1984 Prompt Practice

                In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Hamlet gradually becomes more isolated from the characters and as a result, Hamlet begins to lose his sanity. The most memorable scene where it becomes clears how alone Hamlet is, is when Ophelia breaks up with him. In response, Hamlet exclaims “Get thee to a nunnery”. The scene is striking, because Hamlet illustrates that he is unbalanced with his emotions, and his lines are effective because they show how Hamlet views the world.

            During this scene, Ophelia gives back items that Hamlet gave her when they were seeing each other. Her action’s symbolize the end of their relationship, and Hamlet knows that her father is leading her to her actions. The scene’s relationship to the play is to express that Hamlet is alone in the play, because he no longer trusts anyone. He reaches his complete isolation. Ophelia was the one person that he thought was good, and she has now ended their relationship. Hamlet now loses all the reason that he had, and now is overthrown by emotion, and he reaches madness. Hamlet’s lines in this scene illustrate the theme of reason and emotion, and how Hamlet’s actions are driven by his emotions, and he is not capable to think clearly.

            The scene is effective, because it allows the audience to feel empathy for Hamlet, and the scene expresses how Hamlet is seeing the world. When Hamlet exclaims “Get thee to a nunnery”, he means that Ophelia should not have kids, because they would just be sinners like her. He sees everyone as bad, because if Ophelia, whom Hamlet believed was once innocent and pure, can become a pawn in her father’s plan, anyone is vulnerable to sin and evil. Hamlet still shows that he cares for her because he wants to protect her from the world by telling her to go to a nunnery. Hamlet views the world as just made of sinners, and he cannot deal with the fact, and he loses his sanity.

            Even though Hamlet eventually regains his reason, and he is able to see reality more clearly, the scene is memorable, because it shows how confused and distraught Hamlet was. The scene exemplifies the imbalance of reason and emotion in male characters in the typical Shakespearean tragedy.