My initial reaction to Act 2 was confusion for Hamlet. It really didn't seem like Hamlet was all there while he was chasing Ophelia and just acting strange to everyone. It may be that Hamlet was faking it as we can see him faking his madness at Polonius later in the play. There have been other medias that have used the “crazy in love” idea but I liked the way it was used here. Hamlet turning into pretty much a zombie was alright as long as he was in love.
For the character analysis I chose Polonius because we get to see a lot more of him in the second act. Polonius seems like a meddling character, who cares more about other people's lives then his own. He hires people to spy on his son's life and orders his daughter to stay away from Hamlet and then not to after he thinks Hamlet is lovesick with her. I think that Polonius's flaw is that he is involved, to the point of being nosy, in other people's lives. I think that Polonius is a foil to Hamlet that can be criticized. He is old where Hamlet is young and has a relatively happy outlook on life where Hamlet does not. Hamlet criticizes Polonius and acts strangely in front of him also because he is a servant of his mother and father.
The theme of love/family/friendship is prevalent in the second act, in fact all are shown in some respect. Love is shown when Ophelia recounts her encounter with Hamlet, yet it is seen as some kind of craziness that everyone sees as strange. Also parent-child love is usually seen with a great deal of spying throughout the act. Family relationships are, as stated above, parents spying on their children and a severe lack of trust. The parents seem to think if their children are anything other than what they want them to be they are failures, perhaps that could just be attributed to the times. Hamlet seems to react negatively to this treatment but on the other hand Ophelia does not seem to care to much. This may be to show Hamlet independent attitude towards his Uncle and Mother. The friendship relationship is brought out the most in this act as Hamlet's school friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern visit. These two have been sent by Hamlet's Uncle and mother to spy on him and Hamlet figures it out quite quickly. When confronted by it the two don't really hide it showing their friendship above all else. Hamlets demeanor is also “night and day” when compared to Polonius as he seems truly happy that his friends are there.
You brought up a good point about him faking his madness. At this point in the plot we do not truly know if Hamlet is actually crazy or if this is part of his plan for revenge. It does seem kind of far out that in just a short time Hamlet can go from simply being upset over the whole situation to being completely mad. If I would have to guess I would say that Hamlet is actually truly crazy and is not faking it. I think that all of these unfortunate events happening in a relatively short amount of time would be too much for almost any young man to deal with.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think Hamlet is faking being crazy because he seems to be using it to his advantage. But then again seeing his fathers ghost would make it understandable if he was losing it a little. He upset, confused and suspicious of people, I think anyone in the position could easily seem crazy. I like what you said about Polonius though, he does kinda just mess with everyones business. I guess you can when your in his position though.
ReplyDeleteI agree about Polonius not only was he in everybody's business but he was also very irritating. I believe he was trying to make a good name for his family in front of the king and queen. He is an overbearing parent and thinks his children are better than many. That's how I saw him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your interpretation of Polonius. This act sort of exposed his main flaws, the biggest one being that he is nosy. As soon as Ophelia explained what happened with her and Hamlet, he immediately concluded that Hamlet was lovesick and that was the reason for his sudden change in behavior. He didn't confirm this before running and telling the king and queen, which kind of makes him a gossiper.
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