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Act 4: Falling Action 

1/18/2017

28 Comments

 
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28 Comments
Yomeini Alfaro
1/19/2017 17:23:52

I believe that at this point in the play is not anymore of hamlets revenge on his father death, is more about the life he has and the problems he has to faced and accept what it is. It seems that hamlet doesn't want to live because his depression make him not think right and not do anything about it to make it better. His existence is a dilemma and it affects every life that surrounds him.

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Kay
1/20/2017 12:59:10

Your observation that Hamlet's "existence is a dilemma and it affects every life that surrounds him" is very apt and to the point. That is why the Danish royal family's tragedy (or corruption) is the tragedy and corruption of Denmark as a country.

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Denise J Ruiz
1/25/2017 12:50:25

Yomeini, I agree with you at this point what actually the climax is about is the issues the family in general have. In other words, is more insight thoughts of each individual character that we can see their hatred and problems they go to. For example, Hamlet as being the principal character shows many emotional thoughts of how he feels towards his surroundings and what goes around him.

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Frizia Lei A Ramos
2/6/2017 20:47:38

Yes his existence to him is a dilemma but later as shown in his last soliloquy Hamlet now realizes not to stand around but carry out his plan to seek revenge to Claudius. Hamlet insulted himself as a coward because he did delay his revenge. I think that his courage to carry on with his revenge is Fortinbras who is fighting for a small land. He realizes that his death could gain something just like the soldiers fighting for Poland.

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Andrea Gaytan
2/9/2017 21:32:36

Hello Yomeini, I couldn't agree anymore with your comment. At that point Hamlet had a lot of frustration in trying to achieve his goal, which was mainly to seek revenge from Claudius. At this point, there is frustration not just from Hamlet but from Ophelia and Gertrude. There is a lot going on, and now it is not just Hamlet wondering if "to be or not to be". Hamlet is smart to work around people, but sometimes thing scan get a little out of control which lead to corruption and problems with other characters.

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Frizia Lei A Ramos
1/22/2017 21:23:13

I think that Ophelia's death at the end of act 4, women is portrayed to be weak. She was heartbroken from Hamlet's madness and her father's death, in which she couldn't handle and didn't seek revenge. She chose "not to be". While on the other hand, Laertes, Fortinbras, and Hamlet tried to seek revenge on the person who murdered their Father.

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Denise J Ruiz
1/25/2017 12:53:44

Frizia, I think that overall the whole act portray women as weak. Because, Ophelia is at first control by his father and brother and later on is betrayed by his loved one with his unexpected acts (Hamlet).

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Kay
1/26/2017 16:28:54

The character of Ophelia grips our heartstrings and demands pathos and sympathy. Still a property of her father, Ophelia finds her loyalty split between her father and her lover. With a broken heart, she drowns in tears and water.

Monica Orduna
1/25/2017 20:37:37

In this act of Hamlet, the madness is now traveling into other mind which is Ophelia. I think that at the end of the act four, the character of Ophelia represents other víctim of the terrible situations that Claudius create in it. Not only Hamlet was going crazy in the story but also the resto of the characters conduct themselves along the sins of Claudius.

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April Campos
2/1/2017 12:21:58

Monica i agree with you on the thought that every character is conducting themselves along the sins within the play. They are starting to create a sense of tension.

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Frizia Lei A Ramos
2/6/2017 21:03:21

As I see it Ophelia is mostly victimized by the society's expectation of women. Like Laertes who says that she is not in Hamlets level or not as worthy as Hamlet and while she is only worth for sex. Ophelia is an obedient character and her family took advantage of that, they were manipulative of her decisions toward loving Hamlet

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April Campos
2/1/2017 12:19:15

In this act, after the murder of Polonius i see there's a change in expression coming from Hamlet. He becomes over aggressive, shores no importance towards the other characters (Rosencratz, Guilderstein) and plugs-in a sense of madness. As he focuses on what he wants most, revenge, we find him in his last soliloquy where he decides not to be.

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antuan jimenez
2/10/2017 21:39:17

Ophelia is a well behave women that is obedient to his father and his father wants her to marry Hamlet so he can get power but Hamlet later new what they were planning against him. He will never give up on achieving his goal of getting justice to his father.

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Adaylin Alvarez
2/13/2017 03:13:52

Act 4 is the act that shows the consequences of Hamlet's indecisiveness and erratic and impetuous behavior. Due to Hamlet being at war with himself, he acts irrationally and kills Polonius, thus hurting himself, Polonius, Laertes, his mother Gertrude, and his lover Ophelia. Hamlet is at war with his emotional, prideful self and his political self. He is blinded with rage and the thought of revenge, but he does't know which side of himself wants to enact revenge and act on rage. Does he want to kill Claudius because his father was betrayed or because he wants to be the next king and he does;t want someone else to take the throne?

