William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Shakespeare’s reputation is world-wide, but very little is known about who he was or how he lived.

Information comes from dull documentary records of dates and facts, and from the references in the works of his contemporaries. So we know that he was the third child of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, and was baptized on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon. Both his parents came from families of yeomen –small landowning farmers. In Warwickshire. His father was a prosperous glover, and a leading member of the little commnunity of Stratford.

Owing to his father’s wealth and position it is probable that Shakespeare

attended university. His education, though not extensive, was adequate. He learnt grammar, logic and rhetoric, on a firm Latin base.

At the end of 1576 his father was overtaken by financial difficulties, and the

family went through a hard period. William probably helped his father at his trade after living school. There is also a report that he may have worked as an assistant master at the grammar school.

In 1582 a licence to marry was issued to William Shakespeare and Anne

Hatthaway, and five months later a daughter, Susanna, was baptized. Twins Judith and Hamnet were born and baptized in 1585.

Nothing certain is know about Shakespeare’s experiences in the years

between 1585 and 1592. It is possible that he joined one of the wandering troupes of professional actors who travelled under the patronage of important noblemen and performed almost yearly in Stratford. In 1587 at least five companies passed through Stratford on a route that ultimately took them to London, a town dazzling with the splendour of the English Renaissance.

There is evidence of his living in London in 1592, when Robert Greene

wrote a letter to three of his friends, lamenting that uneducated dramatists were more successful in the theatre than university men like himself.

There are several records of Shakespeare’s name in the years that followed, including the mention for the publication of a poem, Venus and Adonis, in 1593. This year saw the closing of the theatres owing to the plague, and in 1594 Shakespeare published his second poem, The Rape of Lucrece. It is probable tht in the years that followed he joined a theatrical company called Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and the link continued as long as he worked for the theatre.

1596 saw Hamnet’s death. The loss of his child must have affected Shakespeare deeply; in a work written at that time, King John, a character says:

(1) ... I have heard you say That we shall see and know our friends in heaven. If that be true, I shall see my boy again. (...) Grief fills the room up of my absent child, 1. from King John,

Act III, Scene IV. Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, Young Prince Arthur Remembers me of all his gracious parts, has been imprisoned

and his mother, foreboding his murder, already mourns him as if he was dead.

Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form. (...) O Lord! My boy, my Arthur, my fair son! My life, my joy, my food, my all the world! These touching words are Shakespeare’s own words; the sorrow here expressed is his own sorrow for Hamnet’s death.

In the same year the poet’s father obtained a coat of arms, and a year later William bought a house in Stratford. Documents also mention the purchase of several acres of land and a cottage in 1602.

1609 is the year of publication of the Sonnets, the composition of which probably started in the early 1590s.

In 1612 Shakespeare was involved as a witness in a domestic lawsuit, and he signed the documents concerning his interrogatories.

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quarto: in quarto, a volume made up of sheets of paper folded twice.

1616 saw the execution of his will, each sheet of which he signed, and in the same year the poet died and was buried in Stratford Parish Church on 25 April. Shakespeare’s dramatic production covered a period of about twenty years, from 1591 to 1611. No manuscripts of his plays exist. Some unauthorized editions appeared in quarto form during his life, but the first complete edition of his works is universally considered the First Folio of 1623. This edition does not contain any indication as to the dates of composition, and the only scanty evidence of chronology comes from records of performances; besides, some guesses can be attempted on the basis of the editions issued during his lifetime or immediately after his death, and critics do not always agree on such dates.

folio: in folio, a volume made up of sheets of paper folded once; a volume of the largest size.

1590-1 Henry VI, Part 2 History Henry VI, Part 3 1591-2 Henry VI, Part 1 1592-3 Richard III History

The Comedy of Errors Comedy 1593-4 Titus Andronicus Tragedy The Taming of the Shrew Comedy 1594-5 The Two Gentlemen of Verona Comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost Comedy Romeo and Juliet Tragedy 1595-6 Richard II History A Midsummer Night’s Dream Comedy 1596-7 King John History The Merchant of Venice Comedy 1597-8 Henry IV, Part 1 History

Henry IV, Part 2 1598-9 Much Ado about Nothing Comedy Henry V History 1599-600 Julius Caesar Tragedy

