Hamlet
By William Shakespeare
[Circa 1600]
Brannagh: Trailer
Arnie: Trailer Trailer2
Tennant
To be or not to be link
Collaborative Learning.
All must take notes.
 All must present findings to whole class.
 All must contribute to discussions and
presentations.
----------------------------------------------------Groups could study: Characters, Themes,
Language, Key Scene, Symbols, Motifs,
Conflict, Denouement, Dialogue.
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Essay Question 1
Write about a play where a character makes
a decision that effects the outcome of the
drama.
Show how the decision impacts on other
characters and examine the action before
and after the decision is taken.
Essay Question 2
Choose a play where the main character
takes a stand against his/her community
for some cause, personal or political.
Show how the playwright presents this
conflict and in what ways does it
contributes to the themes of the play.
Essay Question 3
Choose a play where a character’s flaw is
revealed in one specific scene or incident.
 Explain the nature of the flaw and how it
impacts on the other characters and the
consequent action of the play
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Essay question 4
Choose a play where a character makes a
decision that affects the direction of the
play.
 Explain how the decision impacts on the
plot and characterisation of the play.
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Essay Question 5
Choose a play in which one scene or key
moment determines the fate of the main
character(s).
 Explain fully why you think this is the key
moment or turning point in the main
character’s fortunes
 You may consider: key scene,
characterisation, climax, language,
dialogue, themes, conflict, soliloquy,
structure…
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Drama Information Box:
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Answers in this section should show, where
relevant, detailed understanding of the themes
of the chosen text and should be appropriately
supported by knowledge of relevant dramatic
techniques, such as – structure, setting,
characterisation, dialogue [including
where relevant soliloquy and monologue],
plot central/key scenes, climax,
denouement, as well as all relevant
aspects of stage instructions, particularly
lighting, sound stage sets…
Learning Intentions:
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I will develop a knowledge and understanding of the complexities of
Shakespearian language.
I will convey information using specialist terminology, analysis and
evaluation of texts.
I will persuade, argue and evaluate using supporting evidence from
the text.
I will structure a convincing analytical examination of key areas of
the text. In written and spoken forms.
I will make relevant notes and organise them in a coherent way to
create new texts.
I will read primary and secondary sources to expand my
understanding of texts.
I will present my ideas in a fluent way that is appropriate to my
audience.
I will examine the interpretation of written/spoken/ performed texts
and evaluate effectiveness.
INTRODUCTION
Restate the question in your own words.
(Use key words from the task).
 Mention the name of the writer and the
title of the text.
 State your intentions. (How are you going
to answer the question / complete the
task).
 FOCUS ON THREE AREAS IF POSSIBLE.
[TART]
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Drama:
Characters, Themes,
Language, Key Scene,
Symbols, Motifs,
Conflict,
Denouement,
Dialogue.
Poetry:
Narrative voice,
imagery, repetition,
structure, mood,
tone, symbolism,
irony, ambiguity,
contrast.
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PROSE
Setting, Character, Narrative
voice, Language and Style
[techniques], Themes and
Symbols, Mood and Imagery,
Character and Plot
symbolism, structure, climax, plot,
mood, tone, dialogue, imagery…
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MEDIA/FILM
Cinematography, Editing,
Character, Themes, Key
sequence, Symbolism, Conflict ,
Denouement, dialogue, Camera
angles, Mise en scene
Metonymy in Hamlet
The metonymy of
gloom and horror.
Metonymy:
substitution of a
name for an
attribute of it:
the pen is mightier
than the sword,
the stage for the
theatre,
the crown for the
monarchy.
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Metonymy is a subtype of
metaphor, in which
something (like rain) is used
to stand for something else
(like sorrow).
[pathetic fallacy: relating mood to
the natural world.]
 the sky weeps, the wind moans,
the stars blink, the moon grins on
the sleeping harbour,
 For example, the film industry
likes to use metonymy as a quick
shorthand, so we often notice
that it is raining in funeral scenes.
Note that the following
metonymies for "doom and
gloom" all suggest some element
of mystery, danger, or the
supernatural.
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Madness and sanity.
 Greed and corruption.
 Immorality and sin.
 The microcosm of
society.
 Claustrophobia.
 Mystery.
 Omens, portents,
visions
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Elements of
Gothic literature.
Important themes in Gothic
literature.
---------------------Isolation,
The human psyche,
Crime and punishment,
Evil within and without,
Sanity and madness,
Denial,
Confession and catharsis.
T.A.R.T
Title of text
 Author
 Response to question/topic.
 Techniques and aspects you will examine.
-----------------------------------------------------Attempt to be stylish and intelligent – but
above all else keep your writing clear and
intelligible.
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STRUCTURE
Traditional Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy.
(Victim / Culprit / Avenger – a crime – false
clues – unexpected solutions – analysis of
evidence – climactic punishment of the guilty).
(WS hated revenge tragedies: too formulaic).
 Background: Ur – Amleth
(Original version of Hamlet written only decades
before WS version. No version remains of the
play: lost forever).
 The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd. (c 1592).
 Historicae Danicae by Saxo Grammaticus.
(1200).
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Techniques
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Play within a play technique is used (WS used
this in Midsummer Nights’ Dream also).
Death Of Gonzago become The Mouse Trap.
Hamlet changes the words, plot, actions and
outcome of the play to trap Claudius.
Actors become audience.
Audience is twice removed from world of the
play.
Link [Tennant/Players]
Oor Hamlet
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(Trad / Adam McNaughtan)There was this king sleepin' in his gairten all alane
When his brither in his ear drapped a wee tate o' henbane
He stole his brither's crown an' his money an' his widow
But the deid king walked an' got his son and said, Noo listen, kiddo
I've been killed and it's yer duty tae take revenge on Claudius
So kill him quick an' clean an' show the nation what a fraud he is
The boy said, Right, I'll dae it but I'll have tae play it crafty
And so naeb'dy will suspect me I'll kid on that I'm a dafty
So to all except Horatio, an' he trusts him as a friend
Hamlet, that's the boy, kids on he's roon' the bend
An' because he wisnae ready for obligatory killin'
He tried tae mak' the king think he was tuppence aff the shillin'
Took the micky oot Polonius, treated poor Ophelia vile
Tell't Rosencrantz an' Guildenstern Denmark was a jile
Then a troop of travelling actors, like Seven-Eighty-Four
Arrived tae dae a special one-night gig in Elsinore
Hamlet, Hamlet loved his mammy
Hamlet, Hamlet, actin' barmy
Hamlet, Hamlet, hesitatin'
Wonders if the ghost's a cheat
An' that is why he's waitin'
So Hamlet writes a scene for the players to enact
So Horatio an' him could watch to see if Claudius cracked
The play was ca'd 'The Moosetrap' - no' the one that's runnin' noo
An' sure enough, the king walked oot before the scene was through
So Hamlet's got the proof that Claudius gie'd his Da' the dose
The only problem bein' noo Claudius knows he knows
While Hamlet tells his mammy her new husband's no' a fit one
Uncle Claud puts oot a contract with the English king as hit-man
You should read the bloody play
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When Hamlet killed Polonius, the concealed Corpus Delicti
Was the king's excuse tae send him for an English hempen necktie
Wi' Rosencrantz an' Guildenstern tae make sure he'd get there
But Hamlet jumped the boat an' put the finger on that pair
Then Laertes heard his Da' had been stabbed through the arras
