Hamlet Blog Post #2 (Part 2)

4. Claudius has been quite odd lately. He is awfully suspicious of Hamlet's actions as of late. I must agree that something is off and his suspicions are justified. I knew Claudius needed to figure it out so I suggested that Hamlet's old friends could come and maybe get something out of him. I told them about my "too much changed son" (2.2.36) and how we wished for them to go find him. They seemed like lovely gentlemen for the job for that delightful Guildenstern told us he would do our command with the utmost degree of their mental capacity in his words "And here give up ourselves, in the full bent" (2.2.30). It was very upsetting to hear Polonius outright say that Hamlet "is mad, tis true, tis true, tis pity' and pity tis tis true: a foolish fiture" (2.2.97). Oh, how I wonder what Polonius is discussing with him now with his swift dismissal of us, "Away I do beseech you both" (2.2.169). I know of his daughter's relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia is sweet and does not deserve the madness that "it may be, very like" (2.2.151) my son has. As Polonius said, we must "find out the cause of this defect"(2.2.101). 5. In Hamlet, Hamlet is constantly trying to think of reasons to kill Claudius for killing his father but he struggles with it and it eventually makes him madThe spirit that I have seen "May be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this: the play 's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." (2.2.58) This is contrasting to Troy where Achilles, the very moment he hears of the death his cousin, goes to kill Hector without any caution whatsoever "Achilles: There are no pacts between lions and men. [stabs spear into ground, and takes off helmet, throwing it to the side] Achilles: Now you know who you're fighting. Hector: [takes off helmet and throws it aside] I thought it was you I was fighting yesterday. And I wish it had been, but I gave the dead boy the honor he deserved. Achilles: You gave him the honor of your sword. You won't have eyes tonight; you won't have ears or a tongue. You will wander the underworld blind, deaf, and dumb, and all the dead will know: This is Hector. The fool who thought he killed Achilles."