Hamlet

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read 3.2 of Hamlet while following the study guide questions.

Activities:

• A. Use the following questions (and answers) to facilitate a discussion of Act III, Scene ii of Hamlet.

  Act III, Scene ii

  • 1. How does this scene present and comment on the conflict between appearance and reality?

    In Hamlet’s opening speech he speaks of the need for appearance (acting) to come as close to reality (life) as possible.

    In his conversation with Horatio, Hamlet reveals his plan to decide the truthfulness of the ghost’s accusation against Claudius by having Horatio watch the king’s reaction (appearance) as he hears the lines Hamlet has written that allude to the manner by which Claudius allegedly killed King Hamlet.

  • 2. Why is it significant that Horatio—and he alone—meets Hamlet’s standard of conduct? Contrast 1.4.26-31 to 3.2.72-79.

    Hamlet values those who neither have nor seek gain from him. He also admires Horatio’s stoicism; his friend takes both good and ill fortune in stride. He asserts that Horatio’s intellect and passions are in perfect balance [76-79].

    It is significant that Hamlet finds no one to meet his standards among the royalty or the higher ranking nobility. He must look below his station for a mate and companion.

    The lines from Act I speak in general of men who have a single fault that grows like a moral cancer to traduce them to evil while the lines speak of Claudius in particular. In both speeches Hamlet speaks of the primacy of reason, a ruling force he sees in Horatio but not in Claudius.

  • 3. According to Ophelia, how much time has passed since Hamlet’s father’s death? How much time, then, has passed since Act I, Scene i?

    According to Ophelia it has been four months since King Hamlet’s death [136]. Therefore, about two months have passed since Act I.

  • 4. When Gertrude says “The lady doth protest too much methinks,” (254) does she speak from self-knowledge, or are her words merely unconscious irony?

    This is an OPEN QUESTION. We do not know how deeply Gertrude loved her husband King Hamlet. We do know that Prince Hamlet expects them to have loved faithfully. From his perspective, Gertrude’s words probably sound like a confession of infidelity since she criticizes the player queen for declaring her devotion so repetitiously.

  • 5. Why is the title of the play-within-a-play appropriate?

    The Mousetrap hearkens back to Hamlet’s declaration that he will use the play to entrap Claudius so that the king reveals his own guilt by his reaction [II.ii.609 - 610].

Assignment for next class meeting: Read 3.3 of Hamlet. Prepare the corresponding study questions.