“To be or not to be…that is the question…”
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most quoted work and one of his longest plays.
LITERARY TERMS FOR HAMLET
1. DRAMA: a literary form that recreates human life and emotions. The medium is dialogue and action within a frame
of sequential events. Drama has both a written form (a script) and a living form (the stage presentation).
2. GROUNDLING: a poor person who paid only a pence to view a play and stood on the ground in front of the stage
3. ELIZABETHAN: that part of English history when Elizabeth I was queen
4. TRAGEDY: a drama that gives the audience an experience of CATHARSIS, a cleansing or purifying of emotion. The
protagonist, a person of nobility, must make a moral decision which in turn influences the outcome of the drama.
The protagonist usually has a serious fault – the tragic flaw (see below) that leads to downfall and death. The terror
and pity felt by the audience produces catharsis.
5. TRAGIC HERO: central character in a tragedy. A person who holds high rank and has many admirable qualities but
also has a …
6. TRAGIC FLAW: that part of a character’s personality which causes his/her downfall. As we read Hamlet, try to
discern what Hamlet’s tragic flaw is. What is there in his personality that will eventually bring about his downfall?
7. CHARACTERIZATION: the creation of believable fictitious personalities. The basic methods of characterization
include:
a. An explicit statement by the author
b. The character’s appearance
c. The aspects of setting which reflect influence of the character
d. The character’s actions, including mannerisms
e. The reactions of and to the character
f. The character’s thoughts
g. What the character says
h. What others say about the character
8. CHORUS: an actor or group of actors who comment on the action of the play and explain the themes. The chorus in
Hamlet is not as clearly defined as it was in Romeo and Juliet. Look for the sections marked “Prologue”; the chorus
would traditionally deliver these lines.
9. PROLOGUE: an introductory part of the play in which the major characters are introduced and the plot is explained.
10. PUN: jokes based on words with several meanings or on words that sound alike but have different meanings
11. BLANK VERSE: poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter
12. IAMBIC PENTAMETER: a line of poetry containing 10 syllables with an accent on every other syllable
13. RHYMED COUPLET: two consecutive lines that rhyme. As the Globe Theatre contained no scenery and no curtains,
the couplet signaled to the audience that a change in scene was about to take place.
14. PROSE: the general term for most literary works that are not poetry. Shakespeare used prose for the dialogue of
servants and common people.
15. THEMES: observations about life which serve as the controlling idea in a literary work. A theme is seldom
presented word-for-word but is more often found as an abstract idea, surfacing through the actions and dialogues
of the characters, the use of symbols and recurring images, or the manipulation of other literary devices. In
Hamlet, watch for the recurring themes of revenge, acting/disguise, appearance vs. reality, the complications of
parent/child relationships, and thought vs. action
16. VERBAL IRONY: when a person says one thing and means another (sarcasm); when what a person says means one
thing to that person, and another thing to the person who hears it
17. DRAMATIC IRONY: when the audience or reader of a play has important information about the plot that most of
the characters in the play do not have – “the NOOOOO!!! Moment”
18. DRAMATIC CONVENTION: a device or technique an author or playwright uses to present a story onstage. The
audience accepts it as a natural part of a presentation, but it is something that would not be likely nor logical in real
life. Examples of dramatic convention would include:
a. CONCEALMENT: a convention that allows a character to be seen by the audience while remaining hidden
from fellow actors. This convention provides a spark for plot developments and lends an opportunity for
the differing perceptions of characters to be displayed.
b. SOLILOQUY: a long speech by a character who is alone (or thinks he is alone) on stage. It usually reveals
personal thoughts and emotions and can be accepted as sincere. A soliloquy allows a character to
“converse” with himself or herself by expressing thoughts aloud. This introspection reveals thoughts and
feelings of the characters that would otherwise remain unvoiced. The character of Hamlet has more
soliloquies than any of Shakespeare’s other characters.
c. MONOLOGUE: a long speech by a character in a play. It is overheard by others who are aware of the
presence of the speaker
d. ASIDE: that part of a character’s dialogue intended for the audience only and not for the play’s other
characters. An aside lets a character speak directly to the audience without being overheard by other
characters on stage. This device allows opportunities for witty wordplay, foreshadowing, and character
contrasts. The convention also tends to promote greater audience involvement.
19. PATHETIC FALLACY: the literary convention by which the behavior of nature “sympathetically” reflects the tone of
events in history or in a fictional plot
20. IMAGE: a picture made with words
21. IMAGERY: a collection of similar images within a literary work. It is the language in the work that appeals to the
senses. Most often these are visual images. Shakespeare particularly used the images of light and darkness.
22. MOTIF: an event, an idea, or another element that occurs again and again in a particular type of literature. One
motif of fairy tales, for example, is the metamorphosis in which someone or something is magically transformed
into something entirely different (the frog into the prince, for example). In Hamlet, watch for the motifs of caution,
distrust, suspicion of treachery or disloyalty, corruption.
23. FOIL: a character created to contrast with another character. Often this foil is either the direct or indirect catalyst
in the downfall and/or death of the tragic hero. Don’t confuse the “foil” with the “antagonist”; they are not one in
the same. By the time we complete Hamlet, you will be able to identify both the foil and the antagonist.
24. SETTING: the time, place, and atmosphere of a narrative. The physical aspects of setting include time of day or
other particulars of the environment, such as location, topography, and the placement of objects. The intangibles
of setting include lifestyle and the predominant spiritual or moral atmosphere.
25. DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: the dramatic structure of conventional tragedy consists of these components:
a. INTRODUCTION: provides exposition. It creates tone, defines setting, and introduces some characters. The
introduction gives the background information essential to understanding the play. In Hamlet, the
exposition occurs in Act I.
b. COMPLICATION: the rising action – the building of tension caused by the conflict of opposing interests. The
complication peaks at a moment of crisis. Act II contains the complication/rising action.
c. CLIMAX: the peak of action and emotional intensity. From this high point, action and intensity must
necessarily decline, so the climax is referred to as the turning point. The turning point in Hamlet occurs in
Act III.
d. FALLING ACTION: stresses action from the forces opposing the protagonist. Suspense must be maintained
while the action moves swiftly and logically toward the disaster – the tragedy. Falling action predominates
in Act IV.
e. CATASTROPHE: the moment marking the protagonist’s tragic failure, often culminating in that character’s
death. This moment of tragedy satisfies the audience by presenting an artistic culmination of events and a
noble picture of the protagonist. Act V contains the catastrophe in Hamlet.