Hamlet: Character Analysis
Josefino Rivera, Jr.
Literature and Personal Choice
26 February 2009
New Dates
 Today, 2/26:
 Model Character Analysis essay and Scene Work time
 HW: Outline and 1 paragraph
 Friday, 2/27:
 DUE: Outlines and 1 paragraph
 Scene Work time
 HW: Memorize scene and brainstorm possible senior
thesis topics
 Monday& Tuesday, 3/2-3:
 DUE: Scenes
 Hamlet Festival (with food?)
 HW: Group/self evaluations
 Thursday, 3/5:
 DUE: Character Analysis Papers into turnitin.com +
hard copy. I will make sure they match up.
 DUE: 3 possible senior thesis topics
Make-Up Seminar
If you were absent or would like to
improve your Socratic Seminar grade, I
will have a make-up seminar on
Tuesday, 3/3 during 7th (or after school
if someone has a 7th period)
Debrief Seminar
First seminar:
Outside group:Strengths and improvements
Second seminar:
Recap discussion
Outside group: strengths and improvements
New understanding based on discussion
Card Sort
Please read the summary of an
important event in Hamlet.
Then arrange yourselves in
chronological order around the room
(the front door is 1.1 and organized
clock-wise from there)
Seating Chart
You will have the option to write this paper in
pairs (if you wish). Please sit next to the
person you will write your paper with. N.B.
You will not have class time to write these
papers.
If you choose to write this paper on your
own, please sit next to someone who is
focusing on the same character as you.
1-2: Claudius
3-4: Gertrude
5-6: Laeretes
7-8: Ophelia
Scene Notation
A
S
Summary
A S
Summary
1
2
King Claudius pronounces his marriage
to Gertrude. Both C and G tell H to “cast
his nightly color off.” H wishes suicide
wasn’t sinful. He curses the incestuous
sheets of his mother but chooses to stay
silent. Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo
tell Hamlet they have seen Hamlet, Sr.’s
ghost
2 2 Gertrude and Claudius invite Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern to watch over Hamlet.
Polonius tells C and G of H’s madness due
to O. P plots to send O to talk to H while C
and P spy to confirm. H banters with P.
R&G follow H, and H finds out they were
sent for. The actors come. H asks them to
tell the story of Priam. H is mad at himself
because he lacks the emotions the actor
does. Decides to put on a play.
1
4
Hamlet sees the Ghost and breaks away
from his friends to talk to it privately.
2 3 Hamlet questions revenge or die, but fears
death. H tells O to go to a convent. C and
P heard and confirm H is mad.
1
5
Ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered
by Claudius, and Hamlet must avenge his
death but leave Gertrude alone. His
friends find him, and Hamlet makes
them swear that they didn’t see anything
3 2 H advises actors and say that plays are
mirror to reality. H instructs Horatio to
watch C. Mousetrap scene. Claudius
leaves. H tells Hor that C surely did it.
R&G say G calls for H. H says words will
be as sharp as daggers.
2
1
Ophelia tells Polonius that Hamlet came
to see her and acted crazy--pale, clothes
disheveled. He stared at her, nodded
three times, and left. Polonius believes it
is because he is love-crazy. They leave
to tell Claudius.
3 3 C instructs R&G that he will send them
with H to go to England. P says H is going
to see G, and P will eavesdrop. C
confesses murder to God. H hears and
wants to kill C, but chooses to wait
because C is praying.
Scene Notation
A
S
Summary
A S Summary
3
4
H confronts G. G thinks H is going to
hurt her and yells. P yells behind the
tapestry. H kills him. H and G discuss
G’s behavior. G understands H for the
first time and asks what she should do.
Ghost enters and reminds H to avenge
his death. G can’t see Ghost and
thinks H is hallucinating. H tells G not
to sleep with C or tell C that H has
been faking madness. C knows he’s
going to England.
4 4 H meets Captain of Norwegian army. H
is amazed at the army’s willingness to
fight for nothing, when Hamlet has
something to fight for but can’t. H
finishes by saying that if his thoughts
aren’t for revenge, then they’re
meaningless.
4
1
G tells C that H killed P. Sends R&G to
find the body of P from H.
4 5 O Is mad. Laertes returns and C and G
say that H killed P.
4
2
R&G confront P. But H won’t tell R&G
where the body is. But H will go with
H to see C instead.
4 6 In a letter, H instructs Hor to give C two
letters and follow the sailor who will
bring Hor to H. R&G are going to
England still.
4
3
R brings H to C. H tells C that P is in
heaven (then reveals true location). H
accepts fate to go to England. C
explains that he has instructed England
to kill H.
4 7 C receives H’s letter. C and L plot H’s
death through fencing match. C says L
needs proof that he is his father’s son.
Scene Notation
A
S
Summary
A S Summary
5
1
H discusses with Hor and Gravedigger
that we are the same in death. H sees
funeral procession for O. H confronts
L. C reminds L of plot.
5 2 H tells Hor about “war in brains.”
Positives in being rash. H learned about
plot of his death by C. Orders R&G’s
death through letter. Osric tells H that C
has made a wager that L can kill H in no
more than 3 hits in 12 rounds. H accepts
(rashly). H and L fight. G drinks poison.
L hits H with poison sword. L and H
switch swords and H hits L with poison
sword. H hits C and makes him drink
the poison as well. Fortinbras says H
should be honored in his death.
