Topic: Hamlet’s major scenes
Name: Jinal parmar B.
Roll no.:16
Sem.:1- M.A.
Paper no.:1- The Renaissance Literature
Submitted to.: Smt. S. B. Gardi
Department of English
M.K. Bhavnagar University
Introduction of William
Shakespeare :-
William Shakespeare (26
April 1564 (baptized)-23 April 1616) was an English playwright and poet
.William Shakespeare is one of the famous writer in English Literature. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and
also dramatist. He is called as England’s national poet and the “bard of Avon”.
He has wrote the famous 154 sonnet, two long narrative poems,38 plays and few
other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His early plays
were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication
and artistry by the end of the 16th century. Then he wrote mainly
tragedies until about 1608, like “King Lear”, “Othello”, ”Hamlet”, ”Macbeth”
and “Romeo and Juliet” these works are considered as finest work of Shakespeare
in English language. The Titular hero of one of Shakespeare’s most famous
tragedies, Hamlet has probably been discussed more than any other Shakespearean
character, especially for his famous soliloquy which begins “To be or not to
be; that is the question”. It is believed that the play was first performed
between 1600 and 1601. In the Elizabethan era there was a huge demand for new
entertainment and the drama would have been produced immediately following the
completion of the play.
o The raw material that Shakespeare appropriated in writing Hamlet
is the story of a Danish prince whose uncle has murder the father of a prince
Hamlet. Claudius, the uncle of Hamlet and he marries to Hamlet’s mother
Gertrude and claims the throne so for this reason Hamlet goes on taking revenge
to the Claudius. In this play Shakespeare emphasizes that how Hamlet is taking
revenge to his father’s murderer.
Major Scenes :-
There are many important
scenes in Hamlet, but the one there is vital part in understanding Hamlet’s
character in Act-3, Scene-1. It gives us in depth look at Hamlet’s true
character, that Hamlet is extremely melancholy and discontented with the state
of affairs in Denmark and his own Family-indeed, in the world at large. How
Hamlet thinks to the point of obsession, he also act rashly and impulsively,
this is shown by how he behaves towards Ophelia, when she rejects him. It also
shows how he is plagued by the “big question of life” like the wisdom of
suicide and what happens after death. In Hamlet Shakespeare give some light on
Hamlet’s character that how he behave with other character just because he
wants to take revenge of his father’s murder. And for that some of the
incidents are take place in the life of Hamlet and so it considered as the
major scenes in the play Hamlet. In the play Hamlet there are five Acts and
each Act contain several Scenes.
1.
The Ghost scene :--
In
Hamlet Ghost scene is one of the horrible scene. “Ghost” is the King Hamlet who
was murdered by his own brother Claudius. The opening of Hamlet is highly
imaginative and artistic with all the suggestion of mystery and unspoken
horror. In the play Hamlet ghost comes four times during the entire play: in
Act 1 Scene1, Act 1 Scene 4, Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 3 Scene 4. The ghost is a
part of the machinery of the revenge play. The ghost is primarily connected
with the motive of revenge; and so there is the justification of such convection.
The first ghost scene occurs in beginning of the play to a duo of soldiers-
Barnardo and Marcellus-and a visitor to Denmark, Horatio. The second ghost
scene appearance, Horatio has talked Prince Hemlet into staying up with the
guards to see if the ghost returns. At midnight, it appears, and beckons Hamlet
to follow. Horatio and his friend beg him not to go alone, but he does anyway,
driven by curiosity. Then ghost tells to the young Hamlet that he was poisoned
and murdered by his brother, Claudius, the new king of Denmark, and tells to
prince Hamlet to take avenge of his murder. He also expresses disgust at his
wife, Gertrude, for marrying Claudius, but warns Hamlet not to confront her mother,
but to leave that to Heaven. In the third appearance of ghost, Hamlet is
confronted by the ghost in his mother’s closet, and is scolded for not carrying
out his revenge and for disobeying in talking with Gertrude. Hamlet fearfully
apologizes. In this scene, the ghost is described as being in his nightgown. In
the Act-1, Scene-5 ghost reveal the mystery of the murder that while he was
sleeping in his orchard, Claudius snuck over and poured poison in his ear.
