hi everyone and welcome or welcome back to Pina pages today we're talking about Hamet Shakespeare SEMO tragedy I'm very excited for the launch of this new series it's going to have to be a series we're going to go through act by act and Every Act I'm going to summarize and give you some quotes that hopefully help with whatever exam you're writing or just as a reminder of what the play is really about okay so act one scene one the play starts with a sentinel who asks who's there as another enters to release him of his night shift it's revealed that it is 12 and Francisco The Sentinel that's being Rel that's being relieved is happy because this bitter cold and I am sick at heart so the first line who's there it entices the audience in the mystery it makes us realize that things are not as they seem because the guards are nervous and the Knight makes them this way Francisco is frightened when the other Sentinel Bernardo enters even though Bernardo has likely come from the same side that he Francisco did from within and this is this is important because as a guard on a night shift you should technically be watching out for threats right you should be looking on the outside to see if anybody's coming in an intruder but he's terrified on people on his own side the threat is from within this is very representative of the inner turmo that's currently going on at court and of course the weather the fact that it is cold and the time of the night it's a pathetic fallacy so the mood around us is showcased and the atmosphere is built throughout the workings of the weather and not just the character's emotions the setting is used to show the mood and the fact that it's night foreshadows the dark and tragic events that are to come of course being that this is a tragedy so the night is usually reserved for dark shady and terrifying things it has these connotations at least and we it is revealed to us later on that Shakespeare was very aware of these connotations because the ghost disappears as soon as the caul crows so as soon as it is morning it disappears away so it the scene starting off with the night is also very significant and it's also interesting to note that even though Hamlet is the prince of Denmark and literally his name is the title of this play this scene doesn't actually start with him it starts with workingclass average people much like probably the audience would have been for Shakespeare's time and so this is this links this links back to the fact that the play has a lot of themes that are very Universal and so I think it adds to the relatability of the play for many but then of course it can't go too far in its relatability because there's a fine line between what we feel for the character for the main character of the tragedy we need to take pleasure in his enjoyment as as a famous critic once said but we also need to to be able to feel sorry for them so they need to be a character that we can sympathize with but they also need to be a character that we slightly Delight in in their downfall and it's important to consider how the scene could have made could have been made effective during Shakespeare's times because of course there was no lightning no special effects and I think the answer to that is in the way that the actors would have portrayed the scene they could have spoken in hushed Whispers and have a light go on here or a light go on there or a candle to be more accurate Bernardo asks whether Horatio is there and Horatio replies a piece of him so htio is humorously replying that he's half visible in the dark he shakes bernardo's hand to show that he's there and hero is painted as a trustworthy figure so he has a sense of humor he's well respected by the other guards even though you like unusually this is quite unusual for the time because like usually the guards are of a quite different social standing than the people of the court and yet they have good relationships with Hamlet with everyone else and I think this is this also speaks to the values of the nobility of the good nobility in this play of Hamlet who's an honest and really moral person who's just trying to do his best and his friends which is of course just opposed to Claudius and his immoral actions so of course we relate to Hamlet a lot more as people and the fact that he sympathizes with people below his standing so it's not just a play for the nobility about the nobility it's a play for everyone really and he uh him reaching for Bernardo in the dark is also symbolic of the expression of a helping hand reaching to pull you away from the darkness into the light and it's also there to link into his role as a trusted confident and people really do trust in him and his abilities as we'll see a little later on it's revealed that marcelus has brought ratio with them as he does not believe in this thing that the others are referring to this thing is of course the ghost I mean the whole play revolves around the ghost once he has actually appeared and told Hamlet that he wants him to seek revenge and at this point we have a classic ghost story because he begins to explain both to us the audience who might be seeing this play for the first time and to her