Hamlet Act 1 Analysis

The first act of Hamlet serves to introduce us to the play and the problems that will occur. It also introduces how the play is a play of questions. In fact, the first lines of the play are "Who's there?". This question has many levels to it and shows just how deep and philosophical the play is. On the first level it is just a simple question about wondering who is actually there. But as the question gets deeper it is one of the most basic questions in philosophy. Who is there? Who am I? Who is anyone? What is anything? The play begins with a simple question on the surface but the more it is looked into the deeper it becomes.  In Hamlet's first soliloquy it can be observed that he is often distracted and side-tracked by his own thoughts.  At the same time, Hamlet seems somewhat aware that he is playing a role on stage. He notices his own costume and makeup “’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother”,  he refers to specific areas in the theaterwhen he notes that the ghost is “in the cellarage”. He seems at once to be the most typical of types, and to be an audience to his own typecasting and he appears to be distressed about being so typecast, and anxious to prove that there is something genuine behind his theatrical veneer. Hamlet is a play about plays, most specifically a revenge tragedy about revenge tragedy, and the pretzel-like self-referentiality of the protagonist is the main reason why. Also in Act 1 we meet Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia. Polonius is long-winded, pedantic, and meddlesome. He is always interested in being “in the know,” whatever the occasion. Notice, for instance, how eagerly he questions Ophelia about her earlier conversation with Laertes. Before Laertes leaves, Polonius gives him an advice speech  that ends, “to thine own self be true”. One can weigh the various maxims here offered on the basis of their individual merits. Polonius’s speech begins by telling Laertes to rush off to catch his boat, and then detains him from doing just that. He also begins by declaring that he will offer Laertes a “few precepts,” then goes on to ramble for thirty lines. Polonius, in short, never misses an occasion for a speech, and follows his own advice creatively if at all. Hamlet learns that his father's ghost has been spotted and wants to go on watch so that he too can meet the ghost. When the ghost arrives it tells Hamlet to follow him, but the other guards urge him against it saying that it might be an evil ghost and drive him to madness which is left for the reader to decide. It is revealed that Claudius is the one who killed the king and in order to exact revenge against him Hamlet decides to put on a facade to try and make his move against the king. The way he speaks and acts after meeting the ghost encourages the fact that it may have driven him to madness.