Hamlet
Basic Background Information
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1600-01 first performed
Central place in world literature
Most staged and filmed play ever
Written about more than any other work
Greatest challenge for actor
Many familiar expressions
4 ½ hours in full production – not often done
Sources of the Play
• Revenge plays
• Norse legends
• Loosely based on Danish history
• Origins in Histoires Tragiques, written by
Belle-Forest in 1570
• Difference?
HAMLET WINS.
Revenge Tragedy
Immensely popular among English
Elizabethan dramatists.
Tyranny
Revenge
Extreme violence
Tragedy & Tragic Hero
Plot arises largely out of a situation for which
the hero is not responsible.
The hero may have a tragic flaw that
contributes to his downfall.
He is usually undone by circumstances over
which he has no control (fate/destiny)
• The hero is of a high degree in society, noble,
excellent.
• But, like us – we see ourselves in him.
• Torn by inward struggle and conflict comes within
the hero’s soul.
• We can relate to the struggle
• His downfall affects the welfare of everyone.
(national)
A closer look (cont.)…
• Accordingly in Hamlet, the crime that calls
for vengeance has already been
committed before the play begins.
– The real cause of the tragedy is the evil and
intolerable situation surrounding Claudius'
murder of Hamlet's father, the King. As
Hamlet tries to find a way to avenge his
father's death, murder, madness, and ghosts
are all brought to the front of the stage,
creating interest and tension in the audience.
Basic Plot Structure
• Simple
• Linear/ Chronological
• Wrong -- hero seeks revenge to make it right. In
the process, everyone is destroyed.
• Shakespeare develops the plot of his "revenge"
tragedy in classical form.
Act I = expository in nature, introducing the
main characters and the conflict.
Acts II = complication and development of the
conflict and tension
Act III = tension rises & conflict increases
Act III, Scene 2 = Climax
Act IV = falling action, reaction to events from
Act III
Act V = Conclusion/Catastrophe
Dramatic Structure Overview
Motifs
• Decay & Rotting
• Vengeance
• Appearance vs. Reality
Some things to consider:
– Is Hamlet Crazy?
– Why does Hamlet Hesitate?
– Is life worth living?
– What is love?
– What is Hamlet’s tragic flaw?
Literary Critical Approaches
Hamlet as the Victim of External Difficulties
Romantic Interpretation
Psychoanalytical Approach
Historical Approach
Hamlet as the
Victim
Simplest approach
With his father dead and his mother remarried to his
enemy
Hamlet has no one to turn to for help; therefore, he
is totally a victim of circumstance.
The critics further argue that the external situation
prevents him from taking swift action.
The Romantic Interpretation
• Greatest artistic creations ever.
• Hamlet as an individual torn apart by doubt and
fearful of taking action.
• As an idealist, Hamlet was unable to
deal with the harsh realities of life
• He paid a tragic penalty.
Psychoanalytical / Psychological
Approach
• Neurotic tendencies,
• Mentally Unstable
• Oedipus Complex.
• Sexual repression, desire to possess opposite sex parent
– comes from detachment from same sex parent
• Hamlet's possessiveness towards his mother proves his
Oedipal Complex
The Historical Approach
• only those theories prevalent in Shakespeare's
time should be utilized to interpret his texts.
• Philosophy of the Humours – personality types
• Melancholic disposition the "melancholy Dane.”
• Primary characteristics: sadness, fear, distrust,
doubt, despair, and diffidence.
• Negative feelings are interrupted by a false
laughter or sardonic humor.
Works Referenced
• Pinkmonkey Notes
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pm
Hamlet02.asp
• Phelps, Katherine. Having a Climax, the single climax
dramatic structure. 1997.
http://www.glasswings.com.au/Storytronics/Tronics/plot/s
ingle8.htm
• Images:
– http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/exhibits/enchant/images/hamle
t-gill1.jpg
– http://celebrating-humanity.wikispaces.com/file/view/hamletgill2.jpg/30404793/hamlet-gill2.jpg
– http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/5800/5805/hamlet_8_lg.gif