For Thursday: Hamlet, Act 4

Hamlet in a Royal Shakespeare Company production, 2025 

NOTE: No questions this time around, but try to read through Act 4, and we'll probably have an in-class response to something in the Act (if I remember--I forgot last time I claimed we would have one!). Here are some things to look out for as you read...

* Watch carefully how language changes throughout. While Hamlet speaks to his mother in verse, does he do this with any other character consistently (or intermitently)? 

* Where is the line drawn between Hamlet's performance and his persona? Where do we see the REAL Hamlet? Or was there never really a 'real' Hamlet? 

* How do we respond to the murder of Polonius, and his response to the murder? If Polonius is a fool (and sort of an ass), can his murder be treated as a joke? Or is the death of any character 'tragic'?

* On page 203 (Act 4.4), Hamlet has another longer speech, but one that isn't as famous as "To Be Or Not To Be," or "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" How does this speech expand some of the earlier sentiments, and what does it reveal of his doubts and intentions?

* Ophelia reverts to speaking completely in prose in Act 4. Is she truly mad now, or is this also a kind of performance? Is there any "method" in it? 

* Laertes returns in Act 4, and learns that his father has been killed by Hamlet (sort of like how Hamlet learns his father has been killed in Act 1). How does he respond very differently than Hamlet? Why might we consider Laertes a kind of 'shadow' Hamlet? Or maybe Hamlet is a 'shadow Laertes'? 

* A second revenge plot is hatched in Act 4. How does it compare with Hamlet's? Is one more right or just than the other? How is it jusified in the play?