He came racin' back tae Elsinore tout-d'-suite hot-foot frae Paris
Ophelia wi' her Da' killed by the man she wished tae marry
After sayin' it wi' flooers she committed hari-kari
Hamlet, Hamlet, nae messin'
Hamlet, Hamlet learned his lesson
Hamlet, Hamlet, Yorick's crust
Convinced him that men good or bad
At last return tae dust
Then Laertes lost his place an' wis demandin' retribution
But the king said, Keep the heid, I'll provide ye a solution
So he arranged a swordfight for the interested pairties
Wi' a blunt sword for Hamlet an' a shairp sword for Laertes
To make things double sure - the old belt-'n'-braces line
He fixed a poisoned sword-tip and a poisoned cup o' wine
The poisoned sword got Hamlet but Laertes went an' muffed it
Cos' he got stabbed hissel' an' he confessed before he snuffed it
Then Hamlet's mammy drank the wine an' as her face turned blue
Hamlet said, I quite believe the king's a baddie noo
Incestuous, treacherous, damned Dane, he said, to be precise
An' made up for hesitatin' by killin' Claudius twice
Cos' he stabbed him wi' the sword, forced the wine between his lips
He said, The rest is silence - that was, Hamlet had his chips
They fired a volley o'er him that shook the topmost rafters
An' Fortinbras, knee-deep in Danes, lived happy ever after
Hamlet, Hamlet, a' the gory
Hamlet, Hamlet, end o' story
Hamlet, Hamlet, I'm away
And if you think this is borin'
.
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The plays the thing, wherein I’ll catch
the conscience of the king… [II, ii]
[Player’s speech; link link2 Link3
[2Intro by Brannagh] [3Cena]
Group task: Act 1
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING: Group work. All contribute to discussions,
presentations and gathering evidence.
Act I:
 What happens? Summarise the key points. KEY MOMENT!!!!!
 Key points; tension, war, conflict, paranoia, confusion?
 Hamlet's mental state? Soliloquy ‘O that this too too solid flesh would melt
thaw and resolve itself into a dew…’
 Characterisation: Hamlet, Ghost, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude.
 Mood changes: tense atmosphere? Cathartic soliloquies?
 Language, style, imagery, juxtaposition,
FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole play.
Key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this point.
Drama techniques that could be examined.
In an essay write about 3 only
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Structure, setting, characterisation,
dialogue [including where relevant
soliloquy and monologue], plot
central/key scenes, climax,
denouement, as well as all relevant
aspects of stage instructions,
particularly lighting, sound stage
sets…
Act II
Collaborative Learning: Group work. All contribute to discussions, presentations and
gathering evidence.
Act II:
 What happens? …rogue and peasant slave… quintessence of dust…
 Key points; Hamlet's soliloquy? Polonius and Claudius manipulating other characters.
Play within a play is set up.
 Characterisation: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Polonius v Hamlet ‘words’.
 Mood changes: playful/suicidal/nihilistic/conspiratorial atmosphere? Cathartic
soliloquies?
 Themes: Life/death, morality/sin, manipulation/honesty, deceit/
 Language, style, imagery,
FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole play.
Key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this point.
2015 Higher
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‘Antic disposition’ shown to Polonius. (Fishmonger, words, I am mad
north, northwest… I know an hawk from a handsaw…
Mood changes in Hamlet shown.
Manipulations of all major characters.
Hamlet’s madness is misdiagnosed by Polonius. (Love for
Ophelia???)
MACHAIVELLIAN POLITICS IN ELSINORE. All characters seem
manipulative, suspicious and scheming.
Through indirections we find directions…
Hamlet: hates the world, Denmark is a prison, seems suicidal,
repeats how he wishes to die, doubts the ghost, sets a trap.
The plays the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.
The actor performs a speech from classic Greek Tragedy and
Polonius’ reaction angers Hamlet. He sees him as a artistic idiot who
does not understand the Arts. Hamlet sees this as a way to trap all
of the other Machiavellian characters. He adds 16-20 lines to a play.
GROUP TASK: Act III
Group work. All contribute to discussions, presentations and gathering
evidence.
THINK: ANTIC DISPOSITION!
 Consider the Machiavellian characters in this act. Polonius, Claudius,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. What are they each plotting to do?
 Examine the play within a play, Hamlets conversations with Ophelia and
Gertrude and Polonius’ murder… What do they suggest about Hamlet?
 To be or not to be… What is being said and considered?
 What does this suggest about Hamlet’s mental state?
 When does Hamlet only appear mad and when is he actually mad?
 FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole play.
Identify key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this point.
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Act III 2015
Act III.
Support ideas with evidence.
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What does the soliloquy suggest about Hamlet’s
psychological state?
Why does Hamlet reject Ophelia?
When in this act is Hamlet adopting an ‘antic
disposition’?
Why does Claudius confess to the murder of his
brother?
Why does Hamlet not kill Claudius in confessional?
Why does Hamlet act decisively to kill Polonius?
Explain Hamlet’s behaviour towards his mother.
Hamlet the man?
Write about your understanding and
interpretation of Hamlet’s character.
Use quotes and analysis to support your
ideas.
Consider the following:
- What kind of man is he?
- How would you describe him to others?
- What are his strengths and weaknesses?
- How would you describe his relationships?
- Include any other relevant ideas.
KEY QUESTION
If a person in a rational state of mind
decides to act as if he is mad, to abuse the
people around him regardless of whether he
loves those people or hates them, and to
give free expression to all of his most
antisocial thoughts, when he starts to carry
those actions out, will it even be possible to
say at what point he stops pretending to be
mad and starts actually being mad?
Act IV
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Group work. All contribute to discussions, presentations and gathering
evidence.
Examine Ophelia’s madness in contrast with Hamlet’s. Is real or an antic
disposition? Why do you think this? Use examples from text
 Laertes returns and demands revenge for his father’s murder. Contrast
Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras as young, ambitious noblemen.
 What is important about the speech Gertrude makes about Ophelia’s
death?
Describe the ways that Claudius manipulates Leartes.
How does this act set the play up for the final act?
 FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole play.
Key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this point.
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Act V
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Group work. All contribute to discussions, presentations
and gathering evidence.
Summarise main points. Climax? Peripeteia? Anagnorsis?
Funeral of Ophelia, Laertes’ revenge, Hamlets
realisation, Climactic denouement.
FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole
play.
Key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this
point.
ACT II
The scene serves to develop the character of Polonius, who is
one of the most intriguing figures in Hamlet.
Polonius can be interpreted as either a doddering fool or as a
cunning manipulator, and he has been portrayed onstage as
both.
In this scene, as he carefully instructs Reynaldo in the art of
snooping, he seems more the manipulator than the fool.
In his advice to Reynaldo, Polonius explicitly develops one of the
themes of Hamlet, the idea that words can be used to bend and
alter the truth. He explains to Reynaldo how to ask leading
questions of Laertes’ acquaintances and how to phrase questions
in a way that will seem inoffensive.
As with Claudius, who manipulated the royal court with his
speech in Act I, scene ii, words become a tool for influencing the
minds of others and controlling their perception of the truth.
Remember that Claudius killed King Hamlet by pouring poison
into his ear. Shakespeare continually illustrates that words can
function as poison in the ear as well.
As the ghost says in Act I, scene v, Claudius has poisoned “the
