DRJ #3 ACT 3

My initial reaction to Act 3 was...weird. I wasn't sure how to feel about Act 3, although I thought act three was very funny, in a sarcastic, bitter, and cruel way. It reminded me of some kind satirical essay Jonathan Swift would write. Hamlet's witty banter definitely kept my interest afloat, which I believe was Shakespeare's intention.

I feel that Act 3 was the crux of all the action, the main ideas behind Hamlet, so I've decided to analyze the protagonist, Hamlet in this act. Simply put, Hamlet is a punk. He is mean to everyone, as seen in his rude conversation with Ophelia during the play, his rude comments to Claudius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius and his angry conversation with Gertrude. Hamlet bitterly jokes around, answering Claudius and Gertrude questions with jokes. He constantly talks throughout the play, (ashamed at himself for not being able to do what the actor is doing) yet he is clever, his wordplay, being able to call out the fake Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and able to put together this play. However, this typical Hamlet behavior makes everyone around him believe he is insane, when honestly, I feel that he is just a clever, angsty, smartmouthed teenager who is having a hard time dealing with everything that had happened to him. Hamlet even states that his "insanity" is just him fooling around, (in order for him to be able to avenge his father) but everyone doesn't understand. The main character Hamlet is not the ideal person, but he does suffer a fatal flaw. (Aristotle's tragic hero is someone who is almost perfect in every sense, in which Hamlet is definitely not) who dies because of one fatal flaw. For Hamlet, I see his fatal flaw as being someone who is not able fulfill what he set out to do. Hamlet has all these opportunities to slay Claudius, and yet he doesn't actually do it until Claudius and Laertes set out to slay him. Even his own father had to come to him (in ghost form) to try and sharpen his "somewhat dull appetite for revenge." Hamlet's dilly-dallying was his ultimate demise, because Claudius and Laertes is able to plot and kill him in Hamlet's inaction (although Hamlet barely kills Claudius at the last minute). Foils to Hamlet include Fortinbras and Laertes, because unlike Hamlet, they jump immediately into action.

One theme present in Act 3 is, what is truly madness? What is considered insane and not insane? How are you to tell when someone is being crazy, or if you're the one that is actually crazy? In Act 3 Scene 1, Ophelia constantly calls Hamlet crazy, saying "Dear God, please make him normal again!" But Hamlet is only telling Ophelia the truth, his views on women and even himself. Does speaking the truth and speaking his mind make Hamlet crazy then? I feel as though Shakespeare toys with the idea of being honest is like being insane. Everyone in Claudius's court is full of deceit and lies, tricking and plotting against one another to find information on someone or something. However, Hamlet is honest with his feelings from the start. Although he states them in a rude way, he does tell people what is going on in his mind and what he is feeling, like in Act 3 Scene 4 he bluntly tells Gertrude everything that is going on with Claudius and his father, and yet she seems to turn a blind eye to it, constantly saying Hamlet is crazy.