In order to show that Act 5 scene ii, is a fitting close to the play Hamlet. I will be looking at how the characters have been brought to a close. I will also be looking at themes and the importance of order being restored in the court

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With close reference to language examine how fitting a close Act 5 scene ii forms to the play.

In order to show that Act 5 scene ii, is a fitting close to the play Hamlet. I will be looking at how the characters have been brought to a close. I will also be looking at themes and the importance of order being restored in the court at the end of the play. The scene ties up all the relationships that were formed during the course of the play. Hamlet and Horatio, a friendship that we have seen grow and strengthen through the course of the play is broken by Hamlet’s death. The close connection that Hamlet shared with his mother is separated by their deaths. The unhealthy relationships that were formed, like that of Claudius and Laertes. They become victims of their own trap and are parted from each other.

        Starting off with the characters, “We defy augury. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.”

  There is considerable change in Hamlet’s character since the last time we saw him, that is before he went on his sea voyage to England. When we first met him in Act 1 scene ii, Hamlet was a lonely character, still mourning his fathers death and very un-happy about his mother’s “o’ er-hasty marriage” to his uncle Claudius. After the encounter with his dead father’s ghost he puts on “an antic disposition” and uses this strange behaviour to discover whether or not his uncle Claudius is guilty of killing his father.  After the sea voyage to England, Hamlet’s character is now tranquil, and his tone is more like a Prince. He speaks in detail now to Horatio, of his sea passage to England; he rarely spoke in detail to anyone, most of his conversations to any of the characters consisted of a few vague sentences. He has also come to the conclusion that providence is guiding him and that everything depends on the will of God, as he says “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will-” Hamlets attitude toward destiny has also changed, he will now wait for his chance to do the right thing, that is kill Claudius. He now defies “augury” because he doesn’t want to allow himself to plan his future. This probably explains why he brushes aside the suspicious feelings that he has about the duel he has accepted to play in against Laertes. He now makes it clear that he wanted to be the King of Denmark after his fathers death as he says of Claudius;

       “Popp’d in between th’election and my hopes,

         Thrown out his angle for my proper life” {65-66}.

Hamlet in this scene seems to recognise death as something that we have to accept in our lives and something that we have to be prepared for; as he says “If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be

 not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.”

 He has matured emotionally as well, as in Act 3, scene i, 55- 56 he says “To be or not to be,”. And in Act 5, scene ii, 208 he says “Let be.”

          Osric’s main function in the play is to invite Hamlet to a fencing match against Laertes. He fulfils this function, but in a very dramatic manner. He is a foppish character, and given to excessive courtesies. His pompousness is very symbolic of the false façade that enveloped the English court. The character of Osric represents the corrupted State of Denmark, as Hamlet says to Horatio; “he and many more of the same bevy that I know the drossy age dotes on”. Shakespeare probably inserted this character into the last scene to give the audience a last glimpse of the corrupted court, before the “human canker” was destroyed.

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 He allows Hamlet to be witty, and brings him some comic relief after Ophelia’s death.  His language is full of flattery, he calls Hamlet “My Lord” even as Hamlet insults to his face him calling him a “waterfly”.

 The Elizabethans enjoyed word-play or punning on words. Hamlet  too enjoyed playing with words, when conversing with members of court, and also his mother and Claudius. Polonius was often a victim of Hamlets word-play. Osric who is seen as a variant of  Polonius, too becomes a victim of Hamlet’s love for punning on words, as we see in Act 5 scene ...

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