Hamlet Blog Post 4: Responding to Literary Criticism

Aye for it is correct for Seng to say she is "mentally deranged" .  For it is expected just as he wrote, "Denmark has become a prison, and she is all alone at Elsinore."  For I would go mad 'twere I.  The loss of thy lover, the loss thy father, a brother far away from home, the loss thy mother, no one to turn to, no one for thou to care for.  Doth the sanity and justice continue to slip through the tight palms of clasped hands.

For doth he told her "I did love you once," (3.1.112-113).  For I would too go mad with "lunancy," had I thought a woman had once loved me, and yet made me blind after all. (2.2.49).  I disagree with Seng when he protested "she must have known as well as either of them that Lord Hamlet was a prince out of her star, yet she was willing to bid her time patiently, waiting for his formal proposals."  I don't believe she thought that for one measly second.  She knew to be that Hamlet loved her, nor did she care if he was within arms reach, she purposefully waited for the proposals. However, 'twas her father, Polonious, and brother, Laertes, that continued to lead her down the misleading path that led her to lunancy.  "Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers," Polonious told her daugther. (1.3.28).  "Perhaps he loves you now, and no soil nor cautel doth besmirch the virtue of his will: but you must fear,"  (1.3.14-15).  She responds with the agreement, "I shall obey, my lord," (1.3.136).  Doth she go against her family's wishes, or follow her thoughts of thy heart? For she was pulled in two directions, her heart playing tug of war with her mind.  For the toll of the game, took a toll on her sanity.  No wonder the madness came about!