Friday, February 11, 2011

What would be a Marxist approach to Hamlet's act 3 scene 4?

In Act 3 Scene 4 Hamlet murders Polonius hiding behind a curtain, thinking it was Claudius. Then Hamlet attacks his mother verbally for her disloyalty to his father. While he is yelling at his mother, the Ghost appears and reminds him that it is not his job to punish his mother, only to avenge his father's death. Gertrude thinks that her son has lost his mind because she cannot see the ghost so she believes he is talking to himself. The Marxist approach or view of Hamlet's situation might be that his state of mind is a reflection of his position as the avenger to his father's death, a job he never wanted. Marxism holds a belief that people's consciousness of the conditions of their lives reflects these material conditions and relations. Hamlet feels alienated from his family because his mother betrayed his dead father, murdered at the hands of her new husband. In other words, he is aware of his condition in life and so it is a reflection of his relationship now with his mother and his own self.

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