Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Playing with the Kings Mind

I had a very strong attraction to the scene where Hamlet calls out the king on killing his father. I feel like this is a crucial scene in the play and makes the intesity level of the murder increase a mass amount. In the beggining of the book the intensity of the murder just wasn't there but once Hamlet found out that his uncle killed his father, the intesity level rose. This is seen when Hamlet directed a play for his mother and father to test their strenghth on the death of Hamlets father. If the King got uncomfortable Hamlet would know for sure that his uncle killed his father and if he didn't he either had to find a new way to make Claudius show his weakness or just have to go with the fact that Claudius was telling the truth. Without this scene I think that the play would be ruined because this one main scene really starts off the whole Uncomfortable.

5 comments:

Maddie Crowell said...

Although, Hamlet does use the actors and the play within the play to trick Claudius into revealing his actions, I wonder if the play may have been more intense if Hamlet just straight up threatend the King with a sword and killed him on a spot...how much real intensity do you want is my question?

meghanknowles said...

I agree, I thought that was the best scene in all of Hamlet. It's so tricky! I mean, as the reader, we obviously understand what Hamlet was trying to do (prove Claudius's guilt), but the fact that Claudius himself and the other characters weren't necessarilly aware of Hamlet's motives gave the scene so much more tension that is crucial to a compelling story (especially in a tragedy). In response to Maddie, I think that if Hamlet had just flatout killed Claudius right then and there, the scene would've been more brutal, but not more "intense." I think the whole idea that Claudius isn't really sure of what Hamlet know, and that the other characters don't have a clue, makes for a super intense scene. Also, because Hamlet doesn't kill Claudius, it takes us back to the whole idea of Hamlet being a man of thought, not of action, and never being able to act on his desires.

Kenya said...

I agree in the part that the scene made the play more intense but is there any way that it neglected the aspect of mystery? With Hamlet's knowledge of the way his father died he could have blackmailed, tricked, and pulled Claudius into a trap that could have left more mystery through out the play. I feel that with the :intensity" present this way, still leading to a tragic ending, the play would have progressed in a less predictable manner.

Jacqui said...

Throughout most of the book i thought Hamlet was a rich little whiner who didn't know how to deal with grief. But the decision to confirm his belief that Claudiaus killed Hamlet by putting on a play was a really good idea on Hamlet's part. To me this was the only scene that Hamlet wasn't a whiny little rich boy.

Emma said...

I agree with Jacqui. Lots of people lose fathers, it happens every day, and though it would suck for him to be murdered and your mom to marry the killer, worse stuff happens. You can't go crazy over it. Ophelia had even less justification. Little off topic, sorry...