Shakespeare’s Hamlet
An Introduction
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A Brief Introduction to
Hamlet
 Hamlet is a play that has fascinated audiences and readers since it was first written
in around 1601-1604
 The play centers around Hamlet’s decision whether or not to avenge the murder
of his father, the King of Denmark. This weight of this decision drives all the
other action and relationships in the play.
 Hamlet is part of an old tradition of revenge plays, and is based on an old oral
legend about Amleth, a prince whose father was killed by his uncle, who then
married his mother.
 Amleth pretends to be mad, while plotting how to avenge his father’s
death, and eventually is able to kill his uncle.
Before we talk Hamlet, let’s talk Shakespeare…
English poet, actor, and playwright
38 plays (16 comedies, 10 histories, and 12 tragedies)
 Composed plays under the reign of Elizabeth I and later
James I of Scotland
As a result of the monarchs funding many of his plays,
Shakespeare’s plays often had political undertones and clear
messages in support of the monarchs.
 Shakespeare’s made large
contributions to the English
language.
Shakespeare’s theatre
Some facts
 Social significance
Groundlings
Nobility
 Performances
Lights on
 Few props
 Three doors
 Actors
 No women
 Multiple roles

Finally, Hamlet?
 Critics have read this character as
A tragic figure whose flaw is an unwillingness to act
A representative of the human psyche (most famously Freud
and Jung)
A modern individual fighting against the “old ways” of seeing
and being in the world
 Shakespeare took the basic plotline and created 5 stories in one!
Family Drama – An uncle has married the wife of his brother.
Love Story – Young love is forced apart by circumstance
Madness – A young prince may or may not have gone mad.
Revenge Play – death, murder, suicide, ghosts!
Political Thriller– Who should have the throne?
Hamlet: The First “Modern Man?”
 Hamlet is also a play concerned with the
question “Who Am I?”
 First line of the play➔ “Who’s there?”
 Is our role in life defined by fate? Family?
Our own choices? Are we completely alone
in the world, or are we irrevocably tied to
others?
 Hamlet’s struggle with “existential” questions
have led discussions of Hamlet as a fully modern
man
Able to look at the stupidity, falsity,
difficulty and sham of everyday life,
without relying on easy answers
Key Thematic Questions in Hamlet
 Revenge vs. Justice
 What is the difference between revenge and justice? Is one
more moral than the other?
 Does the act of revenge irrevocably change an individual?
 Action vs. Inaction
 Is action always virtuous?
 Is is possible to take action in a world where nothing is ever
certain (i.e. morally black and white)
 Fate vs. Autonomy
 Do we have control over the shape of our own lives?
 Are our roles in life always preordained?
 Appearance vs. Reality
 Is deceit a fundamental part of the way society functions?
 Is life a series of “parts” that we “act” in order to get by?
 Is there a “truth” under all the appearances in our lives?
Key Thematic Questions in Hamlet
 Madness
 Is insanity just a sane way of reacting to the madness of the
world around us?
 Loyalty and Betrayal
 What constitutes loyalty?
 To whom do we owe loyalty? Family? Lovers? State?
Ourselves?
 What happens when loyalties conflict?
 Old Worlds vs. New Worlds
 How does one function when caught between two world
views?
 What are the emotional/psychological/physical costs of
this struggle?
Hamlet as Pop Culture
Dramatic Devices in Hamlet
 Crisis: The moment or event in the plot where the conflict is the
most directly addressed; the main character wins or loses; the
secret is revealed; the ending of the story becomes inevitable
 Usually found in Act III
 Climax (Catastrophe): High point of tension and conflict; marks a
major turning point for one or more of the characters
 Usually found in Act V
 Literary Devices
 Learn the devices on the following slide and be able to refer
to them as we read.
Devices
Irony (Expected vs Actual)
Verbal – What is said is not what is meant
Situational – What is expected is not what occurs
Dramatic – The audience knows something a character does not
Puns – Word play based on the multiple meanings of words
Dichotomy - When a character experiences two conflicting
emotions about a single event, consequence, or person.
Double entendre - a phrase or figure of speech that could have
two meanings or that could be understood in two different ways.
Devices Cont…
Doppelganger- usually shaped as a twin, shadow or a mirror image
of a protagonist. It refers to a character who physically resembles
the protagonist and may have the same name as well.
Foil – a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the
qualities of another character with the objective to highlight the
traits of the other character.
Aside – A comment or line spoken that is not meant for the
characters in the scene
Monologue – A lengthy speech given by a character while others
are on stage
Soliloquy - a speech in which a character, alone on stage, expresses
his or her thoughts and feelings aloud for the benefit of the
audience, often in a revealing way
Characteristics of a classic
tragedy
A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities.
This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to
great suffering.
But the hero struggles mightly against this fate and this cosmic conflict wins our admiration.
Because the tragic hero simply cannot accept a diminished view of the self and because of some
personality flaw, the hero fails in this epic struggle against fate.
This tragic drama involves choices (free will) and results in a paradox --- Is it Fate or Free Will which is
primarily responsible for the suffering in the hero's life (and in our lives in light of our own personal
tragedies)? Though fated the hero makes choices which bring about his destruction.
In addition, tragic drama usually reveals the hero's true identity. Oedipus --- instead of being the proud
savior of Thebes --- discovers that he is the cause of the city's plague, the killer of his father and the
husband of his mother.
The hero's suffering, however, is not gratuitous because through great suffering the hero is enlightened.
Such heroes learn about themselves and their place in the universe. Pride is chastened. Though destroyed
the hero is at peace intellectually.