As You Like It Comedy Twelfth Night Comedy 1600-1 Hamlet Tragedy The Merry Wives of Windsor Comedy 1601-2 Troilus and Cressida Problem Play 1602-3 All’s Well That Ends Well Problem Play 1604-5 Measure for Measure Problem Play Othello Tragedy 1605-6 King Lear Tragedy Macbeth Tragedy 1606-7 Antony and Cleopatra Tragedy 1607-8 Coriolanus Tragedy Timon of Athens Tragedy

1608-9 Pericles Tragedy 1609-10 Cymbeline Romance 1610-11 The Winter’s Tale Romance 1611-12 The Tempest Romance 1612-13 Henry VIII History The Two Noble Kinsmen Romance (written by John Fletcher with Shakespeare’s collaboration)

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(1600–1601) The king of Denmark –Hamlet’s father- has died suddenly in tragic circumstances; his brother Claudius has succeeded him and married his widow, Gertrude, before two months have gone by. The court is assembled; the new king talks to various people, receives suits, then he addresses Hamlet. PRELIMINARY TASK Consider Hamlet’s situation. What do you expect his state of mind to be? And his attitude to the new king?

Open answer. TEXT A cousin: kinsman,

relative. (KING): But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son – HAMLET: A little more than kin, and less than kind. kin: kinsman. KING: How is it that the clouds still hang on you? kind: kinsman; ‘kind’

also emphasixes the mutual feeling that unites members of the same family.

HAMLET: Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun. QUEEN: Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, 5 and let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy vailed lids

thine: (arch.) your. Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Denmark: the king of Denmark.

Thou know’st ‘tis common: all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity. 10 HAMLET: Ay, madam, it is common. vailed: (arch.)

lowered. QUEEN: If it be, ay: yes. Why seems it so particular with thee? HAMLET: Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems’. ‘Tis not alome my inky cloak, good mother, 15 Nor customary suits of solemn black, of forc’d breath: emitted with force.

Nor windy suspiration of forc’d breath. No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

haviour: expression. Nor the dejected haviour of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, 20 That can denote me truly. These indeed seem, For they are actions that a man might play; trappings: exterior ornaments.

But I have that within which passes show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

woe: sorrow, grief. (from Act I, Scene II) TASKS

1. Read the text and focus on Hamlet’s lines. Find the metaphor describing Hamlet’s mood, and explain it in your own words.

Is he please to be called ‘son’? How would you define his attitude to Claudius? Metaphor: “…the clouds still hang on you?”(1.3) Meaning: Hamlet is grieved at his father’s death, and mourns him. No. Attitude: he is hostile, scornful, sarcastic.

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2. Focus on the introduction, consider what you have gathered so far, and discuss what particular circumstance – besides his father’s death – must have affected Hamlet so deeply. Circumstance: the hasty marriage between his mother and his uncle. 3. In his second answer to the queen, Hamlet mentions the ‘trappings and the suits of woe’, i.e. the exterior manifestations of sorrow, like black clothes and sad behaviour. He states that they cannot denote him truly because they are actions that a man might perform. What really counts is what he feels.

All this points to a major contrast: seem - be appearance – reality 4. Similarly, his first two answers (lines 2 and 4) are more profound than they first appear. They contain two puns: kin / kind and ‘in the sun’ (sun / son). Explain their meanings and discuss what aspect of Hamlet’s personality is here revealed.

First pun: More kin than kind: more than a relative (= kin) because he isClaudius’s step-son but not loving (= kind) because he does not feel the strong attachment that unites members of the same family. Second pun: I am too much in the sun: a) There are no clouds over me. b) I have now become your son, and this is too much for me. Sun-son: “I am too much in the sun” apparently contradicts the idea of having clouds over him, but he has now become his ‘son’, and this is too much for him.

Hamlet’s use of puns reveals a complex, subtle personality. 5. Highlight the metaphors and discuss their contribution to the interpretation of

meaning.