whole ear of Denmark” with his words.
The running imagery of ears and hearing serves as an important
symbol of the power of words to manipulate the truth.
Polonius’s conversation with Ophelia is important for several
reasons. First, it illustrates how Hamlet has been behaving since
his encounter with the ghost: a madman.
Though we learn about it only through her description, his
emotional scene with Ophelia may stem in part from his general
plan to feign insanity, and in part from real distress at seeing
Ophelia, since she has recently spurned him.
In addition, his mother’s marriage to Claudius seems to have
shattered his opinion of women in general.
The conversation also informs the audience that she has obeyed
her father’s orders and broken off her relationship with Hamlet,
confirming her docile nature and dependence on her father to tell
her how to behave.
Polonius has a sudden idea that Hamlet’s melancholy and strange
behavior may be due to his lovesickness for Ophelia.
Though Polonius’s overly simple theory is obviously insufficient to
explain Hamlet’s behaviour, it does lead to several plot
developments in the next few scenes, including Hamlet’s
disastrous confrontation with Ophelia and Gertrude and Claudius’s
decision to spy on Hamlet.
If Hamlet is merely pretending to be mad, as he suggests, he
does almost too good a job of it. His portrayal is so convincing
that many critics contend that his already fragile sanity shatters
at the sight of his dead father’s ghost.
However, the cutting observations he makes while supposedly
mad support the view that he is only pretending. Importantly,
he declares, “I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” He is only “mad” at
certain calculated times, and the rest of the time he knows
what is what.
Like Hamlet, Fortinbras is the grieving son of a dead king, a
prince whose uncle inherited the throne in his place. But where
Hamlet has sunk into despair, contemplation, and indecision,
Fortinbras has devoted himself to the pursuit of revenge.
It is notable that Claudius appears indifferent to the fact that a
powerful enemy will be riding through his country with a large
army in tow. Claudius seems much more worried about Hamlet’s
madness, indicating that where King Hamlet was a powerful
warrior who sought to expand Denmark’s power abroad, Claudius
is a politician who is more concerned about threats from within his
state.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are very similar, are
manipulated by all of the members of the royal family and seem
to exist in a state of fear that they will offend the wrong person or
give away the wrong secret at the wrong time.
The presence of players and play-acting within the play points to
an important theme: that real life is in certain ways like playacting.
Hamlet’s plan to trap the king by provoking an emotional response
is highly unsound: Claudius’s feelings about a play could never be
construed as a reliable source of truth. Does this show Hamlet’s
madness?
ACT III
Group work. All contribute to discussions, presentations and gathering evidence.
Act III:
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What happens? To be…, Polonius/Claudius Machiavellian scheming, Play
within a play…, murder. MOOD SWINGS, mother relationship???
Key points; Hamlet's soliloquy? Polonius and Claudius manipulating other
characters. Play within a play reveals Claudius’ guilt?
Characterisation: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude and Hamlet (Oedipus
Complex?) PERIPETEIA= sudden reversal of fortune.
Mood changes: playful/suicidal/nihilistic/conspiratorial atmosphere?
Cathartic soliloquies? Claudius/Hamlet tone/mood?
Themes: Life/death, morality/sin, manipulation/honesty, deceit/corruption
Language, style, imagery, structure, position of audience, CONFUSION?
FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole play.
Key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this point.
III:i
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report on Hamlet: they have been
unable to learn the cause of his melancholy
Claudius and Polonius spy on the encounter between Hamlet and
Ophelia.
Hamlet’s inner debate about on the value of life partly motivates his
treatment of Ophelia as a potential whore.
Claudius, rejecting Polonius’ theory of thwarted love, determines to
send Hamlet abroad. Claudius says that Hamlet’s strange behavior
has clearly not been caused by love for Ophelia and that his speech
does not seem like the speech of insanity. He says that he fears that
melancholy sits on something dangerous in Hamlet’s soul like a bird
sits on her egg, and that he fears what will happen when it hatches.
Polonius plans another time to spy on Hamlet in conference with his
mother.
The entire soliloquy strongly suggests that he is
toying with suicide and perhaps trying to work
up his courage to do it. He poses the question
as a matter of philosophical debate.
 Does Hamlet mean what he says to Ophelia? He
says that he did love her once but that he
doesn’t love her now. There are several
problems with concluding that Hamlet says the
opposite of what he means in order to appear
mad. His declarations of former love make him
appear fickle, or emotionally withdrawn, rather
than insane or depressed.
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His bitterness against Ophelia, and against women in
general, resonates with his general discontentedness
about the state of the world, the same discontentedness
that he expresses when he thinks no one is watching.
There is a passionate intensity to his unstable behaviour
that keeps us from viewing it as fake.
 KEY QUESTION
 If a person in a rational state of mind decides to act as if
he is mad, to abuse the people around him regardless of
whether he loves those people or hates them, and to
give free expression to all of his most antisocial
thoughts, when he starts to carry those actions out, will
it even be possible to say at what point he stops
pretending to be mad and starts actually being mad?
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To be or not to be…
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To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to
sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural
shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay,
there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams
may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal
coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns
of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s
contumely,
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The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these
fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after
death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose
bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we
have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us
all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of
thought;
And enterprises of great pith and
moment,
With this regard, their currents turn
awry,
To be or not to be…
Logical and powerful examination of the theme of the
moral legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably painful
world, it touches on several of the other important
themes of the play.
What Hamlet is musing on is the comparison between the pain of
life, which he sees as inevitable (the sea of troubles - the slings
and arrows - the heartache - the thousand natural shocks) and
the fear of the uncertainty of death and of possible damnation of
suicide.
Hamlet's dilemma is that although he is dissatisfied with life and
lists its many torments, he is unsure what death may bring (the
dread of something after death).
He can't be sure what death has in store; it may be sleep but in
perchance to dream he is speculating that it is perhaps an
experience worse than life.
Death is called the undiscover'd country from which no
traveller returns. In saying that Hamlet is acknowledging that,
not only does each living person discover death for themselves,
as no one can return from it to describe it, but also that suicide is
a one-way ticket.
If you get the judgment call wrong, there's no way back.
Or is there???????
III:ii
Summary
That evening Hamlet anxiously lectures the players on how to act
the parts he has written for them.
Horatio enters, and Hamlet, pleased to see him, praises him
heartily, expressing his affection for and high opinion of Horatio’s
mind and manner, especially Horatio’s qualities of self-control and
reserve. Having told Horatio what he learned from the ghost—that
