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Hamlet help!!!! Redesigning of the play?!?

I need to type up a page explaining how Hamlet redesigns the play, why he does this and how he overcomes it. I dont understand what "redesigning a play" actually means. any thoughts on this would be appreciated, please and thanks. HELP ME OUT!

2 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I think the part of the play you are referring to is this: Prince Hamlet suspects that his uncle Claudius murdered his father and seduced his mother to become King. He was told this by his father's ghost but he is not sure if the ghost was real. So, when some actors visit the castle Hamlet has them play out a scene that is similar to the murder of his father. Hamlet thinks that his uncle Claudius will have a guilty conscience and when he sees this scene will become agitated. Hamlet watches Claudius to see if his body language betrays his guilt.

    This quote is from the end of Act II

    "I have heard

    That guilty creatures sitting at a play

    Have by the very cunning of the scene

    Been struck so to the soul that presently

    They have proclaim'd their malefactions;

    For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak

    With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players

    Play something like the murder of my father

    Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks".

    So in the next act the visiting actors put on a short play in which a 'fellow' pours poison into a king's ear and steals his crown. He also seduces the queen as Claudius did Hamlet's mother.

    On watching the part where the king is poisened Claudius gets angry and stops the play. When he sees this, Hamlet realizes that the Ghost of his father was real and Claudius did murder his father.

    If you don't have time to read the whole play, you need to read the end of Act 2 and the middle of Act 3.

    Hope this helps.

  • 1 decade ago

    do you mean how he redesigns the play within the play? As in the play that the players put on to "catch the conscience of the king"? well he redesigns it so Claudius will feel the guilt and hopefully show some sign of it, this way Hamlet knows that Claudius really is guilty of killing his brother to usurp the throne.

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