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Josiah Montanez
2/22/2017 22:20:13

I agree on your point Adaylin, he definitely seems to be having internal conflict due to his emotions and seems to want to kill Claudius to avenge his father and possibly to be the king. what I picked up from the crash course also elaborates on that where he doesn't want to kill Claudius simply because he doesn't want to be labeled as a murderer.

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Karla Olivarez
2/16/2017 21:07:17

All of this bloody mess and confusion situation that Hamlet created during Act four. But, even though Hamlet initiate all of this conflict because of his internal problems, everything Hamlet was choosing to do in order for revenge towards King Claudius that he ends up killing Polonuis, not thinking about Ophelia after and before the murder simply because Hamlet has fallen into desperation and confusion within himself.

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Edoardo Munoz
2/17/2017 15:27:36

The fourth act gives a clear visual to the dilemas that Hamlets indecisive behavior has spawned. Due to his battle with himself, Hamlet slaughters Polonius, which ends up hurting the women he loves, Ophelia. Through out the entirety of this act I even wonder if he wishes to murder Claudius to avenge his father or to take power for himself.

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Chris Bautista
2/22/2017 23:03:46

Edoardo I agree with you on the part that maybe hamlet really doesn't want to avenge his father but rather take power for himself because he should already have the throne if it wasn't for Claudius marrying Hamlets mother then taking the throne. So I believe that it might be pure anger towards Claudius for taking his throne.

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Raquel B.
2/17/2017 21:42:48

Act 4 gives the answer to Hamlet's question of "to be or not to be". Fortinbras acting upon his revenge made Hamlet realize his answer which was "to be" and decided to continue his mission of revenge.

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Roxanne Flores
2/17/2017 23:50:23

Hamlet is not aware of what he wants to do anymore. I think killing polonius made him question what he was trying to achieve. Hamlet seems to be lost in his own problems and then figures that he needs to question himself before he can even go on with his revenge that doesn't feel right anymore.

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Frizia Lei A Ramos
2/18/2017 22:51:23

Ophelia's loneliness and Dewey Dell's loneliness from As I lay dying. These two characters both experience loneliness from people they are close with. Ophelia experiences this from Hamlet's unpredictable and insane act, also from her father's death. On the other hand, Dewey Dell encountered this through Lafes not accompanying her to go for the abortion and her mother's death. We can see that both characters felt loneliness from their lover's unacceptable act and their parents death. Just wanted to relate the two characters.

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Jorge Gonzalez
2/18/2017 23:06:00

Hmmm.... Frizia, I believe that you could also include Darl as him being a foil to Hamlet when it comes to his relation with Dewey Dell. Darl was the big brother of Dewey Dell so Dewey Dell wanted her brother to help her, to get her out of the problem she was in but he didn't do anything. That's why when Darl is taken, Dewey Dell hates him. He didn't do anything for Dewey Dell so she felt like she was alone in her troubled situation.

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Alondra velasquez
2/21/2017 09:29:05

In this act I found it very interesting and important part of the play. This shows how Hamlets desperation and madness lead him to even call his mother a whore for marrying his uncle and while in the the queens room Hamlet killed Polonius without even considering the consequences of his actions and didnt even think of Ophelia feelings when she found out about his father's being dead.

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Josiah Montanez
2/22/2017 22:07:34

A small detail that stood out to me was in the audio it says "a man may fish with a worm that hath at of a king..." and so on but saying that a king ends up in the stomach of a beggar. Which is just as we previously discussed in class.

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Chris Bautista
2/22/2017 23:11:28

In act 4 it shows Hamlets madness and that Claudius now starts to fear hamlet. the reason for this is because of Hamlet killing Polonius and Claudius starts to realize that he could in fact been easily killed by Hamlet. At this point Hamlet id fighting his internal problems which is driving him to madness.

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Carlos Ramírez Jr
2/22/2017 23:37:34

I agree with your point about Claudius's growing fear for Hamlet, because he consciously knows his life easily could've been taken at a moment earlier on but wasn't. Hamlet evaluated his options and decided to spare his life I until the next opportunity.

Carlos Ramírez Jr
2/22/2017 23:33:17

As we obtain more information and more Insight into Hamlets own thoughts through his famous soliloquy's we learn the true meaning of the play as a whole. As Hamlets situation makes him question his own existence all while being depressed and emotional. We learn that concerns of his life even being worth living for is his real dilemma.

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Lucero castillo
2/23/2017 09:22:00

In act 4 Hamlet kills polonius ,Hamlet hides the body and they request for him to turn in the body in order to take it to the chapel but Hamlet refuses.Also claudious sends Hamlet to England.Hamlet has internal conflict his actions have hurt other people such as his mother Gertrude and Ophelia.

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