Essay: Hamlet Acts and Scenes analysis, emotions

Act 1, Sc 1: Midnight on the Ramparts
1.The atmosphere created at the beginning of the play is suspense. Bernardo, Marcellus and Horatio have an encounter with a ghost. At first, Bernardo and Marcellus are not in full belief on what had just appeared in front of them, they then decide to let Horatio know and to confirm with him. When Horatio sees the ghost himself, Marcellus tells him that the ghost looks like the king. For instance, the armour on the ghost looked like the same armour the king used to wear. This leads to making a more suspicious atmosphere because what would have led to the king coming back as a ghost.
2.Act 1 Scene 1, Page 5 ( Line 41) – Bernardo says “ In the same figure like the king that’s dead”
Line 44- Horatio states, “Most like; it horrors me with fear and wonder”
From these two lines, we can see how confused and scared they are after encountering the ghost. First, they recognize that it is the ghost and afterward they are left thinking as to why the king has come back.
3.The first important information is the entry of the ghost. This creates a whole plot development as to why the ghost is introduced in the beginning. It is said that when someone comes back as a spirit, it means that there is unfinished work that they must now complete. Background information that is also important in this scene is that Horatio tells them about Fortinbras. He gives them information about how the king died and his son is now the new king of Norway.
Act 1, Sc 2: Introduction to the court
1.a) In the beginning of act 1 scene 2, King Claudius talks about two important issues. One is about his decision about marrying the queen, Gertrude and two, information about Fortinbras. He addresses how all of them are mourning over the kings death and he says how there is grief; however, he has decided to marry the queen. Furthermore, he also talks about the king of Fortinbras and that he understands him and will not cause any problems.
b) At the party, Hamlet seems to show his madness over his father’s death and so Claudius becomes suspicious as to why Hamlet is acting this way. When Laertes and Hamlet request to leave for Elsinore for school, he doesn’t want them to go as he wishes to keep an eye on Hamlet and get to know what it is that is making hamlet act all weird.
2. In this scene, clearly hamlet is isolated in front of everyone in court. The only person he can trust and talk to is his friend Horatio. He cannot trust his mother because she married his uncle. In front of the whole court, Gertrude and Claudius are scolding Hamlet for grieving/ mourning about his father’s death, they tell him to act more like a man and move on, this is wrong because it had only been a few months since the king died and rightfully the throne should have been given to Hamlet but instead was given to Claudius.
3. In short, this speech talks about how Hamlet is saying that he is upset over his father’s death, and then he goes on talking about dark clothing, tears and gloomy faces, and says how a person can show fake grief in this way.
a) Hypocrisy means behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards, and in this case we see that this speech shows hypocrisy because, though Claudius is the king, it does not prove the fact that he is actually the intelligent one. Hamlet shows hoe intelligent he is when he says this speech and he portrays having high standards even though he doesn’t have the position.
b) This concept can be applied to the king and queen because for Claudius he is just showing that he does really care for Hamlet and king Hamlet, but we all know that what he really wants is the power he gets from being on the throne.
c) It is ironic when Gertrude tells Hamlet to remove his mourning clothes because she should also be wearing clothes as king Hamlet was her husband.
4. When hamlet calls out his mother in front of everyone.
5. Hamlet has his full attention when Horatio informs him about the king returning as a ghost. Horatio tells Hamlet how they, Bernardo, Marcellus and he have seen the appearance of the ghost, and so Hamlet decides to watch for himself, to see if they are actually correct. When the ghost does appear before, Hamlet finds out that his father was indeed murdered.
Act 1, Sc 3: Advice and Manipulation
1.Laertes advises Ophelia to be aware of Hamlet, he believes that Ophelia should not get too attached with Hamlet. He says how Hamlet is choosing his wife based upon the political reason; He says how the first job of the future king is to love the country first. Laertes knows that this love between Ophelia and Hamlet is not long lasting. He warns Ophelia because he dearly loves his sister.