racial and he begins Bernardo begins with his classic Ghost Story by saying when Yon same star that's Westward from the pole so of course he can be doing what I'm doing and pointing away and this distracts the this distracts us the audience because we look to where his finger is pointing and at that moment the ghost comes in from the opposite direction he comes in in complete armor with the visor raised and a trenen in its hand and Bernardo says that the figure is like the king that's dead and they urge Horatio to speak and to say if he agrees that it is like the dead King and Horatio replies most like it Harrows me with fear and wonder they then urge Horatio to speak to it again emphasizing his role as a trusted Confidant a man of strength and reason and the reason they give is cuz you're a scholar basically like you're an educated person it shouldn't be us the workingclass People speaking to this ghost it should be you and in general it was widely believed that that ghost could not speak until spoken to and so to like to activate the ghost to get the ghost to actually say something you would need to speak to him and and he would only reply to like somebody intelligent so again this highlights htio status as a wise man and a man they Trust of course cuz you don't want just like a random person entering making a ghost you just met angry because of course you don't know who the ghost is and they had a lot of suspicions that it was like that it was the devil essentially come in his different forms to come and tempt Hamlet away into madness as we'll see later on so htio status is also highlighted in the fact that he was disbelieving in Superstition still now because Superstition was something considered for like not for the intellectual Elite let's say Horatio speaks out at this point what art thou that usurps this time of night together with that fair and warlike form in which the Majesty of Buri Denmark did sometimes march by Heaven I charge thee speak so Horatio is basically saying that the ghost has no right to be out at this time serves this time of night nor to take the form of the Dead King with the Majesty of bur Denmark the king represented Denmark so this is very important with him being buried in a way so is part of the country because it was considered that Kings had the Divine Right To Rule so they were really God's representative on Earth they were a symbol of God they were like the figure of God in human form which is why regicide is also such a terrible crime and so here he is this ghost who's taking on a form of a king something inappropriate and this of course means that it's an offense to the country if it's somebody pretends to be the king when they're not so the ghost simply exits at this point and horatia was left trembling admitting that the ghost is in fact like the king sorry guys for not believing you such was the very armor he had on when he the ambitious Norway combatant so Denmark we find out is in a state of war with Norway and also the poles so as Horatio says in a scholarly like tone this bodess some strange eruption to our state and Horatio's careful memories here also reveal his wisdom he's well suited to playing the role of the adviser he has to explain to the other guards why they're making weapons and ships and preparing for war and the reason is that old Fortune brass of Norway was killed by old Hamlet of Denmark and the Danes took the land so what is now Denmark is very much contested land so all is not easy in the state of Denmark it's not only the inner termal of the court that sets the cars at ease it's the fact that they might be prepared ing for war so now they're worried that the nans are preparing an AR preparing an army led by Young 14 brass again notice how old 14 brass becomes young 14 brass and old Hamlet becomes young Hamlet signifying very much the like the changing Generations after this historical setting of the scene and some very needed context for us the reader the ghost come backs again and spreads at Arms it could be that the ghost is calling for them or on the contrary preparing to leave again and so Horatio speaks out and says stay illusion if thou Hast any sound or use of voice speak to me if there be any good thing to be done that may to thee do ease and Grace to me speak to me if Thou Art privy to thy country's fate which happily for knowing May avoid oh speak or if thou Hast uphor it in thy life extorted treasure in the womb of Earth He suggests reasons essentially for the ghost to be here so does he have any positive wisdom to part or maybe he wants to warn about the country's future or bring something back from the earth and then the rooster cows they get frighten they get jumpy they attempt to strike the ghost with its sword because the ghost like kind of does like o because the like of course the crow is the symbol sorry the the rooster the crow of the rooster is a symbol of the morning so and the ghost is a time of night so it's like again the light the this the light is very important in Christian belief and in a lot of other religions that the light is like the force of God the force of good so the light is coming and of course the ghost must Retreat