Interpretation: more than one interpretation of metaphors is possible; the aim of the task is to encourage students to become aware of the relevance of imagery in Shakespeare’s style. E.g.: cast the nighted colour off: stop wearing black clothes, i.e. stop mourning your father (night is dark because there is no sun, so a dark colour suggests evil, death, sorrow); do not… seek for thy noble father in the dust: when people die they are burid, so they are “down, in thy dust”; the bible says that we are dust and we become dust again when we die…

6. In Elizabethan times the expression “in the sun” with reference to a sovereign probably acquired particular relevance. Refer to the section The English Renaissance and state why. It could be a metaphor referring to royalty: Queen Elizabeth shone like the sun. Anecdote: a group of courties decided to show their reverence to the queen by raising their right hands to the eyes as if protecting them from the intense light of her royal person, when she made her appearance. This would have given origin to the military and naval salute. (You can explain them an anecdote: a group or courties decided to show their reverence to the queen by raising their right hands to the eyes as if protecting them from the intense light of her royal person, when shem made her appearance. This would have given origin to the military and naval salute.)

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Some officers have seen a strange apparition while they were on their night watch. The apparition resembled the dead king, so they inform Hamlet, who immediately resolves to watch that very night and speak to the spirit, if it appears again. And so it happens.

PRELIMINARY TASKS What is a ghost normally associated with? Where may it come from, Heaven or Hell? Why? Do you think that in special circumstances ghosts really appear, or are they just seen by certain people? Can’t they rather be the projection of these people’s fears, or wishes, or remorse? Make hypotheses on the apparition in Hamlet: What do you think it can be?

Personal answer.

TEXT B whither wilt thou:

(arch.) where will you. When the ghost appeared, he did not say a single word, but beckoned Hamlet to follow him to an isolated place.

Enter GHOST and HAMLET. HAMLET: Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I’ll go no further. GHOST: Mark me. HAMLET: I will . 1st: agreement GHOST: My hour is almost come. When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flames

render up: present. Must render up myself. HAMLET: Alas, poor ghost. 2nd: pity thy: (arch.) your. GHOST: Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing. 5 unfold: reveal. To what I shall unfold. bound: prepared. HAMLET: Speak, I am bound to hear. 3rd: determination to hear.

GHOST: So art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear. HAMLET: What? 4th: surprise doom’d: doomed:

condemned GHOST: I am thy father’s spirit, Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, 10 but that I am forbid: And for the day confin’d to fast in fires, if I were not

forbidden. Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purg’d away. But that I am forbid harrow up: wound,

fill with anguish. To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word 15 knotted and

combined locks: tied up and wound together hair.

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand an end an: (arch.) on. Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. 20 quills: spines. But this eternal blazon must not be fretful porpentine:

bad-tempered porcupine.

To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list! If thou didst ever thy dear father love – HAMLET: O God! 5th: emotion eternal blazon:

revelation of things belonging to eternity.

GHOST: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. 25 HAMLET: Murder! 6th: amazement GHOST: Murder most foul, as in the best it is, thou didst: (arch.)

you did. But this most foul, strange and unnatural. HAMLET: Haste me to know’t that I with wings as swift foul: (here)

abominable, cruel, dirty.

As meditation or the thoughts of love 30 May sweep to my revenge. 7th: wish for revenge Haste me know’t: let

me know it quickly.

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apt: clever and quick.

duller shouldst thou be: (arch.) you should be more sluggish, inert.

GHOST: I find thee apt. And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear.

Lethe: mythological river producing forgetfulness

‘Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, 35 A serpent stung me – so the whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abus’d – but know, thou noble youth, wouldst thou not stir: (arch.) if you were not moved.

The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown. 40

HAMLET: O my prophetic soul! My uncle! 8th: confirmation of his suspicion forged process: invented account. GHOST: Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, rankly: shamelessly With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts – witchcraft: magic practice.

O wicked wit, and gifts that have the power So to seduce! – won to his shameful lust 45

lust: uncontrolled sexual desire.

The will of my most seeming – virtuous queen. O Hamlet, what a falling off was there, From me, whose love was of that dignity vow: solemn, holy

promise. That it went hand in hand even with the vow I made to her in marriage, and to decline 50 wretch: poor,

miserable person. Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor To those of mine. to: when compared

to But virtue, as it never will be mov’d, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, lewdness: impurity,

licentiousness. So lust, though to a radiant angel link’d, 55 Will sate itself in a celestial bed prey on garbage:

find And prey on garbage. But soft, methinks I scent the morning air: its nourishment in

filth, rubbish. Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard, My custom always of the afternoon, 60 stole: came silently. Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole hebenon: poison

derived from a plant. With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial, And in the porches of my ears did pour leperous: producing

effects like those of leprosy.

