Universidad de Playa Ancha

de Ciencias de la Educación

H A M L E T

Name: Gabriela Montes

1) What kind of king is Claudius? What evidence shows the kind of monarch he is and the kind
of man he is? Is this his appearance, or is it his true character?

Claudius the King in Shakespeare's Hamlet is a complex individual. In the play he murders his brother,
marries his former sister in law, and ascends to the throne of Denmark. Considering this it is possible
to say that Claudius is shrewd and able, though not always ethical or moral.

Claudius addresses the court after his marriage to the Queen. He begins by acknowledging their
feelings of sorrow for the former King Hamlet, then transitions into expressing his thanks for their
acceptance of the marriage. By receiving the court's acceptance of him as King, Claudius can proceed
to comfortably reign and carry out the affairs of the state of Denmark.

Claudius makes people believe that he is a legitimate and virtuous king but he is a murderer. Claudius
manipulates people and makes them into his pawns. But verbally is not the only way Claudius makes
people eat out of his palm, but he uses his wealth as well. With promise of some extra money and
some crafty wording, Claudius is able to convince Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to betray Hamlet
their childhood friend, and bring the King information about Hamlet.

Whereas most of the other important men in Hamlet are preoccupied with ideas of justice, revenge,
and moral balance, Claudius is bent upon maintaining his own power. Claudius is a corrupt politician
whose main weapon is his ability to manipulate others through his skillful use of language. Claudius’s
love for Gertrude may be sincere, but it also seems likely that he married her as a strategic move, to
help him win the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the king.

As the play progresses, Claudius’s mounting fear of Hamlet’s insanity leads him to ever greater self-
preoccupation; when Gertrude tells him that Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius does not remark that
Gertrude might have been in danger, but only that he would have been in danger had he been in the
room.

Claudius is able to devise plots and plans for his own good. In Act V, scene II, rather than allowing
Laertes only two methods of killing Hamlet, the sharpened sword and the poison on the blade,
Claudius insists on a third, the poisoned goblet. When Gertrude inadvertently drinks the poison and
dies, Hamlet is at last able to bring himself to kill Claudius, and the king is felled by his own cowardly
machination

2) What is Hamlet’s conflict over the Ghost’s existence? Why does he continue to doubt the
“honesty” of the Ghost even after Claudius confesses his guilt?

The conflict is that Hamlet believes that the apparition is indeed the ghost of his father and that it has
told the truth. Yet it may be a demon in his father's shape, tempting him to kill an innocent man.

The Ghost revealed that he was, in fact, the ghost of Hamlet’s father. He told Hamlet that he was
poisoned by his brother Claudius as he slept in his orchard and, if Hamlet was not already feeling the
desire, the Ghost made plain the demand: "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder". To be
certain of Claudius's guilt, Hamlet decided to reenact the murder of his father with the production of
The Murder of Gonzago. If Claudius was disturbed by the play it will reveal his guilt, and this was
exactly what happened.

After that Hamlet had an opportunity to kill the unattended Claudius in his chamber when he was
confessing his guilt, but, after soliloquizing on the matter, he decides not to take action because
Claudius is praying. Killing Claudius in prayer would not really be revenge because he would go to
heaven. Then the Ghost appeared again to Hamlet. He was angry because Claudius was still alive.
He told Hamlet he had returned to "whet thy almost blunted purpose".

Despite the fact that the ghost was right about that Claudius had murdered his father, Hamlet
continues to doubt the honesty of the Ghost. I can notice that when he is with her mother.

Act III. Scene IV. Hamlet:

What devil was't

That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
And reason panders will.

He thinks that maybe the ghost is a demoniac influence that has caused his mother unacceptable
behavior.

But also in this dialog Hamlet says to his mother that he is afraid to make mistakes. He is not sure to
follow the advice of the ghost. In my opinion Hamlet continues to doubt the “honesty” of the ghost
because deeper in his heart he does not want to kill his uncle. Hamlet is intellectual and rational, he
would have preferred other solution but the situation makes necessary a revenge killing Claudius.

Act III. Scene IV. Hamlet:

On him, on him! Look you how pale he glares!

His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.--Do not look upon me;
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.

3) Name the various foils Shakespeare has created for Hamlet. Why is each important to the
play?

