Prufrock

I love the structure of this piece. I like how it is very random and switches between structured rhyme scheme and no rhyming. It's more creative and helps the reader understand the point Eliot is trying to get across. The structure really gives the reader the feeling of the speaker. This is because when the poem begins to rhyme, the reader feels more at ease and more comfortable with the flow of the structure. Then when the poem stops rhyming, the reader is uneasy and is more alert to what is being said. I think this is a very good tool and should be used more often.

Movie? or Play?

Well, I commend the director of the movie for capturing the moods in the play to what I feel is accurate to what the lines were supposed to sound like. However, I condemn the director of the movie because he moved the scenes' locations, and played with the order of the lines. This, I feel, changes the sequence of events to the point where the audience no longer gets the same experience out of the story as when it was performed on stage in Shakespeare's day. I tend to lean more towards accuracy in situations, especially matters as delicate as this. I think that just a shuffling of some chunks here and there, while may not seem like too much of a difference, actually makes a big contrast to what the author of the story may have been trying to get the audience to wonder, or feel, or experience, or think about the characters, or who know's what else, but only could be accomplished in the certain way the author wrote it. It's like taking someone's words, "I feel like eating pie. Here are the ingredients," and making it, "Here are the ingredients. I feel like eating pie." If one didn't know what the phrase was originally, one could come to either two conclusions of what the second version of the phrase meant: either that the person gives ingredients because they feel like eating pie, or that the person gave ingredients, and then decided that they randomly wanted to eat pie, having nothing to do with whatever the ingredients may be. For those who watch the movie without reading the play get the sequence of the story in the messed up version. So, I must say that I prefer the play over the movie for the sake of the experience of the story.

What does Hamlet think a play/art is for?

Hamlet thinks a play is for portraying the truth in humanity very exact. This is evidenced in lines 1-35 in Act 3 scene 2 when he is telling the first player how to be exact in expression and emotions and in the execution of lines in a play. Hamlet is using this particular play for alterior motives, but still keeping the idea of what plays are for. He is using the play to show the truth of his father's death, to possibly show Claudius how messed up he is. He is using this play to try and get a hint at the truth from Claudius himself, by examining him during the play to see if there is any questionable emotion in his face that would suggest his being guilty. I also believe that Hamlet thinks all art is for portraying things of the real world in such a way so that people can easily examine these things and better themselves. This is because of when Hamlet is questioning the ghost and the mystery after death in Act 2 scene 2, he quotes a line from literature, which he is using in his contemplation. It is line 57 which reads, "To be, or not to be, that is the question". This famous quote is a quote of contemplation of life itself, which is exactly what Hamlet is doing in this time of weakness and doubt. So, to Hamlet, the purpose of plays, and art in general, is to portray the truth of the real world as concise as possible.

To what degree does Claudius know Hamlet as a threat?

Claudius knows that there is something more behind Hamlet's madness besides his sadness over his father's death and anguish over his mother remarrying so soon. This is evident because Claudius is so concerned with Hamlet's madness, when he doesn't even like Hamlet. This suggests that Claudius is watching Hamlet closely, to see if his anguish is caused by his knowledge of something he shouldn't know (King Hamlet's death). Even when national matters come up, such as in Act 2 scene 2 in lines 50-53, Claudius does not care about anything but news of Hamlet's madness. I feel that Claudius knows that Hamlet knows something, but he's not sure what it is, or to what extent. Currently he's just carefully observing, and letting Polonius's efforts do the work for him in terms of spying, and trying to figure Hamlet out. I guess one could say Claudius is on the defensive right now.

Does Hamlet love Ophelia before Act 3?

