Post by kaitlyn on Oct 18, 2011 16:16:43 GMT -5
In this Act I found it very interesting how Hamlet masked his true feelings about his father's death by feeding on the vulnerabilities of Ophelia. Ultimately, Hamlet felt a sense of remorse and sorrow for his father's death. These feelings lead Hamlet to blame his uncle for his father's death, and reasons why he is the way he is. To the reader, we can see in this act how Hamlet uses Ophelia to mask his feelings about his father, and uses her vulnerabilities to make himself seem better. In scene 1, page 46 lines 77- 83 Ophelia states the masked, and quite different version of Hamlet she had never seen before
"Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced. No hat upon his head, his stocking fouled, Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle; Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, And with a look so piteous in purport, As if he had been loosed out of hell, To speak of horror-- he comes before me."
In this scene, the reader can see how Hamlet uses Ophelia
vulnerabilities about loving him, and masks himself to appear like he truly loves her. Honestly, Ophelia doesn't really know if she loves Hamlet, but being faced with the masked isolation of Hamlet, ultimately questions her feelings for him.
In addition to this, Hamlet not only feeds off the vulnerability of Ophelia, he also is faced to confront his own vulnerabilities. Hamlet is unsure of what to think about his father's death; who to blame or who to confide in. This continuous question, not only isolates Hamlet from confronting reality but also causes him to mask himself from the truth. This truth is what could set Hamlet free from the grasp of manipulation and deviation, but not knowing how to break away keeps Hamlet stuck trying to mask him self from his own vulnerabilities and pride on Ophelia's insecurities about their love.
In so, I find this aspect of Hamlet masking himself from reality to find answers to ease his pain over his father's death interesting. Hamlet tries to find reasons why his uncle did what he did to his father, but ultimately hurts his ill minded self in the process. The only way he can truly escape from his father's death is to manipulate everyone to think that he is changed, when really he is masking himself from his own vulnerabilities and priding himself on others. In his eyes, this will be the only way to get away from the questioning real ties of society, and ultimately bring him a greater power to get over the pain of his father's death.
"Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced. No hat upon his head, his stocking fouled, Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle; Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, And with a look so piteous in purport, As if he had been loosed out of hell, To speak of horror-- he comes before me."
In this scene, the reader can see how Hamlet uses Ophelia
vulnerabilities about loving him, and masks himself to appear like he truly loves her. Honestly, Ophelia doesn't really know if she loves Hamlet, but being faced with the masked isolation of Hamlet, ultimately questions her feelings for him.
In addition to this, Hamlet not only feeds off the vulnerability of Ophelia, he also is faced to confront his own vulnerabilities. Hamlet is unsure of what to think about his father's death; who to blame or who to confide in. This continuous question, not only isolates Hamlet from confronting reality but also causes him to mask himself from the truth. This truth is what could set Hamlet free from the grasp of manipulation and deviation, but not knowing how to break away keeps Hamlet stuck trying to mask him self from his own vulnerabilities and pride on Ophelia's insecurities about their love.
In so, I find this aspect of Hamlet masking himself from reality to find answers to ease his pain over his father's death interesting. Hamlet tries to find reasons why his uncle did what he did to his father, but ultimately hurts his ill minded self in the process. The only way he can truly escape from his father's death is to manipulate everyone to think that he is changed, when really he is masking himself from his own vulnerabilities and priding himself on others. In his eyes, this will be the only way to get away from the questioning real ties of society, and ultimately bring him a greater power to get over the pain of his father's death.