Thursday, December 8, 2016
Act V Discussion Questions:
1. Why does this scene begin with two clowns trading jokes? Do their jokes make any sense in the context of the play?
2. Where do Hamlet and Laertes fight in Act V Scene ii?
3. Who is Osric and why is he included in the play? What is the PURPOSE of his presence?
4. Does Hamlet realize that he might not come out of this fight alive? Does he care? Why or why not?
5. When Gertrude drinks from the cup, Claudius asks her not to drink and she refuses. Has she ever disobeyed Claudius before? Why now?
6. Who is alive at the end of the play, and how do the others die? Why is the order of their deaths important?
7. Why is Fortinbras' presence so important?
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Hamlet does realize that he may not come out of this fight alive and I believe he does care. This is because if he dies he will not be able to avenge his fathers death and all of his struggles will be for nothing.
ReplyDeleteEven though Hamlet does realize that he might die I don't think that he is scared because he realizes that he has nothing to loose if he kills Laertes because he has already committed murder and is damned to hell so he will be fighting for the only thing he can, which in this case is revenge for his father's murder.
DeleteI agree, but I feel that in a sense Hamlet doesn't care if he comes out alive or not, like he's said in previous acts he's already going to hell for killing Polonius. So in a way whether he realized he was coming out of the fight alive or not he knew he would go to hell either way.
DeleteI agree with Alyssa as well because he doesn't care about if its a life or death situation he just wants to go into this fight knowing that he tried and that he will have tried to avenge his fathers death. That even if he loses the fight he was going to be guilty and have someones blood on his hands.
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DeleteI do not think that Hamlet cares too much if he comes out alive or dead, because after finding out about Ophelia's death, I think he goes completely insane.
DeleteThe scene begins with two clowns trading jokes because Shakespeare uses them as a comedic relief from all that has happened in Act IV. Yes the jokes do make sense in the context of the play. The jokes are about Ophelia and her suicide. They say that if a peasant committed suicide the way Ophelia did and under the circumstances she was under, they wouldn't be forgiven, but Ophelia was forgiven because she was a royal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The jokers are very helpful because they provide relief from the chaos of act four. They also explain how Ophelia should be buried since she committed suicide.
DeleteIn Act V Scene ii, Laertes and Hamlet have there duel in Elsinore Castle in the main hall. They made the deal that if hamlet wins the first or second hit then the king will drink to his health and throw a gem into it and let hamlet drink from the wine which is poisoned
ReplyDeleteWhich then the queen drank from the cup not knowing that it was poisoned, making her lose her life which made Hamlet upset and he forced Claudius to drink from the same cup making him end up as the queen putting more blood on his hands
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ReplyDeleteFortinbras present is important because he had been through so much involving the kingdom from loosing his father to the battle with king hamlet, Hamlet taking his land. That made him important because he had a been involved with a big part of the kingdom going down hill and that when there had to be someone to save the kingdom he was the one who had taken action.
ReplyDeleteFortinbras presence is also extremely important because it allows the audience to know what happened to the Danish country fate after Hamlets death. This as well as signifying Hamlets noble deeds of eradicating corruption and treachery would be recognized as Fortinbras ordered Hamlet to have a honorable soldiers funeral by having his men fire their guns in Hamlets honor.
DeleteOsric is a courtier in the court who delivers Hamlet Claudius message that he is bidding him in a dual between Laertes. Besides being the message boy for Claudius, Osric represents the easily corruptible and manipulated as it is seen when he refuses to put his hat back on in order to please upper class men. Also he goes along with everything a superior says regardless of making an #ss of himself as is demonstrated when Hamlet switched the weather from being hot to cold in order to reveal his appeasement to powerful figures.
ReplyDeleteHamlet and Laretes fight at Ophelia's funeral Because they both are morning over her death. Laretes also wants to kill hamlet anyways
ReplyDeleteThey are fighting in the hall at her funeral. A little more things happen in the scene with King Claudius wagering the Hamlet will win and with him winning they will drink. Claudius poisoned his drink so he can try to kill Hamlet after his victory
DeleteI would also like to add that Laertes' sword has poison on it and the drink is only a backup plan if the sword doesn't work.
Deletethey are in the castle at Elsinore. They are in a hall in the castle. It has been set up as if for a banquet with torches and food and drink. I agree with Izick's statement laurtes also tried to poison hamlet for the win.
DeleteHamlet and Laertes fight in the middle of the hall. With this happening King Claudius wagers on the duel or fight that Hamlet will win. At the end of the scene and fight Claudius drops a pearl in his wine so Hamlet can drink as for victory. Little hamlet knows is the wine is filled with poison.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to that, Laertes and Claudius has a backup plan, which is putting poison on the tip of Laertes's sword and hurting Hamlet with it so Hamlet gets poisoned and dies
DeleteDoes Hamlet realize that he might not come out of this fight alive? Does he care? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI think he doesn't know for a fact that he isn't going to be a live at the end of the fight. But at the same time, he dosen't care at all if he stays alive. He knows he is already doomed in the afterlife, and now he finds out the woman he loves, Ophelia, dies while he is away in England, he does not care much for life anymore.
