My initial reaction to act 2 was that I wanted to hear more about Hamlet and Ophelia. I was interested in there romance and wasn't sure how that one was going to play out. Overall in act 3 I felt like their was a lot of events taking place. People were going to Paris where Laertes, Ophelia was thinking about Hamlet, Hamlet's friends arrived to see him,the actors showed up at the court. So many events were taking place at one time it was hard to keep track of where everyone was at.
The character that I would analyze would be Gertrude. She is Hamlet's mother who is in love with the new king Claudius her old brother-in-law. She seems like a caring and loving women for Hamlet but as for Hamlet Sr. she seemed to not love him so much. She listens to what people tell her to do like Claudius. She doesn't have much of an opinion on anything but just seems to worry about Hamlet. Gertrude is in a way an antagonist because she is to blame for Hamlet's death and is tends to complicate the situation when it comes down to Hamlet's craziness.
If I were to choose a theme that this story is depicted it would be deception. This scene had many events taking place where people were going to do certain tasks but most people were not truthful of what their motives were. Like Reynaldo going to Paris to check up on Laertes he was going to lie to people and deceive them in order for them to tell him stuff about Laertes. Also how Gertrude and Claudius brought in Hamlet's friends to find out what was wrong with Hamlet. They said to tell Hamlet they just wanted to see him. Then Polonius and the king and queen were going to set up a trap to see if Hamlet loved Ophelia. So in this act everyone had different motives then what they were actually portraying. Then to top it off the actors come into town at the end of the scene only to amplify deception.
I also think it's deception too. And yeah I admit, i'm drawn to love stories as well, and I was confused with the hidden drama between Hamlet and Ophelia because Ophelia would say all these things about Hamlet, and then when Polonius confronted Hamlet, Hamlet's reaction was so dull it seemed like he had nothing to do with Ophelia at all. I also agree with what you said abou Gertrude, she does care for Hamlet and Claudius, and she's easily swayed by anything and everything. (Probably a comment about women from Shakespeare.)
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you feel Gertrude was in love, I thought I was more lust than anything. Women and their love stories, where’s the fighting and blood. I totally agree with the deception theme.
ReplyDeleteI was also interested in the romance between Ophelia and Hamlet. Hamlet just seems to be a jerk to her but I find it funny. It would be interesting if it was different but he did love her. Gertrude is definitely caring about her son but I also find her to be an idiot, and it's true she does whatever Claudius says. Deception definitely is a theme because all the characters use each other to get their desires. In this case I also think they decieve each other to get revenge.
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