Act 3 Scene 4 Flashcards
Act 3 scene 4 plot summary
Closet scene -
Hamlet is confrontational
Polonius is behind areas
Gertrude thinks he’ll kill her and shouts for help and Polonius shouts
Hamlet stabs him
Gertrude calls it bloody deed - hamlet says ‘as kill a king….’ - conforming she had no idea about the murder
Hamlet mean to her and she tries defending herself again saying she’s his mum
Ghost enters - only Hamlet can see - tells hi to be more nice to her
Gertrude says he’s mad as there is not s ghost
Hamlet tells Gertrude not to sleep with Claudius and be more virtuous
He regrets killing Polonius but heaven must have willed his death
Hamlet says he is commanded to go to England but knows Rosencrantz and Guildenstern should not be trusted
He says farewell and leaves, dragging out polonius’ body
Key themes act 3 scene 4
Sexuality and role of women - sexual appetite and her age
She wants sex not love
Form structure and language in Act 3 scene 4
Hamlets verbal attack on Gertrude
- rhetorical questions and fragmented utterances indicating his anger at Gertrude, and he doesn’t let her speak until exhausted by his rage
The ghosts interruption
Changes scene
Is hamlet scared, defiant or ashamed that he hadn’t done as father asked
Context act 3 scene 4
Expectations of women especially older and widows
Key quotes in Act 3 scene 4
‘Hamlet thou hast thy father much offended’
‘Mother, you have my father much offended’
‘A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother As kill a king, and marry with his brother’
‘You cannot call it love; for at your age/ The hey-day in the blood is tame’
[inside my soul] there I see such black and grained spots
‘Enseamed bed’
‘it is not madness’
‘O Hamlet thou hast cleft my heart in Twain’
Explain
‘Hamlet thou hast thy father much offended.
Mother you have my father much offended’
Play on words twisting his mother’s comments indicate his sanity not his madness
Explain
‘A bloody deed! Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king, and marry his brother’
Rhyming draws attention to the accusation, the blunt nature of ‘kill a king’ is also important as here Hamlet isn’t hiding under manipulative language. This is his moment of accusation and Gertrude responds with simple confusion
Explain
‘You cannot call it love; for at your age
the hey blood is tame’
Another bitter accusation to Gertrude, this time that she is too old to have a sexual appetite, and should have remained unmarried
He flatly refuses to believe Gertrude is in life and the audience is left thinking
Hamlet never gives her an opportunity to defend herself
Explain
‘[inside my soul] there I see such black and grained spots’
Although Gertrude seems to be admitting the sun in the ‘black’ spots which are ‘grained’ and therefore permanent, is she perhaps trying to calm hamlet down by agreeing w him?
Depends on production
Explain
‘Enseamed bed’
Gertrude’s sexuality
‘It is not madness’
Hamlet tells his mum he’s not mad
‘O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in Twain’
Gertrude sad due to accusation
How does Gertrude attempt to challenge hamlets behaviour and How can we see hamlets mockery of these attempts?
Find examples
‘Handle thou hast thy father much offended’ - accusations
‘Mother you have my father much offended’
Turning his finger of accusation from his own behaviour to hers - fro dialogue - sycomythia
What leads Gertrude to believe hamlet will murder her and what are the repurcussions
‘You shall not budge’ ‘you go not till… you may see the inmost part of you’
She calls for help and Polonius gets stabbed
How does hamlet justify his actions and how does he feel about what he has done
Consider Polonius ‘obituary’
‘Thou wretched rash, intruding fool, farewell’
‘Who was in life a foolish prating knave’
