Hamlet

Act IV concerns the events occuring after the demise of lord Chamberlin, Polonius, by yong Prince Hamlet’s hand. Throughout the play, we have witnessed the concern displayed by King Claudius concerning the emotional well being and stable emotional state of young Prince Hamlet. The intention, and letters to that effect, of the King’s desire for the King of England to queitly dispose of the troublesome young Prince Hamlet, provides a new view on his early concern. Was King Claudius really concerned with the well being of Hamlet, and simply was pushed past his breaking point following the antics and actions of young Prince Hamlet? Or was he merely putting on a facade of civility and caring to remove the possibility that any claims to his murder of the late King would considered seriously? If the caring was genuine, but was not enough to protect Hamlet after his deeper descent into his seeming madness, then maybe the fact that King Claudius killed the late King in no way reflected upon the Late King’s son, which is a unlikely occurance, especially when considering human nature, thus lending credence to the second possibility expressed earlier within this post, concerning an act put on for the benefit og the people and the court. Ophelia descends into grief and madness with the lose of both Hamlet and her father Polonius, two very close to her heart. She lacks the will to climb above the surface having fallen in the stream, thus in ending her griefs on this earth, though whether her drowning was an accident or a suicide is indeterminate to me at this point in reflection, discussion, and point within the novel.

Act three contains the famous line of Shakespeare “get thee to a nunnery”. My initial reading of this particular section of the play, imparted a view that young Prince Hamlet’s tirad was a perfect creation to convince Ophelia of his eeming madness, and thus imparting to all who hear her telling of his madness the belief in that madness to create an alternate persona with standing and realness in the real world. The scene, when portayed in the movie, imparted to me a different impression of the scene. The movie gave me the impression that young Prince Hamlet knew that his performance was being watched ,thus lending an extra air to his act to make sure that the illusion that he is projecting around himself is bought, hook, line, and sinker by the court, and most especially the King. The words said by young Prince Hamlet to Ophelia are an act to convince of his madness, but also most likely a reflection of the feelings he has kept pent up inside concerning Ophelia’s late refusal to interact in anyway shape or form with him. When you are in a deep relationship and then one member of that relationship suddenly stops the line of communication, the backlash can be very severe, lending credence to Polonius’ theory behind young Prince Hamlet’s madness, and then when your expressions of love are returned as if the whole affair is wished to be viewed as if it had never happpened then an emotional and often irrational response is quite probable to explode outward from the injured party.

Act II of Hamlet deals with the speculation of the court concerning the seeming spiraling continuince of a descent into despair and madness.

Polonius comes to the conclusion that the this descent has been brought on by his edict that his daughter Ophilia spurn acknowledgement of Hamlet’s entreaties profesing his love. He then succeeds in drawing the King and Queen to accept this view as apossible cause for Hamlet’s discontent. The plan set in motion to determine if this theory be true does not come to fruition until Act III, so for now, ado to that idea, leave it to clutter tha attic of your mind, to be dusted off once the intrigue and word byplay of Act III has come to bear and shed light on this particular cocept, best left till a later date.

2 friends, dear to Hamlet for he knew them most well in his youth, are dearly entreated and arrive with post haste to the doorstep of the King that there presence may serve to draw from Hamlet, like the poisin lodged within from a poisinous snake, the caused reason for his melancholy despair and the spiral of madness that doth acompany it.

Throughout their conversation, in asides with volume unwarrented (as in under their breath) as Prince Hamlet has the appearence of madness to not listen to that which doth not catch upon the twisted limbs of his mind grasping for knowledge, the friends to the young Prince Hamlet doth remark upon the ordered structure to his madness, though madness they doubt it not. This case of time and circumstance they doth discuss in detail merely, and doth reach consensus, being young Prince Hamlet mad, but with vestige self of old, to allow the recovery of the mind and its eye, be the cause of this melancholy mood discerned before chance that may recover those half-hidden behind the mists that obscure the world of the real with the land of the unknown.

I am currently of the belief that the structure placed within the madness that young Prince Hamlet ensues is due to his need to maintain some vestiges of reality with which to anchor his frail, mortal coil to this land with the ability to use his mental faculties when necessary with clarity of thought proportional to the amount of time during which such fine instruments as alotted to man are allowed to gather dust through lack of use, but not allowed to deteriorate to the state of uselessness, merely dormant until such time as they shall be needed again. My opinion, formed, is that Hamlet is merely putting upon an act, that he may better strike with suprise when the hour appointed for his reckoning to avenge his fathers murder, most foul, and that the order that can oft be detected within the madness projected is the means by which Young Prince Hamlet does not lose himself entirerly to madness, though I maintain my suspicions that Hamlet’s undoubted exposure to the reality that is madness shall over time, immense, cause the line between reality and true madness to blur until only a fading memory of where that line once shown so strong and clear is available to determine where one stands, be that on one side or the opposite. His ruse contrived to supply advantage to the ultimate end, may ,in faith, bring about the collapse of all, the order, the ties that bind, and the revenge planned to avenge murder, most foul.

The first act of Hamlet by William Shakespeare deals with the background information concerning the setting of the times and circumstances during which the play in its entirety is going to be set in.

The troubled times are caused in no small part by the recent death of the Dane, King Hamlet of Denmark.

Young Fortinbras acts with swift and firm decision, be that decision affected by righteous anger or not, to reclaim the lands lost by his father to Old Hamlet, Dane of Denmark, recently deceased. The almost always inevitable period of chaos (ordered or not) and indecision that grips a nation upon the death of a state leader and the transition of power to the next in line to the thrown (even without a power struggle between possible heirs, factions, and those who attempt through the use of military might to claim the rulership) provides the perfect window of opportunity for an ambitious ruler to make demands and attempt to influence the momentarily floundering nation to <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> acquiesce to his demands. On a side note, the lack of order permeating most nations upon the demise of the ruling lord, provides an exquisite opening, an ideal set of circumstances for advancing ones own position at the expense of others, while the nation is in turmoil.

However, the change of power from one set of hands to another’s flows smoothly, unlike the common chaos of a change in rulership, and young Fortinbras attempt to manipulate and use this weakness is foiled for lack of an opening. His failure to succeed and keep this attempt beneath the apathetic radar of his uncle Fortinbras, has resulted in a missive sent by Denmark to Uncle Fortinbras, informing him of his nephew’s actions. The expected outcome that I derive from Shakespeare’s writing, tone, and style within this section, coupled with my own personal interpretation of the material leads to the conclusion that the expected outcome of the missive is that Young Fortinbras will receive the granddaddy of all dressing downs by his Uncle, publicly if his Uncle is infuriated enough by Young Fortinbras actions. Young Fortinbras humiliation, especially if it is public, will fuel an even greater hatred of Denmark and provide an outside twist to  further complicate the revenge and intrigue planned by Young Hamlet against his Uncle Claudius, now King of Denmark, for his unjust murder of Old Hamlet, father to Young Hamlet, and all together create a twisted and convoluted story sure to boggle and intrigue, while entertaining, the minds of both the nobility and the peasantry who came to view Shakespeare’s latest creation.