1. Each person must experience evil. 2. People are not always what they seem; some
can be deceptive when we think they’re honest and some are being honest when believed to be deceptive.
3. The state of depression or overanalyzing can prevent a person from taking practical action.
Explain each of these in your own words/experiences as they apply to your life or
beliefs and give examples:
“Above all is this, to thine own self
be true.”
Introduction to Shakespeare’s
Hamlet
⚫ Written by Shakespeare around 1601 and first performed around 1602 by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men
⚫ Shakespeare was said to have played the part of the Ghost in the play
⚫ Source could have been from an old Scandinavian legend first written down around 1200 AD
History of the play…
⚫Setting of the story is Elsinore, Denmark
⚫Actual castle referred to the Kronberg Castle
Setting & Story…
⚫ The Impossibility of Certainty: there are a lot of things going on that both the characters and the audience are left to wonder about. Are the ghosts real? Are certain characters’ intentions good or evil? Many people see the play as a vicious circle of indecisiveness and uncertainty
Theme #1: The Impossibility of Certainty
⚫ The Complexity of Action: How is it possible to take reasonable, effective, purposeful action? In Hamlet, the question of how to act is affected not only by rational considerations, such as the need for certainty, but also by emotional, ethical, and psychological factors. Hamlet himself appears to distrust the idea that it’s even possible to act in a controlled, purposeful way.
Theme #2: The Complexity of Action
⚫ The Mystery of Death: Throughout the play Hamlet ponders death—he obsesses over King Hamlet’s death, Yorick’s death, his own death, and the death he would like to see come to Claudius. “In his famous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy (III.i), Hamlet philosophically concludes that no one would choose to endure the pain of life if he or she were not afraid of what will come after death, and that it is this fear which causes complex moral considerations to interfere with the capacity for action.
Theme #3: The Mystery of Death
⚫ The Nation (of Denmark) as a Diseased Body: Everything is connected in Hamlet, including the welfare of the royal family and the health of the state as a whole. Since the marriage of Claudius and Gertrude is considered both “incestuous and unlawful” by most, its as though this has tainted all of Denmark. Many observers interpret the presence of the ghost as a supernatural omen indicating that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.iv.67).
Theme #4: The Nation as a Diseased Body
⚫ Incest & Incestuous Desire: Most obviously in the characters of Gertrude and Claudius but also seen in the relationship between Laertes and Ophelia and Hamlet’s fixation on his mother (Gertrude) and his uncle’s (Claudius) sex life and with his mother in general.
Motif #1: Incest & Incestuous Desire
⚫ Misogyny (hatred of women): Shattered by his mother’s decision to marry Claudius (his uncle), Hamlet becomes cynical about women in general, showing a particular obsession with what he perceives to be a connection between female sexuality and moral corruption. This occurs sporadically throughout the play, but it is an important factor in Hamlet’s relationships with Ophelia and Gertrude. He urges Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather than experience the corruptions of sexuality and exclaims of Gertrude, “Frailty, thy name is woman” (I.ii.146).
Motif #2 – Misogyny
Ears & Hearing: Words are used to both express characters’ thoughts and to manipulate each other. Also, the mention of “ears” throughout the play is important. For example, poison was placed in King Hamlet’s ear to kill him, and several lines throughout the play refer to hearing or a person’s ears
Motif #3 – Ears & Hearing
Yorick’s Skull: There aren’t very many physical symbols in the play, but this is an important one. Hamlet talks to and about the skull and refers morbidly to the eventual death and decay of every human being.
Symbol # – Yorick’s Skull
⚫ Hamlet – Prince of Denmark, the protagonist. About thirty years old at the start of the play, he is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius. Hamlet is bitter, and cynical, and hates his uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s sexuality. He was at the University of Wittenberg before coming back for his father’s funeral. Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts.
⚫ Claudius – King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle, and the play’s antagonist. The villain, Claudius is an ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere.
⚫ Gertrude – Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth.
The First Family…
⚫ Polonius – Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, a pompous, conniving old man. Polonius is the father of Laertes and Ophelia.
⚫ Ophelia – Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. She seems to be dependent on men to tell her how to behave.
⚫ Laertes – Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet.
The Other Family…
⚫ Horatio – Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the university in Wittenberg. Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play.
⚫ Fortinbras – The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet.
⚫ The Ghost – Hamlet’s recently deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him. However, it is not entirely certain whether the ghost is really King Hamlet, or whether it is a devil sent to deceive Hamlet and tempt him into murder, and the question of what the ghost is or where it comes from is never definitively resolved.
Other Important Characters…
⚫ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – Two slightly bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior.
⚫ Osric – The foolish courtier who summons Hamlet to his duel with Laertes.
⚫ Voltimand and Cornelius – Courtiers whom Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to prevent Fortinbras from attacking.
⚫ Marcellus and Bernardo – The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it. Marcellus is present when Hamlet first encounters the ghost.
⚫ Francisco – A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore.
⚫ Reynaldo – Polonius’s servant, who is sent to France by Polonius to check up on and spy on Laertes.
Minor Characters…
⚫ Allusion – reference to a person, place, poem, book, event etc. that’s not part of the story that should be recognized by the reader/audience
⚫ Aside – words spoken by an actor, onstage with other actors present but meant to be heard only by the audience
⚫ Blank verse – unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter ⚫ Foil – character meant to emphasize the actions or
qualities of the main character ⚫ Irony – when what we assume should happen does not or
the opposite of what we expect occurs ⚫ Malapropism – misuse of a word for a humorous effect
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