Oct. 2nd Blog 7: Hamlet

Hamlet is much different than I thought it would be. First of all, some of Hamlet is interesting and other parts are difficult to understand. I mean I can mostly get the gist of what is going on but not the full understanding which I know I probably will never understand it completely but I would really like to understand it a bit more. I had never really heard much about the play Hamlet until this class and I had always had the impression that Hamlet was this person who took charge but we can see in the play that he does not kill Claudius until the end but he has his reasons for that.

The beginning of the soliloquy that Hamlet does in Act 3, scene 1 which begins with, “To be or not to be—that is the question” (line 64). I really like this line. I have actually used it in a poem that I wrote and to be honest I think a lot of people thought that I had put that quote from Shakespeare into my poem on purpose but to be honest, I did not. I have never read Hamlet before and did not realize that this line was a famous line out of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I guess I have heard it so much that it has just stuck with me, so when I did read this line in Hamlet, I was like, wow! that’s where it came from.

Another line that I find interesting is in Act 3, scene 2, line 254, when the Queen says, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” I find this line interesting seeing how the play that is being performed is about the King and Queen. I felt like the Queen was saying that the Player Queen not just talks too much like someone said in class but what she talks about should not be talked about. I feel this way because the Queen did not wait two months before she married the late King, her husband’s, brother so she has no problem with saying yes to everything that goes on whereas, the Player Queen talks more and says how her second marriage is for profit and not love. The Queen never talks out about her marriage or says much to anyone in the play.

The ending of the play struck me because I did not think Hamlet would die. The whole time I was reading I kept thinking that Hamlet would kill Claudius, but when the Queen dies of poison, I figured that Hamlet would still kill Claudius and Laertes and he become King. I was shocked to see that Hamlet dies of being wounded by Laertes. Then, I see that Fortinbras comes in and is probably going to be the next King and all I could say was, hm, okay.