AP Lit - Anastasia Kishiniovski

Hamlet's Revenge Plan

Throughout Act II, it seems as if Hamlet has been stewing in anger over Claudius but hasn't taken any action. He had hardly mentioned his vengeance until his rant at the end of Act II Scene II. When the Players were introduced, something must have been sparked deep inside Hamlet. The act of playing a part was ironic to him because the feelings that the actors were expressing were made up while Hamlet's feelings were all too real. Hamlet pondered how well the actors would do if they could feel what Hamlet felt, contributing to the whole "play" theme. Hamlet finally reveals the first step of his plan to avenge his father in his tirade. He hopes to reveal Claudius' guilt by having the actors put on a play that resembles Claudius murdering Hamlet's father. This could partly be because Hamlet still doesn't want to believe that Claudius killed King Hamlet so he needs confirmation by seeing the guilt in his eyes once he watches the play. Hamlet talks about the power of plays and how they can affect people by leading them to "proclaim their malefactions". Although Hamlet hopes that Claudius will confess to his sins right on the spot, it is highly unlikely that this will happen. Hamlet's rant on how cowardly he is and how he should take responsibility for this suggests that he will have to kill Claudius himself. There is also foreshadowing in the beginning of the scene when Hamlet speaks to Polonius and all Hamlet can think about is his life and how it is the only thing he would be willing to give up. This suggests that Hamlet would go to such great lengths to avenge his father and kill Claudius that he would wind up dead himself. Polonius thinks that his strange behavior is due to the fact that Hamlet is in love with his daughter but even his mother isn't quite convinced. Claudius assumes that this is the reason but perhaps he knows more than he lets on about.. Claudius and Gertrude ask Rosencratz and Guildenstern to observe Hamlet to find out what is bothering him but this could just be a way for Claudius to keep a closer eye on Hamlet and to find out exactly how much he knows about his father's death and what his plans are. Gertrude may also be in on the scheme and that is why she doesn't believe Ophelia is the cause of his strange behavior. Hamlet's overall mood in this act is withdrawn and conflicted. He knows that he must take action, but he is hesitant to do anything before he knows whether what he has heard is really true or not. He becomes a bit eccentric at points but this is probably due to all of the emotional stress he is under. It's only when he is alone that he reveals his true feelings to the audience and that is when we found out what is really going on in his head. My predictions for the next act would be that Hamlet would carry out his plans in trapping Claudius and that perhaps he would start to plan Claudius' death or attempt to expose him in front of Gertrude.