AGENDA Review notes for Act III Scenes I & II Discussion Questions for Act III Scenes I & II Reading Act III Scenes III & IV

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Scene I Guildenstern says, “…but with crafty madness keeps aloof…” (the word crafty used this way meaning feigned or pretend) An irony in Claudius’ dialogue near line 25. He (Claudius) encourages Hamlet to pursue his delight of plays, though it is this playing that will incriminate Claudius. Shortly following, Claudius and Gertrude arrange the “chance meeting” with Ophelia. ACT III NOTABLES

Gertrude says, “I do wish / That your good beauties be the happy cause / Of Hamlet’s wildness.” At line 45 Polonius speaks a biting truth: “We are oft to blame in this; / ‘Tis too much proved, that with devotion’s visage / And pious action do we sugar o’er / The devil himself.” Keep this in mind when Claudius is trying to pray later in the act.

In an aside Claudius replies, “How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience.” In lines 50-53ish, Claudius extends a metaphor for his guilt. He basically compares a harlot (prostitute) covering her face with makeup to his covering up of evils with a falsified image. This signifies another motif in the play of facades, or false fronts. Hamlet’s madness for example, or even Polonius’ behind the scenes meddling.

Line 55 marks the beginning of Hamlet’s most famous speech. “To be, or not to be?” In this passage Hamlet speaks many times about “fortune”. This word continues to surface many times in the play. Hamlet makes death seem innocuous; it is no worse than sleep: “To die, to sleep – No more – and by a sleep to say we end / The heartache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to…”

Hamlet continues to consider suicide throughout this speech as he does the entire play. “The insolence of office…” “The patient merit of th’ unworthy takes…” “To grunt and sweat under a weary life, / But that the dread of something after death, / That undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveler returns…” (Line 76)

Line 82 and following: “Thus conscience does make a coward of us all, / And thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, / And enterprises of great pitch and moment / With this regard their currents turn awry / And lose the name of action.” Line 95: Hamlet denies to Ophelia that he ever loved her. Line 110?

Line 123: “I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in.” Line 129: Does Hamlet realize Polonius is watching? Hamlet to Ophelia: “…if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery go…” Cuckold? Reference to G’trude?

“God has given you one face and you make yourselves another.” Ophelia calls Hamlet “Th’ observed of all observers…” She means here that he is the “object of every courtiers attention.” It’s an irony, however, because of how many people are marking his behavior. Claudius and Polonius decide to send Hamlet to England for a change of scenery.

Polonius, line 175: “But yet do I believe / The origin and commencement of his grief / Sprung from neglected love.” Lines near 185: Polonius decides to meddle one last time before Hamlet goes to England. He will hide in Gertrude’s room behind the arras and listen to the conversation. This decision ultimately kills him.

1. What does Hamlet instruct Horatio to do before the play? What does he admire Horatio? 2. Describe Hamlet's behavior at the play. How does he speak to his mother, uncle, Polonius, and Ophelia? 3. The play-within-a-play serves an important function in the plot because it allows Hamlet to obtain evidence of Claudius’s guilt. How might the play also be related to the motif of false appearance? 4. Explain why Hamlet compares himself to a musical pipe. Think about how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are treating him. (lines ) 5. Explain Hamlets feelings in lines How is this soliloquy different from others?

Scene II This scene is devoted to the playing of The Mousetrap. Line 20…a prime example of meta-drama. These lines discuss the conventions of drama and its effect, which is rather ironic, seeing as the comment is within a drama. Page 201 The disapproval of one judicious person outweighs the approval of many undiscriminating people.

Hamlet admires Horatio. “Give me that man / That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him / In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart / As I do thee.” Line 78: “It is a damned ghost” Line 88: “How fares our cousin Hamlet?” Fares here can mean to “eat”. Next line there is a pun on air/heir. Line 100: Julius Caesar allusion/joke. Hamlet begins to be profane at line 105.

At line 140 Ophelia, referring to the prologue of the play says, “Tis brief, my lord.” Hamlet responds, “ As woman’s love.” I think this could be a reference to either Gertrude or Ophelia. Player Queen: “Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; / Where little fears great, great love grows there.”

As the play within a play begins, there is biting commentary of Gertrude and Claudius’ actions. Line 172: “A second time I kill my husband dead / When second husband kisses me in bed.” “Purpose is but the slave to memory, / Of violent birth but poor validity, / Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree…” Above is an ironic comment on Hamlet’s behavior, an unintended consequence surely.

“Our thoughts are ours, their ends (outcomes) none of our own.” “Your majesty and we that have free souls, it touches not.” – Hamlet, 227. Inappropriate joke, 235. At line 250, just after the player king is poisoned. Line 260? Line 287… “purgation” The metaphor of the flute…line 345

At the end of scene II, Hamlet vows no violence to his mother (probably because of the ghost’s wishes), though his soul would like to.