Scene 1: Gertrude tells Claudius Hamlet has killed Polonius. Claudius feels that Hamlet is threatens everyone, and he will blamed for it. Claudius asks where he is, and Gertrude says he is getting rid of Polonius' body. Claudius says that he will be shipped to England, and he orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to go and find Hamlet and to bring him and Polonius' body back.
Scene 2: Hamlet hids the body. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ask Hamlet where the body is, but he won't tell them because they listen to the King. He won't tell them, and then goes to the king.
Scene 3: Claudius says Hamlet can't be sent to jail because the people love him. When Hamlet comes, Claudius asks him where Polonius' body is. Hamlet says that worms are eating it. They will look for it upstairs because they will begin smelling it in a month. Next, Claudius tells Hamlet he is being sent to England, and Hamlet then leaves. After he has left, Claudius has people follow him because Claudius is going to have him killed.
Scene 4: Fortinbras has his captain ask the King of Denmark if they can travel across their land to Poland, and Hamlet comes upon them and asks them what their plans are. The Captain says they're fighting for land that is worth nothing because of this encounter Hamlet thinks that he needs to hurry up on his revenge. Hamlet becomes inspired by Fortinbras to use action against Claudius.
Scene 5: Gertrude won't talk to Ophelia because she thinks Ophelia is crazy. Ophelia is upset over Polonius' death. When Gertrude and Ophelia talk, Ophelia begins singing like a crazy person and sings about death and betrayal. Ophelia says that her brother will hear of the murder and then leaves. Horatio follows her. Claudius is upset over Ophelia's new madness. He feels Laertes will blame him for Polonius' death, and then Laertes comes in very angrily having his followers wait outside. Gertrude tell him to calm down and that Claudius didn't kill him. Laertes says he will avenge his father's death. When Ophelia is brought in, her craziness makes Laertes sad. Ophelia starts singing again, and Laertes her nonsense makes more sense than normal talk. Ophelia then sings about flowers and gives them to different people. They mean many things. Gertrude's mean adultery, flattery, and deceit. Ophelia's mean rememberance and thoughts. Claudius' mean repentance and unhappy love, and she would have given him faithfullness, but they were all dried up. She then leaves, and Claudius tell get others in order to find out if Claudius is really the killer.
Scene 6: Horatio is given a letter from Hamlet. It says Hamlet has boarded a pirate ship and will return to Denmark. Hamlet wants Horatio to give letters to the king too. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also return.
Scene 7: Claudius is given a letter about Hamlet's return. He is in the middle of a conversation about innocence. Claudius asks Laertes to help him plan another way to get rid of Hamlet. Laertes says he'll stab Hamlet with a poisoned sword, and if that doesn't work, Claudius will give Hamlet poison to drink. Gertrude then rushes in and says that Ophelia has drowned.
Response: Gertrude doesn't really seem to care for her son anymore because she goes right away to tell Claudius that Hamlet has killed Polonius. I would think that Gertrude would want to protect her son, but it doesn't seem that she wants to. In Scene II, Hamlet seems to going even crazier. He says that he won't talk to Rosencrantz because Rosencrantz is a nobody. He also says, " what replication should be made by the son of a king?" (11-12). Hamlet is calling himself the son of the king, but what king? Hamlet could be acting now that Claudius isn't king, but he isn't because the reason he won't talk to Rosencrantz is because the King (Claudius) rules him. When Ophelia comes in and sings to Gertrude, she sings "He is dead and gone, lady. he is dead and gone;.." (29-30). Now it seems that Ophelia too has gone crazy. She is singing and acting like a crazy person. Maybe she has gone crazy because Hamlet said he didn't love her, and she thought that he did. Polonius then died on top of that which made Ophelia even more upset. Now she doesn't have her father or the one that she loved which is why is has probably gone out and killed herself. The women in this play are portrayed as weak. Ophelia kills herself because she is so distraught, and then Gertrude goes and marries her husband's brother very soon after her husband's death because it seems like she would be unable to live by herself. Gertrude didn't grieve over her husband for a very long time period. That was probably greatly looked down upon in that time because a woman was supposed to do everything for their husband and be very upset and distraught then when they died.
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