all of the existing characters around Hamlet, including himself. The difference between the real life people and the players is that the players tell it how it is rather than go around in circles.
5. Hamlet pushes Ophelia away because he loves her and doesn't want her to get hurt when the situation become dangerous for those around Hamlet.
6. I believe that if Hamlet killed King Claudius at that moment then Hamlet will still be deemed insane and Claudius will not suffer for what he has done.
7. Hamlet's mind is to clouded for him to strike right away is wrong, but not completely wrong. Hamlet thought Polonius was Claudius even though he just saw him at the abbey. Since Hamlet has developed such hate for his uncle, he made a rash decision to kill King Claudius.
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