Journal 28: Can't stop now
I'm having a hard time grasping the idea that the way the fourth act happened is the way it had to happen. There are some things that happened because of the third act. For example, it makes sense that Hamlet had to come back because in the third act, they plotted to make him leave for England. It also follows that Ophelia drowns herself due to the grief from events that occurred in the previous act. However, I'm not completely convinced that everything happened because it had to. There was a lot of room for things to go differently.
However, Polonius' death really does start off the slide. It causes Hamlet to be sent to England, Ophelia to kill herself, Laertes to come back, Hamlet to return, and from there... So it does follow, but it could have been different in some ways.
One little push
I didn't realize how much that even effected the outcome of the play. It seems that this one death will cause much more of the deaths to come. Hmm, it seems that Polonius' greatest role in this play was to die. But I guess it is a tragedy, and people seem to not have a very good chance of survival in Shakespeare's tragedies.
different outcomes?
It's true that the characters could have reacted a lot of different ways after the death of Polonius, but could these different reactions lead to a truly different outcome? Is there any way that a happy ending could have come around for Hamlet in the end? i don't see it. I mean, not in the context that shakespeare has already set up. Sure, they could hop in a time machine, zip off to before Hammy's father died, and undo everything. Or Hammy and the king could just call it even. But this goes against the qualities of the characters that Shakespeare has created. Given their characters and the situation, a bad outcome is inevitable.
By the way, regarding the dementor post: you're pretty much the coolest thing ever.
Erin Kay Schulz
Sleeeeeep
Yeah yeah yeah. So I was tired. By the time morning had come, I had changed my mind on this post. Everyone is gonna die and that's the way it has to be.
Renee
I thought the same
I actually agreed with a lot of your post. It seems like Hamlet's return to Denmark was somewhat of a surprise since the ship was captured by pirates according to his letter to Horatio. I guess the context of the question for this blog isn't so much about destiny, however, as it is about following play structure, in which case a bizarre circumstance like pirates is necessary, because Hamlet needs to go home for the resolution of the story to come.
Ryan K Bishop