2.When Polonius is giving advice to Laertes, it seems as if he is a very loving and caring father. He gives much advice that could help Laertes. First, his advice to him is to keep his good and true friends close to him. He also tells him to have courage. Throughout his whole speech, the main thing Polonius wants Laertes to learn is to keep balance in life. At the very end of this speech Polonius says “To thine own self be true.” This essentially is the advice that, he should be true to himself.
3. This is ironic because polonius himself is a court slave yet he is making judgments of hamlet and making assumptions from what one wears.
4. Polonius tells Ophelia to be aware of Hamlet’s attentions because he says how, men in the country have more freedom than women and so he may leave you one day and no one will say anything. He later tells Ophelia not to believe his promises because in the end they will be broken. Polonius cares for his daughter and so he is warning her to stay away from Hamlet.
5. Polonius is telling Ophelia not to trust Hamlet’s promises, they may look innocent and holy to her but the real purpose of those promises is to deceive her.
6. Ophelia seems to be nice and loving women. In this scene, Ophelia seems to show how much she is deeply in love with Hamlet. However, she also seems to love her father very much. At the end of the play she says “I shall obey, my lord” She says this to Polonius when he tells her to stay away from Hamlet. Thus, proving how, even though she loves Hamlet, she is ready to sacrifice her love for her father.
Act 1, Sc 4: Hamlet on the Ramparts
1. There have been sounds of gun fires from the kingdom.
2. a) Hamlet tells horatio how people believe Denmark to be a party country and that man’s we do not get any benefits. Also that one evil seed can completely destroy the country.
b) Contagion means a disease that can be spread from one person to another by close contact. In this case, Claudius is the beginning of the disease that is spreading and everyone in the kingdom is getting affected in some sort of way.
3. a) When the ghost appears in front of Hamlet and beckons him to follow him, Horatio and the others are worried as to what might happen to the Hamlet.
Line 69- 74
“What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o’er his base into the sea, And there assume some other horrible form Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness?”
Horatio is worried that Hamlet may drown into the ocean or he might even fall of a cliff. Thus, they are worried that something bad is going to happen and so they don’t want him to follow the ghost.
b) Hamlet does not listen to Horatio and the others and instead decides to depart with the ghost; this proves how courageous Hamlet is. He is ready to take on the danger instead of backing out.
Act 1, Sc 5: The call to revenge
1. To begin, King Hamlet was killed by his own brother, and even after he is dead Claudius (his brother) whom he trusted took over the throne. Also, Instead of honouring King Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius held a party to announce their wedding.
2. a) The murder- The ghost reveals to Hamlet that he was murdered by the present king, also Hamlet’s uncle
b) Claudius- When the ghost tells Hamlet that he was killed by claudius, Hamlet realizes that his uncle is bad and that all he cared about was the power, and the position of king.
c) Gertrude- the ghost tells Hamlet to not punish his mother, queen Gertrude for the sins of claudius. This proves how loyal gertrude’s character is.
3. Hamlet is horrified as to what the ghost just revealed to him. Now Hamlet is sure that Claudius is an evil man and he also has a sense of feeling that he was behind the death of the king and so when the ghost tells him, it is now confirmed.
4. Hamlet decides to put on an antic disposition because he wants to find out for sure if Claudius is actually the one who murdered his father. He will do this by setting up and act, the same way the king was murdered and he will see if Claudius reacts and how he reacts because this will prove if he is guilty.
5. Act 1, ends on a note of doom and foreboding, because throughout the whole scene many things get revealed to hamlet. For instance, how the death of the king occured, and then it ends in doom because Hamlet decides to put on an act to see if claudius killed the king. There were many tragedies that were revealed by the end of the scene.
Act 2, Sc 2: Two months later
a) When Polonius sends Reynaldo to go and spy on Laertes, Reynaldo is supposed to tell subtle lies, so when people agree with it then he will know that it is true.
b) From these actions, three characteristics are seen from Polonius. The first one is caring. He wants to make sure that Laertes does not do anything wrong. He is also very intelligent and sneaky. The way he gets Reynaldo to spy proves that.
