Act 3 Scene 3 Flashcards

1
Q

Act 3 scene 3 plot summary

A

Claudius tells rosencrantz and Guildenstern that they must take hamlet to England

Polonius tells Claudius - hide behind areas

Claudius soliloquy

Hamlet comes unseen - wants to kill Claudius but hesitates- if kills now- May go to heaven

Instead, Hamlet decides to wait until a moment he can be certain Claudius will go to hell

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2
Q

Act 3 scene 3 key themes

A

Secrecy and deception

Polonius’ plan to hide himself in Gertrude’s chamber emphasises his political role at court

Claudius has set in motion the plot to kill hamlet

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3
Q

Act 3 scene 3 form structure and language

A

Claudius soliloquy -
The king speaks in blank verse as he attempts to pray and unburden his soul in the scene, which is usually played in a chapel because of the prayer like nature of the speech

Staging -
Directors need to make hamlets entrance and Claudius not noticing seem natural
Many modern film directors give hamlet his soliloquy as a voiceover instead
Like the David tenant version
While other onstage versions might have hamlet further away and rely on the audience suspending disbelief

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4
Q

Act 3 scene 3 context

A

Religion - Claudius trying to pray

Hamlet not killing - religion inspired

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5
Q

Key quotes Act 3 scene 3

A

‘Nor stands it safe with us/ to let his madness range’

‘His heels may kick at heaven/ and that his soul may be as damn’d and black/ As hell, whereto it goes’

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6
Q

Explain ‘Nor stands it safe with us/ to let his madness range’

A

Does he actually care about Denmark or is this for his safety only

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7
Q

Explain

‘His heels may kick at heaven/ and that his soul may be as damn’d and black/ As hell, whereto it goes’

A

Ironic - inability to pray

Imagery of Claudius diving into hell - Hamlets desire for revenge

Wants external soul to suffer - condemn hamlet to a similar fait

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8
Q

Claudius soliloquy

A

‘O, my offence is rank it smells o heaven’ - biblical story of Cain who killed his brother Abel - first Murder

‘To wash it white as snow’ - Macbeth

‘A brothers murder.’ - pause surprise

‘Forgive me my foul’d Murder?’ Rhetorical question. - struggling

‘My crown, mine own ambition and my queen’ - order of importance, triad
‘My’ - possessive, not going to give it up

‘Wretched’ ‘black’ ‘limed soul’ - trapped and rotting, moral sin

‘Bow stubborn knees’

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9
Q

Hamlets interjected soliloquy

A

In modern film adaptation - performed as voiceover to explain Claudius doesn’t hear him

In theatre- we have to suspend disbelief

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10
Q

Claudius last line

A

‘My words fly up, my thoughts remain below
Words without thought never go heaven go.’

The final rhyming couplet - parallelism of 2 lines connecting heavenly and hell

Is below hell or Earth

Irony - hamlet could have killed him

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11
Q

‘O my offence is rank it smells to heaven’

A

Apostrophe

Olfactory

Guilt
He’s moral
Self disgust

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12
Q

‘The primal eldest curse upon’t,/ a brothers murder

A

Emphatic

Curse - not his fault

Trying to normalise it - seen as more evil

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13
Q

‘My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,… I stand it pause’

A

Personification
Plosives
‘Bus’ ‘bound’

Frustration - what to repent for 1st

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14
Q

What if this cursed hand… as snow?

A

Similar

Hyperbole

Macbeth

Magnified sins

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15
Q

I am still possessed…my Queen

A

List of 3

Syndetic

Priority - Queen last

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16
Q

What then? What rests?….What can it not?

A

Rhetorical questions

Caesura

Hestitstion

17
Q

‘O limed soul’

A

Apostrophe

Entrapment s

18
Q

Bow stubborn knees.. new born babe

A

Plosive

19
Q

Quote

Dramatic tension is created as Claudius rushes to instigate his plan to send hamlet to England

A

I like him not, nor stands it safe with us’

20
Q

Quote

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sycophantic in their support in their support of Claudius’s plan

A

‘We will ourselves provide…feed upon your majesty’

21
Q

Quote

Polonius informs Claudius of hamlets actions in going to his mother’s chamber. He will conceal himself within the room to spy on their conversation

A

‘Behind the arras.ill convey myself/To hear the process’

22
Q

Quote

In soliloquy, Claudius struggles with his guilty conscience

A

O my offence is rank, it smells to heaven

23
Q

Quote

Observing Claudius seemingly at prayer, Hamlets 6th soliloquy reveals his lack of thirst for revenge as he explored reasons for not taking immediate action against Claudius

A

‘That would be scared’

‘No’