The question the reader may ask is the following: does Ophelia deserve such treatment? Unlike Rosencrantz and Gildenstern who are clear opportunists, Ophelia is a pawn and meant to be obedient to king and father. Hamlet's treatment of her is overly harsh and unfair; he could have understood her predicament if he truly loved her. However, he is too far gone in his depression and despair to do so, which also is understandable. Still, personally I believe that he is directly responsible for her tragedy. The Hamlet in these scenes is violent and wrongfully aggressive, caught up in the rage he feels but unable to direct his acts towards the one he should: Claudius. Ophelia will become collateral damage, victim of this patriarchal society that objectifies her, locks her in and vilifies her.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
"Get thee to a nunnery"
The question the reader may ask is the following: does Ophelia deserve such treatment? Unlike Rosencrantz and Gildenstern who are clear opportunists, Ophelia is a pawn and meant to be obedient to king and father. Hamlet's treatment of her is overly harsh and unfair; he could have understood her predicament if he truly loved her. However, he is too far gone in his depression and despair to do so, which also is understandable. Still, personally I believe that he is directly responsible for her tragedy. The Hamlet in these scenes is violent and wrongfully aggressive, caught up in the rage he feels but unable to direct his acts towards the one he should: Claudius. Ophelia will become collateral damage, victim of this patriarchal society that objectifies her, locks her in and vilifies her.
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I am posting here because i still have no clue how to post something:
ReplyDelete“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Act 1, Scene V, lines 187-8)
My translation: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than you could ever dream of.”
This is sentence is significant because it marks the moment when Hamlet lets go of questioning and blindly obeys the ghost of his father. He no longer thinks like in his philosophy studies; he no longer seeks for the truth by digging deeper. This almost an excuse for Hamlet. He is saying they are an infinite amount of things on heaven and earth, than what’s the point of determining by himself if Claudius did indeed kill his father, if this ghost is an impostor, if the ghost is devil ghost here to wreak havoc. Horatio uses reason warning Hamlet to be wary of this ghost, but Hamlet dismisses Horatio caution and swears to revenge his father’s death. Ironically in this sentence Hamlet takes the position of the “master” talking to Horatio as if he was pupil, saying “Oh Horatio, you still have much to learn about this world.”
Nice--I like the irony you explore at the end of the passage. This moment is important because it shows that Hamlet really is leaving the world of reason for a dangerous one, which is what Horatio warns, basically telling him the ghost can lead to loss of life, soul or, perhaps in Hamlet's case, reason...and Hamlet has decided that there is more that the world of reason in the world and that he will embark upon that road. This foreshadows the madness he will fall into, if we consider that to the Elizabethans, madness means "possessed by a demon." Hamlet may be putting on an antic disposition, but he definitely is possessed by the ghost of his father, so much so that he is willing to forego all reason.
Delete“Hamlet: To put an antic disposition”
ReplyDeleteThis line is important to our understanding of the play. It appears in Act I scene 5, after Hamlet has confronted the ghost of his father. After learning how his father was truly murdered Hamlet decides, “to put on an antic disposition”. Antic Disposition means that he will put on a strange act, or act mad. At this point his plan is quite ambiguous but as we read ahead we realize that he is using this act to try and figure out the truth. His madness will distract the King and the Queen as he tries to plot someway to avenge his father. This line is key to the play because as a reader/audience, we would not be able to understand where his madness has come from. One can also say that this is the first sign of real madness. In fact, maybe Hamlet always had this madness in him, and this is actually the first spark before the fire.
right, so what you're saying is that although he's pretending, there's also some real madness at the bottom of it.
DeleteI do not really know how to post something... So I'll post it here.
ReplyDelete"One may smile and smile and be a villain"
This sentence is in Act 1 Scene 5, v. 115. Here Hamlet is discussing with the ghost of his father for the first time, and the ghost is explaining to him the reasons of his death and the betrayal of Claudius and his mother. Hamlet is devastated by this news and cannot believe it. This is why he is pointing out, with that sentence, how hypocritical and phony Claudius has been to him, and to everybody. That he is hiding the fact that he is a “villain” with a smile. Hamlet also says twice the word “smile” which shows that he is trying to accentuate the fact that Claudius is faking his behavior, he is insisting on that the more he can. He doesn’t use any comma between the “smile and smile,” which adds itself to the fact that it is the only thing that Claudius does, he smiles and smiles all the time, never showing his true self to anyone. The sentence is then expressing Hamlet’s anger toward Claudius and his mother, but especially toward his uncle, by showing that Claudius is just pretending to be smiling and smiling, but that he is just a villain after all, since he betrayed his brother and married his sister in law, which was believed to be incestuous for the time.
“The play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”
ReplyDeleteThis phrase is situated in Act II, Scene II, in Hamlet’s speech where he calls himself a “rogue” and a “peasant slave”. In the passage, he degrades himself saying that he is unworthy of his royal position and unpregnant of his cause. He says that even the actor who played Pyrrhus could muster up more emotion than he could for Hecuba - who is really nothing to him-. However he does that if the crowd knew of Hamlet’s situation, he would “drown the stage with tears.” He continues to insult himself and calls Claudius a “remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!” However the speech takes a turn when Hamlet says “I’ll have these players/ Play something like the murder of my father.” He starts to tell us his plan of catching Claudius’s guilt. He does acknowledge the fact that the ghost might’ve been wrong since he says that it might’ve been a “devil”, however he does want to test Claudius and see if he really killed his brother.
Hamlet finishes his speech by saying “The play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”
When Shakespeare rhymes in his plays, it has major significance. He is trying to catch our attention. By giving the reader a rhyming couplet “thing/King”, Shakespeare tells us that the play that Hamlet will put on will touch something in the King that will make him uneasy and uncomfortable. Obviously, once the King recognizes himself in the play, Hamlet will immediately be able to see Cla Also, Hamlet belittles Claudius in a way by saying that he will be able to catch his conscience. The conscience is not tangible thing and so in a way, Hamlet shows that Claudius really does not have moral founding. In addition, the play will also catch the conscience of the late King because if Claudius is or isn’t the killer, Hamlet would have avenged his father’s conscience and put it to rest. Furthermore, by giving us an enjambment Shakespeare emphasizes the word “thing” which shows us the reader that the play is the only way he will manage to catch Claudius’s conscience.
yes, and he feels invigorated here because he's actually come up with a plan, instead of delaying. However, the plan involves watching others "act" rather than acting himself.
Deletedefinitely! It could also mean he's only mad sometimes, when the wind is north north westerly and affects his spleen. Their was a belief in winds and the way they affected moods. But certainly Hamlet is conscious of the madness others see in him and is able to set himself apart from that, and certainly he wants to keep R and G on their toes. he's not going to tell them anything real, anyway.
ReplyDelete