Hamlet second soliloquy talks about life and death. His character has been struggling with this concept so much but finally at the end he realizes that everyone is going to die at one point so he doesn't have fear death any longer. He express this when he says, " That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder! It might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now o'er-reaches; one that would circumvent God". (5.1. 4) At the end of he play, when he dies, he also says "The end is silent". This means that he finally realized that there is a possibility that when we die, nothing extraordinary happens.
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ReplyDeleteHamlet and Laertes are in the castle in a hall. The castle was set up with torches, food, and drink.
ReplyDeleteIn this act Laertes and Hamlet fight in Elsinore Castle and the battle takes place in the hall of the castle. The duel is set up so that even one small cut with Laertes's blade will kill Hamlet with poison.
ReplyDeleteHowever the plan initially backfires and everyone ends up dying
DeleteAt this point, Hamlet has lost Ophelia and has gone through a lot, so he became numb to things and before he goes into fight, he tells Horatio that whatever happens will happen and that he will just accept it as it is. So, this basically indicates that he does think there's a possibility something might happen, which might be his death. However, he seems to just accept it as it is.
ReplyDeleteHamlet knows that he might not come out of this fight alive and no, he does not care. Throughout the story he has contimplated death in many ways. HHe plotted to kill Claudius and even thought to kill himself. So, if he dies, he does not go to hell because he did not kill himself
ReplyDeleteHe's also worried about his reputation, guy. He should have known in my opinion though.
DeleteHe's also worried about his reputation, guy. He should have known in my opinion though.
DeleteI agree with this statement fully, he doesn't care if he died in the fight because he got what he wanted and that was to kill Claudius.
DeleteHamlet does not care that he might die. It almost seems like he doesn't even acknowledge that because he tells Horatio he might receive some odd hits and he might get a slightly damaged reputation.
ReplyDeleteYes I also agree that he wouldn't care if he was to die, but I think he wants to kill his uncle so bad that he may be upset. But at the end when Hamlet tells Horatio to remember him, I don't think he cares that he is dying because he got what he wanted by killing his uncle.
DeleteI agree and I think he does not care because he knows he is going to hell no matter what so now he doesn't care about anything but revenge,
DeleteI believe that Hamlet doesn't care if he were to die or not in the fight because with his "To be- or not to be" soliloquy he is questioning life already and it makes it seems as if he didn't care to be alive then. Then in some way I feel like he could care if he did die because he wants his revenge on his uncle so bad that if he were to die he would be made/upset with himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree Hamlet doesn't care if he dies in the fight. Also I think listening to how his views on death has changed. I feel Hamlet understand the finality of death and he is going to hell for his actions.
DeleteI feel like Hamlet knew he might not come out of the fight alive, I believe he saw his death coming. He did his deed and noticed people around him were dying and he would be soon somehow as well. He doesn't care because he killed Claudius and that was all he wanted to do throughout the whole play.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Hamlet thought he might not make it out alive, I also believe he did not care considering he knew he was going to hell anyways.
DeleteI agree with this more so than the fear for his life. After killing Polonius, he has absolutely nothing else to lose.
DeleteHamlet knows he might die from the fight but he didn't care. The only thing he wanted to accomplish was killing his Uncle and once he did that he did not care about living because he knew he was going to hell no matter what.
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DeleteThe scene opens with two grave diggers joking around to lighten the mood since Ophelia had just died in the pervious act and they in some ways introduce the death that occurs in this act. Later on we find out that their jokes do make sense in the context of the play because they were foreshadowing all the deaths in the last scene.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and correct me if im wrong, but didnt they also foreshadow the order in which everone died
DeleteHow does Hamlet's soliloquy in act 2 change your opinion on his death, since he was contemplating it so deeply.
ReplyDeleteBridgett Woodward
I think Hamlet knows and doesn`t really care if he comes out of the fight alive. Looking at his soliloquy in Act 2 we already know he has been contemplating death. Also after killing Polonius he knows he will be going to hell no matter the outcome. Finally he has forgiving and apologized to Laertes and I take that as an attempt to repent his sins.
ReplyDeleteGurtrude drinks the potion that Claudius was supposed to give Hamlet. When hamlet finds this out he quickly goes acrossed the room and kills Claudius. She doesn't listen to Claudius because of the bad things he's done.
ReplyDeleteFortinbras is present at the end of the play because he plays a huge role for the future kingdom. Before Hamlet dies, he tells Horatio that he wants Fortinbras as the next king of Denmark, which Horatio is then able to tell Fortinbras this news.
ReplyDeleteHamlet and Laretese fight in the court, to entertain the people of the court.
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