Friday, November 4, 2011

HAMLET ACT II QUESTION

What changes do we see in Hamlet in Act II? How else might he change later in the play, and will that help or hinder him?

17 comments:

  1. In Act 2 I'm not sure we see any more changes in Hamlet, but we do find out more about him. We find out that he is an insecure, cowardly son that is overwhelmed with the rather unfortunate events that have happened to him recently. We see in Hamlet's soliloquy at the end of Act 2 that he can't express any emotion and is jealous of the actor. Even though it looks like he is confident he will get a reaction from King Claudius, I'm sure he is still lacking confidence. In Act 2 we begin to see the vulnerability of Hamlet.
    Later in the play I think he will just continue in his downward spiral of craziness. Hamlet will continue to be presented with stressful situations and will not get "better." He may notice that it was him that was bringing all his misfortune, but ultimately that will not help him.

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  2. It seems as though Hamlet has gone deeper into insanity and has gotten more envious to kill his uncle. I believe this will hurt him in the end because people already see him as gone crazy and if he continues to act this way he wont have the opportunity to kill his uncle.

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  3. I think that in Act 2 we start to see Hamlet start to take some action. In Act 1, Hamlet more or less just contemplated what he should do; but in Act 2 he starts to develop a plan that he can use to find some facts to base his actions on. I believe that this is somewhat a big step because we begin to see Hamlet actually take action and acknowledged that he is possibly capable of doing the task his father has set forth. As the play progresses I hope that Hamlet will continue to move forward and take more and more action against Claudius. Even if he does avenge his fathers death by killing King Claudius these actions will end up hurting him. Death is never a positive thing and I believe that someone will catch Hamlet and this situation will spiral out of control.

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  4. In Act 2, we see more of a change of Hamlet's circumstances. He is becoming more and more isolated and abandoned by those who are supposed to care about him. We also start to see, as Mitch said, Hamlet take action, and at the end of the act he has a fully developed plan and has taken steps to put it in motion. He has spoken to the actor and decided to perform a play to catch his guilty uncle. We also see a change in his outlook. He is becoming increasingly conflicted and depressed. He is beginning to loose his sense of self because of his incredibly horrible circumstances.
    I think as time goes on, this downward spiral will cause Hamlet to loose his nerve and he will not be able to kill his uncle without it going horribly wrong. When people are depressed, they become distracted and loose their purpose in life.

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  5. I feel like Hamlet has started to become more insane. He is almost completely alone and he is starting to do something about his problems, as others have said. Later in the play I think Hamlet will have gone totally insane and will do something drastic that will change everything. It is a tragedy so whatever road he takes with his problems will definitely hinder him and he will be completely alone.

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  6. After reading Act 2, we have become more aware of the unfortunate circumstances that Hamlet been unwillingly forced into. Through the abandonment that he has been presented with, he is becoming more insane as he does not have anyone to trust anymore. As discussed during class, with everyone leaving him, even his closest from Horatio will probably not be someone to be trusted later on. I would predict that as time continues, and Hamlet gets more and more involved in his emotions revolving around his father’s death and his uncles taking over of the thrown he is going to be so wrapped up in this, that he will no longer be able to think straight, and I would predict he will not successfully be able to take down his uncle in power.

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  7. Throughout act 2 Hamlet began to take action rather than contemplating whether he should kill his uncle or not like he did in act 1. I think over the course of the last three acts Hamlet will begin to get angry rather than scared and confused, this will most likely help him if his ultimate goal is to kill his uncle. If it’s not his ultimate goal this will hinder him from making rational decisions. I also agree with what Ben said; Hamlet seems more vulnerable, do you think it’s because we are learning more about him or is he developing this vulnerability due to his ecstatic emotional state?

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  8. I feel like we did not see any change in Hamlet form act 1 to act 2. The only change we might have seen is Hamlet becoming more and more crazy. I feel like Hamlet will go into a down ward spiral and become more and more crazy, and I feel that he will actually become crazy, he will not just be acting anymore. This will eventually hinder Hamlet. His down ward spiral will eventually consume him and he will not be able to get out.

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  9. I feel like Hamlet doesn't change a whole lot from Act 1. In Act 1 he takes in everything like a sponge, such as talking to his father's ghost and learning what he has to avenge him. In Act 2 he just becomes unsure of himself from the information he obtained in Act 1. He doesn’t quite know what to do with himself with all his thoughts looming in his head. Those thoughts are going to catch up with him and make him become crazy later on in the play. This will ultimately hurt him in the end. I think his craziness will take him down the wrong path and he will end up doing something that will result in his death.

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  10. Hamlet's sense of trust really takes a turn in act 2. At this point, He really cannot trust anyone except his friend Horatio. Being not able to trust anyone could really hurt him later because it closes doors in the relationships between him and his friends. And these could be friends that could help and team-up with him in the fight against his uncle.

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  12. The Hamlet we see now in Act 2 is more insane then the Hamlet that we saw in Act 1. Hamlet has now gone deeper into his role that I believe he has lost himself and lost the relationships he had with the people around him. The fact that Hamlet is acting this way has resulted in him being alone and now there is no one he can truly trust but Horatio or at least for now Hamlet can trust him. Though later in the play I sense that Hamlet will lose his trust for Horatio as well and be truly alone.

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  13. During act two Hamlet realizes that he is alone, he accepts that he has no one he can trust or anyone for him to consult about his problems. This can be good for hamlet because later on when he kills the king he won't have any close to question him or he won't have to worry about loosening anyone else. I think we will find out very soon wether or not hamlet will kill the king or not.

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  14. During act 2 Hamlet realizes how isolated he is from his family. He is hurt by the fact that his best friends betray him so quickly. I believe that Hamlet won't really change much farther into the play, this will cause many problems as Hamlet cannot bring himself to take action. I feel that many people will be harmed or even killed due to Hamlet's inaction.

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  15. During Act 2 Hamlet goes through a lot of changes he goes from being a somber young man mourning his father, to a crazed murderer seeking revenge. I feel that Hamlet will be a significantly changed man. It seems that he will become so totally emotionally involved in killing Claudius that he wont trust anyone else with his knowledge and he'll start acting extremely irrational. I don't know if he will ever act rationally again. His actions so far have hindered him more than helped himl; and I don't think that he will get better eitherl

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  16. Hamlet is just going down hill. He has gotten even crazier and more desperate in Act II. His misery continues to grow. He has actually created a plan in how to take down his uncle. I can only imagine that he will continue to fall more and more into insanity by the end of the book. There is no way that things can get better for him at this point.

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  17. I think that there is a difference between the Hamlet we see in act 1 and the Hamlet in act 2. In act one, Hamlet seemed to be so deprived and depressed, that he himself was completely defeated. He brought up suicide and failure. He struggled more with not being brave enough to kill Claudius. In act 2, Hamlet seems to still be as depressed, but more knowledgeable. He is not fooled by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's visit. He knew they were sent there. He also is more of a pest to Polonius. More importantly he finally made a the first part of his plan, which is to have the actors act out a scene where the king is killed and watch his uncles face. Hamlet seems to be taking his first steps towards revenge.

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