The leperous distilment, whose effect Holds such an enmity with blood of man 65 That swift as quicksilver it courses through quicksilver:

mercury. The natural gates and alleys of the body, And with a sudden vigour it doth posset

doth: (arch.) does. And curd, like eager droppings into milk, posset: (here) coagulate

The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine, 70 And a most instant tetter bark’d about

tetter: skin eruption. Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust lazar-like: leper-like. All my smooth body. unhousel’d, disappointed, unanel’d: without having received the eucharist, the preparation (i.e. absolution), the extreme unction.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch’d 75 Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, Unhousel’d, disappointed, unanel’d No reck’ning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head. O horrible! O horrible! most horrible! 80 If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not,

sent to my account: sent to answer for my deeds, to be judged.

Let not the royal bed of Denmark be A couch for luxury and damned incest.

But howsomever thou pursuest this act, taint not: do not corrupt, do not stain.

Taint not thy mind nor let thy soul contrive 85 Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven, And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge contrive: devise. To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once: aught: (arch.)

anything. The glow-worm shows the matin to be near And gins to pale his uneffectual fire. 90

Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me. (Exit) (from Act I, Scene V)

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TASKS

1. The following notes form the outline of the ghost’s tale; they are in jumbled order. Arrange them according to the sequence they have in the text. [ 6 ] He mentions the person who killed him. [ 1 ] The ghost hints at the horrors of his punishment.

[ 9 ] He mentions the consequences of his murder. [ 2 ] He begs Hamlet to listen carefully.

[ 5 ] He gives details of his murder. [ 8 ] He reveals that he did not die naturally, but was murdered. [ 3 ] He asks to be revenged. [ 4 ] He reveals his identity. [10] He invites Hamlet to convince his mother to break the link with Claudius.

[ 7 ] He mentions the guilty relationship between Claudius and the queen.

2. Focus on Hamlet´s answers, and define the attitude expressed in each of them; you can use these items and write each next to the corresponding line/s (they are numbered for you). [ pity] [ surprise ] [determination to hear] [emotion] [amazement] [confirmation of his suspicion] [wish for revenge] [agreement] 3. Write the name of the murderer of Hamlet´s father, and point out the expression proving that Hamlet unconsciously suspected this person. Name: Claudius Expression: “O my prophetic soul! My uncle!”

Now list the adjectives with which the ghost defines his murder, and explain why

it deserves such particular execration. “foul and most unnatural murder”/ “most foul”/ “most foul, strange and unnatural”/

“O horrible! O horrible! most horrible!” Fratricide is traditionally one of the most horrible crimes (the influence of the story

of Cain murdering his brother Abel, as appears in the Bible, was enormous). 4. Write in one sentence how the crime was committed.

While the king was sleeping in his orchard, his brother poured poison into his ears.

You can remind students that a sentence begins with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop (or exclamation / question mark). Therefore it can include several clauses. 5. Besides the murder, another revelation can be inferred from the ghost’s tale: focus on lines 42-57 and state in your own words what fact is hinted at here. Hamlet’s mother may have had a relationship with Claudius before her husband’s death (the ghost calls Claudius before her husband’s death (the ghost calls Claudius “adulterate beast”). (You can tell students -or remind them- that when Henry VIII married his brother’s widow, the Pope gave him a special dispensation, because marrying a brother’s widow was considered illicit.)

William Blake Hamlet and His Father’s ghost (1806)

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6. Do you think the ghost is reliable? Discuss with your partner, then list the arguments in favour and those against. RELIABLE UNRELIABLE - Precision of details, that only the - The ghost might be a spirit of hell, sent to person involved can know. lead Hamlet into crime.

Fuseli, Ghost - The Ghost seems to respect God, - If he is a spirit, he knows everything, also therefore he must be a good spirit. the smallest details. - He suffers. - He might pretend to feel grief, respect - He wants Hamlet to respect his for God… mother. Ambiguity: he poses a problem that cannot be solved, so it is intriguing. 7. For three times the ghost mentions the fact that he is allowed to appear only at night: see lines 10-11, 58-59, 89-90. Why is this detail reported? What is traditionally associated with the night?

