Act 5: Everybody's dead

this is the third time it screwed up on me. I'll finish the journal later.

The final act of hamlet is two scenes long. The first scene is a funeral for the dead ophelia, and the second is the duel between hamlet and laertes, where everyone dies. This is arguably the first time we see hamlet for who he is, since he is no longer feigning madness. He finally gets revenge, and everyone involved with the death of King hamlet, and the deception following his death (ie: the play), die.

Scene 1: clowns + funeral for ophelia.

Scene 2: Everybody dies. Plot. etc.

Reflection:
The final act in the play. some things i noticed. Hamlet never accuses claudius of killing his father. He kills him for killing his mother, tho there is a hint that he will go to hell like his mother when he says "follow my mother." Another interesting point is forinbras. why was he at the castle? wasn't he going to poland? whats the deal? idk, maybe he was going to attack anyway for revenge of His father who was killed by King Hamlet. lots of revenge in this play. I wouldn't be surprised to find that polonius molested hamlet as a child and thats why hamlet killed him. we may never know.

Act 4: Hamlet's done a bad thing

After killing polonius, things go very bad for Hamlet. he is sent away to england (to be killed), and laertes returns to the castle. Ophelia has an accident by the brook and drowns, which only upsets laertes further. Laertes and Claudius decide to kill hamlet, under the guise of a fencing match, which will occur in the final act.

Scene 1: The king and queen decide that hamlet is really nuts, and send R&G to go find polonius's body.

Scene 2: Hamlet gives R&G the run-around as to where polonius' body is.

Scene 3: Hamlet also defies the request of the king as to the location of polonius's body. hamlet eventually tells claudius that he is somewhere near the stairs that lead to the lobby. Hamlet leaves for england, followed by R&G.

Scene 4: Hamlet comes across fortinbras's army. fortinbras sends word to hamlet that he is crossing denmark to fight in poland. Hamlet reaizes that he should have taken action against claudius, but that instead he does nothing. He decides to go back and avenge his father.

Scene 5: Ophelia has gone mad now that her father is dead. Laertes returns, and wants to know what happened to his father. the king tells him.

Scene 6: horatio reads a letter from hamlet where he tells that they were captured by pirates and that hamlet is on his way back, and R&G are going to england to die.

Scene 7: Laertes and Claudius make devious plans against hamlet in the form of a bet. they plan to kill hamlet when he returns so that laertes can have revenge. The queen comes in and tells them that ophelia has drowned.

Reflection: This is another act that sets the stage for the next act. We don't see a lot of action, and most of the events are conveyed through dialogue. some notable events are ophelia's death, hamlet's decision that his "thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth," and that laertes plans to poison his blade to make killing hamlet a sure thing. he will regret that decision, but oh well, he'll be dead and won't have to stress about it that much.

Act 3: The play within a play

Act 3 is all about the play within a play and the immediate consequences that result from it. Hamlet thinks that he has proven the guilt of Claudius through the play, but passes up his chance to kill him when he thinks that Claudius is praying. He then visits his mother in her closet, where he kills polonius and sees the ghost once more...but is he truly mad this time?

Scene 1: R&G meet with the king and queen to talk about hamlet's insanity. They tell the king and queen that hamlet wants them to see a play. They leave, and the king and polonius hide behind a curtain to listen to the conversation between ophelia nad hamlet. hamlet gives his to be or not to be speech and tells ophelia to go to a nunnery. after, the king and polonius decides that hamlet really is nuts and that they need to take action.

Scene 2: The play within a play scene. A scene similar to the death of King Hamlet is portrayed. At the end, claudius stands and leaves, and gertrude also responds in an odd manner.

Scene 3: the king tells R&G to take hamlet to england. He then trys to pray and admits to killing his brother. Hamlet then enters and sees claudius at prayer, and decides not to kill him because he doesn't want him to go to heaven.

Scene 4: Hamlet meets his mother in her closet where polonius is to spy on them. hamlet kills polonius, then sees the ghost, but gertrude cannot see it. Hamlet then must leave for england.

