Hamlet close reading

Robert McCormac Hamlet Close Reading 2/26/13



There is no way to introduce such an amazing poet and writer as Shakespeare, Shakespeare is one of the most famous play writers in history. Thank’s to Shakespeare we have amazing play’s and pieces of writing such as Macbeth,Hamlet, and Othello. Shakespeare is the master of suspense and drama, And here are the lines I have personally chosen to analyze from my favorite play Hamlet.

ActIII;IV lines 118-140



Lines:118-125; In these line’s Hamlet has just killed Polonius and is now talking to his mother as he see’s the ghost he start’s talking to him and his mother realizes that he has gone mad. But the big question that the reader may not notice is, does Hamlet himself start to think that he has gone totally mad for his actions? Lines:130-140; This is were we see that Hamlet has gone totally mad, Hamlet is talking to the so called “Ghost” but his mother is in the same room and she doesn’t see anything. Hamlet doesn’t realize that he is talking to himself but he know realizes that he maybe wrong about everything but he’s so ready for revenge that he doesn’t care if he is wrong about it or not. These lines are important, Because it show’s Hamlet finally confronting his Mother about what happen with his Uncle and how he killed his Father. His Mother doesn’t want to believe what has happen but it is coming to her that Hamlet may be serious about this but she can’t tell because of how crazy he has become. Hamlet on the other hand is know questioning if it was even his Uncle to kill the king because he’s know realizing that his mother can’t see the ghost, But Hamlet wasn’t the only one to see the ghost if we go back to the beginning of the book so what does this mean for Hamlet’s sanity? What can we understand from the tone of the characters dialog? We can tell that Hamlet is being physically hysterical after killing Polonius, Hamlet now know’s what he has truly done, he know’s that there is no turning back he must kill the King and face Laertes and have to deal with Ophelia and help her cope with the death of her father. The Queen is in complete shock, and even though Hamlet is right about the king and the murder of his father the Queen doesn’t want to believe that he is right. While in act 3ii we see that the king while listening to Hamlet’s line in the play “Gonzo” reacts with a guilty conscious why doesn’t Hamlet explain this to his mother it just goes unanswered and feels like an empty void left to your imagination. Never under estimate the power of symbolism in Shakespeare play’s, In this act when Hamlet see’s the ghost re-appears, It represent’s how Hamlet truly has been over come with revenge and he want’s to fulfill his goal of killing the king for the murder of his father, but so far do we even know for sure if he has killed his father? Just because a ghost if we don’t know if he is real or just part of Hamlet’s imagination comes to him does that give him the right to kill? What is the definition of insanity? we’ll here it is, “the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness.” So as we can safely say Hamlet has lost it, hopefully he is truthfully right about what has happen to his father or else he could be losing it all, even his own life.


Hamlet Passage

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