Hamlet – Act 3 “Skeletal Notes” and Questions to Consider While the graphic organizer can be one way to organize your notes, another way instructors in university are having students prepare for their classes is to post their lecture notes online. The expectation is that students print off the “skeletal notes” and bring them to class to use as a starting point for their lecture notes. I have tried to do this for Act 3 – use these as a guideline but always add in your own notes as well based upon what we discuss in class and you observe for yourself. 3.1 1.
Traps Continue -­‐ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report back to Claudius and Gertrude (plan to have Hamlet reveal something not working) -­‐ Describe Hamlet’s “crafty madness” (3.1.8) Have R & G been successfully duped? 2.
Ophelia/Gertrude – displaced disgust -­‐ Gertrude hopes Ophelia can help restore Hamlet -­‐ It is Hamlet’s disgust for Gertrude that fuels his vicious attack on Ophelia later in the scene (“frailty, thy name is woman!”) Is Ophelia being abused by Polonius, Gertrude and Claudius? 3.
“the conscience of the king” (2.2.607) Is Claudius showing some signs of a conscience at 3.1.49-­‐54? 4.
“To be, or not to be” – the most quoted line in the English language – soliloquy reading and analysis (consider applying the existential questions to this soliloquy and the “Rogue and peasant slave” soliloquy in Act 2. 5.
“Get thee to a nunnery” exchange – analysis 6.
Claudius/Polonius – Reaction (3.1.162-­‐189) What does Claudius’ reaction tell us about his feelings towards Hamlet? What is Polonius’ reaction? What does he propose they do to test Hamlet one more time? 3.2 (The Mousetrap) 1.
Hamlet’s instruction to the Players – Shakespeare’s own commentary on the theatre “Suit the action to the word, the/ word to the action, with this special observance, that you/ o’erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at/ the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature.” (3.2.16-­‐21) “And let those that play/ your clowns speak no more than is set down for them, for/ there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on/ some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too” (3.2.36-­‐39) 2.
Hamlet’s actions/character -­‐ characterize Hamlet’s tone/mood when he talks to: Horatio (trusted friend) Polonius (doddering fool) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Claudius (detested enemy) Ophelia (spurned lover) (mistrusted friends) Gertrude (reviled mother) 3.
“The Mousetrap” a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
4.
3.3 1.
2.
3.
4.
The Dumb Show – actors pantomime the key moments in the play, or perform a wordless skit that would somehow make clear the overall theme and/or genre of the play. The dumb show took place before the main play was performed and likely had a class affiliation (it was for the audience that might not be educated enough to follow the play – groundlings who had paid a lower price). However, given the fact that this particular performance is a command performance given for the King and Queen (and organized by Hamlet) and the audience is comprised of the courtiers – presumably educated and not in need of a Dumb Show – why include it? The ‘play within the play’ – Focus on the Player King’s speech. What is the essence of it? [Hint: look at “But what we determine of we break” (3.2.185) and “That even our loves should with our fortunes change” (3.2.199)]. How is this speech relevant to Hamlet’s own situation? Where do you think Hamlet inserted lines of his own (remember his request in 2.2?) Hamlet’s asides Audience reactions Claudius’ reaction – He doesn’t react to the Dumb Show but there could be several reasons (he isn’t watching it because he’s too busy with Gertrude, he keeps his emotions under control until he sees it again during the main play). Yet, once Claudius does make the realization, how does he react? The revenge plot set in motion (though it will continue for two more acts!) a)
Claudius’ reaction to the mousetrap confirms ghost’s story but he is also aware of Hamlet’s suspicions b)
Hamlet confides in Horatio (the only person left he can trust) c)
Hamlet completely distrusts Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and insults them, which in turn makes them want to side with Claudius d)
Action and Words – the scene closes with the (briefest) soliloquy delivered by Hamlet. He seems at the height of his potential to act to avenge his father’s death. Yet, Hamlet’s plan of becomes one of speaking with his mother. Re-­‐read this soliloquy and notice the contrast between indications of action at the beginning and resolution to speak words at the end. Claudius’ “revelation” about Hamlet – knows he is now an adversary and must be dealt with as such “I like him not, nor stands it safe with us/ To let his madness range.” (3.3.1-­‐2) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – now fawning courtiers -­‐ firmly convinced of Hamlet’s “madness” and his threat to kingdom – “keep those many many bodies safe/ That live and feed upon your majesty” (3.3.9-­‐10) -­‐ have firmly joined Claudius’ “camp” Polonius’s spying (trap?) -­‐ “Behind the arras I’ll convey myself/ To hear the process” (3.3.28-­‐29) Claudius’ soliloquy (3.3.36-­‐71) and saving action What images does Claudius use in his description of his crime? 5. What is Claudius’ “problem” at this moment? How is it similar to Hamlet’s “problem” of revenge? (see 3.3.39-­‐47) “what form of prayer/ Can serve my turn?” (3.3.51-­‐52) Why does Claudius’ choice to kneel and pray “save” him? Hamlet -­‐ missed opportunity or too much revenge? Why does Hamlet not kill Claudius when he has the chance? What reasons are we given? (remember how Old Hamlet died) 3.4 (The Bedroom Scene) Story of Oedipus (Classical Greek play sequence about Thebes) Laius Jocasta Oedipus Oedipus received prophesy that he would (1) kill his father and (2) marry his mother. He unknowingly fulfilled both those prophesies. Upon learning the truth, he stabbed out his eyes and went into exile with his daughter, Antigone. The royal family was plagued with tragedy from that point on. Oedipal Complex (from Freud’s psycholanalytic theory) -­‐ male child has sexual attachment to parent of the opposite sex; resents parent of the same sex -­‐ argues this is a developmental drive in children ages 3-­‐6 (lingers in the unconscious for years after) “since the 1930s there has been a flood of psychoanalytic criticism of literary authors and works . . . . [one interpretation] explains Hamlet’s inability to make up his mind to kill his uncle as the result of the working of his Oedipus complex – that is, the repressed but continuing presence in the adult’s unconscious of the infant’s desire to possess his mother and to have his rival, the father, out of the way . . . . Hamlet’s conflict is ‘an echo of a similar one in Shakespeare himself,’ . . . [and] the audience’s powerful response to the play [is] a result of the repressed Oedipal conflict that is shared by all men.” -­‐ M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms Revelations and Death 1.
Hamlet: Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king and marry with his brother. Gertrude: As kill a king? (3.4.28-­‐29) Does Gertrude know that King Hamlet was killed deliberately? 2.
In Hamlet’s long speech to Gertrude (lines 53-­‐88), there are several references to eyes, sight, vision, and looking. First, find as many of these references as you can. Second, why is this particular speech so fraught with eye imagery? 3. Gertrude: O Hamlet, speak no more. Thou turn’st my eye into my very soul. (3.4.88-­‐89) Is this the ‘turning point’ for Gertrude or is there any turning point at all for her? 4.
The ghost reappears in this scene “to whet thy almost blunted purpose” (3.4.111). What is meant by this line? Gertrude proclaims several times that she cannot see the ghost (lines 131-­‐139). Why can’t she see it? 5.
What dominant imagery of the play is used throughout this scene? How does it contribute to the atmosphere and mood of the events? 6.
Hamlet tells his mother that “I essentially am not in madness/ But mad in craft” (3.4.188-­‐89). Do you think he is ‘mad’ here or is this line consistent with his “antic disposition”? 7.
Hamlet reveals that he knows Claudius has ordered his death via letters sent with R & G (lines 203-­‐306). There is no overt suggestion of this in 3.3 when R & G are dispatched. How could Hamlet know what is in the letters?