Night: dark: mystery: fear. If light is God, dark is hell. Symbolic meaning of night as the moment of evil (in other plays, for example: conspiracy against Julius Caesar / Macbeth kills Duncan at night, etc.) 8. A very effective metaphor is expressed in lines 39-40. It brilliantly compresses complex meanings in a single sentence. What does the image of the snake convey? Point out other metaphors –or similes- that have impressed you. Focus on the adjectives, the repetitions and any other stylistic devices, and highlight those that you consider particularly effective.

Eugéne Delacroix, Hamlet sees the Ghost of His Father Image of the snake: traditionally repulsive, dangerous and false. See the Bible. You

can also mention the soliloquy of Brutus in Julius Caesar, where he compares Caesar to a snake.

9. Several themes emerge from this text: death, ambition, revenge, sin and expiation, fratricide, lust, the supernatural. Find the elements that point to each of them . One has already been indicated.

death = ghost; report of the king’s assassination. ambition = Claudius killed his brother because he wanted to become king. revenge = the ghost asks for, and Hamlet promises, revenge. sin and expiation = the dead king suffers terrible torments because he must

expiate his sins; fratricide = the king’s murderer is his brother.

lust = Claudius not only wanted the crown of his brother, but also the woman. Gertrude consented to a guilty relationship out of lust. Which of these themes particularly appealed to an Elizabethan audience? Find reference in the section The Elizabethan Drama and give reasons for your answer. The Elizabethan audience was particularly impressed by such themes as revenge (at the basis of Elizabethan tragedy), regicide (English history is full of examples of regicide, Elizabeth herself was constantly threatende), fratricide, ambition, etc.

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This scene is also an example of Shakespeare’s mastery in stagecraft. It not only involves the public emotionally –the crime reported by the victim is very appealing, and the apparition of the ghost creates emotion and fear– but it brilliantly serves other purposes. The ghost’s tale allows the dramatist to inform the audience of a previous event. What elese did Shakespeare have at his disposal for this purpose? He could letHamlet overhear a soliloquy of Claudius, in which he confessed his crime, or maybe a compromising dialogue betweeb Claudius and an accomplice. or, the murder might have been witnessed by someone who then decided to reveal things. But in all these cases the audience –and Hamlet- would be certain of Claudius’s guilt, thus eliminating doubts and removing all interest for the audience. Hamlet would rush to his revenge, and the tragedy would be a standard revenge play. With this stratagem –a touch of Shakespeare’s genius- all the play revolves around the problem posed by the legitimacy of Hamlet’s revenge, the reliability of the ghost’s tale, and Hamlet’s necessity to prove the king’s guilt. It is this ambiguity that gives the play much of its significance and intrigues the public, called to interpret things, make hypotheses, side with one or the other of the characters… John Gielgud as

Hamlet’s father’s Ghost.

In short, the theatre carries out one of its functions.

10. Finally consider the impact of this revelation on Hamlet, and predict the

possible development of his actions. Will he keep in line with the tradition of the revenge plays?

Here are some possibilities. Discuss them, and choose what you consider the most convincing. Add more if you wish. (Personal interpretation)

____ Hamlet believes the ghost’s tale, but hesitates to take action. ____ Hamlet unconditionally believes the ghost’s tale and rushes to his revenge. ____ On second thoughts, with the help of reason and calm, Hamlet decides that the ghost is not reliable. ____ Hamlet is shocked: the impact of the revelation is too much for him, and his nervous system breaks down. ____ Hamlet commits suicide out of despair. ____ Hamlet is inclined to believe the ghost’s tale, but considers the possibility that the ghost is a creature of the devil, so he wants some evidence of Claudiu’s guilt.

Hamlet and the Ghost After the ghost’s revelation Hamlet’s behaviour begins to be very strange, and many

people at court suspect this derives from his love for Ophelia, the gentle daughter of Polonius, Lord Chamberlain. In obedience to her father and brother –who oppose her relationship with Hamlet out of the conviction that he does not really love her- Ophelia has sent back his letters and has refused to see him.

