HamletHamlet

HamletHamletShakespeare received the

inspiration for Hamlet from two previous tales.◦Historia Danica (1200)◦Histoires Tragiques (1576)

Inspiration may have also come from a tale called Ur-Hamlet, probably written by Thomas Kyd.◦However, no written version of Kyd’s

tale exists.

HamletHamletHamlet was most likely

performed in 1600.◦Midpoint of Shakespeare’s career.

1588 – Comedy of Errors 1613 – Henry VIII

One of Shakespeare’s finest tragedies.◦Othello◦King Lear◦Macbeth

Hamlet - ThemesHamlet - Themes Uncertainty and Decision

Making◦ Action is continually postponed◦ A play about indecisiveness and

Hamlet’s failure to act appropriately

◦ How possible is it to take reasonable, effective, purposeful actions?

◦ “A procrastinating protagonist”

Hamlet – ThemesHamlet – ThemesDeath and Suicide◦Hamlet has an obsession with death.◦Death may answer all of Hamlet’s

questions.Denmark’s connection to the royal

family◦Everything is connected

Royal family – government – whole country

◦ If the royal family is corrupt, the country will follow.

Guiding QuestionsGuiding QuestionsWhere does feigned madness end and

real insanity begin?How do we exist in a cruel world?Is Hamlet a victim or is he blameworthy?Is he a sentimental dreamer, deeply in

love with Ophelia? Or a callous manipulator?

How “Oedipal” is his treatment of his mother?

Is he vindictive? Or does he have a moral responsibility to kill Claudius?

Act 1, Scenes 1-2Act 1, Scenes 1-2As you read the first few lines of the opening

scene, how do you envision it? How do you feel or what mood is conveyed? What purpose does portraying the scene in this way serve?◦ Knowing how the Elizabethans felt, the scene

indicates that the ghost symbolizes trouble ahead. It sets the tone for upcoming plot event. It’s also expository to let the reader know previous action about the war with Norway.

Contradictory words and ideas◦ Lines 1-14◦ Ideas sit uneasily with each other◦ Line 22

“What, has this thing appeared again tonight?” Horatio

◦ Line 69 “This bodes some strange eruption to our state.”

Horatio

Act 1, Scenes 1-2Act 1, Scenes 1-2How do Claudius and Gertrude respond

to Hamlet’s melancholy? Are they being fair to him?◦Gertrude is gentle and suggests for Hamlet

to get out of his mourning clothes:◦Line 68/80

“Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.”

◦Claudius is more abrupt and cold and explains the loss as part of logical course of events: Line 89/93 “But you must know your father lost a

father.” Line 94/98 “ ’Tis unmanly grief. It shows a will

most incorrect to heaven…”

Act 1, Scenes 1-2Act 1, Scenes 1-2 Contrast the attitudes towards the death of the

old King as expressed by Hamlet and Claudius.◦ Claudius explains death as the course of life events

and shouldn’t be taken personally. ◦ Line 100/104

“Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart?” Claudius

◦ Claudius takes on a fatherly role◦ Line 108/111-112 “think of us as a father.”◦ Hamlet has taken his father’s death to heart and is

not merely wearing clothes that he can toss off and leave his grief behind.

◦ Line 85/88-89 “But I have that within which passes show- These but the trappings and the suits of woe.”

◦ Hamlet is so distraught he has a soliloquy about suicide

◦ Line 129/Line 133◦ Soliloquy is a monologue in which the speaker

reveals his/her innermost thoughts.

Act 1, Scenes 3-4Act 1, Scenes 3-4Compare the advice given to Ophelia by

Laertes and that given by Polonius.◦ Laertes advises Ophelia that Hamlet’s social

position prohibits him from making his own choice in a woman.

◦ Line 17 “His greatness weighed, his will is not his own.”

◦ Lines 30-31 “Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open

◦ To his unmastered importunity.”

◦ Polonius tells Ophelia she is “green,” unskilled in the ways of love and Hamlet will say anything to have his way with her.

◦ Line 115 “When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul

◦ Lends the tongue vows.”

Act 1, Scenes 3-4Act 1, Scenes 3-4

What does “To thine own self be true” mean?◦ Polonius says this to Laertes. Stay faithful to who

you are and be the person you truly are. Don’t present yourself as something you’re not.

Polonius’s speech to Laertes full of fatherly advice◦Line 60

“Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.”

Who says “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”? What does he mean?◦ Marcellus says this to mean that the ghost’s

appearance foreshadows something wrong or troubling in the government.

Act 1, Scene 3Theme of incest seen in this Act ◦Claudius and Gertrude

At the time in-laws were not supposed to get married.

