Initial Reaction: Gertrude, is one wacky lady! She has a confrontation with Hamlet, and they hurriedly tells her husband. She is very manipulative, and then agrees to ship Hamlet off? Her own son, she agrees to ship him off so he doesn't ruin Denmark. She marries Hamlet's uncle and she thinks it is okay. I honestly feel like she knew about Claudius killing her husband.
Character Analysis: Claudius is a very evil man. He kills Hamlet's father, and marries his mother. It is sickly twisted. He has many flaws, he is deceitful and a ruthless man. He is constantly worried about Hamlet finding out that he has killed his father, and once he did, he wants to ship him away so she doesn't cause any problems! The conflict seems intentionally, I personally see him as a attention hog and everything has to be about 'Claudius'. I find him to be the bad guy of the story, causing problems and killing people unnecessarily. He is truly a terrible person and gets what is coming to him.
Theme Analysis: I feel that the theme of Act IV is deceit/forgiveness. Everyone seems to be deceiving each other, whether it be on purpose or on accident. Everyone is keeping their own secrets and it is going to get them killed. Hamlet kills Ophelia's father and tries to dispose of the body, and the King and Queen are planning to send Hamlet away without his permission. The realm of the kingdom is sickly twisted as they are all hiding secrets from each other. Hamlet just wants to love Ophelia, and nobody will let them. It is a terrible love story with a sad ending.
I don't think anyone is revered as purely evil in this story. Claudius killed Hamlet's father, but Hamlet himself can be evil too since he let that turned him into madness. Act 4 is a strong turning point in the story and involves a lot of deceit and tragic to Ophelia and Laertes.
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