Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare's most popular plays. It is a revenge tragedy featuring Hate, Jealousy, Love and Betrayal all of these are universal human experiences and make this play as relevant today as when it was first performed. This has allowed every single person who has ever read Hamlet to find something that they relate to.

In act 3 scene 4 Hamlet is planning to go to Gertrude's private room to condemn her for her quick marriage to Claudius, and to persuade her of Claudius' guilt concerning the death of his father. Polonius is present at the start of the scene and on hearing Hamlet coming has hidden himself behind the arras in order to listen in on the ensuing conversation. However, during a scuffle between Hamlet and Gertrude, Polonius screams out for help and gives away his position. Hamlet who is in a state of blind hate, anger and passion kills Polonius, suspecting that it could be Claudius. Hamlet then attacks his mother. The ghost of King Hamlet appears and gives Hamlet some advice about his mother, Hamlet has a job to do and should not be so harsh on his mother. The ghost departs and Hamlet concludes his conversation with his mother.

is so important for a number of reasons, it gives a fantastic insight into the characters for both the audience and the director. It is a huge turning point for Hamlet, he finally "snaps" and murders someone without question and is totally unaffected by it. It gives a good insight into the idea that Hamlet may have an Oedipus Complex for his mother (A theory created by Sigmund Freud. It concerns the idea a strong--largely unconscious--hostility toward the same-sex parent coupled with sexual longing for the other parent sets up the key conflict of human development. Supposedly the boy's sexual and aggressive impulses are kept in check by his fear of paternal retaliation (castration anxiety). Eventually he renounces the forbidden wish and, ideally, identifies with the father in a positive way.) And also the way that Hamlet had an immense amount of respect for his dead father. It also gives a nice view of Polonius character as we do not see much of him during the play I!

In this scene Hamlet is at the height of his depression/madness. he launches into several attacks on his mother. It is so important because Hamlet has now just murdered in cold blood without flinching, he is now ready to exact his revenge on Claudius. It is interesting to note that when Hamlet kills Polonius he remarks 'Is it the King?' even though he has just left the king in prayer, knowing he would not be there. Does he merely wish it were the king, or is he insulting Gertrude. If I were advising someone to play the part of Hamlet I would find it hard as Hamlet is an extremely complex character, the actor would have to portray a huge amount of emotions in just this one scene. I would tell t

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Approximate Word count = 1125
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)