The Tragedy of Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark
By William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
Shakespearean Tragedy:
a serious, blank-verse
play (drama) having
an unhappy ending
Elements of Shakespearean Tragedy:
the action revolves around a tragic hero
 hero has internal and external conflicts
 humor is used to relieve the dark mood
 supernatural incidents occur
 hero’s motivation is desire for revenge
 chance happenings precipitate tragic
catastrophes

The Tragic Hero:
is often involved in
historical or socially
significant events
 evokes pity and fear
 usually dies at end of play

The Five-Act
Structure
(recall Freytag’s pyramid)
ACT I = Exposition
the rotten state of
Denmark is disclosed
 the ghost appears with
his call for revenge

ACT II = Rising Action
Hamlet tries to discover
the truth about the ghost’s
accusations. Will he take
revenge?

ACT III = Climax

Hamlet springs his
“mousetrap” and gets the proof
he needs: Claudius is guilty!
 The play’s climax occurs:
Hamlet kills Polonius by
mistake.
ACT IV = Falling Action
Claudius,
not Hamlet,
takes charge of events.
With the help of Laertes,
he devises a counterplot
against Hamlet.
ACT V = Resolution / Denoument
The
consummation of
everyone’s vengeance is
achieved in a bloody
ending that leaves only
Horatio alive to tell the tale.
Elements often
found in revenge
tragedies…
•the
hero’s
hesitation
•real or
pretend
madness
•suicide
•conspiracy
&
deception
•an able,
scheming
villain
use of
sensational
horrors
murders on stage,
exhibition of dead bodies,
etc.)
(
•philosophic
soliloquies
Soliloquy
the words a character speaks aloud to him or
herself when alone; often used as a device in
drama to disclose a character's innermost
thoughts
Quotes from Hamlet you
may already know…
(or soon will)
" A little more than
kin and less than
kind."
-Hamlet, I.ii
“Frailty, thy
name is
woman!”
-Hamlet, referring to
his mother, I.ii
 “Neither a borrower nor
a lender be.”
 “This above all: to thine
own self be true.”
-Polonius to Laertes, I.iii
 “There are more
things in heaven and
earth, Horatio, than
are dreamt of in your
philosophy.”
-Hamlet, I.v
 "Murder most foul, as in the best it is,
But this most foul, strange, and
unnatural."
-The Ghost of Hamlet’s father, I.v
 “Something is
rotten in the state
of Denmark.”
-Marcellus, to Horatio
after Hamlet follows
The Ghost, I.iv
One that literary scholars
quibble about…
“O, That this too too sullied
flesh would melt, thaw and
resolve itself into a dew.”
-Hamlet, I.ii
 “The time is out
of joint. O,
cursed spite, that
I was ever born
to set it right.”
-Hamlet, I.v
 " There is nothing
either good or
bad - but
thinking makes
it so. "
-Hamlet, II.ii
 " The play 's the
thing wherein I'll
catch the
conscience of the
king. "
-Hamlet, II.ii
"Though this be
madness - yet there is
method in't. "
-Polonius, II.ii
“Brevity is
the soul of
wit.”
-Hamlet, II.ii
 “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?”
-Hamlet, contemplating suicide, III.i
 “---Soft ye now!
The fair Ophelia!
– Nymph, in thy
orisons, be all my
sins remember’d.”
-Hamlet, to
Ophelia, III.i
 “Get thee to a
nunnery; why
wouldst thou be a
breeder of
sinners?”
-Hamlet to Ophelia, III.i
" The lady doth
protest too
much –
methinks. "
-Gertrude, III.ii
“Tis now the very witching time
of night.”
-Hamlet, III.ii
" When sorrows come - they come not single
spies but in battalions. "
- Hamlet, IV.v
“Alas! Poor
Yorick. I
knew him,
Horatio.”
-Hamlet, V.i
 “If it be now, ‘tis
not to come; if it
be not to come, it
will be now; if it
be not now, yet it
will come: the
readiness is all.”
-Hamlet, talking of death, V.ii
Famous last words…
“O, I die, Horatio…
the rest is silence.”
-Hamlet’s dying words, to Horatio, V.ii
 “Now cracks a
noble heart. Goodnight, sweet
prince, and flights
of angels sing thee
to thy rest.”
-Horatio to Hamlet, V.ii