- Act 4, Scene 4, Pg. 128, Lines 31-67
Hamlet is basically just questioning himself as to why he's doing what he's doing. He doesn't know why he keeps putting off his revenge. It seems as if he doesn't understand why he's thinking so much or why he's having so many convicting thoughts about the revenge. He believes he has everything essential for revenge, he just can't seem to bring himself to the final act of it.
- Act 4, Scene 5, Pg. 137, Lines 205-214
King Claudius is trying to save his own butt in these lines. This is important simply because it sets up the relationship between Laertes and the King as they plot to kill Hamlet. The King wants Laertes to know for a fact that it wasn't him that killed Polonius so he wasn't to lose his crown or kingdom after all of the people became angry. He covers himself and just throws Hamlet to the wolves so the blame couldn't come back on him.
- Act 4, Scene 7, Pg. 143, Lines 128-140
This is possibly the most important passage in this Act. The King is telling Laertes, and basically stating he is in on it to, that it is alright for him to attempt to murder Hamlet. Throughout these lines, their true feelings come to the surface and we don't have to keep guessing about what they are going to do about this. This passage also builds further suspense as to what the readers think will happen later.
Personal Response
I thought this act could have possibly been the most suspenseful. A lot happens in this act that starts to make this story look more and more like a tragedy. For me, this act further built my hate for the King. At the end of the last act, I felt sympathetic for him because he seems remorseful for his wrongdoing. Now, he basically gives Laertes the sword in telling him he can kill Hamlet. His desire to have power over the kingdom is going to lead to the death of many more people.
Erika-
ReplyDeleteI thought another key passage that stood out to me was Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 5-33. This was the passage where the queen comes to tell King Claudius of what Hamlet had done. I thought this passage was very significant because it is the first time that the King truly saw Hamlet’s character development. He had always suspected that he had gone mad or what not but he had never really had hard evidence of this accusation. However, in this scene it is apparent that he had gone mad. When the King found out Hamlet thought it was the King he was killing; however, when he found out it was Polonius he had no remorse it stunned the King. Therefore, this scene is the first real confirmation to the King of Hamlet’s madness.