"Hamlet" Q & A
These questions are from http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/q-and-a .
In act 3, Scene 1, of Hamlet, Hamlet recites his famous soliloquy. What are two character traits Hamlet displays in this soliloquy?
Hamlet has often been called The Melancholy Dane. One of his chief character traits is melancholia. In this soliloquy he is thinking about committing suicide.
In Hamlet act 3, why is Hamlet so brutal to Ophelia?
Hamlet is so brutal to Ophelia because he cannot trust her. In Act 3, Hamlet and Ophelia are on stage together for the first time. Sadly, however, their meeting is a set up, devised by Claudius and Polonius.
In scene 5, act 4, Ophelia gives flowers. What can you conclude about her choices of who she decides to give the flowers to? Is there a “method in [her] madness”?
This is such as interesting scene because it shows that while Ophelia is clearly crazy, her madness has its seeds in her sane self and in her recent experiences at Elsinore.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, how do we know that Hamlet is feigning madness?
In Hamlet, Shakespeare has Hamlet tell us at different points in the play that he is only acting such as in in 1.5 or that he was really mad as in 5.2. Shakespeare also has characters comment on Hamlet's madness, e.g., Polonius. The issue of madness gives the actor playing Hamlet more dramatic range to seize upon this very question. So depending on the production an actor can play the part as an act or as a reality. Within the confines of the play there is no definitive answer one way or the other.
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