Hamle Act 4 Scenes 3 and 4

1) It is at this point that Hamlet knows for sure that Cluadius killed his father because of the way he acted when the scene came on.

2) Explain in detail the following parts of plot

EXPOSITION:
The play begins with Barnardo and Francisco guarding Elsinore castle when they see a ghost. The ghost dissapers and Haratio and Marcellus come in. The ghost then reapers and disappears again and the group discusses what the Ghost was and who's body it was representing especially Haratio who gives us many opinions and why it was there. Haratio notices that it is the Ghost of Old Hamlet and believes it is coming back to warn them of something. The Ghost comes back once again and Haratio tries to question it. Haratio then goes of with group to find Hamlet as the Ghost might talk to him.
Cluadius gives a speech about how he feels about King Hamlets death and how he is sad and happy that he has married the Queen. He talks of the threat Norway has purposed and what he has done to help it. The king then talks to Laeretes and Hamlet and refuses Hamlet not allowing him to go back to his University. Hamlet is then seen by himself talking of how he crushed by his mothers remarriage and how soon it was. Haratio, Marcellus, and Barnardo then come in and tell hamlet of the Ghost of his fathers and what it was wearing.Laretes and Polonius give Ophelia reasons not to fall in love with Hamlet because he has to many other responsibilities and because it will embarrass them. Hamlet and the group then see the ghost and Hamlet decides to follow it despite the others telling him not to in fear it will lead him to kill himself. Hamlet then speaks with the Ghost and finds out that Cluadius killed his father and he declares he will get revenge. The others find him and Hamlet makes them swear they will not tell what they have learned form the Ghost.

INCITING EVENT: The inciting event is when Hamlet goes off with the Ghost by himself and learns that his father was killed by Claudius. The Ghost tells him he must get revenge for his father and this starts the whole problem within the play as Hamlet plans on killing Claudius now.

RISING ACTION:
Claudius is off in Paris and Polonius sends somebody to spy on him. Hamlet walks into Ophelias room half naked causing people to think he is crazy and making Polonius believe he is in love with her. Cluadius is found interviewing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two of Hamlets old friends, and he tells them to find out why Hamlet is going crazy. Polonius tells the King that Hamlet loves Ophelia but he is not convined so they decide to hide while Hamlet and Ophelia get together. Hamlet talks to Rosencrats and Guildenstern and figures out why they are there and then he sees some actors who he asks to preform a play along with an additional scene he writes himself. We then see into Hamlets mind and he wonders wether or not he can trust the Ghost or if it is really an evil spirit. Hamlet and Opheila get together while Cluadius and Polonius are easdropping and Ophelia gives Hamlet the love letters back which makes Hamlet very upset. He then finds out hey is being spied upon and he get angered again. Hamlet explains to Haratio his plan with the play and how he will know if Claudius committed the murder. The play is watched which obviously upsets Cluadius who stops the show because he knows his secret is found out. We then see Cluadius alone who is sad and unhappy and Hamlet comes upon him ready to kill him but cant because he sees that Clauadius is praying. 


1)Cluadius Plans to send them to England to do business for him. However he is likely gong to order them killed.

2) What is Polonius going to do while Hamlet speaks with his mother?

He plans to hide behind the tapestry to listen to what Hamlet has to say. He thinks that he also needs to listen because a mother will be to easy on judging what he says and relaying it to him.

3) List three important things about Claudius’ soliloquy.
a) Cluadius is portrayed as feeling guilty about killing King Hamlet as he cannot pray.
b)If it wasn't for him praying in his soliloquy or at least trying he would have been killed by Hamlet.
c)We see that Claudius is still getting the rewards from killing King Hamlet and while he may feel bad there is a tinge of dishonesty as he doesn't really say how he is going to change it.

4) Its odd because the King said he couldn't pray so Hamlet came in the exact wrong moment where it might have looked like he was praying. Which is sad because then hamlet didn't run him through with his sword.