In my opinion the more important foils are: Polonius, Ophelia, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
and the actors.

Polonius can be considered a foil to Hamlet because he serves to reinforce the pattern of corruption,
and demonstrates the social and moral decay of Denmark. His devious ways show the audience that
he is one of many characters who lack conviction and integrity. Throughout Hamlet Polonius is a
hypocrite who looks out for his own interests, and betrays those he should be loyal to. These aspects
of his character are revealed in his relationships with the King, Ophelia, Laertes, and Hamlet.
Hamlet’s opinion is that Polonius is a dishonorable man; he lacks morals and conviction. He is also
transparent and two-faced. As Hamlet is killing Polonius he makes some insightful comments about
Polonius, "Thou wretched, rash intruding fool, farewell! I took thee for thy better...let me wring your
heart for I shall if it be made of impenetrable stuff...". Throughout the play Polonius proves that his
character lacks heart and honor.

Other foil for Hamlet is Ophelia. She helps us see the different attitudes Hamlet has toward certain
things. Hamlet, after finding out that his father was murdered, starts acting crazy and giving Ophelia
mixed signals about his love for her. Ophelia confesses that she loves him but Hamlet states that "I did
love you once." He also stated that "You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate
our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not." The relation with Ophelia also shows how
Hamlet feels about marriage and women. Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to the convent because she
should not want to be a "breeder of sinners" and because there should be no more marriage.

Besides that, Ophelia is a foil for Hamlet because of the difference in the way each grieved for their
father’s deaths. The difference between the way Hamlet and Ophelia grieved is that Ophelia’s grief
was actually for her father, whereas Hamlet’s grief was for his mother. Hamlet grieved for his father but
he was more upset with the fact that his mother married his uncle only days after his father had died.
Ophelia grieved for her father to the point that she killed herself.

I also consider Horatio a foil for Hamlet. Horatio is the only person in the play that Hamlet trusts. He is
the only one who knows for certain that Hamlet's madness is an act, the one person Hamlet confides
in personally, and the one whom bids Hamlet goodnight upon his death. Considering his conflicts with
his family, Horatio is the only "family" Hamlet has. He understands that Horatio is very rational and
thoughtful, yet not overly pensieve like himself. Horatio serves Hamlet with his emotional support,
rationality, and unwavering loyalty. Hamlet values Horatio's qualities and respects him for his
attributes.

Others foils can be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who were Hamlet’s friends but they change their
loyal to Claudius to seek prestige, demonstrating that they are not true friends to Hamlet. The King
Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to investigate Hamlet's madness but they could not do
that. Hamlet thinks that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are foolish little pawns because they do
anything the King tells them to because they just want to be honored. Furthermore, he thinks they are
just plain foolish because he tricks them and manipulates them multiple times to perfectly stage his
plan. Their relation ends tragically when Hamlet lives a letter for the captain to kill rosencrantz and
guildenstern while he runs back to elsinore.

Finally, the actors of the play also can be considered foils because Hamlet can express their feelings
through them. Hamlet has asked the actors to add lines in the play to reflect what Hamlet feels is his
mother's betrayal to his father. In the play, the queen promises to never remarry, especially someone
who murders her husband, but the king says she will forget her promise once he is gone. Claudius
takes offense at the play, and when they get to the point where the king is poisoned, Claudius gets up
and leaves. Hamler feels he has proven that Claudius killed his father. He is very impress with the play
and he admires these persons who can express their emotions so well.
4) Explain the function of the Gravediggers at the beginning of Act V.

The scene of the Gravediggers was a place between the rapidly rising actions of the last few tragic
scenes and the final tragedy. The gravediggers serve to progress the themes of death and birth and
youth and old age. Just as Act I began with the Ghost, Act V begins with the graveyard scene,
showing that death and decay will be man's end.

The gravediggers function is to foreshadow that more deaths will occurs in his tragic play, and the
audience is made to wonder for whom the next grave will be readied. They set the mood for the end of
the play that will result in multiple murders.

For other side, the gravediggers provide a unique kind of humor in the play. The humor provided by
the grave diggers serves to lighten the tragic stress of Ophelia’s death but their humor is not out of
peace keeping with the somber spirit of the play, the jest about graves and corpses, bones, and skulls.
Its humour provides a catastrophe that is to follow. It is the calm before the storm.