into the dark where it belongs and again they're scared of the underworld of the tensions in the castle so they strike at The Ghost and of course they're also worried it's a terrible sign for things to come so they try their best to kill it but nothing happens of course it's a ghost so it leaves and marcelus admits that they were wrong to do it showing that the guards are they're of course not the most highly intelligent of all the characters in the play but they understand quite well what to do in these situations which I think is also why they admire Hamlet so we truly see that all the like good characters are kind of on Hamlet side but then unfortunately they're not very fortunate throughout the entire play it's a tragedy so marcelus admits they were wrong to attempt to kill it that the ghost was so majestical and well it was invulnerable anyway so they also speculate that the rer crowing is a summon and that the morning is a time no Spirit can walk abroad the nights are wholesome then no planets strike no fairy tales nor witch has power to charm so hallowed and so gracious is the time eventually they decide to talk to Young Hamlet and as Horatio says the spirit dumb to us will speak to him and they leave okay so before we move on to the next scene it's important to note the language used throughout so most of the characters here are just normal people like average people like the guards so they're talking in Pros but her ratio and the more educated character throughout the entire play talk in a Amic pentameter in blank verse Shakespeare's famous ability and gift to make these poetic and Majestic lines and still carry sense and meaning and be entertaining and so these lines like these breaks between a Amic metamer and just Pros it can indicate a status and the significance of a character so they are quite useful to watch out for if they're having a casual conversation they break out into Pros so this can be quite rude because they should not be talking casually or this can be a symbol of their friendship it's something to consider and these passages stick out they're quite noticeable so it also helps to distinguish who a new character is in terms of social class and anyway we will see the difference in the next act act one scene two so the scene starts with a flourish of trumpets as Claudius the new king and Gertrude the queen enter along with young prince Hamet and the council with bonus and leres so unlike the guards there is this very form and Posh and Royal introduction trumpet's Music Fanfare we have seen the previous King in the form of a ghost we have heard of him he was a great courageous soldier who fought and won battles his entrance was effective without all this fun fun fair and trumpets and I think there's a very clear juxtaposition here it's also very suggestive of the previous King's status the fact that he was like he didn't need all this extra stuff to command atten mention and he's constantly juxtaposed with Claudius so the fact that he was less superficial uh the fact that he has unfinished business the fact that he didn't die in a fair in a fair way so Claudius is someone unknown nobody's discussed him so far he's possibly unpopular and this is the moment where we get to meet him for the first time with a lot of pump and we have a lengthy monologue as an introduction whereas the King again didn't speak at all so we see the the really we see the comparison Claudius begins with reminding us of old Hamlet our dear brother's death the memory be green and it feels like a slight the fact that he's even the one referring to him not as like Hamlet or anybody who genuinely seems to care about the Old King and doing it so briefly as well he talks about the funeral and then he's like anyway and then he moves on to his marriage to gude so it's clear he doesn't care much he's saying all the right things but he's not really meaning them and it's clear at this point that he's a good politician but he's not really necessarily a good King a just king and the King that Denmark deserves so the ease with which he talks also shows how well prepared he is it's very very superficial it's very very planned and after his brother's death our whole Kingdom to be contracted in one bro of wo so he swiftly moves on sometimes sister now our Queen boohoo the poor old King died I'm married to gertude now our entire kingdom is grieving because an equal scale weit and Delight and do taken to wife we shouldn't be gaming her long there's a wedding enjoying enjoy yourself gertude is getting remarried to me equal as an impartial counter poolar ising so it's very clear clever the way that language has been manipulated here to show weddings and funerals as the opposite and yet equate them to be the same thing he's being very honest and open about his relationship with gertude even though this would have been very very very frowned upon as we'll see later on in H's famous spe and here he's challenging anyone to question this relationship he's expressing he's not ashamed to find happiness when they should be mourning he talks about young 14 brass the issue that he thinks by our late dear brother's death our state to be disjoint and out of