At first I liked Hamlet and I felt bad for him. Now things have changed. In Act III, he is extremely rude to Ophelia and his mother! Like shame shame, Hamlet!! Didn't you listen to your father when he said to let her be and that heaven would deal with her?! Yes they have betrayed him but that certainly does not mean they deserve to be bashed in front of everyone! I also didn't think he was going mad, but now I'm starting to change my mind. I mean wouldn't you go a little bit crazy after your mother started sleeping with your uncle and the woman you once loved lied to you? I would probably be more than a little mad. During the play Hamlet has written, he asks his mother is she likes it or not and she responds, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" (line 221). Gertrude knows that Hamlet is criticizing her and is trying to make herself look and feel better about how she loved the King and how she loves Claudius now. But then in the very last act, I went back to feeling bad for Hamlet. I mean, his dad was murdered, the woman he loves kills herself, his mom marries his uncle, his uncle accidentally poisons his mom, and Fortinbras shows up to either take the kingdom or he's just passing through. Pretty stinky last couple of months of living. One part that really really stuck out to me is when Claudius lets Gertrude drink out of the poisoned chalice. If he really truly loved her, wouldn't he make her stop? Couldn't he command her to stop? I guess there isn't much really to do because he would've given himself away but he could have offered her a different chalice or asked her to wait until the match was over. But before all of this, Hamlet gets slashed with Laertes's sword, so we all know he's going to die because the sword has been poisoned. Why does Claudius want Hamlet dead so bad? Why does he have to let Gertrude drink from the chalice? I mean, c'mon. There's no way you will live after killing your nephew and wife. Someone is bound to find out which only sets up the domino effect of everything else.
Overall, I really enjoyed this play. Much more than I thought I would. The hardest part for me was figuring out what everyone meant because it's so weird hearing how differently we speak. I did have fun finding the little things Shakespeare did like the double meanings. It was kind of like a puzzle so he give us a bunch of ways to read it and we have to chose which way we want to see things. In the end I feel bad for everyone but Claudius because he really started everything. Hamlet loses most everyone he loves, Ophelia is drawn into madness with her father's death and Hamlet having said he never loved her, Gertrude being betrayed by the man she thought loved her, it's just a sad play. But a really good one at the same time. Now I want to go see it live!!
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