Claudius murdered his father—he now asks him to watch Claudius
carefully during the play so that they might compare their
impressions of his behavior afterward. Horatio agrees, saying that
if Claudius shows any signs of guilt, he will detect them.
Hamlet warns Horatio that he will begin to act strangely. Sure
enough, when Claudius asks how he is, his response seems quite
insane Hamlet asks Polonius about his history as an actor and
torments Ophelia with a string of erotic puns.
The players enter and act out a brief, silent version of the play to come
called a “dumbshow.” In the dumbshow, a king and queen display their love.
The queen leaves the king to sleep, and while he is sleeping, a man murders
him by pouring poison into his ear. The murderer tries to seduce the queen,
who gradually accepts his advances.
The players begin to enact the play in full, and we learn that the man who
kills the king is the king’s nephew. Throughout, Hamlet keeps up a running
commentary on the characters and their actions, and continues to tease
Ophelia with sexual references. When the murderer pours the poison into
the sleeping king’s ear, Claudius rises and cries out for light. Chaos ensues
as the play comes to a sudden halt, the torches are lit, and the king flees
the room, followed by the audience. When the scene quiets, Hamlet is left
alone with Horatio.
Hamlet and Horatio agree that the king’s behavior was telling. Now
extremely excited, Hamlet continues to act frantic.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive to tell Hamlet that he is wanted in his
mother’s chambers. Rosencrantz asks again about the cause of Hamlet’s
“distemper,” and Hamlet angrily accuses the pair of trying to play him as if
he were a musical pipe.
Polonius enters to escort Hamlet to the queen. Hamlet says he will go to her
in a moment and asks for a moment alone. He steels himself to speak to his
mother, resolving to be brutally honest with her but not to lose control of
himself: “I will speak daggers to her, but use none”
Analysis
In the first two scenes of Act III, Hamlet and Claudius both
devise traps to catch one another’s secrets: Claudius spies on
Hamlet to discover the true nature of his madness, and Hamlet
attempts to “catch the conscience of the king” in the theater.
Hamlet believes that the play is an opportunity to establish a
more reliable basis for Claudius’s guilt than the claims of the
ghost. Since he has no way of knowing whether to believe a
member of the spirit world, he tries to determine whether
Claudius is guilty by reading his behavior for signs of a
psychological state of guilt.
Interpreting Claudius’s interruption isn’t as simple as it seems. In
the first place, Claudius does not react to the dumbshow, which
exactly mimics the actions of which the ghost accuses Claudius.
Claudius reacts to the play itself, which, unlike the dumbshow,
makes it clear that the king is murdered by his nephew.
Does Claudius react to being confronted with his own crimes, or
to a play about uncle-killing sponsored by his crazy nephew?
Hamlet appears more in control of his own behavior in this scene than in the
one before, as shown by his effortless manipulations of Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern and his frank conversation with Horatio. He even expresses
admiration and affection for Horatio’s calm level-headedness, the lack of
which is his own weakest point: “Give me that man / That is not passion’s
slave, and I will wear him / In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart, / As
I do thee”
In this scene he seems to prove that he is not insane after all, given the
effortlessness with which he alternates between wild, erratic behavior and
focused, sane behavior. He is excited but coherent during his conversation
with Horatio before the play, but as soon as the king and queen enter, he
begins to act insane, a sign that he is only pretending.
His only questionable behavior in this scene arises in his crude comments to
Ophelia, which show him capable of real cruelty. His misogyny has crossed
rational bounds, and his every comment is laced with sexual innuendo. For
instance, she comments, “You are keen, my lord, you are keen,”
complimenting him on his sharp intellect, and he replies, “It would cost you
a groaning to take off my edge” . His interchange with Ophelia is a mere
prelude to the passionate rage he will unleash on Gertrude in the next scene.
Analysis
In Act III, scene iii, Hamlet finally seems ready to put his desire
for revenge into action. He is satisfied that the play has proven
his uncle’s guilt. When Claudius prays, the audience is given real
certainty that Claudius murdered his brother: a full, spontaneous
confession, even though nobody else hears it. This only
heightens our sense that the climax of the play is due to arrive.
But Hamlet waits.
On the surface, it seems that he waits because he wants a more
radical revenge. Now that he’s satisfied that he knows Claudius’s
guilt, he wants to know that his punishment will be sufficient. He
wants to know that Claudius will suffer even after death.
Hamlet poses his desire to damn Claudius as a matter of fairness:
his own father was killed without having cleansed his soul by
praying or confessing, so why should his murderer be given that
chance?
Act III, scene iii
Summary
Elsewhere in the castle, King Claudius speaks to Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern. Badly shaken by the play and now considering Hamlet’s
madness to be dangerous, Claudius asks the pair to escort Hamlet on a
voyage to England and to depart immediately. They agree and leave to make
preparations.
Polonius enters and reminds the king of his plan to hide in Gertrude’s room
and observe Hamlet’s confrontation with her. He promises to tell Claudius all
that he learns. When Polonius leaves, the king is alone, and he immediately
expresses his guilt and grief over his sin. A brother’s murder, he says, is the
oldest sin and “hath the primal eldest curse upon’t”. He longs to ask for
forgiveness, but says that he is unprepared to give up the crown and the
queen. He falls to his knees and begins to pray.
Hamlet slips quietly into the room and steels himself to kill the unseeing
Claudius. But suddenly it occurs to him that if he kills Claudius while he is
praying, he will end the king’s life at the moment when he was seeking
forgiveness for his sins, sending Claudius’s soul to heaven. This is hardly an
adequate revenge. Claudius, by killing Hamlet’s father before he had time to
make his last confession, ensured that his brother would not go to heaven.
Hamlet decides to wait, resolving to kill Claudius when the king is sinning—
when he is either drunk, angry, or lustful. He leaves. Claudius rises and
declares that he has been unable to pray sincerely: “My words fly up, my
thoughts remain below”
Analysis
In Act III, scene iii, Hamlet finally seems ready to put his desire for revenge into action.
He is satisfied that the play has proven his uncle’s guilt. When Claudius prays, the
audience is given real certainty that Claudius murdered his brother: a full, spontaneous
confession, even though nobody else hears it. This only heightens our sense that the
climax of the play is due to arrive. But Hamlet waits.
On the surface, it seems that he waits because he wants a more radical revenge. Now
that he’s satisfied that he knows Claudius’s guilt, he wants to know that his punishment
will be sufficient. He wants to know that Claudius will suffer even after death.
Hamlet poses his desire to damn Claudius as a matter of fairness: his own father was
killed without having cleansed his soul by praying or confessing, so why should his
murderer be given that chance? But Hamlet is forced to admit that he doesn’t really
know what happened to his father, remarking “how his audit stands, who knows, save
heaven?” The most he can say is that “in our circumstance and course of thought / ’Tis
heavy with him” as “in our indirect and limited way of knowing on earth.” Having proven
his uncle’s guilt to himself, against all odds, Hamlet suddenly finds something else to be
uncertain about.
At this point, Hamlet has gone beyond his earlier need to know the facts about the
crime, and he now craves knowledge of the afterlife and of God, before he is willing to
act. The audience has had plenty of opportunity to see that Hamlet is fascinated with
philosophical questions. In the case of the “to be, or not to be” soliloquy, we saw that
his philosophizing can be a way for him to avoid thinking about or acknowledging