frame so he has presumed that Denmark can easily be attacked and he's essentially stating that if you believe something is wrong with our state and if you think that our state can easily be attacked you were in League with old fortun bre so essentially this is saying to anyone wants to approach the new king and say m i don't like our security that if you do that you're a traitor to the state and if you think about grieving for the Old King you're also a traitor because you should be celebrating our marriage and at that point the audience would probably see irony in him saying that there's nothing wrong with the state because we have seen the guards being scared of their own shadow uh but yeah Claudius addresses laties and we see that he's actually quite warm and cordial towards him he tells him to refer to ponus his father for advice if he can leave to go to France rather than him because like the father is the most important and then he proceeds to do the exact same opposite thing with Hamlet so we see that he's treating like a complete stranger better than his own stepson and his well frankly his nephew I suppose cuz he's his uncle so we also learned the role of bonus Claud Claudius says the head is not more native to the heart the hand More instrumental to the mouse than is the Throne of Denmark to thy father bonus is a very important adviser to Claudius he values his advice even if he's a bit like ponus talking a bit too much because ponus is a strange character and when bolognia says he has let larities go Claudia says time be thine and thy best Grace is vented at TH will aha notice that approach and then he turns to talk to Hamlet but now my cousin Hamlet and my son so it also seems that he should say to Hamlet do whatever you want he has but he has far more antagonism towards him he wants wants to really control him and it's clear that Hamlet feels the same way he's not here to play because they engage in barbs and he replies a little more than kin and less than kind so this is of course a play on the word kin meaning like relative and kind so essentially what he's saying is you're not my dad I don't want you close to me we might be a little bit more than Ken forced into proximity but M I don't like this relationship between the two of us so now you've married my mother you're still not my father it's the classic Moody teenage Barb and this is also very open so he's refusing to engage with social politeness to put on a show for the rest of the Court that's probably watching this so Claudius asks why he's being so moody and emotional how is it that the clouds still hang on you and Hamlet replies not so my Lord I am too much in the sun again I am too much in the sunshine of your favor sarcasm an irony but also a play on the son like son and son like my father and his son so in other words Claudius you're calling me son how could I be unhappy it's that kind of tone that kind of like passive aggressive open aggression thing and essentially he's also saying stop calling me son I'm not your son and I will never be your son gertrud his mother is trying to her very best to ignore this she she seems to succeed because she doesn't pay heed at all she doesn't say anything at this point she briefly implies that he should be nicer but she tells him good camet good Hamlet cast thy nightly color off stop wearing black stop mourning your father is dead so don't seek for thy Noble father in the dust thou knowest is common all that lives Must Die B thingss your nature to Eternity in other words everyone dies don't let your father's death consume you and at this point we might think that she's probably in League with Claudius but really she seems more concerned for Hamlet for her son Hamlet admits this is true but for him his father's death is still special his reply is essentially oh but I'm in the mood they are actions that a man might plan but I have that within which passes show these but the trappings and the suits of wo so it's an implication that you guys are all playing a role you're happy to pretend that everything is fine but I'm acting this way because I can and because I want to and because I feel this way I'm genuinely mourning for my father this is a Barb at them both but he's Kinder towards his mother since there's this view that Claudius is like the evil mastermind and his mother is just the innocent his mother is not given the chance to reply to this Claudius does so he tries to alienate her from her son he replies for her he takes away her voice and he says but to persevere in obstinate condolement is a course of impious stubbornness to unmanly grief after he reminds him that his father's father died and his father's father's father also died so basically what he's saying is this isn't you and you acting this way is not is not a manly way to act and you're not being very representative and suitable of the role of the king you're letting your emotions get the best of you and there's also this phrase in death of fathers okay the sound effect yeah in death of fathers and who still has cried from the first corpse till he that died today this must be so okay first corpse that died today so this is actually the reference