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ACT 3
SCENE 1
- Q: "'Tis too much proved, that with devotion's visage" - Polonius
- Q: "How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience" - Claudius
- When talking to Ophelia, Hamlet has a hunch that he is being watched
- He pretends to not know anything but expresses anger when he finds out the Ophelia is lying to him after questioning "Where's your father?"
- Q: "I have heard of your paintings too, well enough" - Hamlet
- After observing the conversation between Ophelia & Hamlet, Claudius becomes skeptical and does not believe that Hamlet's madness comes from his love for Ophelia
- Claudius is showing his true self and is questioning whether or not Polonius' theory is really true
- By his observations, he believes that Hamlet is not mad because of Ophelia's love yet he still allows Polonius to further prove his theory
- Instead of caring for his daughter, Polonius only focuses on proving his theory
- This shows his true character. Instead of being that caring father, all he cares about is proving himself right and ignoring his daughter's concerns
SCENE 2
- Hamlet asks Horatio to keep an eye on Claudius in the play and if he shows any signs of guilt, it proves that he did in fact killed Hamlet's father
- The whole purpose of the play is to bring the "appearance" of the murder to prove Hamlet's "reality" (of figuring out whether or not Claudius indeed killed his father)
- Throughout the play, "Mousetrap", Hamlet is acting mad in front of everyone by insulting Ophelia and mocking Claudius and Gertrude
- He is trying to play fool everyone that he is really mad and insane but in reality he is just pretending
- Yet the audience questions whether or not he is really pretending and acting or he is insane
- The blending of what is reality and appearance starts to confuse the readers
- Claudius stands up after seeing the murder scene
- In Hamlet's perspective, Claudius' reaction proves as evidence that he is in fact guilty
- At that moment Claudius expresses his guilt externally = appear guilty
- In reality, he is guilty for murdering his brother