HAMLET ACT 5 RESPONSE

Tasnim Halim English 220 -James Regan Hamlet, Act 5 Reading Response

In this act I feel everything came all at once, it just went really fast. The first scene was all about the gravediggers and their dispute of whether or not Ophelia's burial deserved to be a Christian one since one of them believed she committed suicide. The gravedigger named "Gravedigger" as opposed to "Other" was very clever. He reminded me a bit of like Polonius, wise and perceptive. And when Hamlet came in to observe, Hamlet almost treated Gravedigger like he had Polonius, calling him a knave for treating the dead remains or bones he was digging with no courtesy or respect. A bit later Laertes and the king and queen come in carrying Ophelia's coffin to bury her. Hamlet is upset at the way Laertes is mourning for her and fights him. I thought that that was kind of selfish, Hamlet isn't closer to Ophelia than her brother is, he has every right to feel the way he does. After all, Hamlet did kill his father, which upset not only Laertes, but Ophelia as well and indisputably resulted in her death. Also, Hamlet finds out that Claudius tried to have him killed by the English king by In scene 2 of act 5, we have the final scene where Hamlet is challenged to a fencing duel by Laertes, and everyone will be there to spectate. Gertrude ends up dying because she drinks the poisoned drink, but before she dies she warns to Hamlet that the drink is poisoned. I thought that though Gertrude used her last breath to prevent a life from death, Hamlet still thought it was better off that she died, because of the alleged sin she committed, of marrying Claudius. Since both Hamlet and Laertes wounded one another, they also both died. I found it strange that Laertes immediately forgave Hamlet for having murdered his father and saw that the real evil was Claudius. This, I don't understand. Why brought on such a change of heart? He was so riled up and bloodthirsty before, but now, as he is dying he reconciles. Also, I thought it was pretty stupid of Laertes (and Claudius?) to poison all the foils; what if Laertes was wounded by Hamlet? This would mean he would die, too. Clearly, they didn't think this plan through, because even the King was like, "Oh no" when Gertrude drank the drink that was meant for Hamlet. The King also clearly underestimated Hamlet's strength because he got the first touch during the duel. As I said in the beginning of this response, everything unfolded quite quickly in this act. Laertes, Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius all die. Though Hamlet is dead, his story lives on with Horatio, who tells everyone what happened after the unfortunate events. I recall Horatio himself wanting to take his own life, because of the craziness that just happened. Hamlet forced him to stop, and he lived on to tell Fortinbras, who becomes the new ruler of Denmark, the story. Overall, I really liked this play. I enjoyed reading about the psychological effects that each character consciously or subconsciously went through, as well as the literary devices used to describe or explain scenes, etc., and they are all very worth analyzing.