something more immediately important (in that case, his urge to kill himself). Is Hamlet
using his speculations about Claudius’s soul to avoid thinking about something in this
case? Perhaps the task he has set for himself—killing another human being in cold
blood—is too much for him to face.
Act III, scene iv, Summary
In Gertrude’s chamber, the queen and Polonius wait for Hamlet’s arrival. Polonius plans to hide in
order to eavesdrop on Gertrude’s confrontation with her son, in the hope that doing so will enable
him to determine the cause of Hamlet’s bizarre and threatening behavior. Polonius urges the
queen to be harsh with Hamlet when he arrives, saying that she should chastise him for his recent
behavior. Gertrude agrees, and Polonius hides behind a tapestry.
Hamlet storms into the room and asks his mother why she has sent for him. She says that he has
offended his father, meaning his stepfather, Claudius. He interrupts her and says that she has
offended his father, meaning the dead King Hamlet, by marrying Claudius.
Hamlet accosts her with an almost violent intensity and declares his intention to make her fully
aware of the profundity of her sin.
Polonius calls out for help. He draws his sword and stabs it through the tapestry, killing the
unseen Polonius. Gertrude asks what Hamlet has done, and he replies, “Nay, I know not: / Is it
the king?” . The queen says his action was a “rash and bloody” deed, and Hamlet replies that it
was almost as rash and bloody as murdering a king and marrying his brother.
Hamlet discovers Polonius’s body: he has not killed the king and achieved his revenge but has
murdered the relatively innocent Polonius. He bids the old man farewell, calling him an “intruding
fool”.
Hamlet asks her furiously what has driven her to marry a rotten man such as Claudius. She pleads
with him to stop, saying that he has turned her eyes onto her soul and that she does not like what
she sees there.
Suddenly, the ghost of his father again appears before him. Hamlet speaks to the apparition, but
Gertrude is unable to see it and believes him to be mad. The ghost intones that it has come to
remind Hamlet of his purpose, that Hamlet has not yet killed Claudius and must achieve his
revenge. Hamlet describes the ghost, but Gertrude sees nothing, and in a moment the ghost
disappears. Hamlet tries desperately to convince Gertrude that he is not mad but has merely
feigned madness all along, and he urges her to forsake Claudius and regain her good conscience.
He urges her as well not to reveal to Claudius that his madness has been an act. Gertrude, still
shaken from Hamlet’s furious condemnation of her, agrees to keep his secret.
Hamlet reminds his mother that he must sail to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
whom he says he will regard with suspicion since he assumes that their loyalties are with Claudius,
not with him.
Analysis
What is Hamlet trying to do in his confrontation with his mother? It is possible that he wants her to
confirm her knowledge of Claudius’s crime, to provide further proof of his guilt. Or it may be that
Hamlet wants to know whether she was involved in the crime. Or he may feel that he needs her on
his side if he is to achieve justice. While all of these are possibilities, what Hamlet actually does is
urge his mother to repent choosing Claudius over his own father. More specifically, he repeatedly
demands that she avoid Claudius’s bed in specific detail. It is argued that Hamlet harbors an
unconscious desire to sexually enjoy his mother.
As the scene progresses, Gertrude goes through several states of feeling: she is accusatory at the
beginning, then afraid that Hamlet will hurt her, shocked and upset when Hamlet kills Polonius,
overwhelmed by fear and panic as Hamlet accosts her, and disbelieving when Hamlet sees the
ghost. Finally, she is apparently willing to help him. For Gertrude, then, the scene progresses as a
sequence of great shocks, each of which weakens her resistance to Hamlet’s condemnation of her
behavior. Of course, Gertrude is convinced mainly by Hamlet’s insistence and power of feeling,
illustrating what many readers have felt to be her central characteristic: her tendency to be
dominated by powerful men and her need for men to show her what to think and how to feel.
This quality explains why Gertrude would have turned to Claudius so soon after her husband’s
death, and it also explains why she so quickly adopts Hamlet’s point of view in this scene. It is
possible that she was complicit with Claudius in the murder of her husband, though that seems
unlikely given her surprised reaction to Hamlet’s accusation in this scene, and it is possible that she
merely pretends to take Hamlet’s side to please him, which would explain why she immediately
reports his behavior to Claudius after promising not to do so. But another interpretation of
Gertrude’s character seems to be that she has a powerful instinct for self-preservation and
advancement that leads her to rely too deeply on men. This also links her thematically to Ophelia,
the play’s other important female character, who is also submissive and utterly dependent on men.
Hamlet’s rash, murderous action in stabbing Polonius is an important illustration of his inability to
coordinate his thoughts and actions, which might be considered his tragic flaw. In his passive,
thoughtful mode, Hamlet is too beset by moral considerations and uncertainties to avenge his
father’s death by killing Claudius. But when he does choose to act, he does so blindly, stabbing his
anonymous “enemy” through a curtain.
When he sees Polonius’s corpse, Hamlet interprets his misdeed within the terms of retribution,
punishment, and vengeance: “Heaven hath pleased it so / To punish me with this, and this with
me” . Though Hamlet has not achieved his vengeance upon Claudius, he believes that God has
used him as a tool of vengeance to punish Polonius’s sins and punish Hamlet’s sins by staining his
soul with the murder.
Write about your understanding and interpretation of
Hamlet’s character.
Use quotes and analysis to support your ideas.
Consider the following:
-What kind of man is he?
-How would you describe him to others?
-What are his strengths and weaknesses?
-How would you describe his relationships?
-Include any other relevant ideas.
Extension task: collect quotes and analysis for
the essay question.
Act IV
Group work. All contribute to discussions, presentations and gathering
evidence.
Act III:
What happens? Ophelia goes mad, Hamlet is sent to England, Laertes returns
looking for revenge, Claudius manipulates Laertes and sets up the climactic
sword fight…
 Key points; Hamlet's soliloquy ‘what is a man…?’ Hamlet is missing for a
large section of act iv… is this significant in allowing the other characters to
develop?
 Characterisation: Hamlet, Fortinbras, Laertes, COMPARE THEIR ACTIONS!
 Themes: Life/death, morality/sin, manipulation/honesty, deceit/corruption
 Language, style, imagery, structure, position of audience, CONFUSION?
FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole play.
Key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this point.
Act V
Group work. All contribute to discussions, presentations and gathering
evidence.
Act III:
What happens? Ophelia is buried (should she be?, Hamlet states his love,
Hamlet and Laertes fight in the grave (Symbolic? Foreshadowing?)
Sword fight, (irony of deaths?),
Final words from Hamlet poignant, Horatio is left as the moral guardian, all
immoral characters die…
Key points; Ophelia’s funeral, climactic sword fight, Gertrude, Claudius,
Laertes, Hamlet all die. The Danish Royal family is destroyed, a new dynasty is
started, Fortinbras shows dignity and diplomacy in his victory.
IS HAMLET HERO OR VILLAIN?????? Anagnorsis????
 Characterisation: Hamlet, Laertes, Claudius, COMPARE THEIR ACTIONS!
 Themes: Life/death, morality/sin, manipulation/honesty, deceit/corruption
 Language, style, imagery, structure, position of audience, CONFUSION?
FIVE quotes,
Explain why they were chosen and impact on the whole play.
Key moment? Why? Explain what is significant at this point.
Key scene
(Act I: Scene V)? Link Link2
 The decision Hamlet makes in this scene effects all of
the play and culminates in a violent climax. (Eight
people die due to this decision: Ophelia, Polonius,
Laertes, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Claudius, Gertrude
and, ironically, Hamlet).
 Examine the events PRIOR to the start of the play.
(Murder, adultery, corruption, planning, scheming,
balance of power, why kill King?)
 Examine Fortinbras, Laertes and Hamlet’s approaches to
revenge.


