Hamlet 5. | A Changed Hamlet And Dubious Catharsis

Question 1

5. ‘In the final act, Hamlet accepts his world, and we discover a different man’

Answer 1

Mack

Question 2

5. ‘Imperious Caesar, dead and turn’d to clay/might stop a hole to keep the wind away’

Answer 2

Hamlets reflection on Caesar’s remain being reduced to clay highlights his acceptance of mortality and the futility of earthly power. The rhyming couplet serves to create a tone of resolution, which contrasts Hamlet’s previous uncertainty + anguish

Question 3

5. ‘This I / Hamlet the Dane’

Answer 3

Hamlet asserts his rightful place in the world with authority and self disclosure, a stark departure from the hesitant and introspective man we saw earlier in the play

Question 4

5. “They did make love to this employment. They are not near my conscience”

Answer 4

His lack of guilt over rozencratz and guildenstern’s deaths show his pragmatic acceptance of moral complexity, as he no longer agonises over actions necessitated by his circumstances m, marking his transformation into a man of decisive action

Question 5

5. ‘Hamlet is a tragedy without catharsis”

Answer 5

Frye