2. Polonius is telling Reynaldo to make sure that the lies they tell bring back the truth and he is telling him how they are wise and intelligent because they are indirectly finding out things about Laertes. His Roundabouts.
3. Ophelia is frightened and distressed because of the way Hamlet is acting. Hamlet is acting as an insane person. The actions he does scares her.
Ophelia states “ He took my by the wrist and held me hard; Then goes he to the length of his arm, and with his other hand thus o’er his brow, he falls to such perusal of my face as he would draw it” ( II, i, 86-90).
She tell Polonius how he grabbed her hand and looked at her intensely and then backed away.
4. From the actions of hamlet, Polonius interprets that Hamlet is a mad person. He orders Ophelia to never come in contact with Hamlet anymore because he believes that Hamlet does not actually love Ophelia.
Act 2, Sc 2: Spying is an art form
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are called to court by the King. They have been called by Claudius because he wants them to find out what is wrong with Hamlet. Claudius knows that they are good friends and thus also says that he will reward them for their doings.
They choose to obey the king because Claudius told them that they will be rewarded for doing what he asks.
Polonius enters saying that the ambassadors whom Claudius had sent to Norway have returned. Voltimand and Cornelius enter to talk about what is taking place there. They say that the king rebuked Fortinbras for attempting to make war on Denmark, and Fortinbras swore he would never again attack the Denmark. The Norwegian king, instead they are preparing to go against poland.
What it means is that it is better to be brief and concise about information and this is ironic in Polonius’s case because when he tell the king and queen that Hamlet is mad he is not just brief and concise.
Polonius reads Hamlet’s love letter for Ophelia in which hamlet states that; Ophelia should never doubt his love for her. Also, that even though he does not have the skills to write verses, he wants to let her know that he still loves her.
Polonius interprets and directly tells the king that love is the cause of Hamlet’s madness. In short, Polonius believes that Hamlet has fell in love.
Polonis informs the king (Claudius) that the couple walks for four hours in the lobby and so they should spy on them and see what the two are talking about. Thus, Claudius and Polonius decide to spy on the two.
Hamlet calls Polonius a fishmonger, which shows his contempt for him.
Polonius is just saying how though there is madness in hamlet he has some meaning to it, or like he is mad in a smart way.
Polonius is saying how Hamlet seems to have some meaning to why is acting all mad. There may be something that hamlet is planning and thus is saying this.
a) Hamlet is perceptive and clever because he knows why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are here, he asks them to reveal to him as to why the queen and king have sent them to spy on him. He talks about tricking people into letting him unravel the mystery
b) There seems to be a element of real madness in his “antic disposition” and this can be seen when he reveals what he is going to do to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
c) The arrival of the players restores hamlet to his former self because he welcomes them with joy and excitement and is not acting mad anymore. We can see this in Lines 420- 431, “ Welcome all. I am glad to see thee well. Welcome, good friends O, old friend!…”
12. Both Hecuba and Gertrude lost their husbands. The only difference between the two of them was that Hecuba grieved over her husband’s death for a longer period of time whereas, Gertrude did not grieve for long and just moved and decided to marry Claudius.
Act 3, Sc 1: Ophelia is Sacrificed
a) Claudius is suspicious about the true cause of hamlet’s “ affliction” because he had seen the way Hamlet has talked to Ophelia and so he believes that the pain is coming from his love with Ophelia.
b) Claudius remembers how he killed his brother and pretends to act innocent.
2. Polonius is telling Ophelia to read the book of prayers so that to show that you are lonely, you are actually reading. Polonois is talking about the appearance of religion and thus it sounds odd when he says it.
3. In this scene Hamlet is acting all Mad and is cursing and yelling at Ophelia. He tells her how he does not want to be with her anymore and tells hers to go and become a nun or a prostitute. Throughout his whole anger towards Ophelia he is showing his hatred for women.
4. Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery because he says how if she can’t be his then she will not be anyone’s and so tells her to go to a nunnery and become devoted to god so that she would never be able to get married and have a happy marriage life.
5. Ophelia- we can feel sympathy for her because she is innocent and pure and now Hamlet is yelling, cursing and ordering her to go become a nun.
Hamlet- In my opinion, we can feel sympathy for him as well because he might be mad at his mother gertrude however he is taking out his anger on Ophelia
6. Ophelia is shattered because she knew the Hamlet that was kind and gifted but she is sad and depressed about the betrayal that hamlet had done. She thinks that hamlet is crazy and no longer himself.
7. a) After hearing Ophelia and Hamlet’s conversation, claudius plans to kill and get rid of hamlet, because he fears him and his intentions
b) Polonius tells Claudius to let Hamlet talk to Gertrude and if he does not tell the truth then we shall send him to England.
Act 3, Sc 2: The Play Within the Play
Hamlet is telling Horatio how he envies him because he does not have to deal with revenge and pain. Horatio goes with his thinking and decides according to that rather than letting his emotions choose for him.
Hamlet is slightly envious about Horatio because he doesn’t need to care about taking revenge and going through the pain he is going through.
The action that is conveyed during the dumb show is the murder of the king, they set up this whole play to see the reaction of King Claudius to see whether or not he will react to what’s happening because if he does show a reaction, it will prove that he did do the murder.
5. a) At first Ophelia is shocked to see, and tells Hamlet that she is impressed with the way he did his story telling.
b) When Ophelia says “ the king rises,” the queen sees Claudius and asks him if he
Is okay. In a way she is worried and shocked as to why the king reacted in such a
Way.
c) Right after the play, claudius is shocked and is asking for the lights to be turned on.
6. a) When Guildenstern and Rosencrantz come to visit Hamlet, Hamlet tells them that they won’t be able to get information out of him. He is just trying to say that they cannot play upon him
b) He shows his anger and frustration when he says that he is no longer able to stand with his parents. anymore , he tells his friends rosencrantz and guildenstern to leave him.
c) In lines 380- 385, Hamlet talks about taking revenge as he is now confident that Claudius is guilty.
Act 3, Sc 3: Claudius at Prayer
To speed up Hamlet’s departure to England, Claudius tells Gertrude that he is worried and concerned for Hamlet.
2. Rosencrantz is talking about securing the kingdom, but instead there should be security for what’s happening inside the kingdom because everyone is on the verge of killing each other. He also talks about protecting the king but they didn’t protect the previous king.
In his prayer, claudius is saying how he feels guilty for the murder and that the prayer he is saying to god is on no use (rank=foul). He wants god to forgive him but he does not want to give up all the things he has; such as the crown and Gertrude. Claudius is shocked from all the blood that his on his hand from murdering king Hamlet. Thus, throughout his whole prayer he is just asking for forgiveness from the god for killing King Hamlet, but he doesn’t want to give up his possessions in order for god to forgive him truly.
This the irony because Hamlet thinks that Claudius is actually praying. Hamlet believes that if he kills Claudius now then he will be sent to heaven. This is horribly ironic because Claudius is not really praying for his murder, he is just showing that he is.
Act 3, Sc. 4: In Gertrude’s Closet
Hamlet is not his normal self anymore and is verbally saying stuff to his mother for instance “ Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue” (Line 11). He is attacking his mother and being rude.
Polonius has been hiding behind the curtain and looking at the whole situation in where hamlet is being mean to Gertrude and threatening her. When polonius realizes that it is bad he screams for help. When hamlet sees that Polonius was standing behind the curtains, he goes there and strikes him.
“ That thus hath cozen’d you at hoodman-blind?” (3.4.77). Hamlet is telling Gertrude that what type of devil blindfolded her that she cannot even see the difference between King Hamlet and Claudius. He further goes on and says “Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love” (3.4.92-94). Here Hamlet is scolding Gertrude that she is like the dirty bed sheets that she sleeps in, and these bed sheets are dirty and corrupted and she is making love. So, Hamlet is just telling her off by calling her lustful.