Hamartia =The tragic flaw or decision
made by the tragic hero that seals his fate.
Character
Hamlet: (Eponymous Protagonist) Central
character in play. His actions drive the plot.
DEEPLY INTROSPECTIVE. MELANCHOLY. SAD?
 Aporia: the pondering of a
difficult/unanswerable question.
 He is melancholy and suffers from self-doubt.
Deeply reflective. Ponders life and death.
Suicidal? Mad? Jealous? Misogynistic?
Ruthless? Deluded? Tragic Flaw?
 (Examine these characteristics individually and
find quotes to support ideas).

Act 1 Scene2: O That This Too
Solid Flesh Would Melt (Spoken
by Hamlet)

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month-Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!--




Act 1 Scene2: O That This Too
Solid Flesh Would Melt (Spoken
by Hamlet)
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears:--why she, even she-O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month:
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good:
But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.
Brannagh: Link to youtube:
Gibson: Link to youtube
Tennant: Link
"O That This Too Solid Flesh
Would Melt" Soliloquy
Translation:







He wished that his body would just melt, turn to water and become
like the dew. Or that the Almighty hadn't made a law forbidding
suicide. [Explain Imagery]
Oh God! God! How weary, stale, flat and useless everything about
life seemed! He moaned. [ what theme?]
It was terrible. The whole world was like an unweeded garden that
had gone to seed - only ugly disgusting things thrived. He couldn't
believe what had happened. [Explain imagery]
Only two months dead; no, not even two. Such an excellent king he
had been, compared with this one. [Tone of voice. Speech pattern]
It was like Hyperion, the sun god, compared to a lecherous satyr.
He'd been so loving to his mother that he wouldn't even allow the
gentle breeze of heaven to blow too roughly on her face.
He lifted his hands and blocked his ears as though to shut his
father's memory out. She had loved him so much, adored him, as
though the more she had of him the more she wanted him.
And yet, within a month! He couldn't bear to think about it.
"O That This Too Solid Flesh
Would Melt" Soliloquy
Translation:
Women were so inconsistent! Only a month, even before
the shoes with which she had followed his father's body
were old, all flowing with tears, she, even she... Oh God!
Even an animal that doesn't have reason, would have
mourned longer - ..she married his uncle! His father's
brother, but no more like his father than he was like
Hercules. Even before the salt of those hypocritical tears
had left her swollen eyes, she married.
 Oh, most wicked speed, to hurry so enthusiastically to
incestuous sheets! It couldn't end happily. But he would
just have to break his heart, because he had to hold his
tongue.
 [Examine imagery, tone, mood and theme.]

Techniques and terms to use in
essay.