to the first corpse being that of Abel and the reference to the story of Cain and Abel and of Cain murdering Abel his brother it considered vastly the first and the worst crime and this is a little bit of foreshadowing uh and like hinting on Shakespeare's Parts because it is later revealed to us that actually Claudius has slain his brother and Claudius is the king in this situation and he the irony of course is that Claudius is preaching that ASM morality when he's being immoral and he reminds him that you are the most immediate to our throne and with no less nobility of love so this again alerts us to the superficiality of Claus all he's thinking about is the throne he's saying this as well so that people will hear like oh of course we love you Hamlet this is all for your benefit and even though Claudius plans to remain in power he's essentially presenting himself of as oh I'm just temporary this here Hamlet is the true heir to the throne and there's no love lost between them but still clonus puts on this performance and he tells Hamlet that he can't go back to school in Wittenberg okay so School in Wittenberg is essentially Hamlet's University we have to remember that Hamlet is just a university student I mean honestly he's just he's grieving for his father he's upset on his mother it falls on his shoulders that he has to Bear the weight of Revenge and avenge his dead father I mean in another world he could have just been happy he could have lived his life been a student enjoyed enjoyed his youth but not here and the fact that he can't go back to University shows that he's stuck here he's been forced to and Claudius the reason that Claudius doesn't want him to leave is because he scared he Unite with young force and R of Norway and leader Rebellion or that he's he'll be gone and like lead a rebellion and Applause and find people to help him overthrow him it's a method of control but gertude also asks Hamlet to stay and we know her reasons are more maternal and like caring in that she says like oh I just want my son nearby and he replies for you madam I will again a slight Barb for you madam I will so not for Claudius not for this man who's not my father but for you gerud Claudius of course notices pretends he doesn't and he tells gertude to come alone come along leaving Hamlet alone okay Hamlet's Soliloquy before his friends join him is a fascinating insight into his instability and emotional hanging upon the edge he wishes it was not a crime to commit suicide so that he can just leave this world because the situation is that bad but two months dead nay not so much not too so he's disgusted at how quick they remarried he's not sure how quick though he's losing check of time was it a month ago was it two months ago I don't know it doesn't matter how could she be married so soon after my father's death so excellent the king that was hyper that was to this hyperion to a satire so loving to my mother my father was an excellent King like a god whereas Claudius is a satire a half man half goat a drunken unserious insincere man satires were the companions of bakas so there would have been drunken debauchery involved and much like that Hamet used this wedding after his father's funeral as a drunken Deery he talks about Gerard's relationship to Old Hamlet how she hung on him as if increase of appetite had grown and his father have actually treated G well unlike Claudius who we have seen her how he drags her along and doesn't allow her to speak that's not very like very good treatment towards a wife and a woman you supposedly love I can't help but wonder whether all of this is a show I mean if Claudius can kill his brother I don't think it's beyond him to claim that he loves gertude when he doesn't and for gertrud's part I'm wondering if she's a very much misunderstood character in that perhaps she just loved old Hamlet so much that his death came as something she couldn't bear and claudus used that opportunity to emotionally manipulate her and now she doesn't know what to do Hamlet doesn't see this as such uh he does believe that claudes make have taken advantage but he also think it's Gertrude's fault because he says foty thy name is woman so he views women as frail because of how quickly she has succumbed he compares her to naobi so in Greek mythol in Greek mythology naobi is the personification of bereavement because after slighting letto uh emus and Apollo killed all of Naomi's children leaving her to grieve forever even she so Hamlet is saying even my grieving mother is moving on yet I can't these words even she are in the cilo for Magical reasons there an emphasis on Hamlet's emotion there's repetition even she why she it shows how obsessed he is with the entire situation he's driven to constantly and constantly think about it it's also in this speech that he reveals that she has married my father's brother and then rushes to say that his father's brother isn't at all like his father no more than he Hamlet is Hercules so there's a lot of Illusion to like mythology and classical Tales here and he feels extremely resentful that within a month again notice the uncertainty of time for Hamlet he's so preoccupied with his