Hamlet scene analysis

Yichen.Li
IB Liter&Perf SL
Sep.6th. 2016
Jennifer Guarino

In my view, the most interesting scene in the Hamlet is the scene in 1996 version when Hamlet killed the Polonius and began to teach his mom about loyalty. After he finished killing the man who behind the curtain, as soon as he sat down on the group, leaned back and exhaled. Under this motion, I realized that he thought he was been released because he avenged his father’s wrongs. And his talking was very relaxed, “He’s just a thief who occasionally gets the king’s position. That position should belong to me. “ (Sorry this part is too far ago I cannot remember clearly what did Hamlet say but I believed his emotion was very released. ) Then he took off the curtain and found out that the man behind the curtain was Polonius, no his uncle. Then his emotion became disappointed and angry, he just said: “Oh man you are so unlucky, but God let you die, I just followed his command.” From his words, I could know that Hamlet had no regret on the Polonius’s death, even he was the father of his lover. In Hamlet’s mind, he belonged this fault to the god.  I could guess that in that time Hamlet lost his mind because he wanted to revenge for his father quickly.  However, after killed the wrong person, Hamlet did not hide the death body first. Conversely, he turned to his mom and began to teach his mom about loyalty and virtue. He wanted his mom to listen to his advice, when his mom began to ask him, he immediately took his mom to the bed and took his father’s image with his uncle’s image to make a comparison. Through Hamlet’s words, he described his father as the kindest and brave man in this world, such the loser ( his uncle) can not compare with his dad.  So I remember this scene the most not only due to the plot that Hamlet killed the Polonius and turned to teach his mom about loyalty, but also it’s due to the actors’ emotion and action. In this scene, I see Hamlet changed his emotion several times, from angry to be released then turned to be disappointed. And his thinking that even he killed one person, but it’s the god’s command he just followed and also his mom needed to stay on the same side with him. That is why I think this scene is very memorable.