HAMLET by William Shakespeare Extract 3, 2.2. 364 to the end of the play: Hamlet and the players.

« HAMLET by William Shakespeare Extract 3, 2.2.

364 to the end of the play: Hamlet and the players. This extract is nearly in the middle of the play Hamlet.

Hamlet had seen his father's ghost and learned that his uncle had poisoned his father.

Hamlet craves for revenge.

Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius (a member of the Danish Privy Council) followed the orders of her father and refused the advances of Hamlet.

Moreover his mother had married his uncle; which is considered as incestuous at that time, and Hamlet is strongly against that union.

So Hamlet is being sad and lunatic and he is affected by procrastination, he remits the revenge of his father toan other day.

His mother and his uncle are worried about those changes in Hamlet's behaviour, they called Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, two old school fellows of Hamlet in order to find out why is he acting so strange lately and to distract him.

This scene is a dialogue betweenHamlet the eponymous hero of the drama, Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, Polonius and the Players who are a troop of actors coming to distract Hamlet.

There is also a soliloquy of Hamlet from line 537 to the end of the act.

This act is the longest of the play and it was written in freeverse.

The scene takes place in a room of the Elsinore Castle in Denmark.

The main themes are acting and revenge.

First I will explain the pretended madness of Hamlet, next I will expose the play within the play and last I will show Hamlet's reactions towards his friends, the playersand Polonius.

In this extract Hamlet has totally changed his state of mind and his behaviour, at the end of the first act he learned the truth about the death of his father and he was outraged, he absolutely wanted to take revenge.

Here he seems unable to take actions he isevasive and sluggish he seems to be in a deep depression, in a state of melancholy.

Even the player is more passionate about the speech he performed than Hamlet is about his own situation.‘That he should weep for her? What would he do,Had he the motive and the cue for passionThat I have? He would drawn the stage with tears'Line 548 to 550.

‘Am I a coward?' line 559 this sentence shows that he, himself, thinks that his inaction is abnormal.

It is as if it was an other play not about revenge anymore but about madness, about the meaning of acting.

But maybe this is a strategy, maybe Hamlet wants that the King and the Queen thinks he is crazy, so that the King will have no doubt, no fear about Hamlet.

He is certainly confused and upset but he is not crazy, he is pretending to be: ‘I am but mad north-north-west; when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.' Line 373-374.

This means that he is only mad at certain times the rest of the time he is able to recognize things.

His uncle thinks that Hamlet is mad, in consequence Hamlet can prepare his revenge easily, and he can do what he wants without being suspected.

In hissoliloquy he finds a reason explaining why he has not acted yet: the lack of evidence, he cannot be sure about what the ghost had told him maybe he lied, maybe he was a demon sent to corrupt Hamlet.

Consequently Hamlet has to get some evidences, that he willobtain during the play which will be performed in front of Claudius; a play that Hamlet will re-write in order to make it corresponds to the reality.‘I'll have these playersPlay something like the murder of my fatherBefore mine uncle.

I'll observe his looks'Line 583 to 585.The reaction of Claudius will determine his guilt.‘The play's the thingWherein I'll catch the conscience of the King'Line 593 to 594.

If he were really mad he could not have prepared such a plan, and here his speech is clear and organised far away from craziness.

So, Hamlet has every reason to be upset and emotional however he remains emotionless.

It seems that Hamlet knows himself that he is in a play so he knows that there is nothing to revenge, all is a play, this effect of self-doubt and self-awareness make thelimitations between the play and the reality hard to define, and I think that Shakespeare has willingly created this effect.

The troop of players represents the reality of the theatre in London at that time, that is to say the early 17 th century.

When Shakespeare wrote the play there was a rise of popularity of boys acting troops such as in the fantasy world of Elsinore.

The play is occurring at the Globe theatre in London and in the castle of Elsinore at the same time.

In this scene there is a deep questioning about the difference betweenactions in a play and in the real life, are our emotions more real than those of the actors?‘It is not monstrous that this player here,But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,Could force his soul so to his whole conceit'Line 359 to 541.

The speech of the player within the play is called a mise en abyme.

This speech that Hamlet asks for is the story of Priam who was killed by Pyrrhus he was getting revenge because Priam's son has killed Pyrrhus's son so it is a story of vengeancesuch as the story of Hamlet.

However in this act this speech is the only moment where revenge is taken.

Hamlet needs a play to get the evidence that his uncle and now king Claudius has killed his father.‘You could for a need,Study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which IWould set down and insert in't, could you not?'Line 528 to 530.

So the audience will assist to the reaction of Claudius and, by themselves, find out if the ghost was right or wrong.

The audience and Hamlet will know in the same time the answer, so there are no more barriers separating the propagandistic herofrom the audience.

The play will not be that of Hamlet anymore, but that of the troop of players and Hamlet will be the audience.

In this scene Hamlet behaviour changes according to whom he speaks to.

With Polonius he barely hides his disgust, he is cold and pretends to be mad by repeating what Polonius said, and he mocks him.‘POLONIUS My lord, I have news to tell you. HAMLET My lord, I have news to tell you.' Line 384 to 385.

Hamlet also compares Polonius to Jephthah, a biblical character who unintentionally sacrifices his beloved daughter.‘O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou!'Line 397.

Hamlet voluntarily upsets Polonius by implying his interest to his daughter.

Then Hamlet mocks the judgement of Polonius on the speech of the players, he considers Polonius as a vulgar man and he clearly shows it.‘POLONIUS this is too long. HAMLET It shall to the barber's, with your beard.

─Prithee Say on.

He's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps.'Line 490 to 491.

With his two friends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz Hamlet seems to pretend the joy.

He knows that is mother the Queen and his uncle the King had called them to spy on him; he knows that if they had not called Guildenstern and Rosencrantz theywould not be here with him.

‘The appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony.' Line 366.

If he welcomes them it is because of the tradition, of the ceremony not because he is really happy to do it.

Although he likes them and he is not cruel toward them as he is toward Polonius, he is mocking them a little when he said ‘But my uncle-father and my aunt-mother are deceived' line 371, because his friends are here to find out why he is crazy but he is not and so the king and the Queen will be deceived when the two will make they report.

Hamlet dismissed them quite quickly though with a friendly tone.

‘My good friends, I'll leave you till night.

You are welcome to Elsinore.' Line 533.

Although Hamlet welcomes the troop of actors with joy and excitement he seems really happy to see them.

The use of exclamation marks and question marks, the repetition of the word welcome shows the excitement, the happiness of Hamlet.‘You're welco me, masters, welcome all.

─ I am glad to seeThee well.

─Welcome, good friends.

─O, my old friend!'Line 415 to 416.

Hamlet jokes with them but in a nice way not the way he mocks Polonius.

He seems to have a real pleasure, with them he does not need to be on his guard they are not here to spy on him; he can be his true self.

And then at last when he is all byhimself in his soliloquy it reveals the beginnings of madness, through a series of fantastic images, including ‘fiction,' ‘dream of passion,' line 540 and ‘John-a-dreams' line 556, which escalate to bloody and violent, as in ‘vengeance', line 570 ‘murdered,' line. »