Act 3 scene 1 Flashcards
(25 cards)
Claudius - “Grating so harshly all his days of quiet / With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?”
Hamlet is portrayed as a pestering nuisance through the dissonant verb “grating”
Claudius views Hamlet’s madness as “dangerous”, which reflects his recognition of the threat that Hamlet poses to his stability
Gertrude - “Did he receive you well?” “Did you assay him to any pastime?” “I do wish / That your good beauties be the happy cause / Of Hamlet’s wildness.”
Gertrude’s use of interrogative phrases reflects her concern for her son and his well being
She wants genuine happiness for her son
Claudius - “Sweet Gertrude, leave us.” // Gertrude - “I shall obey you.”
Diminutive “sweet” reflects Claudius’ view on the position of women. He isolates her from the important dealings and actions that he takes to discern whether Hamlet is mad or not
Gertrude appears entirely subservient to Claudius, never contradicting him overtly in the first four acts
Claudius - “How smart a lash that speech doth give my / Conscience.”
Military noun “lash” reflects the dangerous and harsh nature of language, which is reinforced throughout the play. Language is a huge focus since action is very little taken
Aside is the first hint from Claudius that he is guilty of something
Hamlet’s soliloquy - “To be or not to be — that is the question.”
Epanalepsis emphasises the idea of “being”, perhaps implying that Hamlet is considering suicide
Ambiguity regarding Hamlet’s psychological state, which is reinforced by the uncertainty as to whether he has truly gone mad or is still putting on an “antic disposition”
Hamlet poses this question to all of humanity rather than solely to himself
Hamlet’s soliloquy - “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles / And, by opposing, end them.”
“Outrageous” here means brazen/infuriating. Hamlet feels that fate is waging a war against him, and contemplates whether it is more honourable to passively “suffer [its] slings and arrows”, or act by “tak[ing] arms” against his “sea of troubles” and end them
Certain glorification of suicide as Hamlet would take action, and “oppos[e]” the forces that oppress him
Unlike his first two major soliloquies, Hamlet’s soliloquy in 3.1 seems to be more guided by reason than by frenzied emotion
Hamlet’s soliloquy - “To die, to sleep — / No more — and by a sleep to say we end / The heartache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to”
Some critics argue that in this soliloquy Hamlet contemplates suicide, but the consistent use of first person collective pronouns “we” “us”, as well as the indefinite “who”, the noun “flesh” as a synecdoche for mankind, and the use of impersonal infinitives, suggests that he is instead speaking explicitly to us all, inviting the audience to ponder on the same point as him
False optimism in suggesting that death is “no more” than sleep
Hamlet’s soliloquy - “shuffled off this mortal coil”
Verb “shuffled” feels very monotonous and has connotations of being rid of an annoyance. Also implies the ease with which the “mortal coil” can be gotten rid of
“Shuffling off this mortal coil” resonates with the image of a snake, who moult out of their old skin to emerge into a new existence
Noun “coil” refers to a mixture of messy things such as noise, confusion, uncertainty, bustle, etc. Hamlet feels that the messiness of life can be relieved by stabbing oneself with a “bare bodkin”
Hamlet’s soliloquy - “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come” “the dread of something after death, / The undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveller returns”
Hamlet acknowledges “the rub” — the catch — of his musings
Although sleep provides an end to life, it will not necessarily provide a relief from life’s burdens
Irony in “no traveller returns” as the Ghost is a spirit of the dead
Hamlet’s soliloquy - “conscience does make cowards of us all”
Hamlet frames the choice of life as cowardly, and alludes to the fact that he himself has made this choice through the use of the collective pronoun “all”
Conscience’s fear of death makes us cowards, or the idea of the unknown which makes us cowards. Hamlet feels that his awareness of his confusion regarding what happens after death makes him a coward as this prevents him from acting
Hamlet’s soliloquy - “the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought”
Adjective “native” demonstrates humankind’s inherent drive to make decisions and pursue action
Resolution to act is metaphorically described as a “hue”, portraying it as vibrant. Hamlet’s lack of action dulls his duty and his mind
Adjective “pale” contrasts the noun “hue”. Hamlet recognises that “thought” sickens and prevents “action”, making it weak and ineffectual. This is evident throughout the play, when the little action that Hamlet does take doesn’t have prominent results
Noun “cast” has connotations of permanence but also of surrounding and entrapping “resolution”
Hamlet - “Soft you now, / The fair Ophelia. — Nymph, in thy orisons / Be all my sins remembered.”
Uncertainty regarding whether Hamlet has seen Ophelia before this remark; if he has, the soliloquy transforms from an inner look into his pensive mind into an act that he performs in front of Ophelia
Then it is put into question that Hamlet indeed considers suicide, as he may just be trying to distract from the true cause of his madness
“orisons” was an archaic word for prayers. Recalls the Ghost’s last words to Hamlet, asking him to “remember [him]”
Ophelia - “My lord, I have remembrances of yours / That I have longed long to redeliver.”