“Thus was I sleeping,
by a brother’s hand
Of life, of crown, of
queen, at once dispatch’d :
Cut off even in the
blossom of my sin,
Unhousel’d, disappointed,
unaneled;
No reckoning made, but
sent to my account”
Hamlet
promises to avenge his father’s death but he warns Hamlet not to do anything to
Gertrude, his mother. Then Hamlet decided that he wants to take revenge of his
father’s murder.
2. To be, or not to be:--
“To be, or not to
be” is one of the soliloquy of Hamlet. In the play this soliloquy occurs in
Act-3, Scene-1.
When Hamlet utters
the pained question,
“To be, or not to be: that is the question
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles”
There is little doubt that he is thinking of
death. Although he attempts to pose such a question in a rational and logical
way, he is still left without an answer of whether the “sling and arrows of
outrageous fortune” can be borne out since life after death is so uncertain.
The meaning of the “to be, or not to be” speech in Shakespeare’s Hamlet has
been given numerous interpretations, each of which are textually, historically,
or otherwise based. In general, while Hamlet’s famous “to be, or not to be”
soliloquy questions the righteousness of life over death in moral terms, much
of the speech’s emphasis is on the subject of death even if in the end he is
determined to live and see his revenge through. At this point in the plot of
Hamlet, he wonders about the nature of his death and thinks for a moment that
it may be like a deep sleep, which seems at first to be acceptable until the
speculates on what will come in such a deep sleep. After posing this complex
question and wondering about the nature of the great sleep, Hamlet then goes on
the list many suffering men are prone to in the rough course of life, which
makes it seem as though he is moving toward death yet again. By the end of this
soliloquy, however, he finally realizes,
“But that dread of something after death
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns-puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have”
Although at this
last moment Hamlet realizes that many chose life over death because of this
inability to know the afterlife, the speech remains a deep contemplation about
the nature and reasons for death.
3. The Nunnery Scene:--
This “Nunnery scene” occurs in Act-3,
Scene-1 in the play Hamlet. This is one the heartbreaking scene where Hamlet
expresses the emotion he has and we see him acting on his anger. In the play of
Hamlet the nunnery scene is a very important part of the the plot. In this
scene “Get thee to a nunnery” is a play on words. Although a nunnery is a place
for pure women who give themselves body and soles to god. A nunnery also means
a whore house. Nunnery has double meaning. Essentially Hamlet is telling Ophelia
that she is unpure and a whore, and he calls Polonius a “fishmonger” is de
facto a slang term for agent of prostitutes.
In the “Get thee to a nunnery” scene,
Hamlet exercises his abilities to play act. Hamlet begins this scene with
adoration and heartfelt happiness to see Ophelia. But, being in a crucial
position not to trust anyone, Hamlet becomes skeptical and quizzes Ophelia’s
reactions and honesty. Hamlet has used this tactic with Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern. By saying “are you honest” and “are you fair”, he watches her
stumble over her answers, and in a split second, knows that she playacts as
much as he. Hamlet uses this to his advantage by quickly acting mad. Through his
"lunacy," he rants and raves to her, convincing her that his madness
comes from her. He leads her through one more trap when asking about her father
.Ophelia fails this last test miserably, and he knows that she lies to him
willingly and her father locates himself within spying distance. Hamlet then
falls farther into his playacting of lunacy and puts on a terrific display,
leading Ophelia, Claudius, and Polonius to think that his madness sprouted from
Ophelia.
But end of the
play Hamlet proclaims his love for Ophelia at her funeral. During this scene, Ophelia plays her part
poorly. She acts as a setup for Claudius and Polonius to judge Hamlet through
his actions and his words. And then Gertrude ready to accept
Ophelia as Hamlet’s wife. Through this scene readers can imagination Hamlet’s
tragic condition that how he suffers a lot.
4. The Play within a play:--
This scene “play
with in a play” occurs in Act-3, Scene-2. This is one of the scene where Hamlet
comes to know about the guiltiness of Claudius who has poisoned King Hamlet.
