Comments on Act III
(Dramatic Features and Tragic Elements)
Act 3 is where the play, within a play, occurs and Hamlet proves that Claudius was indeed the man who killed his father. The players enact a play that is very similar to the murder of the previous king and the drama emerges from the way Claudius reacts. He walks out and the guilt is very obviously shown through this. Hamlet confronts his mother, and another dramatic feature is the way he speaks to her, the way he lets his anger out to her. He says to her that his madness is all an act but the violence he shows and the things he say to his mother do not make sense in the slightest. His mother is just led on to think that he is even madder than she thought he was. Also, he is extremely rude to her and basically calling her a whore. He suggests a lot of sexual nature in his speeches to her, which is what you would expect the least from a son talking to his own mother. His anger gets the better of him.
Act Three is very dramatic and tragic at the same time because it contains the death of Polonius. Hamlet's slow-pace plan leads to a death that didn't really have to occur. It was very unexpected. However, you could argue that it wasn't unexpected at all due to Polonius's inevitable spying. This occurs while Hamlet is showing aggression towards Gertrude and Polonius shouts for help. His death shows an unexpected tragedy while Hamlet's sudden actions, thinking that it was his uncle, portrays the drama. Once again, his anger gets the better of him. The drama develops all throughout these scenes because Hamlet, before confronting his mother, also tries to kill Claudius while he prays. This builds up tension but he withdraws his sword with the reason of it being not the right time to kill him. He wants Claudius to know that it is him, getting revenge on his father and he doesn't want him to go to heaven. The audience could accept this reason to be the truth but another way to percept it is that he has basically just chickened out. For whatever reason, he is not ready to kill him.