Memento mori = remembrance of death, skull,
foreshadowing their own deaths.
Point of Hamartia = tragic flaw that will lead to downfall.
A decision that seals fate. ( He believes the ghost)
Point of Peripeteia = sudden reversal of fortune or luck.
Usually for the worse. (He kills Polonius)
Hamlet is consumed by Aporia = the act of pondering
difficult or unanswerable questions.
Denoument = the untangling of all strand of the plot
during the climactic last act.
Hamlet experiences Anagnorsis = the recognition or
revelation of truth by the tragic hero.(before the fight, a
moment of clarity.) He accepts his fate as justice
Essay plan



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



Introduction: TART. Link to topic
Act I: Key scene, soliloquy, melancholy, suicidal mood swings,
character contrast, plot, ghost, Claudius. Hero/villain are clearly
identified. HAMARTIA=tragic flaw (Act I:v) Cathartic soliloquy
shows vulnerability and melancholy mindset.
Act II: Claudius and Polonius scheme to find out why Hamlet sis
behaving so erratically and unpredictably. MACHIAVELLIAN politics.
Act III: To be… play within a play reveals Claudius’ guilt. Polonius
killed, Hamlet exiled. PERIPETEIA = sudden reversal of fortune.
Act IV: Ophelia goes mad and dies, Claudius manipulates Laertes
into killing Hamlet, sword fight is set up. Ophelia is tragic victim
character of play
Act V: Hamlet returns from England, attends funeral, he fights
Laertes at grave, climactic ending is set up. Danish Royal family is
destroyed, the just punishment of the guilty is complete when a
new moral order begins through Fortinbras of Norway. Fight at
grave foreshadows their deaths. Tragic climactic denouement kills
all the Royal Family.
Conclusion: Is Hamlet a hero or villain? Decision made condemns all
main characters to death. Key moment/wrong decision/turning
point/decisive point.
Hamlet is very indecisive at all other points in the play. He refuses
Catharsis/Cathartic:
Cleansing the soul – confessing to inner
feelings – psychoanalysis.
 Soliloquy: Solo speech with no one else
on stage (usually). Lets the audience see
what the character is feeling and thinking.
 Contrast inner self / outer self – inner
monologue to some extent.



Oh what a rogue and peasant slave
am I… [II:ii]
Brannagh Link
Now I am alone.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears.
Oh what a rogue and peasant slave
am I… [II:ii]

Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the
throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
Oh what a rogue and peasant slave
am I… [II:ii]

'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous
, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Oh what a rogue and peasant slave
am I… [II:ii]

Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! 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;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
The plays the thing, wherein I’ll catch
the conscience of the king… [II, ii]
Link
link
To be, or not to be [Hamlet III:i]

HAMLET:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?
To be, or not to be [Hamlet III:i]
who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
 Tennent: Link to youtube
 Brannagh: Link to YouTube
 Gibson: link to youtube

Soliloquy explained

What Hamlet is musing on is the comparison between the pain
of life, which he sees as inevitable (the sea of troubles - the
slings and arrows - the heartache - the thousand natural
shocks) and the fear of the uncertainty of death and of possible

damnation of suicide.
Hamlet's dilemma is that although he is dissatisfied with life
and lists its many torments, he is unsure what death may bring
(the dread of something after death). He can't be sure what
death has in store; it may be sleep but in perchance to dream
he is speculating that it is perhaps an experience worse than
life. Death is called the undiscover'd country from which
no traveller returns. In saying that Hamlet is acknowledging
that, not only does each living person discover death for
themselves, as no one can return from it to describe it, but also
that suicide is a one-way ticket. If you get the judgment call
wrong, there's no way back.
Soliloquy explained
The whole speech is tinged with the Christian
prohibition of suicide, although it isn't mentioned
explicitly. The dread of something after death
would have been well understood by a Tudor
audience to mean the fires of Hell.
 The speech is a subtle and profound examining
of what is more crudely expressed in the phrase
out of the frying pan into the fire. - in essence
'life is bad, but death might be worse‘
 [ Consider mood, themes, imagery, tone.]

Confused?
Claudius replaces father,
 Takes throne,
 Marries mother.
 Ghost (of father?) asks for revenge, tells of
murder, suggestion of adultery, hatred for
mother?= anger, frustration, melancholy
despair, madness?
 Emotional rollercoaster for Hamlet.
 ANTIC DISPOSITION.

ANTIC DISPOSITION… [I:v]