This scene is pivotal scene in the play because it provides Hamlet with the
evidence to fulfill his father’s request, but his sense of morality and his
careful nature haven’t allowed him to act impulsively. He knows that the ghost
may have been in a devil in disguise, so he felt obligated to find proof of
Claudius’s guilt. While this scene “play with in a play” Hamlet has give a
running commentary on the action and makes sure that both Gertrude and Claudius
are tuned into the action. Claudius is suspicious and feeling uncomfortable
while watching a play that so closely matches his own life’s circumstances, he
even asks Hamlet about the title of the play. Once the poison is poured in the
ear of king Hamlet. Claudius abruptly leaves the stage, the trap had been set,
and it sprung on Claudius. The actual title of the play is “The Murder of
Gonzago”, Hamlet changes the title to “The Mousetrap” because that is what the play
really is a trap to catch a mouse–cats like to play with their prey before they
kill it kind of like Hamlet is behaving here.
After
the play, Hamlet is a new man. His sense of energy and enthusiasm for the task
of vengeance are renewed. He now knows that is a very freeing feeling for him.
Unfortunately, circumstances get in the way of action, and ultimately, Hamlet
ends up a victim of Laertes and Claudius’s deadly duel plan. In this scene
where Hamlet discovers Claudius is feeling guilty is the main plot of the play.
In this Act of the scene is the climax of the play.
5. Confession of Claudius:--
This scene occurs in Act-3, Scene-3 in the
play. In this scene Claudius confess his sin in front of god. Hamlet is
satisfied that the play has proven his uncle’s guilt. When Claudius prays, we
come to know that Claudius is murderer of his brother. This only heightens our
sense that the climax of the play is due to arrive, but Hamlet waits because he
don’t want to send Claudius to heaven.
“O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t,
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not,
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent
And like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.”
Hamlet wants to kill Claudius, but it seems
that he waits because he wants a more radical revenge. Critics such as Samuel
Taylor Coleridge have been horrified by Hamlet’s words here-he completely
oversteps the bounds of Christian morality in trying to damn his opponent’s
soul as well as kill him. But apart from ultraviolet posturing, Hamlet has once
again avoided the imperative to act by involving himself in a problem of
knowledge. Now that Hamlet is satisfied that he knows Claudius’s guilt, he
wants to know that his punishment will be sufficient.
“Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid bent :
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,
Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed ;
At game, a-swearing, or about some act
That has no relish of salvation in’t;
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven
And that his soul may be damn’d and black
As hell, where to it goes.”
In this scene, at this point Hamlet has gone
beyond his earlier need to know the facts about the crime, and he now craves
metaphysical knowledge, knowledge of the afterlife and of God, before he is
willing to act. Through this scene we come to know guiltiness of Claudius where
he feels repentance his sin while, he was praying to the god.
6. The Closet Scene:--
This scene occurs in Act-3, Scene-4 in the play Hamlet.
In this scene the play turns into twist and it is the subplot of the play.
Spying is a recurring theme in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet as it creates an
abundant amount of dramatic intensity throughout the play. It causes the death
of Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and it reveals significant
characteristics of major characters. Shakespeare specifically incorporates
spying into certain scene known as observation scene dramatically enhances the
dimatic moments of the play and develops the complex reasoning behind many
major characters such as Hamlet.
The most important observation scene in
the play is that as Hamlet discusses his true feeling to Gertrude while
Polonius overhears the conversation behind the tapestry. Where she tells Hamlet
has badly offended his father, meaning Claudius; Hamlet answers that she has
badly offended his father, meaning King Hamlet. Hamlet intimidates Gertrude,
and she cries out that he is trying to murder to her. Then Polonius reacts from
behind the curtain and yells for help and so Hamlet thought that behind the
curtain there is Claudius, then Hamlet draws his sword and by mistakly thrusts
it through the tapestry, killing Polonius. When Hamlet lifts the wallhanging
and discovers Polonius’s body, he tells the body that he had believed he was
stabbing the king.
Throughout
the play, Hamlet display hostility towards his uncle Claudius due to the
marriage between him and Gertrude. This is especially evident in the closet
scene as Hamlet berated his mother with many sexual and incestuous references.
