The story takes place in
Denmark. As the story
begins, the whole country
of Denmark is preparing
for war. They believe the
Prince of Norway is
preparing to attack. Later
on, that same prince will
storm through Denmark to
seize a plot of land in
Poland, to the south.
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Hamlet:
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Prince of Denmark
son of Gertrude and nephew of Claudius
Ghost of his dead father accuses Claudius of
murdering him and demands revenge.
He assumes an “antic disposition” (insanity) so
uncle Claudius won’t suspect he’s plotting revenge.
struggles to be a man of action vs. a man of thought
Old King Hamlet:
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the prince’s dead father. We see only his ghost on
stage.
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Claudius:
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Brother to old Hamlet, becomes king by murdering
him
Marries Gertrude, old Hamlet’s widow.
Gertrude:
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Hamlet’s mother and the Queen of Denmark.
Married Claudius as soon as old Hamlet died, and
now loves and obeys Claudius unquestioningly.
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Polonius: King Claudius’s trusted councilor.
His advice and schemes cause trouble for
everyone.
Ophelia: Daughter of Polonius. She loves
Hamlet, and is distressed by his treatment of
her.
Laertes: Ophelia’s brother and Polonius’s son.
Passionately defends his family’s honour. A
foil to Hamlet.
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: old
schoolfriends of Hamlet. Claudius summons
them to spy on Hamlet.
Horatio: a true friend to Hamlet. Trustworthy,
honest, scholarly, and provides sensible advice.
Sometimes serves as a chorus-like figure,
providing necessary information to the
audience.
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Fortinbras (Fort = French for “strong”):
Prince of Norway
 wishes to claim the land his father lost to Old
Hamlet.
 Foil to Hamlet – they are both young men seeking to
restore their father’s honour, and Fortinbras’s uncle
has also succeeded to the throne, but whereas
Hamlet does little to distinguish himself, Fortinbras
is a man of action
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Shakespeare’s Hamlet likely written sometime
between 1599-1601.
Story over 700 years old.
Prince Amleth first mentioned in a chronicle of
Denmark written in the 12th century
Another Hamlet play (probably by Thomas
Kyd) appeared before Shakespeare’s.
Considered vulgar and melodramatic
Shakespeare had likely seen the earlier Hamlet
play
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In 1596, Shakespeare’s eleven-year-old son,
Hamnet, died of an unknown illness and was
buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-UponAvon.
Hamnet’s funeral would have been a simple
Protestant one, in which the minister would
“commit the body to the ground” – this service
lacked the burning candles, toiling bells, cries, and
extensive prayers of a Catholic funeral ceremony.
Shakespeare is suspected to have been a closet
Catholic during this Protestant period of English
history, during which it was illegal to pray for the
dead (Greenblatt 312)
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The desire to an appropriate burial and
passage to the afterlife is felt all throughout
Hamlet
Old Hamlet is in purgatory because he was
murdered and could not confess, prepare his soul for
death
 Hamlet refuses to kill Claudius after he has
confessed, because Claudius would then pass onto
heaven
 When Laertes sees Ophelia buried in a simple
fashion, he cries “what ceremony else?” as though
something is missing
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Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy.
A tragedy presents the downfall of a person of
high status, usually due to some flaw he possesses
or mistake he makes
The degree to which Hamlet fits the definition of a
tragic hero is a matter of great debate – consider
the various definitions of tragedy and see what
you think!
Tragedy comes from the Greek word for “goat
song” – ancient Greek playwrights would write
plays and enter them in a competition. The best
play may have won a goat!
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Sub-genre of tragedy popular in the Elizabethan era
Plays in this sub-genre usually featured the following common
elements. Can you find these elements in Hamlet?
 A hero who learns (from the ghost of a murdered family
member) of an act that requires vengeance
 Revenge is delayed for quite some time
 Scenes of feigned (or genuine madness)
 A play within a play
 A graveyard scene
 Plenty of physical violence and death
 Hero usually condemns himself by committing his vengeful
actions (i.e. killed after carrying out revenge)
A Shakespearean tragedy has 5 parts:
1.