HAMLET
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me: this not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.
Imagery
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POETIC DRAMA : The language was elaborate and
highly poetic and figurative even in WS’s time.
Puns: Hamlet uses many in his dialogue with other
characters. ‘kin than kind’
Juxtaposition of life and death, beauty / horror: ‘to be
or not to be’ ‘too solid flesh’
Symbolism: Rottenness - corruption / disruption in
natural order / murder / death / moral decline. Poison
– corruption / ironic means of killing royal family. Skull –
physical death / decay / inevitability of death. Ghost –
good / evil / truth / lies / damned / redeemed only by
revenge.
The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge. [I:v]
[I:v]
Motifs
(Recurring themes)
Ears / hearing / eavesdropping.
Poison, real and metaphorical.
Death / life; how delicate a flower life seems
Personification: ‘frailty thy name is woman’
Brief as ‘a woman’s love’
Cowardice… The plays the thing…
Themes
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Madness / sanity.
Life / death
Duality of man: Prince v Man v Avenger
[God’s deputy: Divine Right of Kings]
Contrast: sleep / death.
Metaphorical imagery: ‘undiscovered country’ &
‘slings and arrows’
Repetition: emphasizing key concepts &
reinforcing thematic importance.
What a piece of work is a man
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What a piece of work is a man, how noble in
reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how
express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in
apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of
animals—and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man
delights not me—
nor woman neither, though by your smiling you
seem to say so.
What a piece of work is a man…
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Hamlet is saying that man must have a purpose beyond
mere existence. He speaks on a literal and metaphorical
level. There must be more to living than sleeping (which
metaphorically he has been doing through his inaction
and his failure to avenge his father's murder), or feeding
(which is what Claudius has metaphorically done by
satisfying his desire for the throne and the queen.)
Hamlet realizes now that he MUST act. Only a beast
without the ability to reason would not be moved to
action by the events surrounding his father's murder.
Just as the Polish and the Norse armies are willing to die
over "an eggshell," he must be willing to risk his life to
follow his destiny because he was meant for more than
sleep, and HONOR is at stake.
[Mood, imagery, themes, tone]
Oh, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing
worth. [IV:iv]
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple…
Oh, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing
worth. [IV:iv]
Of thinking too precisely on th' event—
A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward—I do not know
Why yet I live to say “This thing’s to do,”
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do ’t. Examples gross as earth exhort me.
Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puffed
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an eggshell.
Oh, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing
Rightly to be great
worth. [IV:iv]
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honor’s at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father killed, a mother stained,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep—while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That for a fantasy and trick of fame
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? Oh, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.
Brannagh: link
Modern Translation.
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[OMG] My God! Everything I see shows me how
wrong I am and tells me to hurry up and get on
with my revenge. What is a human being if he
just eats and sleeps? Nothing more than a
beast. God didn’t create us with such a huge
power of thought and a divine capacity for
reason in order for us not to use them. Now,
whether it’s animal-like mindlessness, or the
cowardly hesitation That comes from thinking
too much (thinking thoughts that are one part
wisdom, three parts cowardice), I don’t know
why I’m still alive to say “I have to do this deed”
rather than having done it already.
Modern translation
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I have the motivation, the willpower, the ability, and the
means to do it. It’s as plain as the ground beneath my
feet that I must do it. Look at this massive army led by a
delicate and tender prince who’s so puffed up with divine
ambition that he puts his fragile life at risk, exposing it
to danger and death, for a reason as thin as an eggshell.
To be truly great doesn’t mean you’d only fight for a
good reason. It means you’d fight over nothing if your
honor was at stake. So where does that leave me,
whose father has been murdered and mother defiled,
ignoring these mental and emotional provocations and
letting well enough alone? Meanwhile, to my shame, I
watch twenty thousand men go marching to their deaths
for an illusion and a little bit of fame, fighting for a tiny
piece of land not even big enough to bury them all. From
now on, if my thoughts aren’t violent I’ll consider them
worthless.
THEMES
Life & death
 Betrayal & revenge
 Madness & sanity
 Reality & imagination
 Disease & decay
 Poison & corruption
 Deception & manipulation
 BINARY OPPOSITION / JUXTAPOSITION
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MOOD…swings
link
with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern
Hamlet is changeable: Sombre, reflective, melancholy.
Excited, Happy Elated, SUICIDAL
 Sinister, dark, foreboding. [Castle, characters, country,
ghost]
 ‘Who’s there?’ opening words! Significant to what
follows.
 Opens at midnight, nightwatch, very tense, ghost
appears.
 Even when tender Hamlet seems troubled.
 Something is rotten in state of Denmark.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ophelia’s burial: link Link2
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Mood
Use of menacing connotations and images
create malevolent, menacing, ominous mood.
 We ask if he is faking madness or is he mad?
 Ambiguity keeps us guessing.
 Foreshadowing of tragic outcome. (Constant
references to death, suicide, decay, poison,
corruption)
------------------------------------------------------------- Look how Hamlet speaks to his mother and
murders Polonius.
link
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Themes
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Themes dealing with death,
corruption, evil, immortality, the
nature of man, the search for selfidentity, and the making of moral
choice all appear in the play and are
important to an understanding of it.
Sanity/Insanity
Hamlet the character has always been the
chief interest of scholars. A study of
Hamlet must include an examination of his
melancholy, his indecision, his fatalism,
his cynicism, his general disillusionment
with humanity, the question of his sanity
or insanity, and the revenging of his
father’s death.
 He is a scholar turned courtier, a mourner
turned revenger, a lover turned lunatic.
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Soliloquies.
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Soliloquies play an important part in
the development of Hamlet’s
character and the action of the play.
There are seven in total.
Questions.
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Hamlet is full of questions:
How should one behave?
What should one believe?
How can one live in an inherently evil
world?
How should parents treat their children
and children treat their parents?
How should one address morality
questions such as suicide, corruption, evil,
loyalty, and fate?
Revenge.
Hamlet is as much a revenge play as it is a tragedy.
A typical revenge plot would involve:
 a hero, usually informed by a ghost of an injury or
crime that needs to be revenged.
 the hero accepting the challenge to revenge and
beginning to plot it
 the hero confronting the villain and overcoming
obstacles standing in the way of revenge
 the revenge finally being achieved in a bloody and
horrifying manner.
Frequently, revenge plays would also include a play
within a play and a protagonist who pretends to
be insane in order to enact his revenge.
CONCLUSION
Restate the question.
 STYLISH WRITING/CLARITY
 How you answered / what you liked most
/ most effective feature / no new info /
 BE POSITIVE ABOUT THE TEXT.
link
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General points
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full title · The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
author · William Shakespeare
type of work · Play
genre · Tragedy, revenge tragedy
language · English
time and place written · London, England, early seventeenth
century (probably 1600–1602)
date of first publication · 1603, in a pirated quarto edition titled
The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet; 1604 in a superior quarto edition
protagonist · Hamlet
major conflict · Hamlet feels a responsibility to avenge his father’s
murder by his uncle Claudius, but Claudius is now the king and thus
well protected. Moreover, Hamlet struggles with his doubts about
whether he can trust the ghost and whether killing Claudius is the
appropriate thing to do.
General points
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rising action · The ghost appears to Hamlet and tells Hamlet to revenge his
murder; Hamlet feigns madness to his intentions; Hamlet stages the mousetrap play;
Hamlet passes up the opportunity to kill Claudius while he is praying.
climax · When Hamlet stabs Polonius through the arras in Act III, scene iv, he
commits himself to overtly violent action and brings himself into unavoidable conflict
with the king. Another possible climax comes at the end of Act IV, scene iv, when
Hamlet resolves to commit himself fully to violent revenge.
falling action · Hamlet is sent to England to be killed; Hamlet returns to Denmark
and confronts Laertes at Ophelia’s funeral; the fencing match; the deaths of the royal
family
setting (time) · The late medieval period, though the play’s chronological setting is
notoriously imprecise
settings (place) · Denmark
foreshadowing · The ghost, which is taken to foreshadow an ominous future for
Denmark
tone · Dark, ironic, melancholy, passionate, contemplative, desperate, violent
themes · The impossibility of certainty; the complexity of action; the mystery of
death; the nation as a diseased body
motifs · Incest and incestuous desire; ears and hearing; death and suicide;
darkness and the supernatural; misogyny
symbols · The ghost (the spiritual consequences of death); Yorick’s skull (the
physical consequences of death)
Essay Plan 2014
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Introduction: TART. Link to topic
Act I: Key scene, soliloquy, melancholy, suicidal mood swings, character contrast, plot, ghost,
Claudius. Hero/villain are clearly identified. HAMARTIA=tragic flaw (Act I:v) Cathartic
soliloquy shows vulnerability and melancholy mindset.
Act II: Claudius and Polonius scheme to find out why Hamlet sis behaving so erratically and
unpredictably. MACHIAVELLIAN politics.
Act III: To be… play within a play reveals Claudius’ guilt. Polonius killed, Hamlet exiled.
PERIPETEIA = sudden reversal of fortune.
Act IV: Ophelia goes mad and dies, Claudius manipulates Laertes into killing Hamlet, sword
fight is set up. Ophelia is tragic victim character of play
Act V: Hamlet returns from England, attends funeral, he fights Laertes at grave, climactic
ending is set up. Danish Royal family is destroyed, the just punishment of the guilty is complete
when a new moral order begins through Fortinbras of Norway. Fight at grave foreshadows their
deaths. Tragic climactic denoument kills all the Royal Family.
Conclusion: Is Hamlet a hero or villain? Decision made condemns all main characters to death.
Key moment/wrong decision/turning point/decisive point.
Hamlet is very indecisive at all other points in the play. He refuses or cannot act!!!!