Reflection: (this is a very shortened and spotty plot outline, but the significance is more important.) Claudius has begin to suspect other reasons for hamlet's madness besides his unrequited love for ophelia. He decides to relocate hamlet to a place that he can't hurt him, england. The king and queen see the play, and both realize what hamlet is suggesting. Claudius feels guilty for what he has done, but can't atone because he is still enjoying the benefits of what he did. Hamlet does not take this chance to kill claudius either because he is too scared to do so, or because he really doesn't want to send claudius to heaven. Hamlet kills polonius by accident, but then again, who else could it have been. it wasn't claudius, because he couldn't have beat hamlet there. the other choice is polonius, who hamlet kills. this act drives the rest of the action in the play. its a shame that hamlet was so calculating for the majority of the play, then makes one rash move and ruins it for himself. oh well. He then talks with his mother, and sees the ghost of king hamlet. the queen does not see the ghost wich suggests that either hamlet is crazy or because of gertrude's guilt she cannot see the ghost, or that she is simply pretending not to see the ghost.

Act 2: Is he really mad?

Act 2 is mostly about Hamlet feigning (or is he?) madness so that he can reveal his father's murderer. We meet some new characters, R & G as well as the players. The end of this act builds towards the play within a play, where hamlet decides to "catch the conscience of the king."

Scene 1: Opens with polonius telling some random guy named Reynaldo to visit laertes and find out what hes doing with all the money that polonius sends him. reynaldo leaves and Ophelia enters. She tells polonius that hamlet is mad because he is in love with her but she does not respond in kind. he showed up to her dressed all crazy and all she can think is that he is madly in love with her. Polonius hears this, and runs straight to the king and queen.

Scene 2: We are introduced to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, from now on referred to as R&G, who's job it is to hang with hamlet and discover the cause of his insanity. polonius comes in and after R&G leave, tells the king and queen about hamlet's unrequited love. polonius feels bad about it, and tells them that to check if it is true we will use ophelia to spy on hamlet. the three leave, and hamlet and R&G enter. they tell hamlet about the happenings outside the castle, and they meet the players. hamlet decides to have them perform a play that was much like the death of his father so that the king will reveal his guilt through his response to the play.

Reflection: The long passage at the end of the act says a lot about hamlet, and reveals many of the issues that he will have to deal with throughtout the rest of the play. He talks about how "[I] unpack my heart with words," rather than taking action. we will see him do this again towards the end of Act 3, and he will pose reasons for his delay of action in the beginning of Act 3 in the to be or not to be speech. This Act builds towards the play within a play scene, which causes all the consequences that occur in the final 2 acts. It is a crucual act where we see the facade that Hamlet puts up to fool the other characters, as well as his inner feelings towards his actions.

Act 1: scenes 2 - 5

After the discovery of the ghost in scene 1, we finally meet the major players in the play. In scene 2 we are introduced to the king (claudius), the queen (gertrude), polonius, laertes, and hamlet. the scene opens with laertes asking leave to return to france, and then shows the first meeting of hamlet and claudius as the new king. hamlet is still in mourning over the the death of his father, even though the king and queen try to change his feelings. The scene ends with horatio telling hmalet about the ghost that resembles the dead king hamlet. hamlet decides to see this ghost, and they leave.

scene 3: we meet the fair ophelia! laertes, who decided to leave for france, is having a little chat with his sister, ophelia, over hamlet. he tells her to be careful around hamlet because he is a prince, and his promises of love may amount to nothing. he warns her to stay a maiden. as he ends his speech, polonius shows up, and gives his own advice to laertes. "to thine own self be true" is what we can take from all this advice. then laertes leaves, and polonius tells ophelia that she is not to be alone with hamlet anymore and not to show him too much interest, because it would not be proper for a woman of her stature to date the prince. she answers: "i shall obey, my lord."

scene 4: Hamlet, horatio, and marcellus are up late looking for the ghost. the ghost appears, and becons to hamlet, who decided to go speak to it. after hamlet speaks, marcellus says something pretty profound for being a dimwit soldier, "something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

scene 5: hamlet speaks to the ghost. the ghost tells him that he is the ghost of king hamlet, hamlet's dead father. he says that he was murdered by claudius, and asks hamlet to revenge him. the ghost then has a long speech about his murder, how hamlet shouldn't harm his mother, and how hamlet shouldn't get too obsessed over this revenge business. the ghost leaves, "Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me." Hamlet then makes marcellus and horatio swear not to tell anyone about this. he then tells horation that he may "put an antic disposition on" but that he isn't really crazy.

Reflection:
The opening act establishes a few major points: claudius killed the king, the queen may have been unfaithful to king hamlet before his death, hamlet will act crazy, ophelia is not to see hamlet, and that hamlet intends to revenge his father's "foul and most unnatural murder." already, we can see that hamlet is a very clever character. he seems to philosophise quite a bit. I look forward to see how hamlet will kill his uncle, or if he'll kill him at all.