emotion with brooding that he doesn't know when exactly his mother remarried doesn't matter for him it's just too soon and he says oh most wicked speed to post with such dexterity to incestuous Sheets it is not nor it cannot come to good but break my heart for I must hold my tongue incestuous because a marriage to a deceased husband's brother is I mean it goes against the teachings of the church it goes against the values of the time and this is also quite a memorable phrase because of the siblings the actor can physically practically spit out this line with emotion he must hold his tongue and not say anything so this is alluding to how he's holding his tongue merely not only to cause like not cause trouble but also to pent up his emotions which is why he's also suffering all this inner turmoil and and at that point he cannot even properly grieve and move on because everyone's urging him to do so without actually understanding what he's feeling and on this emotional note Horatio marceles and Bernardo from the First Act enter Act 1 Scene Three La eres is Overjoyed that he's finally setting sail to France and he says goodbye to ailia but warns her to not be too affectionate with Hamlet who he views as a Broody and unserious man and I mean to be honest this part is true his Allegiance lies within the St lies for the state so well ultimately ailia can be nothing more than entertainment if his parents say get a political match he's going to get a political match ailia is unimportant he doesn't have her interests he has the interests of the country he advises her to mind her reputation to stay away from him and to think of her virginity because her honor is bound to it she should stay away from the danger of Desire so ailia says she will listen but the details of of their relationship are purposefully kept quite ambiguous so we don't know how long this has been going on for how long she has been interested in Hamlet how long Hamlet has been interested in her and she urges him to listen to his own advice too though which highlights how their relationship is very close because like for a girl to say that to a man would have been like quite scandalous so you couldn't just say that to anyone but she's saying essentially toari is don't be the priest that preaches and doesn't follow through on his preaching so don't tell me to mind my affections when you yourself don't so like be careful don't just go around breaking girls Hearts ponus then enters to talk to leres and to give him advice he says to never let anyone get too close to have his friends prove their trust to stay out of arguments to never borrow or lend money it's unnecessary and above all to thine know self be true which to be honest is pretty solid advice and we can see that with his children he's knowledgeable and confident but with Claudius he's very sub like submissive and he agrees with everything and I think while this doesn't speak for much of a backbone it does show a certain level of wise judgment for a man like Claudius it's important to have somebody like that and I think felonius is aware of that he goes with the flow which is why he still has his job and his head frankly uh lies leaves and Polonius asks sophilia about what her brother said and she tells him that he gave advice about Hamlet and at that point bonus notices that of late they have been spending time together and he tells her to confess and she says he has made many tenders of his affection Bonia scorns her saying poo affections you speak like a green girl he makes fun of Hamlet's tenders and tells her that she would be a fool if she genuinely believed in them he goes on a very long monologue with lots of metaphors about the treasure chest which refers to her virginity and how she should have let the treasure chest be opened by importunate by importunity and other unfortunate circumstances so I will skip over this bit was it's fascinating euphemisms because this video will be entirely too long and I will instead just point out the extent to which ailia is bound to the men in her life I mean the her entire honor is bound on her virginity that's her only value the male figures in her life seek to control her control everything from where she goes what she does to her sexuality and while it stems from a desire to keep her safe it also stems from a desire to protect their own reputation because to have a child out of wedlock is scandalous and of course for ofilia she has to constantly bear in mind that well if she really opens that Treasure Chest she no longer has any real value to not only the men in her life but to society so it's she can't really give way to her true feelings and I think that that later on this contributes to her mental instability much like Hamlet can't express his true emotions so I think this is ultimately a wider commentary on society in general act 1 sc4 so we now go back to the dramatic suspense the tension builds and we finally get to meet the ghost once more although this is a very brief moment like a Prelude to act 1 scene5 so Hamlet Horatio marcelus enter they stand around in the cold remin very reminiscent of the beginning act 1 scene one and Hamlet says that air bites