The ghost returns again to remind Hamlet to focus on killing Claudius and to leave Gertrude alone.
a) Hamlet requests gertrude to end her relationship with Claudius.
b) By this time Gertrude figures out that Hamlet’s anger is fake and so Hamlet requests Gertrude to not tell anyone about this.
6. After killing Polonius,Hamlet just drags him away. This just shows that he has no remorse or guilt. He is in an avenging mood and doesn’t even care that he just took a life and that to his lovers father.
7. Hamlet is saying how god just wanted me punished and so made me do this but, he says how he is both heavens executioner and the minister of justice.
Act 4. Sc 1: Reactions to Polonius’ death
a) Claudius is now worried because he feels like hamlet may be a threat to him as well as the kingdom, because of his madness. Claudius has been suspicious of Hamlet ands so he doesn’t want Hamlet to tell the kingdom that he had done the murder. In general, he is concerned about his truth coming out.
Gertrude is more concerned about Hamlet’s madness and how he is killing people because of that.
b) Gertrude exposes Hamlet to Claudius but says that it was his madness that made him do this. Claudius on the other hand, is pretending to care for him and tells Gertrude that they will send him to England, and anyways, that is what he wanted, to get rid of Hamlet.
Act 4. Sc 2: Pursuit and Capture
a) When Hamlet says “sponges” to Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, about their characters this implies that, his friends are being the kings servant, which means they are soaking up all the information from Hamlet and telling it to the king. They are not loyal to Hamlet’s friendship.
b) The relationship is just because of the reward that they will receive. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are just helping the king to get the reward at the end however they don’t know that Claudius is just using them, and that there is really no relationship.
Act 4. Sc 3: Where’s the body
Even though Claudius wants to get revenge from Hamlet but he says he can’t send him to jail because he is loved by everyone in the kingdom and so if he sends him to jail then the people will blame the king, and his reputation will go down.
Though Hamlet is being honest, he is being brutally insulting Claudius by calling him a servant. He is calling Claudius a worm as well.
Claudius is pretending to be nice and loving towards Hamlet but his actual plan is to send Hamlet to England and get the king of England to kill Hamlet.
Act 4. Sc 4: To England
From the scenes of Fortinbras, the impression I get is that he is a fearless and confident leader. When the Captain says he will do as he says, this shows his position and authority in the kingdom.
Hamlet is comparing himself to Fortinbras because he says that he hasn’t even done what his father had told him to do,which was to kill his murder Claudius and instead he keeps delaying it. And in the other hand there is a young prince who has a whole army that he is leading behind hi,. Hamlet says how he is risking his life. So, hamlet and Fortinbras are different when it comes to proving who is more courageous.
Act 4. Sc 5: Insanity and suffering
Ophelia is behaving mad because she is traumatized from her father’s death. She seems to look like she has lost her senses. She starts to sing mournful songs about her father’s death.
When Claudius says this, he is saying that when bad incidents occur, they don’t just happen alone, there are always other bad things happening as well. In the context that there are always tragedies and that they can occur together.
He is angry because of his father’s death and he tells the king (Claudius) that he will take revenge from the person who has killed his father, and it doesn’t matter whatever happens to me. He is full of rage and anger.
a) Ophelia gives her brother rosemary and pansies because their father dies and it shows that they are mourning for his death
b) Ophelia gives fennel and columbines to Claudius because of his position as King. She is trying to say that he only has this power because of his manipulation and betraying his own country by killing the king.
c) Ophelia gives Rue and daisy to Gertrude because it shows that Gertrude is Being betrayed by her own brother because she has no idea that Claudius was the one who killed old King Hamlet.
d) She does not give violets to anyone because violet means faithfulness and she Knows that everyone around her is unfaithful. For example, Claudius killed the king for power, Gertrude married her husband’s killer and now instead of showing
remorse, Laertes is showing rage
5. Claudius assures Laertes that they will take revenge and that Hamlet will die. He tells him that whoever committed the murder will die.
