DRJ #4

Initial Personal Reaction: I felt like this act moved a lot quicker than the others. The structure of the act, specifically the fact that there were morse scenes than in any other act and the constant entering and exiting of characters, helped move the pace along. I also felt that as the play progressed it became more and more ridiculous and less “believable.” Ophelia's madness was also very clear through the text, especially how Shakespeare italicized her singing. Call me a skeptic, but I was very hesitant to believe that Ophelia went “mad.” However, I didn't see any evidence of her faking madness, and I believed that she did love Hamlet and went mad over her father's death.

Character Analysis: I felt like Laertes' character became more interesting in Act IV. In the first three acts, he was portrayed as a man who cared about his sister and was somewhat disrespectful of his father. He begged his father to go off to Paris and he spent a good deal of the first three acts there. However, we do learn through Polonius' worrying that his son could potentially be doing up to other things besides studying in Paris. Polonius' worrying for Laertes caused me to question Laertes' motives and character. Why did he want to go back to Paris so badly? To escape his overprotective father? Possibly. In Act IV Laertes has more dialogue and begins to reveal how he can act very quickly. Laertes' character is used as a foil to Hamlet. Hamlet struggles to carry out revenge, but Laertes is quick to act and carries out revenge on Hamlet (which we know backfires). I gathered from the text that Laertes genuinely cared for Ophelia and Polonius because he wanted to avenge his father's death, and because he said “tears seven times salt, burn our the sense and virtue of mine eyes”(4.5.155-160). He was crying over his sister going mad.

Thematic Element: Through the use of irony, Shakespeare reveals that allowing oneself to be used will lead to demise. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's (R&G) case, being the king's sponge lead to their deaths. Hamlet clearly told R&G that they were “[a sponge] that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such offices do the king best services in the end” (4.2.12-20). Claudius kept using R&G until he eventually “rang them dry” (4.2.19-20). Irony is present because in R&G's obedience to the king's mission to kill Hamlet, Hamlet actually kills them.

Laertes is another example of how being used leads to demise. Had Laertes carried out his own idea of killing Hamlet in church he might have actually gotten away with it. Instead, Laertes allowed himself to be used by the king to kill Hamlet, which ironically lead to his own death.