Act 3 scene 2 Flashcards
(16 cards)
Hamlet - “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced / It to you, trippingly on the tongue.”
Inevitability of the rot of Elsinore: Hamlet parallels Polonius in A2.1 when he dictated what Reynaldo should say to enquire of Laertes’ behaviour
Hamlet - “Suit the action to the / Word, the word to the action”
Purpose of acting is to mirror nature: Hamlet argues against stylised or melodramatic overacting
Reflects further upon Hamlet’s assumption of an “antic disposition”; his madness is a reflection of something natural, which can be used when interpreting Hamlet acting mad vs true madness
Parallelism enforces the need of cohesiveness between speaking the words and executing the action
Antithesis of “word” and “action” creates irony as Hamlet is unable to act on the ghost’s commands
Hamlet - “observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, at the first and now, was and is, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature”
Perhaps provides insight on Hamlet’s own “antic disposition” as he perhaps acts to hold a “mirror up to nature”
Hamlet defines the very function of art-making. Use of theatre to give the illusion that he is taking action but it is just a reflection, a nonexistent concept. Evident through use of noun “mirror”
Hamlet - “Give me that man / That is not passion’s slave.”
Metaphor “passion’s slave” reflects the overwhelming nature of Hamlet’s emotions and how they render him incapable of acting
Hamlet - “There is a play tonight before the king. / One scene of it comes near the circumstance / Which I have told thee of my father’s death.”
Hamlet tells Horatio of his plan to determine whether Claudius is guilty or not, and instructs him to look at the king’s reaction throughout the play
Hamlet - “Shall I lie in your lap?” “Do you think I meant country matters?” “That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs.”
Hamlet’s cruel and mocking tone depicts how he has discarded his once amorous relations with Ophelia
Play on words, cunt-ry; Elizabethan euphemism for female genitalia
Degrading Ophelia to a sexual object reflects Hamlet’s low opinion of women and his feelings of betrayal by the female characters in the play
Ophelia says that she “think[s] nothing”, which Hamlet describes as a “fair thought”
Hamlet - “That’s wormwood!” “If she should break it now!” “Madam, how like you this play?”
Hamlet is the first to give evidence that he is himself suffering extreme emotion at sight of what is to be the reproduction of his father’s murder
His commentary throughout the play reflects how he has become more emotionally invested than Claudius
“Wormwood” is a bitter herb which serves as a metaphor for the bitterness Hamlet feels upon hearing the Player Queen’s pronouncements about marriage. In early editions, this interjection was not marked as an aside
Gertrude - “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
“Protest” meant to promise/vow
Player Queen vowing to never again marry leaves Gertrude skeptical as she herself remarried quickly after Old Hamlet’s death
Hamlet - “‘The Mousetrap’. Marry, how? Tropically.”
Hamlet reveals his intentions too early on, whereas Claudius remains calm and unprovoked. Hamlet’s erratic behaviour strengthens the court’s perception of madness
Noun “trap” is a hint from Hamlet that he is catching on to Claudius. Adverb “tropically” reveals the whole situation; “tropically” means related to tropes/figures of speech, in this case alluding to the fact that the play is not only titled the “Mousetrap”, but is a literal mousetrap as well
Critic Henry Thew Stephenson (1905) argues that Hamlet’s plot fails because it doesn’t reveal the truth and also leaves Hamlet without a viable way to take action, due to the threat of damaging his reputation
Hamlet - “Your Majesty and we that have free / Souls, it touches us not.”
Dramatic irony as Hamlet states that both him and Claudius have a free conscience and so should not be affected by the play
Perhaps a veiled threat from Hamlet to Claudius through hyperbolic irony
Hamlet - “What, frighted with false fire?”
Hamlet mocks Claudius for being afraid of a mere fictional story
Noun “fire” has connotations of danger and reflects how Hamlet used the play almost as a weapon, as it was designed to target specifically Claudius
Fricatives highlight the tension between Hamlet and Claudius as they both seem to recognise that the other knows about their situation, but cannot publicly acknowledge it to each other
Hamlet - “for me to put him to / His purgation would perhaps plunge him into more / Choler.”
Noun “choler” reflects how the play within a play has in fact gotten a rise out of Claudius, indicating that his “conscience” has been caught
Hamlet - “Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in / Shape of a camel?”
Hamlet mocks Polonius
Hamlet - “you would pluck / Out the heart of my mystery” “Call me what instrument you will, though you can / Fret me, you cannot play upon me.”
Motif of musical instruments reoccurs throughout the play. It is used to refer to Hamlet’s sense that he is being controlled and politically maneuvered
Acknowledgement that he can be “play[ed]” upon me, though not by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, is perhaps an acceptance of his tragic fate, which becomes all the more prominent in the later acts. eg. A5.2 “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, / Rough-hew them how we will.”
Hamlet - “Now I could drink hot blood, / And do such bitter business as the day / Would quake to look on.”
Idea of the “witching time of night” as a time when danger can occur demonstrates the use of dualism throughout the play
“Witching” reflects how night is associated with the supernatural and the appearance of the Ghost. Hamlet’s resolve to act seems to appear once more, reflecting his duality and reckless, unpredictable nature
Plosive “bitter business” reflects the gravity and undesirability of Hamlet’s duty
Hamlet - “O, heart, lose not thy nature.” “I will speak daggers to her, but use none.”
Indicates the psychological consequences that Hamlet’s quest for revenge may have, and his own recognition that he is not necessarily himself and is becoming more cruel
Although he aims to verbally harm Gertrude through speaking “daggers”, which reflects his bitterness and sense of betrayal at her hasty remarriage, Hamlet resolves to use “none”. This indicates that his purpose behind speaking with Gertrude is not to punish her but almost to redeem her and resolve her status.
