Question

they all want to play hamlet
1 they all want to play hamlet.
2 they have not exactly seen their fathers killed
3 nor their mothers in a frame - up to kill,
4 nor an ophelia dying with a dust gagging the heart,
5 not exactly the spinning circles of singing golden spiders,
6 not exactly this have they got at, nor the meaning of flowers - o flowers,
flowers slung by a dancing girl - in the saddest play the inkfish,
shakespeare, ever wrote;
8 yet they all want to play hamlet because it is sad like all actors are sad
9 and to stand by an open grave with a jokers skull in the hand and
10 then to say over slow and say over slow wise, keen, beautiful words
11 masking a heart that is breaking, breaking,
12 this is something that calls and calls to their blood.
13 they are acting when they talk about it and they know it is acting to be
14 particular about it and yet: they all want to play hamlet.

carl sandburg

1. what is the poet implying in lines 2 - 4?

1. why does ophelia die with a “dust gagging the heart?” what does the “gagging dust” suggest?

1. line five is referring to the previous lines. what does it mean?

1. to whom did ophelia give flowers? what did the flowers represent? (look back in act 4, scene 5)

1. why does sandburg call “hamlet” the saddest play shakespeare ever wrote?

Explanation:

1. Lines 2 - 4 imply that the actors have not experienced the real - life traumas like the characters in Hamlet (father's murder, mother's betrayal, Ophelia's tragic death).
2. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia's death is a result of her madness and the chaos around her. The "gagging dust" may suggest the suffocating nature of her circumstances, the loss and despair that choke her spirit.
3. Line five refers to the previous lines by emphasizing that the actors don't truly understand the vivid and complex imagery and experiences described before, like the spinning circles of spiders and the meaning of flowers.
4. In Act 4, scene 5 of Hamlet, Ophelia gives flowers to Queen Gertrude, Laertes, and Claudius. The flowers have symbolic meanings. For example, rosemary is for remembrance, pansies for thoughts, etc., representing her mental state and the themes of the play like betrayal, love, and loss.
5. Sandburg calls "Hamlet" the saddest play Shakespeare ever wrote likely because of the multiple tragic elements: Hamlet's struggle with revenge, Ophelia's madness and death, the betrayal within the royal family, and the overall sense of despair and loss throughout the play.

Answer:

1. Actors haven't experienced real - life traumas of Hamlet characters.
2. It suggests suffocating circumstances and despair.
3. Actors don't understand previous vivid imagery.
4. To Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius. Represent themes like betrayal, love, loss.
5. Due to multiple tragic elements like revenge struggle, madness, death, and betrayal.