Character Analysis

Hamlet In this passage, Hamlet is still keeping up the faade of being crazy. Hamlet wants to verify Claudiuss role in his fathers killing, so he can e act his revenge. Its why Hamlet ordered Horatio to keep an eye on Claudius as he watches the play that Hamlet specified. Hamlets ob!ective strays a bit from Claudius as he sets his eyes on "phelia. Hes upset about the ending of their relationship, so he humiliates her, and tries to ruin her reputation, by implying that she is #sullied.$ His tactics of being insane, changes to being hurtful and rude towards "phelia. %hen Hamlet speaks to "phelia, he does not speak plainly. He implies a lot of innuendos and play on words. &ut when he speaks to Horatio, he is very clear to not be misunderstood.

Claudius Claudiuss motivation is to try to develop a relationship with Hamlet, like Hamlet with his biological father, since he is now his father by marriage. 'hroughout the book, Claudius is consistent in establishing himself as the new king and being the role that his brother had before he died. 'he only obstacle is that Hamlet doesnt want Claudius to be his father, because Hamlet wants revenge on Claudius. %hen you combine Claudiuss effort in being a father figure, and Hamlets resistance, you get a very annoyed and insane Hamlet, and a plotting king. His ob!ectives hasnt change, Claudius is still trying to fill his brothers shoes.

Polonius

(rom the very start, )oloniuss motivation is to be loyal to the king and to suck up, which in this case, is Claudius. &ut in this scene, )olonius interacts with Hamlet, and speaks very plainly, and not very modest. *lthough he is not talking to Claudius, he still tries to impress him, by responding to Hamlets in+uiries by saying he was a good actor. His ob!ectives doesnt stray from his norm and he still speaks very plainly with Hamlet.

Gertrude In this scene, ,ertrude is trying to be the good mother that she should have been from the start. (rom the beginning, we find out that ,ertrude is a people-pleaser, and Hamlet is no e ception. %hat she wants is to please everyone, so she would be seen with a good image, and not as a phony as she is. &ut instead of trying to please everyone, her ob!ective changed to trying to be seen as a good mother. &y playing a good mother to Hamlet in front of witnesses, she wont be at fault for not preventing Hamlets insanity. %hen talking to Hamlet, ,ertrude speaks very sweetly, as if nothing is wrong.

Ophelia &ased on the way Hamlet is acting, "phelia wants Hamlet to stop embarrassing her, because the Hamlet that she knows now, is a different Hamlet from before. .he misses the old Hamlet, who offered her affections and #importuned /her0 with love 1 in an honorable fashion.$ *lthough her feelings for Hamlet has changed, her ob!ectives has not. .he has listened to )olonius into staying away from Hamlet, and by the way he is acting towards her, she believes her father was right by staying away. %hile speaking to Hamlet, "phelia speaks very simply, as

if to fend away attention to her and Hamlet, because Hamlet is playing a lot of word games with her.

Horatio *lthough Horatio is very scarce in this scene, is ob!ective is very clear, and it is to follow Hamlets orders to watch Claudius very closely during the play. Horatios motivation is to do what Hamlet asks of him. Compared to 2osencrantz, Horatio is very loyal to Hamlet, and has been from the beginning.

Rosencrantz 2osencrantzs role in this scene is to continue on being Hamlets #friend$, when in truth he is !ust posing because he is in cahoots with Claudius. *lthough Hamlet and 2osencrantz have known each other for a long time, 2osencrantz is loyal to Claudius, rather than Hamlet. 2osencrantzs goal throughout is to be a crony to the king. His ob!ective has been consistent throughout the whole play, not !ust this scene.