Act 4. Sc 6: The Letter
On the way to England, the ship that Hamlet is on is attacked by pirates and he says that he has become trapped and became their prisoner.
He is hiding near the castle for Horatio to find him in Denmark.
Act 4. Sc 7: The plan–The death
The first reason is that Hamlet is loved by Denmark. All the people of Denmark love Hamlet and if anything happens to him then the people of denmark will think that there is something wrong with the kingdom, injustice has been done. The second reason is that Hamlet is Gertrude’s son. Hamlet is also loved by his mother.
Their plan was to encourage Hamlet into a fencing battle. In which, Laertes will be fighting with a sword that had a poisonous tip. They were also going to have a glass filled with a poisonous drink.
Claudius questions Laertes as to if he loved his father, almost like he is emotionally blackmailing him into killing Hamlet. He asks Laertes of his father was dear to him or is he just showing fake love. He also talks about Laertes’ fencing skills and tells him that he is much better than Hamlet.
Planning the whole murder and then telling Laertes how they will kill Hamlet shows the real Claudius because we already know what he had done to king Hamlet. In the scene it shows us the ability he has to manipulate people into doing what he wants.
Ophelia was found dead in a nearby river, she seemed to have suicided by drowning. The heavy dress she was wearing made her sink into the river automatically killing herself. This anger Laertes more and now is more confident in wanting to kill Hamlet.
Act 5. Sc 1: Hamlet Returns
The two gravediggers provide this scene with comic relief by saying jokes and singing songs, they are making the scene more funny.
When Hamlet confronts the bones and skulls in the graveyard, he begins to realize that death is something that is going to happen to everyone, we just have to accept it. It’s part of our life.
This applies to his dilemma because of everything he has done throughout the play. He thinks that death is the cause of all problems.
When Hamlet leaps into the grave, he wants to prove his love for Ophelia and he wants to show this true that he has to Gertrude and Laertes. As they always believed that he never loved Ophelia.
a) It is important because he uses a royal title to represent himself in front of all the people. He wants to show that he is worthy in front of Gertrude and Laertes as well as the whole kingdom.
b) At this moment when Laertes is grieving for his sister’s loss, Hamlet enters and says how he loves Ophelia but he is not aware of the situation. He is shown mad and crazy about his love for her.
6. Claudius and Gertrude tell Laertes and the other mourners that Hamlet is mad, but Claudius says that because he does not want Laertes to gain respect and love for Hamlet, he wants him to complete their mission which is to kill Hamlet.
7. We can now see that Hamlet is no longer patient and is on the verge of killing the murder of his father.
Act 2. Sc 2: The duel, the deaths, the end
Hamlet reads the letter he was given to deliver to the king in England, the letter contained his death sentence. He then wrote another letter and exchanged with the original letter, which was then sent to Rosencrantz and guildenstern.
He doesn’t really feel bad for them because they betrayed his friendship and were traitors. He thinks that their death was the right thing.
He is saying that god is always watching us and that no matter what we do the end decision is always his. We should accept whatever comes our way as it is all the doing of god.
Hamlet asks pardon of Laertes by repenting over his past mistakes and then apologizing for them.
a) Gertrude- dies from drinking the drink with poison in it
b) Claudius- dies from Hamlet’s poisonous sword
c) Laertes- while the battle was going on, the swords had switched and so the sword that laertes bought with the poisoned tip was not in hamlet’s hand and so laertes dies by the sword he had planned to use to kill Hamlet.
d) Hamlet- dies when Laertes stabs him with the poisoned sword
6. a) It is fitting for Horatio to live because he was the only one that was honourable throughout the whole play. He was honest and calm. He also did not have any evil in him.
b) It was fitting for Fortinbras to take the throne because he is a courageous and Skilled person.
7. a) Horatio tells the truth to everyone and is alive so that he can honor Hamlet’s legacy and to prove his loyalty to Denmark.
b) Fortinbras pay tribute by giving hamlet a military funeral, which shows much respect for the people who have died.