Option 2
When the King speaks to his Queen Gertrude he is seemingly consoling her by saying that "sorrow comes in battalions" what he means by this is that bad news comes in multiples. At this point the King is still trying to clean up the mess made by Hamlet shooting Polonius he is trying to make everything seem okay by sending Hamlet away. Ophelia is going mad with grief and wants her brother to be by her side which will pose another problem because he has his own opinion about what should happen to Hamlet to avenge his own father's murder. Claudius has made many decisions that are not very smart. First, he poisoned the King of Denmark, then he married the widow of the King on the day of the funeral, then he completely ignored and disrespected the requests of Fortinbras of Norway and that is not the proper practice of the King of Denmark. As a result these outcomes can be traced back to the King and completely rest on his shoulders. Hamlet on the other hand holds many responsibilities in this tragedy also, he shot Polonius and then left town, he played with Ophelia's feelings and did not stay and man up to his responsibilities in the shooting of her father, he faked going mad because he needed to buy time to get enough courage to kill the King and he did this because his "ghost" father wanted revenge. Hamlet is just as mentally ill as Claudius each man wants what he wants and those types of egos can not be reasoned with and the outcome of everyone except Horacio dying is fitting for this whole mess. Norway is at the door, breaking it down and the focus of the court in Denmark is who did what to whom and this focus has nothing to do with the people of Denmark and protecting them against the army that is waging war. There is no one listening to counsel and when the King was getting counsel it was from Polonius who was a sneaky gossip that made matters worse from day one. Denmark is so much worse off than the beginning of the story. This is often the outcome when there are so many egos running around trying to get there way. This is not uncommon in politics to this day some things have changed but many things are the same. Most politicians care more about their ego than their public and so it goes....
I like your response! You made some really good and valid points. I liked when you said Hamlet is mentally ill just as much as Claudius. I agree with you that each man wants what he wants and about their egos, they become so wrapped up in there own selfs that they forget about what is important. Also I agree with you that Denmark is worse off now then in the beginning of the story. Good job! :)
ReplyDeleteWow Deb i really like your response.... to honest with you English is not my first language so im having a lot of problems trying to understand the story of hamlet..... his intention and the actual purpose of the actual purposes of claudious and hamlet reading your blog had help me to understand the story a lot more thanks to you i have head start..... i like when you said that Denmark is worst now than the beginning......and how for you the ego of all this man is making them take those foolish decisions... thanks
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