Matthew Rosenthal

11/14/12
Journal Entry # 5
This is the final scene, Act 5, scene 2, where Hamlet accepts the challenge
to fight Laertes in a fencing match. Little does Hamlet know what Laertes
and the king have in store for him. In these lines, Hamlet is speaking directly
to Laertes:

Hamlet

Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong;

But pardon t as you are a gentleman. This presence

knows,
And you must needs have heard, how I am punished with
sore distraction. What I have done
That might your nature, honor, and exception
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was t Hamlet wronged Laertes?
Never Hamlet, If Hamlet from himself be taen away,
And when hes not himself does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not (240-250)

In these lines Hamlet is asking Laertes for forgiveness for what he has
done. Hamlet not only killed Polonius, he also caused Ophelia to go mad
because of the loss of her father and her relationship with Hamlet. Hamlet is
trying to explain himself to Laertes, claim that he is punished with sore
distraction, or in another words, he has gone crazy. He asks Laertes for
forgiveness under the assumption that Laertes will keep his nature, honor,
and exception, but Laertes is just as furious with Hamlet as Hamlet was
furious with Claudius when Claudius killed King Hamlet. No amount of
explaining will change Laertes mind about Hamlet, who continues to refer
back to his madness as an excuse for killing Polonius. Although Hamlet did
not mean to kill Polonius, Hamlets unfortunate- mental condition is not an
excuse or a justification for his actions. What I have found really interesting
is the fact that Hamlets revenge serves a greater purpose. Hamlet wants to
kill Claudius because he killed Hamlets father and stole his mother, but he is
also trying to rid the world of Claudius, who is a manipulative, selfish,
monstrous person. Laertes is killing Hamlet purely for revenge, not because
Hamlet is a horrible human being. I also think there is some regret is
Hamlets voice for becoming mad. When he says, never Hamlet, if
Hamlet from himself be taen away, and when hes not himself does wrong
Laertes, then Hamlet does it not, I believe Hamlet is arguing that the new
Hamlet is a different person from the old Hamlet, who wouldnt normally
harm anyone or go insane.