NOTE: No
class on Wednesday, since I won't be back in the office until around 10:30. So
read Act Four and do the questions below for Friday.
ALSO: All Three Groups have answered, so this is a BONUS set of questions. If you know you've missed questions this round or in the past, answer these and they can help you. Otherwise, you don't have to answer them--but consider them for class on Thursday.
Q1: By the end of Act Four, Laertes becomes a second Hamlet, swearing "my revenge will come." What distinguishes Laertes from Hamlet? How might Laertes' reaction to the business of revenge help us read and understand something important about Hamlet?
Q2: How does the King reveal himself not only as a Machiavellian ruler, but also someone who has read The Prince (and even, perhaps, seems to quote it)? Does he make any mistakes that Machiavelli might disapprove of toward Hamlet or his kingdom?
Q3: How has Ophelia changed by Act Four, particularly in her language? Has she gone truly mad here, or is she, too, taking a page from Hamlet's book? Is there any "method" in her madness, or is she truly speaking nonsense?
Q4: We also see a different side of Hamlet in Act Four: how does he present himself to other people in these acts? Is he still acting mad? Or is he trying another approach? Consider his lines, "Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar" (197).
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