Hamlet: The Theme Of Surveillance In Hamlet

Paying particular attention to Act 3, scene 1, in which Polonius and others discuss keeping watch over Hamlet, write an essay which makes a case for why surveillance is so important in this play.

‘Watch or guard kept over a person, etc., esp. over a suspected person, a prisoner, or the like; often, spying’-(OED, online dictionary)

In Act 3 Scene 1 Claudius and members of the court gather to talk about what they have learnt from spying on Hamlet. The theme of surveillance in this scene helps to convey ideas about the power of the Monarchy, and the position of women in the 1600s through the character of Ophelia who eventually conforms to what is expected of her as a woman. The importance of surveillance throughout the entire play is emphasised

The use of words puts on suggests how Claudius may know Hamlet’s behaviour is act. As result of this, the audience is therefore made to question how much of Hamlet’s behaviour really is an act, and how much his acting, has made him ‘mad’. Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s conversation with Ophelia, to demonstrate this even more clearly. Hamlet admits to once loving Ophelia but claims that he deceived her (L.115-120), it might be argued that he is saying this because he thinks that Ophelia will report back to Polonius, or whether he is now telling truth, as Anglin suggests Ophelia ‘hits upon the exact effect of his seeming madness – that he is no longer observable in the same way that he was’ (E Anglin 2014) she is able to see how different Hamlet is now to his former self. [Analyse Ophelia’s

Only a few acts later, he murders Polonius in cold blood, and has no reaction, saying ‘I took thee for thy better’ (L.34) suggesting how he mistook Polonius for the King. In contrast Hamlet spends most of the time, thinking and not acting; it could be considered strange behaviour that he should suddenly react in this way. It can be argued that these, are not the actions of a sane person, and the question of to what extent is Hamlet’s madness is feigned. The OED defines ‘Mad’ as when ones actions are ‘uncontrolled by reason or judgement; foolish, unwise’ which can be argued to encompass Hamlets behaviour, and it might be thought that from Polonius’s murder,