I do believe that Hamlet used to love Ophelia. This is mainly because of the letters he wrote to her, one of which we read in Act 2 scene 2. These love letters were written before Hamlet's encounter with his father's ghost, thus before he knew his father was murdered. This means that the silent quarrel between Hamlet and Polonius had also not started yet, and this is specifically why I believe Hamlet used to love Ophelia. For those who may not agree with me, Polonius's warnings to Ophelia about Hamlet's love not being legitimate or possible in lines 102-104 and 116-132 of Act 1 scene 3 might come to mind. Frankly, I'm not sure any of that text can be considered proof that Hamlet never truly loved Ophelia, because Polonius, as we have come to find, is purely manipulative and only cares about his life, job, and reputation. So, in looking at Polonius's character, many of the things Polonius says about Hamlet's character are not necessarily true. And as for Hamlet's encounter of insanity with Ophelia, I do agree that it was just an act to help solidify his insanity cover to hide his true intensions. Even though this means Hamlet did not go insane out of love, it doesn't mean he didn't love Ophelia at all, or ever. Granted, Hamlet does not love her anymore, probably as of Act 2, but I find it quite possible and rather easy to support that Hamlet did, in fact, love Ophelia at one point in time.

I think Hamlet doesn't love Ophelia anymore starting in Act 2 because at the end of Act 1 scene 3, Hamlet may have overheard Polonius's conversation with Ophelia, as portrayed in the movie, and since Ophelia obeyed her father, Hamlet probably feels betrayed that Ophelia would not see him against her father's wishes, out of love for him.

Act 3, scene 2

Ok, to start off, Ophelia is even more hopeless than she was before! In line 115 she says, "I think nothing, my lord." This is pretty much Ophelia in a nut shell. Now she is directly telling the audience that she doesn't think for herself, and doesn't act upon her own will, but rather, she does everything her father tells her to without any hint of disagreement. She has become more and more dependent upon her father's wishes throughout the story. In a way, this proves Hamlet's generalization of women being frail because she has, in essence, become frailty itself.

Hamlet has become more open about his plans of revenge in this scene. The play is so obviously about the current situation, I don't see how the king and queen believed Hamlet when he gave them his little cover story to assure them that it had nothing to do with them in lines 235-241. Hamlet is also becoming more open with Horatio, who helps Hamlet keep watch for guilt in the king's face during the play. Also, I think Hamlet is getting too cocky in his plan, because he shows his happiness, caused by his devious plan, during this scene, and everyone notices it. This is evidenced in lines 118-120. I do believe that people are becoming suspicious of Hamlet because of this happiness, which is so out of line with his mood thus far. And I really don't understand why he all of a sudden decides he likes Ophelia again in lines 108-116, or is it just him teasing her?

Also, we are reminded again of how emo Hamlet is in lines 124-125 when he says, "For look you how cheerfuly my mother looks, and my father dies within 's two hours." This is the whole "time has stopped" for Hamlet thing. He is still clinging to that night when he conversed with his father's ghost, and the audience is reminded of Hamlet's vow of revenge, and how strongly he intends to achieve it.

And in line 151 Ophelia says, "'Tis brief, my lord," and Hamlet says in line 152, "As woman's love." This is Hamlet yet again making generalizations about women. This is also a blow to his mother and her hastiness to get married so soon after her husband's death.

Act 3, scene 1

I think that Ophelia is too obedient. And I'm not sure if she even loves Hamlet or not at all, because she didn't show any reaction whatsoever when Hamlet said he didn't love her in line 120. She is too much her father's puppet, and she has just about no free will. She doesn't think for herself, and in this scene it seems that this characteristic in her has developed even further.

Hamlet has become more unfeeling, and this is shown in his entire conversation with Ophelia. He is an emo prince bent on getting revenge, and doesn't care if it makes a monster out of him.

Polonius is just stupid. He's so obsessed with hating Hamlet and "protecting" his daughter, that he pretty much unknowingly gets caught up in the main plotline, about resolving the murder, and ends up on the murderor's side. Polonius is too narrow-minded, and doesn't notice what's actually going on around him.

I also think Hamlet is not crazy, but is just putting on an act to cover up any suspicious deeds because of what King Claudius says in lines 165-168: "Love? His affections do not that way tend; Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, Was not like madness. There's someting in his soul O'er which his melancholy sits on brood". I also noticed that Hamlet hints at his plans in lines 150-151: "Those that are married already -all but one- shall live." The one in "all but one" is obviously Claudius. I found it interesting that none of the characters caught that.