DRJ #3 Hamlet, Act 3

My initial thought on this act was that Hamlet had crossed the point of no return, or the threshold of the plot. During this act we find out that Claudius is truly guilty of the crime through Hamlet's clever use of setting up the scene in the play. Up until this point we are lead on to believe that Hamlet's father was murdered through the ghost of Hamlet's father himself. Hamlet has doubts that this ghost is truly what it says it is, and starts to suspect that it was truly a demon. But by the end of the chapter we know that everything is actually what it seemed to be and Hamlet can move further on his path for revenge.

I am going to focus on Claudius for this act. We learn a lot about Claudius in during this act. We also get to see him on his own and away from other characters during the third scene. During this scene we get to witness a confession admitting he is guilty as he prays. When he is not around other people, Claudius seems to be a lot more mellow. He doesn't have the toughness that he portrays in the other scenes. He also seems to be very sad deep down inside. He mentions that he regrets killing his brother and that he doubts he can ever be forgiven for what he has done. One thing that I found very interesting about his praying scene is that he not only admits to his wrong doings, but he also unknowingly saves his own life. When Hamlet walks by his door and sees Claudius alone and praying he gets the idea to kill Claudius right then. Hamlet ends up walking away though because he wants to kill Claudius while he is in the act of doing something that is bad or evil, and not while he prays. Claudius is the main reason behind this entire story. Without him there is no murder and no plot for revenge. He is as important a character as Hamlet is.

One theme that I felt played an important part during this act was guilt. Guilt is exactly what Claudius is feeling after he watches the scene in the play depicting him killing his brother. One thing that I am left wondering is whether Claudius feels guilty about the murder before watching the play. We never get a chance to observe Claudius on his own before this act. Every time we do see Claudius up until this point he never has any sense of remorse about him. He usually seems upbeat and full of energy. But now he is guilty about what he has done. Unbeknown to him, this guilt he feels ends up saving his life as Hamlet decides not to kill him while he prays. This seems to be more then just a coincidence and may signal the beginning of a personality change in Claudius due to his guilt.