shely it is very cold it is a nipping and eager air another pathetic fallacy so people feel uncomfortable the warms does not permeate through the through the corrupt walls of Denmark and something is very wrong it's now midnight just struck but the trumpets go off and there's drunken rry and the characters notice how Claudius and his party well like his supporters are having an actual party and yet more dramatic rry which Hamlet disapproves of and to my mind though though I am native here and to the manner born it is a custom more honored than the breach than the observance so it might be of a custom of the Kings and the Queens to have a to have a feast to celebrate but this gluttony and Corruption there's really no honor in it the monarchy is typically supported by the people and by the resources they have and the lives that monarchs live are very different to the lives of the average people of the Working Class People so why is it fair that these monarchs are having their gluttonous Feast when the country should technically still be in mourning for their Old King who who he implies has never done this who actually cared about the people and spent this money on things to improve the country rather than for themselves the ghost then enters surprising us the slight at Claudius was there to distract us from the ghost's appearance so it renders it a surprise and it doesn't take a huge amount of convincing for Hamlet he doesn't care if the ghost brings good news or bad news Heavens or bless from hell he'll speak to him that I will speak to thee I'll call thee Hamlet King father Royal D oh answer me he then proceeds to ask what it means that the ghost is here and why revisits thus the glimpses of the Moon making night hideous and we fools of nature so horridly to shake our disposition with thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls heratio and marcelas do not want Hamlet to follow the ghost who beckons him and goes come come I'll tell I'll tell you I'll answer you why and they think the ghost is likely to drive Hamlet to Madness or to endanger him and they try to hold him back and there assume some other horrible form which might deprive your sovereignty of reason and draw you into madness so this is actually foreshadowing as the ghost does indeed draw Hamlet into madness as poor Hamlet starts overthinking how to get his revenge and commit a crime against religion and just a crime in general and at this time it was thought that the devil tried to win souls over by tempting them to suicide to Dethrone your reasons from the proper sever place in your mind is a significant choice of words given of course that Hamlet is the ruler and he tells Horatio and marcelus to leave him he threatens his best friends he follows the GH I mean already he's throwing away the familiar in favor of the unfamiliar he tells them he'll kill them if they don't let go he follows the ghost he pays no heed to their instruction the power Dynamic here is interesting they should be protecting Hamlet cuz he's a like their King but they also treat him like a friend and they understand that this is important for him they let him do what he sees fit Horatio merely remarks that he waxes desperate with imagination marcelos also says one of the most famous lines of the entire play something is rotten in the state of Denmark this is a fine and observant remark given all that we had seen so far and the audience at this point would definitely agree that we have seen a variety of problems I mean everyone's paranoid acting jumpy towards each other a dead King a new king suspiciously quickly marrying the old Queen uh incest and going against the morals and the teachings of the church another country wanting to go to war corrupt Behavior at the top and the state of Denmark is indeed corrupt is therefore the conclusion something is indeed rotten so act 1 sc5 there's no break in the action as we encounter our first great climax so The Ghost and Hamlet during Shakespeare's time and on his stage would exit through one of the two stage doors and move across the other while Hamlet uh while Horatio and marceles are still talking and distracting attention and then boom Hamlet and the ghost walk in so this produces a smooth shift a smooth change um Shakespeare's famous well-made play that is really like it's everything flows perfectly from one scene into another there's no awkward shift there's no awkward break and um the Hamlet tells the ghost he will not go any further at this point when they walk in and the ghost replies Mark me listen to me having remained silent previously this instantly draws both the audience's attention and gives the Ghost full power Hamlet snaps to attention saying I'm bound to hear and the ghost replies with so art thou to Revenge when thou shalt hear he reveals that he's Hamlet's father's Spirit doomed to walk the night and in the day to burn until he's purged of his sins but he's allowed to tell a story so yeah the story he says will shock Hamlet would Harrow up thy Soul freeze thy Young Blood shock him so his eyes widen make thy two eyes like Stars start from their spheres and have his hair stand on end like quills upon the fretful