Exposition: explains the situation that exists at the
beginning of the play, including the time and place,
mood, the main characters, and their relationships to
one another.
2. The Spark: this section introduces an incident,
problem, or objective that will generate most of the
action of the play.
3. Rising Action: the plot is complicated by additional
problems or tensions. Tension and excitement is
increased as the protagonist pursues his goal.
4. Climax: the highest point of intensity, and also the
turning point where the hero’s fortunes start to
decline, as his or her tragic fall begins. In
Shakespeare’s tragedies, the climax is usually in
Act 3.
5. Falling Action: the events that bring us from the
climax to the hero’s death.
6. Catastrophe: the consequences of the hero’s earlier
actions, which result in the death of the hero and
perhaps other characters. This occurs in Act 5.
So the structure of the play looks something like
this:
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Soliliquy: A speech given by a character,
usually while alone on the stage. The purpose
of a soliloquy is to let the audience know what
the character is thinking and feeling
Aside: a brief remark made by a character and
intended to be heard by the audience but not
by the other characters (unless it is directed to a
specific character). Think of it as a “stage
whisper”
Foil: a character who provides a strong contrast
to the main character.
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Dramatic irony: a situation in which the audience
knows things the characters don’t. Think of a
horror movie – you know the monster is in the
basement, but the main character walks down
unaware!
Mask: an act, façade, or pretense that hides a
character’s true nature
Nemesis: the Greek goddess of retribution. The
“nemesis” in a tragedy is the punishment the
characters suffer. It allows the audience to feel the
play has ended well because characters have been
punished justly.
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Consider the following topics and the sample
of relevant quotations provided. What thematic
statements does the play make regarding these
topics? Remember, these are just topics –
themes (messages and ideas the play expresses)
must be stated in a complete sentence!
Disease and decay
 “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
 “Tis an unweeded garden”
Mortality (inevitability of death)
 “Go tell your lady to paint her face an inch
thick and she will still come to this”
 “The rest is silence”
Afterlife (and a “proper” passage into it)
 Old Hamlet’s frightening description of the purgatory
he suffers in to cleanse his soul of sin
 Hamlet’s thoughts regarding the “undiscovered
country”
 Hamlet’s unwillingness to kill Claudius once the evil
king has confessed
 Ophelia’s alleged suicide and the simple burial that
attends it (“what ceremony else?”)
Misogyny
 “Woman, thy name is frailty”
 “Men know what monsters you make of them… you
jig and amble and paint your faces…”
Father-son relationships
 “More than kin but less than kind”
 “I am too much i’th’ son”
 Old Hamlet compared to Claudius: “Hyperion to a satyr”
Disillusionment with humanity: How can one live in an
inherently corrupt world?
 “Get thee to a nunnery”
 “We are arrant knaves”
Action vs. inaction
 “Thus the native hue of resolution is sickled over with the
pale cast of thought”
 “How all occasions do inform against me and spur my dull
revenge”
 “My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!”
•Elizabethans believed in a “great chain of
being” in which every existing thing in the
universe had its proper place
•Problems can occur if the great chain of
being is upset or disturbed.
• Trying to upset the chain (for example, by
killing a king and trying to take his place)
could upset the natural order of the
universe.
• Of course, many people still did challenge
their position in society.
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A traditional theory of physiology in which the
state of health--and by extension the state of
mind, or character--depended upon a balance
among the four elemental fluids: blood, yellow
bile, phlegm, and black bile. These were closely
allied with the four elements (air, fire, water,
and earth).
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Is Hamlet acting crazy or truly disturbed?
To what degree is Hamlet a classical tragic
hero?
How well can we ever know Hamlet?
Greenblatt says Hamlet reveals Shakespeare’s
mastery at “representing inwardness” – that is,
suggesting the character’s state of mind
without the character ever explicitly stating it.
Who will win Hamlet jeopardy?