Hamlet Act I Scenes 3-5

Throughout Act I scenes 3-5 the reader gains a better sense of the purpose and personalities behind the characters. Scene 3 begins with Laertes boarding the ship before he embarks on his travels. A personal conversation between Laertes and Ophelia about the the fling and flirtation between her and Hamlet follows this. Laertes offers his concerns and disproving remarks as he is skeptical of where Hamlet’s loyalties truly lie, even though he may provide Ophelia with a sense of emotional security with his reassuring thoughts. One thing that I found interesting about this interaction was Ophelia’s response to Laertes. Ophelia expresses that she will listen to his advice and remarks, although he should be wary of his words if they contradict with his actions. I also found the dynamic between Laertes and Ophelia interesting as on one hand I saw him being a caring brother who was trying to protect his sister, although on the other hand, his tone seems slightly condescending. I am interested to see how the relationship between Laertes and Ophelia is represented throughout the rest of the play. The scene concludes with Ophelia and her father Polonius sharing a similar conversation about Hamlet.

Scenes 4 and 5 follow Hamlet along with Horatio and Marcellus on night watch waiting for the ghost to appear. When the ghost finally does make an appearance, Hamlet is summoned and by the ghost to converse in private and Hamlet begs his friends to not follow him, although that is the complete opposite of what they do. I found this interesting and also slightly ironic as at the end of the scene they are repeatedly sworn to secrecy and bound by Hamlets wishes, although they had broken his one request just minutes before. I am curious to see if events like this become a trend throughout the play, because I feel as though eventually something like this could turn into a real problem. I am also interested to explore the idea of whether the spirit that visits Hamlet is good or evil. To Hamlet, the prospect of a good versus evil ghost is almost irrelevant to him as he feels as though it would have no impact on his spirit. Although whether he is aware or not, I feel that the ghost could possibly bring out a negative side of Hamlet if the revenge consumes him. Connecting back to earlier scenes, I feel as though there is a motif of skewed communication and hearing, because as we saw through the conversations between Ophelia and Laertes and Ophelia and Polonius, there seemed to be an air of manipulation. This motif also ties into the fact that the King was poisoned through his ear, yet everyone was told that he was killed by a snake bite. I am curious to see the ways in which this motif and other motifs and symbols occur again throughout the play.