DRJ # 4 ACTS 4&5

I knew Gertrude was going to tell Claudius what happened with Hamlet and Polonius and Gertrude, I knew Claudius was going to plot against Hamlet and do something dirty, I knew Hamlet would figure it out, but I did not know Ophelia was going to go mentally insane. I'm a little disappointed in her, I expected her to be a strong woman who'd be able to fight everyone with Hamlet and become the King and Queen of Denmark and everything else. But of course that's not his style, Shakespeare likes having everyone die in the end. It's like I knew it, but I didn't want it to happen, like most of Shakespeare's plays.

The character I am choosing to analyze is Claudius. Claudius is a dirty, dirty man. He is definitely the antagonist of the play. Simply put, he killed his brother for his throne and his wife, and plots to have the protagonist, Hamlet killed as well. At first, I sympathized with Claudius. Claudius would have bouts of depression, pangs of guilt from his actions. Unlike a lot of familiar villains, Claudius knows what he did was WRONG, and even tries to repent for his sins (although that failed). I familiarized with him a little, to understand what something I did was wrong and how awful it must have felt to realize it. I even thought, okay, Claudius is going to make it up somehow. I honestly felt Claudius was sincere, but I was horribly wrong, and curse my good judgement. After his sessions of guilt, he would just go back to his throne and his wife like it was no big deal, and then set off to plot Hamlet's death with Laertes. How dare Claudius toy with my emotions like that! Good riddance. As the antagonist, he definitely purposely causes all the conflict in the play, like having R & G and Ophelia to get the scoop on Hamlet and plotting to kill Hamlet because he is a threat to his throne, but then there would be no conflict, no play if Claudius hadn't killed his brother and knocked up his wife.

The themes present in Act's 4 and 5 is the spurring of revenge and ambition. In these acts, Fortinbras and Laertes is shown to set off doing his duty, unlike Hamlet who waited too long. Fortinbras is planning to avenge his country, claiming back the land that was taken from the previous Fortinbras, and Laertes plans to avenge his father's death. With the absence of Hamlet and the appearance two characters in Acts 4 and 5, Shakespeare purposely has them there to act as a foil for Hamlet (in order to further strengthen Hamlet's "fatal flaw") Similarly to Hamlet, Fortinbras and Laertes have ambition, and are determined to avenge their losses, determined to "do their duty". However, unlike Hamlet, Fortinbras and Laertes immediately jump in to action without a second thought. Their ambition and sense of duty is stronger than Hamlet's, although Hamlet was willing to go through with his plans of vengeance. I feel as though Hamlet was so clever, he liked to dart around the rocks instead of just simply diving in, which was his fatal flaw.