Hamlet Act III Scenes 2-3

   Act III Scenes 2-3 are interesting, exposing, and quite hilarious if you ask me. Scene 2 begins with Hamlet preparing the performers for the play to put on in front of the court. Hamlet still does not know for sure whether his father's ghost is from heaven or hell so to find the truth, he gives Horatio the job of watching Claudius's reactions throughout the climatic moments of the play. It was so obvious the whole time how bitter Hamlet was about all of the terrible things going on in his life. He constantly made degrading and snappy marks to Ophelia and Gertrude such as saying that the prologue was as brief as a woman's love. I find it interesting how he is being so upfront about his anger and judgement as he says, "What should a man do but be merry? for look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died withins two hours" (110). The best part about this scene was how Hamlet pretended to not know what was to come of the play. I found myself laughing after the Player Queen said "None wed the second but who killed the first" and Hamlet says "That's bitter".  Hamlet even had the nerve to ask his mother after that scene if she liked the play....that was bold. I originally thought the play would hint at the idea of a man killing his brother and taking his wife, but I was shocked to see how literal and obvious everything was. The name Lucianus is incredibly similar to the name Claudius if you rearrange the letters. When Claudius asks Hamlet about the name of the play, he goes into a long overdue description and blatantly points out Claudius's guilt by saying, "Your majesty, and we that have free souls, it touches us not" (220).
    It was nice to see Hamlet finally receive some truth about this situation when Claudius stormed out of the castle, revealing the honesty and goodness of the ghost. In scene 3, we are able to see the inside thoughts of Claudius as he confesses his sins. He does feel guilt but at the same time, he does not want to give up what he has gained and his prayer shows that he does not regret his actions. I really wish that Hamlet would have just struck him down at this moment, but I guess I can understand his reasoning.
   In class, I would like to discuss the reason behind Shakespeare making this Act so funny, Hamlet's overly blunt attitude, and the conversation he has with Guilderstern and Rosencrantz because I was quite confused. I am excited to keep reading.