In order to explain the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Sigmund
Freud’s theory the Oedipus complex identifies this situation as a male’s
unconscious sexual desire for his mother. Freud believes that these sexual
desire are repressed unconsciously which in turns creates a lasting effect in a
boy’s life. An example in this scene is when Hamlet says,
“But to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed
bed
Stewed in corruption, honeying and
making love
Over the nasty sty!”
Here in this scene Hamlet is furious with his
mother’s sexual relationship with Claudius and his sexual desire emerges in his
sexual allusions.
7. The Gravedigger Scene:--
This is the one of
the painful scene for prince Hamlet. This scene occurs in Act-5, Scene-1 in the
play Hamlet. In this scene two clowns are discuss the burial for which they are
digging. An inquest has declared the corpse fit for Christian burial. The first
clown argues that the dead woman deserves no such indulgence, because she
drowned herself and is not worthy of salvation. The second clown explain that
she deserve defending. This how there is
discussion between grave diggers. Then Hamlet comes with Horatio and both
Hamlet and Clown Questioning and answering to each other. The gravedigger tells
him the skull belonging to Yorick, the King’s jester.
Hamlet and
Horatio observe that the Queen, King and Laertes arrive among a Group of
mourners escorting a coffin. He observes that the funeral is not a full
Christian rite but that the body is being interred in sacred ground. Laertes
argues with the priest that, grant her all the rites of a Christian burial then
priest replay that because she has committed suicide, he must deny Ophelia the
requiem mass and other trappings of a Christian burial, even though Ophelia
will be buried on sacred ground. Then Hamlet and Horatio comes to know about
the death of Ophelia and after that Hamlet and Laertes argue over who loved
Ophelia best. Hamlet says that I love Ophelia; forty thousand brothers could
not, with all their quantity of love. Here in this scene Hamlet express his
feeling for Ophelia and he feels very sorrow for Ophelia.
8. The Duel Scene:--
This
scene comes at the end of the play. This scene occurs in Act-5, Scene-2 in the
play. In this final scene, the violence, so long delayed, erupts with dizzying
speed. This is duel between Hamlet and Laertes but other characters drop one
after the other, poisoned, stabbed, and, in the case of Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern, executed, as the theme of revenge and justice reaches its
conclusion in the moment when Hamlet finally kills Claudius. Before this fight
Claudius has mixed the poison in to the cup of wine and says that if Hamlet
wins the first or second hit. He will drink to Hamlet’s health and give the
wine to Hamlet. When Hamlet hits Laertes again than Gertrude rises to drink
from the cup. In an aside, Claudius murmurs, “It is the poison’d cup: it is too
late”. Then she calls out to Hamlet, and dies.
“Does it not, think’st thee, stand
me now upon-
He that hath kill’d my King, and stained my mother;
Popp’d in between the election and my hopes;
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such Cozenage-is’t not perfect conscience,
To quit him with this? and is’t not to be damn’d’
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil ?”
Hamlet takes
revenge of his father and mother’s death and kills to Claudius. After that
Hamlet tells Horatio that he is dying and exchanges a last forgiveness with
Laertes, who dies after absolving Hamlet. This is the final scene of the play
Hamlet.
“It will be short : the interim is mine ;
And a man’s life’s no more than to
say ‘one’,
But I am very sorry, good Horatio
That to Laertes I forgot myself;
For, by the image of my cause, I see
The portraiture of his ; I’ll court hig favours;
But sure, the bravery of his grief did put me
Into a towering passion.”
The
story of Hamlet based on a Danish revenge story first recorded by Saxo
Grammaticus in the 1100s. In these stories, a Danish prince fakes madness in
order to take revenge on his uncle, who had killed the prince’s father and
married his mother. But Shakespeare modified this rather straight forward story
and filled it with dread and uncertainty Hamlet doesn’t just feign madness; he
seems at times to actually be crazy. This play Hamlet is one the famous play in
English Literature and in the play Shakespeare has describe some of the scenes
and Soliloquies which are very famous.
So, these are the major scenes of the play Hamlet.