Hamlet meets Polonius. TEXT C beseech: implore. QUEEN: But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.

POLONIUS: Away, I do beseech you both, away. I’ll board him presently. O give me leave. Exeunt King and Queen [and Attendants]. fishmonger: literally,

one who sells fish. It may also mean a seller of women’s chastity, thus suggesting that Polonius makes a market of his daughter.

How does my good Lord Hamlet? HAMLET: Well, God-a-mercy. 5 POLONIUS: Do you know me, my lord? HAMLET: Excellent well, you are a fishmonger. POLONIUS: Not I, my lord. HAMLET: Then I would you were so honest a man. POLONIUS: Honest, my lord? 10 HAMLET: Ay sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man

picked out of ten thousand. POLONIUS: That’s very true, my lord.

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HAMLET: For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good maggots: worms, larvae. kissing carrion – Have you a daughter? 15 carrion: dead, rotting flesh.

POLONIUS: I have, my lord. HAMLET: Let her not walk i’th’ sun. Conception is a blessing, but

Conception: two meanings: forming ideas in the mind, and also becoming pregnant. So this is a pun.

as your daughter mau conceive –friend, look to’t. POLONIUS [aside]: How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first; a said I was a fishmonger. A is far gone. And 20 truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love, very near this. I’ll speak to him again. –what do you read, my lord? HAMLET: Words, words, words.

How… that?: What do you say about that? This is said aside, as a sort of comment to the audience.

POLONIUS: What is the matter, my lord? HAMLET: Between who? 25 POLONIUS: I mean the matter that you read, my lord. HAMLET: Slanders, sir. For the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree-gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, harping on: talking

persistenly about. together with most weak hams –all which, sir, though I most powerfully 30 and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down. a: he. For yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am –if like a crab you could go A is far gone: He is

far gone. backward. POLONIUS [aside]: Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t. Words, words,

words: this has become a famous expression, often used to indicate something worthless.

–Will you walk out of the air, my lord? 35 HAMLET: Into my grave? POLONIUS: Indeed, that’s out of the air. – [aside] How pregnant sometimes his replies are –a happiness that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him and suddenly contrive the means of meeting between him and my 40 rogue: rascal,

dishonest fellow. daughter. -My–Lord, I will take my leave of you. HAMLET: You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will not more pregnant: (here) full

of meaning. willingly part withal –except my life. POLONIUS: Fare you well, my lord. a happiness… on: a

fortune that madness often meets, which does not come equally well from a mind that reasons well (Remember Don Quijote).

HAMLET: These tedious old fools. (from Act II, Scene II).

TASKS

that I… withal: from which I will separate more willingly (the double negative was common).

1. Read the text and point out the ideas that seems to obsess Hamlet’s mind. His former love of Ophelia; death; lack of chastity; degeneration.

2. There are two references to death, the second of which is emphasized by a beautiful triple repetition. Find them, and state if Hamlet’s attitude to death is positive or negative.

“Into my grave”, “You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will not more

willingly part withal – except my life…”.

3. Focus on Hamlet’s answers to Polonius, and draw your own conclusions about the prince. Is he really mad? Personal interpretation. Is he only feigning madness? Personal interpretation. How do you explain his dislike of Polonius? Polonius is a fool; Polonius is a courtier, ready to flatter but not honest; Polonius sides with Claudius… List the circumstances which have added up to affect his balance. His father’s death, the hasty marriage of his mother who seems to have forgotten her affection for his father; Ophelia’s rejection of him. What opinion of women’s constancy can he have, in this period of his life? Very negative; continuous attacks against women; not only his mother, but also Ophelia disappointed him.

If he is only pretending to be mad, what can his purpose be? Personal interpretation.

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The king and the queen are not sure that rejected love is the cause of Hamlet’s madness, and the king summons to court two young courtiers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on him. The two young men have been brought up with Hamlet, and may be able to discover the true cause of his behaviour.

The play The Murder of Gonzago is based on the murder of the duke of Urbino. It presents similarities with the situation in Hamlet, because the queen marries the murderer of her husband.

