Hamlet Act 3:4-7 (or Act 3:4, and Act 4:1-3) (from Hamlet confronting his mother to Claudius wanting England to kill Hamlet)*

*I’m not sure why our book is different than No Fear Shakespeare. Different editions have different act breaks? Sorry about the confusion here, but it sounds like most of you figured it out.

Before we watch the video, I want to go over some important lines about mirrors. In the 2009 video we already saw Hamlet reflecting light with a mirror at the players, in Act 3:2:

“[The purpose of acting is] to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.”

Acting, like mirrors, are to show us who and what we really are. Mirrors don’t lie, they say.

Now, when Hamlet confronts Gertrude, he tells her,

“Come, come, sit you down; you shall not budge; You go not till I set you up a glass (mirror) Where you may see the inmost part of you.”

He wants her to see what’s really going on, how the illusion of what she’s done by marrying her brother-in-law (and whatever part she may have had in her husband’s death, if she has any) is coming apart, even shattering. Watch what happens with the mirrors in this scene forward.

(Do you remember Ophelia on the floor, weeping about Hamlet? The floor was a perfect mirror for her. There will be no more perfect mirrors.)

What do all of these broken mirrors signify? (Mirrors are a symbol—an object that is itself, yet also represents something more. Here in this production, because they are used so often, they become more than just a symbol but now a motif, which is when a symbol is used more than twice as a part of the story.)

WATCH VIDEO from 1:53:53 to 2:15:00

Go through the major points of the scenes, address questions. What is Hamlet’s relationship with his mother now? How does she seem to regard him? Remember how we talked about loyalty being a big theme in this play–to whom is Gertrude loyal? (Or is she torn between both of the major men in her life?)

What about the business of King Hamlet’s ghost reappearing? Why does Gertrude not see him? There are several possibilities: she doesn’t want to, maybe she does but she’s pretending she doesn’t see him (probably not likely; all of the folks freak totally out when they see a ghost), she’s not “supposed” to, or maybe he’s not really there at all. Maybe this is latest appearance is only in Hamlet’s brain–his imagination (“ecstasy,” his mother suggests). If that’s the case, what does that suggest about Hamlet’s mental state?

Are you sad to see Polonius go? Hamlet has some of his funniest lines in the scenes after he drags away Polonius. Why? (Shakespeare liked to interject some humor at heavy points in his plays, to keep the balance, some critics believe.) Maybe also because if Hamlet is truly crazy, he’s also truly funny. There’s also the theory that humor springs from intelligence, and as quickly as Hamlet is coming up with his barbs and jab, he may be demonstrating his sheer intelligence. Would that suggest that he’s just very, very clever and not insane, but in complete control? (This is THE question, asked about this play for about 417 years now . . .)

And now, some jokes about Polonius:

HOMEWORK: Hamlet Act 4: 1-4 (again, a few scenes are VERY short) OR Act 4:4-7 because No Fear Shakespeare is different. (In our book, it’s pages 114-132). Create 2 Ham Logs, covering whichever scenes you wish (but you won’t find too much great stuff in the one page of scene 3, so choose from other scenes).