Thursday, November 8, 2012

Act 3- Characters- Erika Kehrt


1. King Claudius- Claudius was continuously depicted as the antagonist, due to his actions. He has portrayed himself to be the top dog, the almighty powerful ruler. However, when the play was performed, and Claudius saw that the plot of the play was based on the true events of him murdering the late King Hamlet, he freaked out and became very grief stricken! These features proved to Hamlet that Claudius was the murderer of the late King Hamlet.

2. Hamlet- In Act 3 Hamlet comes off as a little bit mad himself; it seems that he is so intelligent and wise that he is on a whole other level then everyone else. He is trying to be portrayed as crazy so that he can ultimately resolve the unending question: Did Claudius kill the late King Hamlet or not? Hamlet is depicted throughout this act as very ridiculing. He is very harsh to Ophelia in the first scene; however, his mood changes towards her while they are both watching the play and is more playful/teasing towards her. The depiction of Hamlet being portrayed as ridiculing is continued throughout scene 4 when he is scolding his mother about her poor actions. Also, Hamlet killed Polonius, and that is a side of him we haven’t seen before.

3. Gertrude- Shakespeare was writing during the time when women were seen as very weak with no say. Gertrude is depicted as a reasonable and well off individual, but Hamlet conveys that she has committed a great mistake because she married his uncle. Hamlet continually explains to Gertrude that she is a horrible woman for accepting Claudius. It is evident that Gertrude is oblivious to the immoral act committed by Claudius, but because Hamlet knows, he cannot allow his mother to live with such a horrible man. Gertrude is portrayed as being submissive to those around her. She is easily persuaded by both Claudius and Hamlet; causing her to become confused. Shakespeare attempts to convince the audience that Gertrude cannot form her own opinions as she relies on others to do so for her.

4. Ophelia- It is still apparent that Ophelia still has feelings for Hamlet, although she is placed as bait so they can tell if Hamlet is crazy out of love or not. She did not appear that much in Act 3 that much other than in scene 1. It appeared that she was a bit upset when he was professing how he felt towards her. She responded to him, in what seemed like a childish tone, when he told her that he did not love her nor had he ever. At the very end of scene 1 Ophelia became vulnerable professing how she prayed Hamlet got better for everyone’s sake. However, their mood towards each other changed in the scene 2 when Hamlet was playfully teasing her about sex with him throughout the play.

5. Polonius- He was very conniving, setting Ophelia as bait in order to prove the reason of Hamlet’s insanity. Since Polonius was very nosy, it resulted in his death. Hamlet stabbed the curtain, thinking it was Claudius; however, it was really Polonius. It appeared that Polonius was always in the middle of everything, and wanted to see Hamlet’s fall; however, he died instead.

6. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern- These two characters appear to be two of Hamlets really good friends; however, Hamlet claims in this act that he does not trust these two at all. The reason is because they would go and tell the king if he said anything out of place. Hamlet was also, supposed to go to England with these two in order to fulfill a wish of King Claudius’.

 

 

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