Act 3, Scenes 2 & 3

       At the beginning of scene two, Hamlet tells Horatio what he learned from his father's ghost and asks him to watch Claudius during the play to see his reaction. During his interaction with Horatio, when he praises Horatio's character, he seems very calm and collected, which is quite different from the "madness" we've seen him experience. But, as soon as Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, and Ophelia enter, he goes back to his "mad" behavior, and even insults his mother's appearance. This might be a bit of a stretch, but I feel like maybe Hamlet is pretending to be a little more "insane" than he actually is. I wonder if maybe he's starting to realize that he's being spied on and lied to, and so he's over-exaggerating his behavior as if to give the listeners what they want to hear. I wonder if by opening the scene with Hamlet giving instructions to the actors, Shakespeare is trying to hint at the fact that Hamlet is also playing a role, and slowly becoming what he is pretending to be. 

      Hamlet also reveals that the name of the play is "The Mousetrap", which is ironic because he is trying to trap Claudius in his guilt. When the play gets to the part where the poison is poured in the King's ear, Claudius jumps up and abruptly leaves the play, confirming for Hamlet that he is his father's murderer. And now Horatio knows too. You would think his next step would now be rather obvious, but Hamlet almost seems to stall by turning his attention to Gertrude. He still doesn't seem completely okay with the whole idea of murdering someone, even if it feels justified. 

     In scene 3, Claudius is starting to see Hamlet as a threat and tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take Hamlet to England. Polonius arrives to tell Claudius the Hamlet is on his way to speak with Gertrude and offers to spy on them. Claudius then begins to pray at his private alter, although stops because his sin is too great. We are starting to see more guilt form Claudius about killing his brother. He admits that killing his brother was a "curse" and that is was an unforgivable act. This is very unexpected and out of character for Claudius. I once saw Claudius as this monster, but it's almost as if seeing this emotion from him is humanizing him to the readers and to Hamlet. It's like he's apologizing for his actions which honestly makes me hate him a little less. Hamlet enters and recognizes his perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, but refrains from doing so. He believes that Claudius is praying for forgiveness and that if he were to kill him, he would go straight to heaven, escaping punishment. Hamlet's morals are once again getting in the way of his revenge on Claudius. It almost feels like Hamlet is having second thoughts, which is another suggestion that Hamlet might not truly be mad. I'm interested to see how Claudius's character will continue to unfold until his eventual death.