Meanwhile a travelling company of players arrive at the castle: Hamlet warmly welcomes them, and asks them to say a few lines for him. He himself suggests an extract from a play dealing with ancient Greece, and precisely the part where Pyrrhus killed Priam to avenge his father, Achilles, while Hecuba watches the scene in anguish. Hamlet is profoundly moved by the performance of the first player, and asks him to act a play called The Murder of Gonzago the day after, inserting a short passage that he himself will write.

PRELIMINARY TASK Go back to your prediction in task 10, text B, and read the text until you find evidence to decide if Hamlet has carried out his revenge, or not. Underline the expressions that are a clue to your answer. Hamlet has not performed his revenge. “Yet I… peak… unpregnant of my cause,/And can say nothing” (II. 19-22) “I should ha’ fatted all the region kites / With this slave’s offal” (II. 33-34) “… The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil… and perhaps,… Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds / More relative than this”. (II. 52-58) TEXT D … Now I am alone. O what a rogue and peasant slave am I! rogue: tramp,

vagabond. Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, but: only. Could force his soul so to his own conceit 5 a fiction: an

imagined situation. That from her working all his visage wann’d, Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, his own conceit:

something existing only in his mind.

A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! For Hecuba! 10 function: activity. What’s Hecuba to him, or he to her, had he: if he had. That he should weep for her? What would he do cue: stimulus,

motivation. Had he the motive and the cue for passion That I have? He would drown the stage with tears, cleave: (fig) split,

break. And cleave the general ear with horrid speech, 15 Make mad the guilty and appal the free, appal: shock, fill with

horror. Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed The very faculties of eyes and ears. the free: those who

are not guilty (i.e. free from guilt)

Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak 20 Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,

confound: cast into confusion.

And can say nothing – no, not for a king, Upon whose property and most dear life

muddy-mettled rascal: a dishonest man, a scoundrel, whose vigour is like mud.

A damn’d defeat was made. Am I a coward?

peak: pine away, languish. John-a-dreams: name jokingly given to inactive, absent-minded people. defeat: ruin, destruction.

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Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across, 25 pate: head. Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face, tweaks: sharply,

pinches. Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i’th’throat As deep as to the lungs – who does me this? ‘swounds: (arch.)

oath, deriving rom ‘by God’s wounds’, with reference to Christ on the Cross.

Ha! ‘Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be 30 But I am pigeon-liver’d and lack gall To make oppression bitter, or ere this I should ha’ fatted all the region kites it cannot be but: the

only reason can be that.

With this slave’s offal. Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! 35 Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, pigeon-livere’d:

popular belief considered pigeons extremely mild animals, whose liver contained no gall.

That I, the son of a dear father murder’d, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must like a whore unpack my heart with words And fall a-cursing like a very drab, 40 A scullion! Fie upon’t! Foh! About, my brains. Hum – I have heard gall: fluid substance

produced by liver; traditionally gall is associated with resentment, asperity, bitterness.

That guilty creatures sitting at a play have, by the very cunning of the scene, Been struck so to the soul that presently 45 They have proclaim’d their malefactions. For murder, thought it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players

kites: large birds of prey.

Play something like the murder of my father Before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks; 50

offal: internal parts of animals (heart, liver, etc.).

I’ll tent him to the quick. I a do blench, I know my course. The spirit that I have seen may be a devil, and the devil hath power

bawdy: obscene. T’assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps, lecherous: lustful. Out of my weakness and my melancholy, 55 kindless: lacking natural affection for members of his family.

As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds More relative than this. The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King. [Exit] (from Act II, Scene II) whore: prostitute. Drab: prostitute.

TASKS scullion: (arch.) person who washes dishes.

1. The first part of this soliloquy is a violent outburst of anger. Read from line 1 to line 35 and state who/what has inspired it.

fie: shame. cunning: skill. tent him to the quick: (fig) investigate into him thoroughly.

Causes: his own lack of action. His uncles who has treacherously murdered a brother and married the widow. If a do blench: (read:

if he but blench) if he only draws back in fear.

2. When his anger abates and Hamlet is again in rational control of feelings, he reproaches himself (“what an ass am I!”) for giving vent to his bitterness instead of planning effective action (lines 36-41). Then he works out a scheme. Read the final part of the soliloquy (lines 42-59) and state what his scheme consists of.