porcupine so Hamlet Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder if you ever loved your father so this murder murder most foul as in the best it is but this most foul strange and unnatural so yeah again going back to what I said it's a regicide it's a like killing your brothers a fraty side I believe it's called it's a terrible crime and Shakespeare and audiences would have been well aware of it haste haste me to know it that I with wings as Swift as meditation or the thoughts of love may sweep to my revenge is Hamlet's response so he's saying that he'll rush to avenge his father but this is actually a form of peptic irony because we realized that he was not Swift and he missed many opportunities to enact Revenge he tends to overthink his decisions a lot throughout the play and the ghost finds this apt and he this reassurance apt even though he should technically know better since it's his son but never mind that he begins to explain that there was a fat weed a plant never seen before perhaps that has roots on the borders of Lethy the river of forgetfulness everyone says that he was killed by a serpent but the serpent that that did Sting thy father's life now wears his crown in other words the snake is your uncle that incestuous that adulterate Beast with witchcraft of his wit with traitorous gifts oh Wicked wit and gifts that have the power so to seduce want to his shameful lust the will of my most seeming virtuous Queen your uncle is not a human and he used his devilish powers to seduce your mother who you thought was so virtuous and now lust will it Sate itself in a Celestial bed and pray on garbage and other other words these two have broken the sanctity of the Heavenly bed and now there's only garbage fueling the lust rather than the power of true love he was sleeping in the Orchard and the uncle in the porches of my ears that pour the leprous distilment whose effect holds such an enmity with blood of man he was sleeping he was defenseless he describes the vile consequences of this poison this his how his blood curdled like milk how it csed through the blood it was horrible oh horrible most horrible the aim of course course is to get Hamlet angry and Furious and fired up and thirsting for Revenge to provoke him further he says let not the Royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damnant incest something Hamlet was already Furious about if we go back to the previous previous scenes however he does say to taint not thy mind nor let thy Soul contrive against thy mother odd leave her to heaven and to those Thorns that in her bosom Lodge to break and sting her don't seek revenge for your mother let her own Consciousness kill her let her sorry let her own conscience kill her Hamlet is very emotional and reacts to the speech by saying yes yes by Heaven oh most pernicious woman oh villain villain smiling damed villain my table my tables meet it as I set it down tables as in tablets on which things could be inscribed or erased he swears to get revenge to as he writes down and he writes down to the word it is Ado Ado remember me I have sored okay so the tables thing is also just like a reference uh that we saw in his friends come back Hamlet is a changed in man energetic he's positive in his responses he says he has wonderful news and he tells them that there's a villain dwelling in Denmark Horatio replies there needs no ghost my Lord come from the grave to tell us this so in other words really really that's all the ghost said we all knew Claudius was horrible anyway Hamlet is in a state of adrenaline rush he's happy to finally have a purpose to understand what happened the way he speaks is also interesting it's almost Delirious his Madness speech I'm sorry they offend you heartily yes Faith heartily it's almost as if he's repeating himself talking to himself choosing his words and now good friends as you are friends Scholars and soldiers give me one poor request he wants them to swear an oath he as asked him to swear it on the sword he asked them to do this several times with the ghost crying to swear from underneath the floorboards it's an interaction From The Underground from the depths of his Consciousness from his madness he gives a mini monologue here and says as I per chance Hereafter shall think me to put an antic disposition on he has decided to pretend to be mad he gets them to promise that they will not give away the game and they should not along saying phrases like of course the madness the grief such ambiguous giving out he gets them to swear on this too which they do and he then expresses his love and thanks to them after they have swor multiple times and concludes with and still your fingers on your lips I pray meaning please remember to stay silent don't say that I met with him to anyone then the time is out of joint oh cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right nay come let's go together and thus determined to enact Revenge they exit and so ends act one yeah so that was a very big act and that was a lot of information to take in but I hope you enjoyed this video stick around for more videos on Hess coming soon thank you so much for watching and I'll see you [Music] soon