Hamlet Act Three
Naomi Vosneac and Kristen Waechter
Thesis
Our thesis is based through a feminist belief that if
Hamlet were a female, the play would have ended
completely different
The failure of Hamlet’s ability to be straightforward and
upright is what dragged on the play.
Hamlet vs. Himself
Ever since his father died, Hamlet was always
internally fighting with himself
Which later leads to conflicts with himself
As well as with other characters
Hamlet was unsure of trusting his instincts and
being straight forward the entire play
Hamlet was overdramatic, and emotional at the
beginning of the play
When confronted by the ghost, Hamlet then needed
evidence and proof of his father’s murder
As Hamlet was unsure of what to believe, it lead to
him emotionally becoming confused, which came
across as “his madness”
Hamlet vs. Himself
Hamlet vs. Himself
Hamlet avoided talking about his feelings and
emotions the entire play
Instead of talking about his emotions, and trying to
resolve the conflicts, he acted out on his anger in
uncivilized ways
Hamlet hurt himself by being so caught up in his
suspicions, he distanced himself from the people he
loved
Quotation – Act One
“Why, what should be the fear?/ I do not set my life
at a pin’s fee,/ And for my soul, what can it do to
that,/ Being a thing immortal as itself?/ It waves me
forth again. I’ll follow it (I.4.64-68).
Hamlet expresses how he views and values his life
He tells his friends that his life is no longer important to him
Hamlet from the beginning of the play starts to
progressively to turn against himself, valuing both
himself less, and becoming more secluded and
aggressive.
But Hamlet would continue to turn against himself
as the play progressed
Explanation
Quotation – Act Three
“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...Thus conscience does make
cowards of us all,/And thus the native hue of
resolution/ Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of great
pitch and moment,/ With this regard their currents
turn awry, And lose the name of action”(3.1.56-89).
This shows Hamlet’s indecision he is saying that is noble to
battle with what is going only in his mind rather than to act
upon the problems
Hamlet is saying that he wants to go through with his plan but
his conscience is making a fool of him and basically preventing
him from going through with his plan
All the second guessing he is doing is making him lose his
momentum on his plan so he has make a decision and follow
through
Explanation
“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.” (3.1.124-128)
Quotation – Act Three
In this quotation, Hamlet explains that he has many
different emotions and plans that he wishes to be
able to fulfill, while knowingly aware that many of
them will not occur
He explains that he has too many “ill” thoughts, and
that he is incapable to act out on all of them
Explanation
Turning Point
The turning point for Hamlet is at the play when he
witnesses Claudius’s reaction while watching the
King be poisoned
Hamlet got the reassurance he needed to know that
Claudius killed his father, allowing him to finally be
able to react upon his father’s ghost’s wishes
In the previous quotations we see examples of how
Hamlet fits into the typical male stereotypes of
avoidance of being straightforward and unable to
act upon his feelings and emotions
Conclusion
Discussion Questions
1. What other characteristics are seen throughout the
other male characters that Hamlet comes in contact
with throughout the play?
2. What other males in the play possess the same
characteristics that Hamlet emulates? How are they
similar?