Month: October 2015

In this scene, Polonius and Claudius spy on Ophelia and Hamlet while they talk. Ophelia has already been told by the both of them to try and get Hamlet to tell her what is troubling him. This proves unsuccessful as Hamlet tells her that he never loved her and that she should go and work in a nunnery or a brothel. This shocks Ophelia and Polonius (once Hamlet leaves) as they both thought he was driven crazy for his love of Ophelia. They devise a plan so that Claudius will spy on Gertrude (with her knowledge) and Hamlet when she tries to get him to confess to her why he’s going mad. If that doesn’t work then they’ll send Hamlet off to England to try and collect the money that England owes norway. They hope that this will take Hamlets mind off of things and that it drives the madness out of him.

In this very long scene, Polonius is telling the king and queen that he has found out why Hamlet has supposedly gone mad. He explains that because he took Ophelia away from Hamlet, he has been driven mad by love. Hamlet is then with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (his two best friends) and tells them that he isn’t mad he is just putting on an act. Actors arrive to try and entertain Hamlet. Throughout the entire scene Hamlet is taking the mick out of Polonius. He is constantly making snide comments about his appearance etc. Finally, when Hamlet is alone he tells himself that he needs to create a play so that it mimickes his fathers murder. This is in order to see if his uncle/dad/king reacts when he sees this play. This is so Hamlet has concrete evidence against the king so he can kill him with confidence knowing that he is doing the right thing (and also obeying the ghosts’ command).

In this scene it is mainly between Polonius and Reynaldo (Polonius’ servant). Polonius is telling Reynaldo to go and talk to people and ask them if they know his son Laertes. He tells him to drop hints to them about Laertes such as, ” you know that party animal Laertes” etc. This is so that people will automatically (even though they don’t know him) will agree with him and say they know him. This is all so that Polonius can know what his son is getting up to in Paris. Once Reynaldo exits, Ophelia comes in and talks to her father Polonius about how weird Hamlet had just acted around her. He had held on to her wrist with most of his clothes undone and just stared at her like he had just seen what hell looks like. He then left without saying a word. Both Ophelia and Polonius both think its because he is madly in love with her. So both of them go off to find the King and talk to them about Hamlet.

This is the scene where Hamlet talks to the ghost. As they start talking the ghost tells Hamlet about how the horrors of the after life would literally rip him apart if he knew what they entailed. Then the ghost tells Hamlet that his uncle (the ghosts brother) killed him by pouring poison in his ear. This poison caused his body to go scaly which meant he died a horrible death. The ghost says that is the reason why he is stuck in the horrible after life. He tells Hamlet to go and kill his uncle, but not to harm his mother. The ghost then leaves. Hamlet then tells Horatio and Marcellus to never say anything to anyone ever about what they have seen tonight (and the previous nights). He makes them swear on his sword, while the ghost in the background keeps calling out ‘Swear.’ They then all leave and that is how act one concludes.