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Hamlet Act III: The Dumb Show

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Hamlet Act III: The Dumb Show
The Dumb Show
As Claudius asks for the ‘light’, he wants actual light. The light also means the act of asking for forgiveness.
People who are of the same rank or are comfortable with each other speak to each other is pros.
Hamlet speaking to the players, he speaks down to them in verse.
For the play within a play, Shakespeare uses rhymed verse to elevate the language. This was done because Claudius was of a higher status and this raises the severity of the crime.
Hamlet is using the language to identify the’ criminals’, through the language.
Blank verse – an official occasion or speaking to someone older (like poetry), like Hamlet and his Mother.
Hamlet tells Horatio that he admires his sense of loyalty, character and sincerity.

In the Excerpt:
Identify 3 metaphors, how the theme of appearance vs reality is revealed
In what ways is Horatio similar to hamlet?
In what ways is he a foil?
Is Horatio expendable in the plays plot development?

Is act 3 the climax?
No, I do believe that this was the climax. I believe i
Is it evident that act 3 might be the climax of this play? This is because at this point we discover who Hamlet truly was. He is not the ideal hero we actually perceive him to be. His murder of Polonius was equal to the murder of King Hamlet. In both cases, there are children who lost their lives. Even though Claudius’s murder was pre-meditated, murder is still murder. Even though Hamlet did this without planning, the fact that he was able to take a life so abruptly shows that he is not in essence the ‘hero’ within the play. Anachronism – When something doesn’t fit the context of the play. For example Hamlet’s school didn’t exist in the time in which Shakespeare wrote the play.
The recurring motif is son’s avenging their fathers. (Old Norway and Young Hamlet) Now Hamlet kills Polonius who has a son. Laertes
After getting evidence that Claudius is actually guilt, he feels that he can now kill Claudius. That is why he kills Polonius without confirming why it was. (Deduced that it was Claudius hiding)

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