1. Summary: The play that Hamlet planned takes place and Hamlet has Horatio spy on Claudius during it to see how he reacts to part of it when a murder similar to that of Hamlet Sr. is talked about. Hamlet feels that if Claudius reacts in a horrified manner, the ghost was telling the truth. Hamlet makes offensive comments about Ophelia and his mother before the play. Claudius reacts to the part of the play mentioned earlier in a way that makes Hamlet believe that Claudius did murder his father. Polonius calls Hamlet to go to his mother’s room to talk with her.
2. Questions: Queen – Does it anger you that Hamlet picked the play that he did? Why does Ophelia not stop Hamlet from making offensive comments about her? Hamlet – Why do you interrupt the play? Wouldn’t it have been less conspicuous if you had just let the play happen as it was supposed to happen? Doesn’t your interruption make it easier for the king to see that you chose this play to reveal his guilt about your dad’s murder?
3. Quotations: Hamlet says “What, frightened with false fire?” to Claudius after the king has reacted to seeing the killing of Gonzago in the play. I like this question because Hamlet is basically letting the king know that he knows that the king murdered his father, but actually says nothing that proves that he knows this. He is rubbing it in that he knows this information while still retaining his innocence about the matter. Therefore, he strikes fear in Claudius without giving him grounds on which to have him punished for slandering the king.
When Polonius summons Hamlet to see his mother, Hamlet says to him “[d]o you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of camel?”; “[m]ethinks it is like a weasel”; and “[o]r like a whale.” These three quotations all talk about a nonexistent cloud. The quotations are funny because Hamlet is just acting to mess with Polonius.
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