5) He thinks that Cluadius will go to heaven if he kills him while he is doing good and he doesn't want him to be rewarded so he figures he will wait until he is doing something evil to kill him.

Scene IV

1)Polonius tell Gertrude to yell at Hamlet and to be very harsh and not spare any hard feelings. He tells her to tell him his pranks have caused a great deal of trouble and that the King has had to deal with all of it.

2)Hamlet kills Polonius and uses the line "How now, a rat?..." because he thinks he is nothing but trouble and tries to spy on everybody. He calls him a rat because all he does is go around live off of other people much like rats do. Such as when he told Ophelia not to be with Hamlet, he was really just using her or stealing from her.

3) What is odd about the following quote: A bloody dead; almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother. Hamlet has just killed polonius but he decides to criticize Cluadius for killing his father and not really seeming to care he has killed polonius. It also interesting as later on he explains that Husband and Wife are one. Does this mean that Hamlet blames his mother for killing his father as well?

4) Gertude doesn't know yet that Cluadius has killed Old Macbeth. However in Hamlets mind she knows and has possibly helped Cluadius do so because Hamlet views husband and wife as one. She doesnt understand why Hamlet is mad at her and is wondering why he thinks her heart is toughened from evil actions.

5) What descriptions does Hamlet use to compare his father and his uncle?
Hamlet compares his father to a greek god with curly hair and saying he is like Jove himself. He says his eyes were like Mars the god of war able to threaten and command. He discribes his father as amazing and says its like every god has added to his person. He then compares Cluadius to a rotten piece of corn that is making the other one next to it look bad which is his father.

6) Hamlet makes his point that his father was a man who was amazing and immortal in his eyes while Cluadius is nothing but a piece of scum who doesn't deserve to be king. The idea that he is a rotten piece of corn gives the idea that he is the reason the state of Denmark is starting to rot. It is Cluadius's mildew that is causing the rest of his surrounding to stink.

7)  It is a disturbing quote because Hamlet is talking about his mother and describing it very distinctly and in words that would make myself a little sick if i were to say them about my own mother. Most children prefer not to have the image of their mother making love with another man, especially if the word nasty sty is involved as well as stanky sweat.

8) What stops Hamlet’s ranting and raving at Gertrude? What does this figure tell Hamlet?

The Ghost. The Ghost reminds Hamlet that he still needs to seek revenge on Cluadius. He also tells him to make sure his mother doesn't go crazy because her mind is weak and cant deal with the horrible things going on.

9) By the end of the act, Hamlet has made many statements about humanity, in general. Explain a few of his points. Do his opinions reflect his madness.

Confess yourself to heaven.

Repent what’s past. Avoid what is to come.

And do not spread the compost on the weeds

To make them ranker

This is a hypocritical thing for Hamlet to say. He says avoid what things are coming, particularly bad things is assume, but he is planning at that moment to go kill Cluadius and he as just killed Polonius. He then says not to spread the compost for the weeds which is saying not to allow Denmark to become any more corrupted or rotten. This is an interesting idea as it could be looked at from many different angles. He could be talking in General about death, as he doesnt want his mother to be involved in any more killings like Cluadius's murder on Old Hamlet, however he may be talking about how he must kill Cluadius so that no more rot/evil can come to them.

10) Explain the differences between the ghost in Act I with the ghost in Act III. Why might these differences reflect Hamlet’s insanity?In the first Act the Ghost seems extremely angry and hateful. He talks of Claudius and makes him sound horrible and is all about revenge. In the 3rd act the Ghost only mentions the case of Cluadius's revenge briefly and then tells Hamlet to comfort his mother. I think that this says the extremes of personality change Hamlet has gone through. In the beginning Hamlet was clueless and didn't feel a great need to kill anybody and wasn't very mad at all. So the Ghost sparked up a hate in him and made him crazy. However in the third act Hamlet is going insane or at least acting so and kills Polonius on a whim. The Ghost then almost seemingly tries to calm him down. This shows that Hamlet has gone from a innocent boy who needs to be filled with hate to a maniac who needs to be calmed down by a Ghost.