Finally, this scene also allows the audience to see Hamlet again in his normal disposition. Possessing
a fine slues of humor, he is capable of appreciating the wit of the grave diggers even in the midst of
perils and pitfalls, even in the midst of his loneliness, his troubles. Also, possessing a depth of
sentiments and emotions Hamlet frees himself from the pretense and openly expresses his grief by
entering Ophelia’s grave.

5) Look through the text and find five questions that drive the theme, characters, or plot of the
play. Explain Why questions are important and why Shakespeare poses them as questions and
not as answers.

I am going to refer to Hamlet questions. Hamlet uses a lot of questions because he thinks a lot about
the things that happen to him and his feelings about these situations. Shakespeare writes several
Hamlet’s soliloquies that incorporate questions and doubts that he has having at the moment.

It is important to put these thoughts as questions and not as answers because they highlight the
anguish, self-consciousness, insecurity and fear that Hamlet feels about his dad’s murder, Claudius
guilt and his mother’s new marriage. Also, Shakespeare writes these thoughts as questions because
through using this resource the actors can interact more with the audience making them more
interested in the play.

a) Act I.

Hamlet:
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?

Hamlet asks these questions to the ghost. It is the first time that Hamlet sees his father’s ghost and
wants to know why he is not resting in peace.

b) Act II.

Hamlet:
…..
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
…………..
I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

Hamlet doubts about ghost advised but also he feels it is necessary to revenge his father’s death. So
he decides to prepare a play to observe Claudius´s attitude.
c) Act III.

Hamlet:
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: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

Hamlet thinks about the moral legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably painful world and also he thinks
about the difficulty of attaining truth in a spiritually ambiguous world.

d) Act III

Hamlet:
Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd:
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven?
But in our circumstance and course of thought,
'Tis heavy with him: and am I then revenged,
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and season'd for his passage?
No!
Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent:
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,
Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed;
At gaming, swearing, or about some act
That has no relish of salvation in't;
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays:
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.

Hamlet had the possibility to kill Claudius, but his insecurity and doubts stopped him.

e) Act IV.

Hamlet:
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

Hamlet decides to comeback and kills Claudius. Hamlet is ashamed and anger about his passive and
idealistic attitude in relation to his father’s murder.
6) Identify the three revenge plots in Hamlet, and explain why each is important to the
development of the play.

In Hamlet, honour is a central reoccurring theme that results in the development of three main revenge
plots. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras all face the major challenge of seeking vengeance against those
individuals who are responsible for the death of their beloved fathers. Hamlet plans on murdering
Claudius for poisoning his father, Laertes wants revenge on Hamlet for slaying Polonius, and
Fortinbras wants to avenge his father's death that is brought about by King Hamlet.

The revenge plots are important because indicate distinct methods to attain revenge. Even though the
three men share similar motives for seeking restitution, there are some differences that make
Fortinbras revenge more honorable than the others.

Hamlet revenge is no honourably enough because he waits until the people of Denmark realize that
Claudius is corrupt and dishonest before he murders him, which shows that Hamlet only acts when he
is not fearful of being punished. Hamlet's plan to use deception to excuse his actions is a
dishonourable one because he should be willing to face any detrimental consequences as long as he
justly avenges his father's murder. For other side Hamlet revenge greatly depends on the actors in
order to reveal Claudius' guilty conscience by putting on the play The Murder of Gonzago, it is hard to
Hamlet take decisions for his own. Similarly, Laertes revenge is not honourably enough because he
plans to use a poisoned rapier to fatally wound Hamlet and also because Laertes' revenge is
characterized with impetuosity.

On the other hand, Fortinbras exemplifies his ability to avoid emotional setbacks when his uncle
informs him to halt his planned attack on Denmark. In comparison to Hamlet and Laertes, Fortinbras
avenges his father's death most honourably because he carries out a plan without constant
contemplation based on emotion, he devises and implements a strategic revenge plot without the
assistance of others, and he does not use deceitful methods to explain or hide the reasons for his
actions. In contrast to Hamlet and Laertes, Fortinbras suppresses his emotions to prevent them from
delaying his plans in seeking revenge, and thus is more honourable in his pursuit.