Hamlet
Prince of Denmark
(A revenge tragedy)
Hamlet
He is 30 years old
● A student
● He is noble and good
● He has a tragic flaw - ??
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Horatio
Hamlet’s best friend
● Also a student
● He is the voice of reason.
● He is level-headed and a positive influence
on Hamlet.
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Old King Hamlet (Ghost)
He is Hamlet’s father.
● As the play begins, he has recently died.
● He appears in the play as a ghost.
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Gertrude
She is Hamlet’s mother.
● She had Hamlet very young, and he is her
only child.
● She loves her son – almost to the point of
obsession.
● She is weak and self-indulgent.
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Claudius
He is Hamlet’s uncle and the dead king’s
brother.
● He takes the throne at his brother’s death.
● He then proceeds to marry his brother’s
wife, Hamlet’s mother, two months after
his brother’s death.
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Polonius
He is the king’s advisor.
● He is pompous and obsessed with family
honor.
● He worked for Hamlet’s father, and now
he works for Claudius.
● He is father to Laertes and Ophelia.
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Laertes
He is another college student.
● Like his father, he is obsessed with family
honor.
● He is protective of his sister.
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Ophelia
She is Hamlet’s girlfriend.
● She is young and innocent.
● She is weak.
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Rosencrantz & Guildenstern
Hamlet’s childhood friends
● Somewhat lacking in character
● They are almost interchangeable – always
together and hard to tell apart.
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Themes
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Revenge (This is the main theme!!)
Incest
Death and the afterlife
Suicide
False appearances
Insanity
Memory
Motifs
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Rot, Decay, Corruption – of people, of
vegetation, etc. (In Macbeth, the breaking of the
chain causes Scotland to bleed. The same
situation in Denmark creates decay. Denmark is
rotting.)
Weeds
Disease
Ears
Darkness
Poison