◦Hamlet and Gertrude There’s an issue that Hamlet is a little

too close with Gertrude ◦Laertes and Ophelia

Even though Laertes is giving Ophelia advice, is it more than brotherly concern?

Act 1, Scene 4Act 1, Scene 4Ghost continues to be an omen

of trouble to come.Scene also discusses the

problems of Denmark

Act 1, Scene 4Act 1, Scene 4Shakespeare wrote the play in

poetic form called iambic pentameter◦Iambic means syllables are

stressed/unstressed◦Pentameter means 10 beats per line

Each act ends with a rhyming couplet

Act 1, Scene 4Act 1, Scene 4Other significant quotes from Act 1Hamlet: scene 2, line 129 ◦ “O that this too too sullied flesh would melt ◦Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew”

Hamlet: scene 2, line 146 ◦“frailty thy name is woman”

Hamlet: scene 5, line 169 ◦ “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,◦ Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Act 1, Scene 5 and Act 2, Act 1, Scene 5 and Act 2, Scene 1Scene 1What kind of king do you think

King Hamlet was? What kind of husband?

What kind of wife do you think Gertrude was?

Why does Hamlet’s appearance frighten Ophelia? What is Polonius’s diagnosis? 

What do Polonius’s interactions with Reynaldo and Ophelia tell you about him?

Act 1, SummaryAct 1, Summary While on guard duty, Bernardo and Francisco see the

ghost of the dead King Hamlet. They feel this shows something is wrong in Denmark.

They tell Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, and he thinks they should tell Hamlet.

The new king is Hamlet’s uncle, King Claudius, who married Queen Gertrude.

The King and Queen think Hamlet is grieving too much.

The guys tell Hamlet about his father’s ghost and he appears to Hamlet that night.

The ghost tells Hamlet that King Claudius killed him. Polonius: Royal family’s advisor. ◦ Laertes: Polonius’s son and Hamlet’s friend.◦ Ophelia: Polonius’s daughter and she likes Hamlet.

Laertes is getting ready to go back to college and he and Polonius advise Ophelia to stop dating Hamlet.

Act 2Act 2Recall from your earlier notes what

characteristics Hamlet possesses.◦“A procrastinating protagonist”

What does scene 1 begin to tell you about Hamlet’s mental state?◦ It will become increasingly harder to

distinguish between feigned madness and real insanity.

◦Page 53/54 Hamlet’s speech stating he’s not being crazy confirms he is becoming unstable.

◦ “I am but mad north-northwest. When the◦Wind is southerly I know a hawk from a

handsaw.”

Act 2, Scene 2Act 2, Scene 2 What does Polonius mean in an aside, as

he speaks with Hamlet, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”?

◦ There has to be a reasonable explanation for why Hamlet is acting this way.

What is the significance of the speech which Hamlet requests from the actor, taken from the story of the Trojan War?

◦ It is the story of Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, who comes to Troy in the Trojan horse to avenge the death of his father by killing King Priam. Hecuba, Priam’s wife is upset and he tells the story that Pyrrus is in a bloody rage. It aligned to Hamlet’s situation in which he cannot act to avenge his father’s murder.

Act 2, Scene 2Act 2, Scene 2 What do you suppose Hamlet’s tone is as he

says “The play’s the thing/Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king”?

◦ He must say is full of sarcasm and foreboding because he has asked to players to perform the Murder of Gonzago and he will write a version for the actors to act out his father’s death in front of Claudius to watch Claudius’s reaction/conscience.

What is the significance of Fortinbras in this scene? How does he differ from Hamlet?

◦ Fortinbras keeps the subplot alive.◦ He is unlike Hamlet because he is acting on his

anger and is avenging his father’s death.◦ Fortinbras serves as a character foil for Hamlet.

Act 2, Scene 2Act 2, Scene 2Longest scene in the playIn Hamlet’s soliloquy he calls himself a

coward and questions himself that he cannot weep or avenge his father’s death, yet the actor cries for a fictional character.

Fortinbras and Hamlet as foils◦A foil is a character who by contrast emphasizes

the distinct characteristics of another character. Both are sons of dead kings Both have uncles who inherited the throne They act differently:

Fortinbras is bent on revenge. Hamlet is depressed and indecisive; he procrastinates.

Act 2, Scene 2Act 2, Scene 2

Hamlet has one fear that the ghost is lying to mislead him and is the devil in a pleasing shape. He is looking for assurance of the truth.

Horatio and Laertes also serve as foils to Hamlet.◦Hamlet has admiration for Horatio.