Act three analysis

Act Three Hamlet

This week we have completed half of act three. So far I have been comparing this one to many aspects in the last scene and even to recurring ideas that I have noticed. There seems to be an overall theme of “spying” throughout this play. I decided to define it and by dictionary. com’s definition the word “spying” means to observe secretly or fervently with hostile intent. I noticed how Shakespeare introduces this theme through Polonius the antagonist of the play. He acts a the director as he puts Horatio into action to spy on his son. He is willing to start a web of lies such as that Laertes is drinking and at inappropriate clubs, in order to maintain the upstanding respect of his name and the name of his family. His deceit is further examined in his speech to Laertes. He emphasizes the need to be secretive when in this foreign land, this is seen when he says to “give thy thoughts no tongue” and “give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.” One might view his advice as from a loving father to a son, but I see his unrighteous attempt to control the son and seek to protect his own reputation.

Hamlet has to therefore be deceitful and fish for information in Act 2. He begins to put on this “antic disposition”. When he sees Ophelia he doesn’t even speak, but instead pulls on her as if he is struggling with internal grief and utterly crazy. Also to his friend Rosencratz he comes across crazy as he calls Denmark a prison. Everyone sees Hamlet as privileged to be the Prince and live in such freedom, but ironically he is entrapped inside his duties forcing him to be without his one true love. The theme of spying is continued into act three, but the Director has switched to Hamlet. After Ophelia lies to his face about his father being in the room and “Spying” on their intimate conversation he is disgusted and forms a plan. The fact that Hamlet has become a part of the play in order to reveal the immorality of his uncles’ behavior shows him being deceitful. He writes in lines himself burning with the intent to cause his “family” harm. It seems as though Hamlet starts off with the goal of avenging his father; however, the guilt fills his heart and he loses confidence.

Another repetitive theme is “to be or not to be”. He has to figure out whether to uphold his duty and swallow his pride by agreeing to ignore right and wrong or fight back against fate and act, showing that evil must pay. Hamlet questions his place in the world from the beginning of the play when he sees the world as “an unweeded garden”. It is Hamlets way of questioning whether to live or to die. With the death of his father there seems to be no reason to live, but it also reveals his characterization. He is highly emotional therefore in Act three when he is furious one cannot be surprised when he calls out Ophelia as being not pure. By discussing their “country matters” in public he humiliates her and his family. This total disregard for her emotions is all due to the constant spying seen throughout the play. I believe Hamlet uses it to show how a there is a very thin line between good and bad and sometimes the two have to mix.