Scene Notation
In your pairs:
Complete STEP 1 in the yellow packet.
Be sure to focus only on your character.
Guiding Questions
 1. What was your first
reaction to your character?
What led you to this?
 Hamlet was wronged, and
everyone that seemed to be
important didn’t seem to
care. He is somber and
confused. He talks about
what he can do, but only
seems to enjoy the words
because he does nothing.
 2. Go back to the scenes
from Step 1. What
information did you learn
about your character in
those scenes?
 Throughout the play,
Hamlet seems to find a
reason to delay action.
First, it was because he
wanted to die instead. Then
he wanted proof. Once he
had proof, he couldn’t kill
Claudius because he was
praying. Then he allowed
himself to be sent to
England. But oddly, he
quickly accepted the duel.
Guiding Questions
3. How did the character
affect Hamlet? How
was the character
affected by Hamlet?
N/A
 4. What is the
character’s strongest
personal quality? Provide
evidence from the text.
 His ability to reflect (1.2
“O, that this too, too sullied
flesh”; 2.3 “To be or not to
be”; 3.2 mirror; 5.1 Yorick)
 Control of language (2.2
Banter with P; 3.2 Nunnery
and Music
 Inaction (see #2)
 Playing mad (2.1 with
Ophelia; 2.2 with Polonius;
maybe 2.3 with O)
Guiding Questions
 5. What happens to your
character in Act V?
 Hamlet discussed death
with the Gravedigger. He
finds out about Ophelia’s
death and confronts Laertes.
Then he accepts the
challenge to duel.
 Hamlet kills Laertes by
accident, Claudius on
purpose, and then dies by
Laertes’s sword. He is
honored at the end, though.
 6. In the course of the
play, did your character
change? How?
 Hamlet consistently chose
not to act. In acts 3 and 4,
he made some indirect
actions (Mousetrap and
letters).
 In act 5 he finally acts, but
he doesn’t do what he
originally set out to do-avenge his father’s death.
Guiding Questions
In Pairs:
Please complete STEP 2--the Guiding
Questions--in your yellow packet.
Focused Prewriting
enigmatic
contemplativ
e
inaction
Inaction:
To take him in the purging of his soul / When he
is fit and seasoned for his passage? /No. Up,
sword, and know thou a more horrid hent.
 Prompt:
 In a well-crafted essay, explain the purpose of your character in
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In other words, what argument is Shakespeare
making through your character?
 Be sure to include a description of your character, an analysis of the
discrepancy between your character’s literal text and the latent
subtext, a discussion about the character’s growth throughout the play,
and a comparison of your character to Hamlet
Focused Prewriting
In Pairs:
Please complete STEP 3--the Focused
Prewriting bubbles.
Focused Prewriting
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare’s most
complex play, Prince Hamlet, the enigmatic and contemplative son of King
Hamlet is the melancholy protagonist of the play. He quickly learns that
King Hamlet was, in fact, murdered by his very own brother, Claudius, who
not only takes the throne but also takes his wife, Gertrude. As a promise
to the Ghost of his dead father, Hamlet promises to avenge his father’s
death and leave his mother to the gods. Pending thesis statement:
Through Prince Hamlet, Shakespeare asserts that…
While Prince Hamlet is mysterious and lugubrious, his most
prominent characteristic is that he is plagued by inaction. Hamlet’s motive
is explicit: by decree of his father’s Ghost, Hamlet is to avenge his father.
During Hamlet’s encounter with his father, Hamlet, in disbelief, accepts
the Ghost’s command saying, “Yea, from the table of my memory / I’ll
wipe away all trivial fond records, / All saws of books, all forms, all
pressures past / That youth and observation copied there, / And thy
commandment all alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my
brain, / Unmixed with baser matter” (1.5.96-104). Without hesitation,
Hamlet accepts his order. Not only is this command Hamlet’s priority, he
vows to make it his only goal. He draws a metaphor between his brain
and a volume of books, suggesting that he will erase any other thought or
objective. (Perhaps that in itself is one of Hamlet’s flaws)
Yet with such clear objectives, Hamlet does not follow through.
Outline
Thesis: Pending
Body:
Hamlet is plagued by inaction.
Text vs. Subtext
Growth
Comparison to (Hamlet)
Conclusion
Outline
Thesis: Pending
Body:
Hamlet is plagued by inaction.
Get thee to a nunnery.
Hamlet moves from inaction to indirect action to
action.
Hamlet and Laertes are foils: where Hamlet
cannot act, Laertes does so rashly.
Conclusion
Outline
Thesis: Through Prince Hamlet, Shakespeare
asserts that both immoral action and inaction
have similar consequences, suggesting that
inaction is just as bad as immoral action if not
worse.
Body:
Hamlet is plagued by inaction.
Get thee to a nunnery.
Hamlet moves from inaction to indirect action to
action.
Hamlet and Laertes are foils: where Hamlet
cannot act, Laertes does so rashly.
Conclusion: Connect to Nazi Germany?
For Homework
Please type a detailed outline that
includes your claims and suggestions
for evidence as well as your thesis
statement.
Also, complete the introductory
paragraph that describes your character.
Scene Work Time
Please use the rubrics and the class
feedback to improve your scenes.