more act 4

some things we went over today:

-in scene 3 Hamlet talks to Claudius about the worms eating Polonius
"Not where he eats, but where he is eaten..."
what was concluded was that we are fish bait, which is nothing. Hamlet says that we think we are the top of the food chain but the worm always lives.. and the hobo eats the king?

-(random side note about the 'nothing joke') 'nothing'=vagina.
the Elizabethans believed that women are empty and useless unless they have a male to go along with them. this is slang that appears in most of Shakespeare plays. ex. King Lear

-at the end of scene 3 the King talks to England because he is sending letters to let them know about Hamlet's execution and he is telling England what the letters say basically.
-England will do what Denmark says because they are afraid. 'do it or else...'
- Claudius says:
"For like the hectic in my blood he rages...."
this is saying the sickness in my blood (Hamlet is like a virus) and the cure is his death. When really Hamlet is the cure, Claudius is the sickness because he is all fake.

-Does Claudius know how or if Hamlet really knows?
He doesn't care, he just cares that there is a problem and he needs a speedy way to solve it, why ask questions. less cause, more about the effect.

-scene 4: Fortinbras is seen for the first time, why now?
He is acting to fight in Poland for a useless patch of land. Hamlet sees that honor is enough.. and realizes that he is 3/4 coward, 1/4 wisdom.

Tanya