Home-School college reading list book club discussion

Okay, here art thou discussion folder

Hello, so I found an actual production of Hamlet by the theatre group of this college and it's pretty good if anyone wanted to watch it.
It's on youtube so I linked it here for the curious of mind. (:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq5HK...

Ah thank you, that'll help with the reading as a sort of visual-aid :)

thanks this will be really good to watch

Here are your Hamlet questions! Sorry I’m posting them late. It may even be the next day for you depending on where you are.

1. Do you think hamlet was already mad before the play began?

2. Do you think the story was plot-based or character driven?

3. How did you feel about the ending? (What did you like, what did you not like, what do you wish had been different, would you change anything? Etc.)

4. Was the ghost real? A figment of imagination or something of fact?

5. Did Ophelia actually kill herself or was it an accident?

1. Do you think hamlet was already mad before the play began?

It's interesting, because I don't think he really was mad in the sense of psychotic-mad. Comparing between Ophelia and Hamlet, where I think Ophelia became mad, Hamlet was very determined in his eye-for-an-eye approach and vengeance: to show the hypocrisy in his mother by lying in bed with the criminal, and sweeping under the rug the crime and washing her hands of it. Everyone perceived him to be mad - but, when faced with the truth (from the ghost) that was hidden, it was like a conspiracy that just had to be revealed. Also, it wasn't just Hamlet who could see the ghost, even although Gertrude couldn't see it - Horatio and Marcellus both saw the ghost as well.



2. Do you think the story was plot-based or character driven?

For the most part, character-driven with Hamlet's experience, satirical prose, and those perceiving him (including the audience), but I think the end-plot was always the destination.



3. How did you feel about the ending? (What did you like, what did you not like, what do you wish had been different, would you change anything? Etc.)

I actually felt sad, for both Claudius and Hamlet.
For Claudius, when he knelt down and prayed for repentance and forgiveness just as Hamlet was about to stab him - it felt to me quite genuine and fearful that his prayer is not listened to or answered, as if God has left Claudius to his own.
For Hamlet, because what he had learnt of the past culminated in his ultimate demise.




4. Was the ghost real? A figment of imagination or something of fact?
I believe the ghost was real, only selective in who he chose to appear to - both Marcellus and Horatio saw it first, and then called on Hamlet to meet at the twelfth hour. I think that, to me, is a clue as to how we should view the ghost.



5. Did Ophelia actually kill herself or was it an accident?
I take it to be an accident that happened due to her madness. I think it's left ambiguous.

1. Do you think hamlet was already mad before the play began?

Yes, I think he was on a lower scale of insanity. It would have been a slow plummet after his father's death and I think his strange behavior is in part to sadness, but also a high on psychotically driven emotions that we see him display to his mother and Ophelia.
I see little evidence that they are guilty of any wrongdoing if anything they are the victims. They have nothing to do with the justice he desires for his father. Even so, Hamlet treats them with cruelty and suspicion even when the ghost specifically said not to hold Gertrude accountable for her marriage to the king. “contrive against thy mother naught”
I don't think he knows how to act around people. He plays the philosophical, the warrior, the lover, the friend, the vengeful, the merry, the studious. His mind does not know how to act so he acts the many roles life offers and in his attempt to put his slowly decaying mind back in place he drives himself into deeper insanity.

2. Do you think the story was plot-based or character driven?

Hmmm.... the plot was almost as strong as the characters and I would almost say that the plot drove the characters and were equal in force.

3. How did you feel about the ending? (What did you like, what did you not like, what do you wish had been different, would you change anything? Etc.)

It's a tragedy, meant to be a sad, tragic tale.
I would change nothing it was perfectly disastrous.

4. Was the ghost real? A figment of imagination or something of fact?

I think it was real because Hamlet, the soldiers and Horatio saw it. However, I'm unsure on if it could speak.
In one way the ghost could have spoken only to Hamlet, or Hamlet could have hallucinated the voice due to his impending madness.

5. Did Ophelia actually kill herself or was it an accident?

I don't believe Ophelia is responsible for her death. She was not aware of her surroundings in a sane light and did not know what was happening. Complete accident in my opinion.

I've been a bit busy, so I haven't finished the book. But I'm almost down

That's okay, whenever you get around to it :)

just finished this mornin

Yeah, I just finished the last night.
And I loved it

1. Do you think hamlet was already mad before the play began?

yes I do

2. Do you think the story was plot-based or character driven?

Maybe more plot-based I believe

3. How did you feel about the ending? (What did you like, what did you not like, what do you wish had been different, would you change anything? Etc.)

It was very a kind Shakespearean kind of ending. if I were him I would be in my element creating dramatic endings out of love, jealousy,and revenge but personally I didn't really like it.

4. Was the ghost real? A figment of imagination or something of fact?

maybe fact at least in the story since the guards saw the "ghost"and Hamlet. it may have been a different type of spirit but if it was imagination then how do we know that his step father even killed him so ruining the plot altogether

5. Did Ophelia actually kill herself or was it an accident?

I think she did kill herself out of despair and a broken heart

I just realized I never answered the questions-
I'll try to do that soon.