The king's opening question sets a mood of uneasiness for the scene which is increased by the number of antithes in the early speeches. the King and Polonius have got Ophelia to agree to see Hamlet alone. The tension between appearance and reality is dramatized by spying figures watching Hamlet's meeting with Ophelia.
During this scene Hamlets speech 'To be or not to be'
to be or not to be what?
become king?
dead or alive?
to be a tragic hero or not?
Whilst reading this act it left me with loads of questions like:
Maybe Hamlet knows Polonius is hiding, making a show saying everything that he feels, Hamlet was talking beyond Ophelia to anyone who is listening. Hamlets speech - life is it worth it in general? Hamlet is a philosophy student to be or not to be, to be the existence after death or not? Hamlets long speech is a tragic scream, urgency to assign blame which he has already to his uncle however he doesn't have anymore evidence.
Is there comedy in tragedy? - He could make it comedy by looking behind the curtains and directing his speech to the audience by looking at them. When Hamlet said about one marriage that wont survive maybe Claudius may of clicked.
Hamlet was really nasty to Ophelia now he is saying that they should do sexual things, which is a dirty pun.
Page 84: He is going to tell his mum and put her straight.
In scene 3 Claudius has decided to send Hamlet back to England, because things are getting dangerous.
You're asking good questions here. These are good notes and will form the basis of your essay.
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