“Remembrances” plays on Hamlet asking for his “sins” to be remembered. Ophelia makes the allusion that his mementoes and affectionate gifts are in fact sinful
Ophelia speaks very formally, perhaps tipping off Hamlet that they are being observed. She uses the less personal and more formal second person pronoun “you”
Hamlet - “I did love you once. […] I loved you not.”
Hamlet’s shift from admitting his love to Ophelia to then saying he didn’t can reflect his descent into madness as he changes his mind and
Can also be evidence of his cruelty: play on the verb “love”. In his first use of it, Hamlet may be alluding to sexual relations, suggesting that him and Ophelia have had intercourse, but that he did not have true love towards her
Ophelia does not return Hamlet’s admission that he loved her, instead saying that she believed him, and then was deceived by him. Reminder that Polonius and Claudius are watching, and so Ophelia is unable to speak freely
Hamlet - “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be / A breeder of sinners?”
Short sentence reflects Hamlet’s lack of feeling towards Ophelia, reinforced by his cold tone
Noun “nunnery” is associated with purity and religious worship. Hamlet suggests that Ophelia lacks shame and piety
However it is notable that Hamlet uses the personal “thee” rather than the more formal “you”, perhaps indicating that he still has some affection towards her
Demeaning noun “breeder” reduces Ophelia to someone solely characterised by her sex
Idea of women birthing “sinners” reflects Hamlet’s nihilistic view that evil is inevitable
Hamlet - “I could accuse me of such things that it / Were better my mother had not borne me”
Ambiguity of the “things” that Hamlet “could accuse” himself of. The audience is never truly exposed to Hamlet’s psychological state
Self-loathing evident through the comparative adjective “better”. He feels that his very existence has worsened the situation in the court of Elsinore
Hamlet - “We are arrant knaves / All; believe none of us.”
Hamlet continues speaking on behalf of men, similarly to his previous soliloquy. Continuation of his ruminations on the nature of humanity and disenchantment with the world, as he widens his scope from misogynistic remarks to contempt for men as well
Compares men to deceitful criminals “arrant knaves”
Imperative command for Ophelia to “believe none” can be perceived as veiled advice for Ophelia to not trust the figures which control her
Hamlet - “Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where’s your father?”
Hamlet repeats the noun “nunnery” five times throughout this exchange between him and Ophelia, which places emphasis on his low regard of women and degradation of Ophelia. A “nunnery” was a convent for nuns, but his increasing use of it can suggest that he views women as promiscuous and treacherous — a “nunnery” was also Shakespearean slang for a brothel
Monosyllabic interrogative seems to switch to a very pragmatic and rational tone, and the question itself about Polonius’ whereabouts, implies that Hamlet knows that he is being observed
Hamlet - “wise men know well enough what / Monsters you make of them.”
Switch to formal and distant second person pronoun “you”, perhaps due to a sense of betrayal that Ophelia is complicit in Claudius’ and Polonius’ espionage on Hamlet, or perhaps because he talks generally of women and not solely Ophelia
Hamlet’s perception of Ophelia’s betrayal to him parallels his mother’s betrayal of his father
Noun “monsters” gives allusion to the idea that cuckolds (men whose wives cheated on them) grew cuckolds. Reinforces how Hamlet views women with distaste and how he feels that women have a negative impact by creating “monsters”
Blame of women “mak[ing]” the virtuous “wise men” into “monsters”
Hamlet - “I have heard of your paintings too, well / Enough. God hath given you one face, and you / Make yourselves another.”
Analogy of the artificiality of makeup for women’s deception. Evident that Hamlet believes that Ophelia acting like she loved him was fake behaviour rather than her true feelings
Shift from specific castigation of Ophelia to general criticism of women. Makeup was often criticised by Elizabethan/Jacobean society
Similar to earlier in the scene when Claudius said “The harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art, / Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it / Than is my deed to my most painted word.” Makeup is associated with deception, emphasising how women are held in low regard throughout the play
Hamlet - “We will have no more marriages: those that are married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are.”
Very thinly veiled threat towards Claudius “all but one” which further implies that Hamlet is aware of his presence
Imperative verbs “will” and “shall” reflect Hamlet’s strong contempt for marital relations and romance
Ophelia - “And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, / That sucked the honey of his musicked vows”
Most direct evidence of Ophelia reciprocating Hamlet’s feelings
Ophelia - “Like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh”
Recurring motif of music and musical instruments in Hamlet typically reflects feelings of betrayal or being used by one for a personal gain / ulterior purposes
Antithesis of “sweet” and “harsh” reflect how the relations between Hamlet and Ophelia have been spoiled and decayed
Claudius - “Love? His affections do not that way tend; / Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, / Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul / O’er which his melancholy sits on brood, / And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose / Will be some danger”
Claudius doesn’t share Polonius’ opinion for the reason behind Hamlet’s madness
Claudius is cautious of Hamlet’s madness, and feels that it is calculated, and that his melancholy has a deeper intent than just depression at his situation
Metaphor of his melancholy sitting “on brood” creates avian imagery (“hatch”) and reflects how Claudius is beginning to become suspicious of Hamlet
