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Post by mayurika98 on Jan 31, 2016 14:09:37 GMT
I find Hamlet to be extremely cunning and unpredictable. He is also low-key funny. Sometimes it's hard to figure out whether Hamlet is being serious or he is just pretending to be crazy. Especially in the part where Claudius and Polonius are eavesdropping on Hamlet and Ophelia's conversation, I wonder if Hamlet is aware of their presence or he is just devising a way to confuse Ophelia to prove that he is really mad. The reason I said Hamlet is low-key funny is because he keeps making fun of Polonius and humiliating him. The fact that Polonius humbly ignores Hamlet's ridiculous comments, makes it even more funnier. One of my favorite comments that Hamlet made to Polonius is in line 1572 when Polonius says that the lines were too long and Hamlet says "It shall to the barber's with your beard". Also since Polonius thinks tat Hamlet is actually crazy he finds no fault in Hamlet saying these kind of statements.
What do you guys think about Hamlet's attitude towards Polonius? I find it hilarious.
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Post by heesu on Jan 31, 2016 14:23:54 GMT
I think Hamlet just being crazy to everyone because he just cares about revenge. I think he thinks Polonius as his best friend, but for his revenge, he needed it to be crazy for everyone. Sometimes he shows real part of him when he talks about his revenge and anger. I think he just don't care about anyone until now. He wants Polonius to understand him.
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kevv
Junior Member
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Post by kevv on Jan 31, 2016 14:45:36 GMT
Not just Hamlets attitude towards Polonius but to other characters as well,, in the beginning of the play where Hamlet and others were able to see the ghost was kind of weird for me but I thought that it wasn't Hamlet being crazy because others were able to see the ghost but later on, Hamlet was the only one who heard anything from the ghost while nobody else was able to. Which means that Hamlet might have been crazy since then..I hope he isn't actually crazy for the story to go fun
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toufiq
Junior Member
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Post by toufiq on Jan 31, 2016 14:58:00 GMT
I still feel like he is crazy but not unaware about facts. Hiss madness grows over the time as he wants to take revenge badly. So I think maybe he is using the ghost as a reasoning of his actions, more like justifying his causes. Which actually seems pretty smart because then nobody will blame him for the weird action.
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Post by lucia on Jan 31, 2016 15:25:01 GMT
It's hard to believe that Hamlet's gone completely crazy because the only people who regard Hamlet as mad are the king and the people who serve him. But like you guys said, it's starting to look like he's actually going crazy. I also think that his comments on everything Polonius does make the story more fun and enjoyable. They also make his character a little more interesting because it shows a different side of him.
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Post by Emily on Feb 5, 2016 12:52:56 GMT
I don't think Hamlet has become crazy yet, as it is too soon and not many things happened so far which would lead him to his craziness: only that his ghost of a father told him about the murder. Also, Hamlet wasn't the only one who saw the ghost, 2 other guardsmen saw it too, which means that he is definitely not hallucinating. We do not know if the two men could hear the ghost speaking as it did not directly speak to the them, but I think it is unlikely that Hamlet only imagined hearing the ghost speak, as he was still pretty unsure and unconvinced about the whole thing.
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Post by jonah21 on Feb 7, 2016 3:28:52 GMT
Hamlet did state that he would only pretend to be crazy. But I believe that doing so would only lead him to be naturally crazy. The more he is crazy towards others, the more he becomes used to it. Eventually, he may think it's just normal to be crazy and won't know the difference between normal and madness. Sooner or later, he'll change.
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Post by toomuchchanmin on Feb 7, 2016 10:43:09 GMT
It's both funny and Shakespeare's genius at the same time. The audience (in this case us readers) can laugh at the stupid random humor Hamlet says, and it makes the play less boring and engaging. But it's fitting too, because Hamlet is either becoming mad or is pretending to be mad, and we don't know. It connects well to the story and makes sense at the same time.
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Post by christopher on Feb 7, 2016 11:08:00 GMT
It's pretty funny. But it's indeed hard to figure out if Hamlet is joking or serious towards Polonius. The craziness of Hamlet is pretty suspicious in this situation too. I really don't know why Hamlet is messing around with Polonius. One reason might be that Polonius was one of the servants who served King Hamlet but quickly moved on to serve Claudius. Anyways, it's pretty hilarious to read how Hamlet is treating Polonius.
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Post by Jooyoung on Feb 7, 2016 12:24:41 GMT
YES!!! I most definitely find Hamlet's act dumb joke HILARIOUS!!! However, his jokes are what clearly tells me that he is not really mad. Those jokes are actually very clever and well thought out. It seemed to me as if Hamlet is using his "madness" as a shield to hide is weapon, his tongue.
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Post by ETypeRegymon on Feb 7, 2016 13:11:00 GMT
1572 is definitely too early for Hamlet to be crazy. At line 1622, Hamlet is alone again, and starts his trademarked brand of whining, though it's more praising the actor who's going to do his play while self-deprecating himself for making him do a work of fiction with such talent. If he can feel remorse for putting the first player through this, then it's clear that Hamlet is not nuts at this point.
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Post by graceyichen on Feb 10, 2016 2:42:28 GMT
Hahaha good one! I agree that Hamlet's comments to Polonius are funny, I wonder if Polonius is secretly up to something though, that's why he's just putting up with Hamlet's rudeness.
I think Hamlet's madness is awesome. I don't know, I feel like we just call people "mad" when we can no longer find patterns or logic in their actions, but what if we just can't see them. When someone doesn't understand me, and I'm trying so hard to explain myself, in my head I go wow am I mad? Why doesn't this person get me? So I think Hamlet being unpredictable is great, it gets more exciting.
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Post by anniee on Feb 14, 2016 12:56:40 GMT
I think Hamlet's attitude toward Polonius is insulting, but just naturally accepted because of the difference in their social statuses. If I had been Polonius, I would have gotten extremely angry at how I was being treated, and as a human being with feelings, Polonius probably felt the same way in the story. Who wants to put up with being treated as inferior, stupid, and physically unpleasing? However, Hamlet was the popular prince next in line for the kingship, while Polonius was the mere servant of the current king, so he had no place to voice his true feelings. This reveals what was expectant of the social hierarchy in Shakespeare's culture: the upper cluncooles were allowed to treat those lower than them any way they wanted, and the lower cluncooles had to put up their behavior.
Meanwhile, Hamlet's treatment of Polonius also made me wonder why Hamlet was so popular. We know from the Cliffnotes summary video that Claudius didn't just kill Hamlet off because he was so popular with the citizens of Denmark. However, seeing Hamlet insulting Polonius didn't really appear like a typical quality of someone well-liked throughout the kingdom. Was Hamlet acting this way because he was pretending to be crazy, or is this the real Hamlet that the people of Denmark don't know about?
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Post by sangjoon on Feb 28, 2016 4:11:57 GMT
I also agree with heesue's opinion. I also think that Hamlet just pretend to be crazy man and acting so weird toward polonious. That's why hamlet's act is so unpresictable. However, I think there's always a purpose for hamlet to act like crazy man toward polonious. I am pretty sure that Hamlet is not as dumk as what we think and he is kind of shewrd person in the story toward polonious.
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