Hook, Line, and Sinker

Baiting. Shakespeare uses this technique to draw the audience in more to the plot. However, Shakespeare uses random baiting scenes as well. For example, Reynaldo is used to bate Laertes in France and Rozencranz and Guildenstern are used to bate Hamlet. Worthless! What is the point in having these scenes anyway? I can understand Rozencranz and Guildenstern, but really! Anyways, there is also the two women of the play, Ophelia and Gertrude, who are used to toy with Hamlet's heart. However, Hamlet easily counters them before he in turn uses his own bait against his uncle, King Claudius. By using his friendship with the players as an advantage, the prince has them perform a certain play giving him a chance to see how the King would react. It worked, enough said. Finally, Polonious is used as bait for Hamlet as he talks to his mother, who is also bait, strangely enough. The only good that came out of it was him getting run through with a sword. And that is the history of baiting within the walls of Hamlet's home.

T.S. Eliot, the King of Poets

First off... wow! I really enjoyed reading this poem. Eliot poured out his heart and soul into this peace to have us think upon his words, wanting us to take a step back and think about it: "What is he saying and how did it relate to his culture at the time?" I love poetry of any kind really, and this one completely engrossed me with all the details used to entrance the reader to keep reading and wanting more to understand what Eliot was saying.

This poem seems to talk about how throughout his life, the narrator of the poem is merely a wallflower, an outcast, a person on the sidelines who is merely waiting for the opportunity to speak out and make a difference. Referring to himself as R and G, the worthless due, he states that his only purpose in life was to serve and possibly thwart the protagonist, Hamlet. It's as if he is reflecting on his useless life and wanting to change it somehow. One line that seems to refer to this is "Till human voices wake us, and we drown." Does he want to throw his life away? Does he believe that he has no use for his life anymore that he would just go kill himself to save God or humanity the trouble? Maybe.

T.S. Eliot seemed to take his own thoughts and twist them together with a sense of chaos to have people really think about what he is trying to portray to everyone through his work. There is no sense of order, correct stanzas, or anything really. These are just my thoughts...

Question? Answer!

Yeah... I did the homework MJ but I didn't know we had to post a blog about it...

Anyways, I answered Jen's question:

"ok question, what the heck, hamlet is a worse then an emotional girl... if you promise revenge, then do it. i dont care ifs he's praying... sooo. Why in the world didnt Hamlet man it up and take care of buisness?"

My response was:

Well... I know he explained this earlier so I'll answer your first one. If you consider how Hamlet views the Christian/Catholic faith of the time period, one could understand the situation more. Hamlet is afraid that if he kills Claudius, who is praying, then he would go to Heaven. However, if he was to kill the king while he was doing something sinful or evil, then he would go to Hell where he belongs.

Worldviews of Hamlet

Alright! First off we have the whole issue in becoming the next king. Talk about pressure! He had to deal with it all his life until when he finally got the chance to make a difference, it was all taken away in nothing flat. What a bummer... Oh well! Secondly, he would have inherited the drunken kingdom of Denmark. But in Act I Scene 4 he speaks of how it would be better if there was a breaking of a tradition then a continuation of it. Finally, the influence of his mother and father, the late King Hamlet. There must have been two different ways of raising the poor lad as he grew up, not knowing that his father was to be murdered and his mother marrying his uncle. Lastly, the different worldviews that he was taught as a student while studying with Horatio and the rest of his friends. There must have been some serious conflict with his own worldviews while he was there.

Did King Claudius know that Hamlet knew his secret?

I really don't think that Claudius is that smart to figure out that Hamlet knows. He is suspicious about his actions but he seems dense in my mind. For example, in Act 3.1 he urges Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to keep questioning the lord Hamlet to share his reasonings as to why he is turning mad all of the sudden.

"With all my heart, and it doth much content me
To hear him so inclined.
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge
And drive his purpose into these delights."

If he thought more closely on the subject that rakes at his mind every minute of the day, he should realize that Hamlet knows every plan that the King has in order for him to speak. Nevertheless, Claudius keeps at it, determined to find out what is the matter... not even noting Hamlet when he is overhearing his discussions about the lord in question.

Did Hamlet love Ophelia before?

I believe that Hamlet did, indeed, love Ophelia before he knew anything about his father's murder. For instance, in Act 1.3, Ophelia reveals to her over-controlling father that Hamlet had confessed his love for her. Isn't that obvious enough that he loved her deeply? But also there are the love letters. In Act 2.2, Polonius talks about the many love letters that his daughter had received from the lord Hamlet prior to his madness but only mentions the one where he purposefully wrote a terrible one for her. Though he was a complete jerk to her in Act 3.1, the repeated lines of "go thee to a nunnery" shows his wanting for her to be his and only his, right? This is ignoring the fact that he made two women into one person... which is just nasty.

Act III Scene i and ii

In the course of these scenes, the prince of Denmark seems to me less mad than everyone thinks. Seemingly faking it, he is receiving information from all around him. Though he speaks of suicide and regarding Ophelia as a deceiving woman, he seems to still love her deeply as shown in Act III Scene i lines 122-130.

Yet in Act II Scene ii, Hamlet is overly calm about what he is planning on doing the play in "honor" of the King. He reveals most of his plan to Horatio yet seemingly becomes his normal loner self before becoming "mad" once more as the others enter the scene. While the play goes on, he cunningly interprets the "play" while the others watch in wonder. Hamlet is thrilled as he successfully gets a reaction from Claudius. Hamlet then returns to his normal state of mind and confronts Horatio, wanting his interpretation of the who incident.

Yeah, I know only five sentences were asked but I felt like I needed to say more for some odd reason.