Hamlet+Act+4

Hamlet Act 4

4. "To my sick soul (as sin's true nature is), / Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss, / So full of artless jealousy is guilt, / It spills itself in fearing to be split" (4.5.22-25). - I liked this quote because I found it ironic. The Queen is talking about guilt. She is saying her soul is sick with guilt. Every small things seems like something that will go wrong and in the end, through trying to hard to not to give yourself away, you end up giving yourself away. I thought this quote was ironic because there are a lot of people with guilt in the plot line right now. I think this could be foreshadowing of Claudius "giving himself away" because he is trying so hard to cover up his deed and to prevent Hamlet from saying anything, even going to the extent of planning to kill Hamlet. It could also be slightly ambiguous about what guilt she is talking about. She is most likely referring to the murder of Polonius, because she was there and since she is about to talk to Ophelia. However, She may have guilt from another death, possibly her husband's?

4. Hamlet's Soliloquy (4.4.33-69) -After hearing about the army from Norway, Hamlet is once again reminded of his cowardliness. He points out that a man who just eats and sleeps and does nothing is not a man. He thinks about the army and what these men are doing. They are fighting or just little fame and for a cause that may not even be directly related to them. He then compares this with his situation. His family has been disgraced and yet he has not been able to take revenge. He observes that he is still standing there saying, "This thing's to do" but he has yet to actually do it, even though he has the "strength" and "will". Hamlet feels like a coward, once again. He is basically repeating his previous soliloquies in the play. Ironically, he is spending his time talking about his cowardliness and putting it off, while he is wasting his time talking, instead of actually taking his revenge.
 * REPETITION

5. I really really really dislike King Claudius. He is a terrible person. He is hurting his wife, his friends, and his country through the secret he holds. He is deceiving the people and making Hamlet look crazy. When he realizes Hamlet knows about his secret, he turns into an even more horrible person! I know he is trying to save his secret but he is literally digging himself in a deeper hole. His new plan is to murder Hamlet! Even though he was almost able to get away with the first murderer completely unnoticed, I don't think he will be able to pull a second one off. He is such a jerk! He is manipulating the people around him to cover up his past and to figure out a way to dispose of Hamlet. I am curious to see how his plans unravel. I hope it all comes back around to bite him in the butt! I want the people of Denmark to see what kind of person he truly is and to get rid of him as soon as possible. I dislike him every time he speaks because his deceptiveness makes him even more unlikeable with every word that comes out of his mouth. I hope Hamlet is successful in killing Claudius! It is what he deserves! Not only for killing his own brother and marrying his sister in law, but also for being such a low grade person by manipulating his family, friends, and country.