Scheme: he wants to prove Claudius’s guilt. Having heard that guilty people cannot control their emotions when they watch the scen of their crime, he will ask the players to perform a scene similar to his father’s murder and watch carefully Claudius’s reaction. If Claudius betrays himself, Hamlet knows what to do.

3. This passage is built on a pun. Think about the two main meanings of the verb ‘to act’ (1: to perform or represent a part; 2: to take action) and explain the pun. The parallel between the actor and Hamlet, between real passion and apparent – or performed - passion, leads to the contrast theatre-life, fiction-reality, and hence to the dramatic contrast which has already been presented in text A, and which Hamlet perceives so keenly. What contrast is it? Pun: while the actor ‘acts’ with great efficacy ( = performs), Hamlet does not ‘act’ at all ( = does not take action to revenge his father). Contrast: seem - be ; appearance – reality.

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4. Focus on the last couplet, and in particular on the expression “catch the conscience”. In a broader way, this couplet could indicate that the theatre has also the function of awakening conscience. But the theatre is not only this. What is the theatre? What is its role in society? Personal interpretation.

Possible answers: it criticizes, entertains, informs, makes you think, make you angry, describes life, gives tension, awakens conscience, awakens strong emotions, purifies passions, gives awareness, urges to action… Discuss with your neighbour, and jot down as many ideas as you can think of. Then in groups of four compare your lists, and choose the definitions or functions of the theatre that you consider of primary importance. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell the king that they have not been able to gather from Hamlet the reasons of his state. Therefore Claudius and Polonius plan a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia, and hide behind an arras to listen and find out if his madness has been caused by rejected love.

Hamlet enters, and at first does not see Ophelia.

PRELIMINARY TASK This is perhaps the best known soliloquy that Shakespeare wrote. Look up in the Dossier Drama the definition of soliloquy; consider the examples that you have already read, and think of the possible reasons why an author chooses the soliloquy rather than the dialogue; then state the function/s of this stage device. Tick the answer/s that you consider suitable; add more if you wish. (Personal interpretation).

It represents amoment of lyrical beauty in the drama. It allows the audience to have access to the thoughts and feelings of a character.

slings: sling; strap used for throwing stones with force.

It allows the main actor to perform alone and show his value.

No other character must know the facts or ideas expressed. that flesh is heir to: that are part of human life.

It prepares the audience for successive developments.

consummation: end, goal, conclusion.

TEXT D rub: hindrance,

obstacle. Enter Hamlet

shuffled off: moved off, got rid of. HAMLET: To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer coil: spiral loops; whirlwind; whirlpool; turmoil; (here) the human body, that keeps the soul imprisoned and linked to the earth; the troubles and responsibilities of everyday life.

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of trouble And by opposing end them. To die – to sleep, 5 No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: ‘tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream – ay , there’s the rub: 10 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

makes calamity of so long life: gives calamity such long duration.

Must five us pause – there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life.

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For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 15 pangs: pang: sharp

pain. Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of dispriz’d love, the law’s delay, spurns:

comtemptuous rejections.

The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th’unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make 20 his quietus make:

(law) have his quittance, or statement that he is free from his debt.

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, 25 bodkin: weapon like

a stiletto. And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? born: (arch.) limit,

boundary. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution but that dread… did

not puzzle: if the dread… did not puzzle.

Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, 30 And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. hue: colour (the

complexion of resolute people is red).

(from Act III, Scene I)

pitch: height. turn awry: bend, turn from straight.

TASKS 1. The following is the outline of Hamlet’s thought.

Read it, then read the soliloquy and write each item of the list next to the line/s that correspond to it.

statement of alternative: l.1; passive acceptance of evils versus fight against them: ll. 2-5;

death as a solution: ll. 5-9; negative aspect of death: ll. 9-10; reason for bearing adversity: ll. 10-14; rhetorical question: l.15;

list of trials and tribulations: ll. 16-19;

suicide as an escape: ll. 20-21; repetition of rhetorical question: ll. 21-22; fear of the after-death: ll. 23-27. consciousness produces cowardice: l. 28; loss of determination hinders action: ll. 29-33.

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2. In posing his question Hamlet uses the metaphors “to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and “to take arms against a sea of troubles…”. What are they associated with?

Association: the expression “slings and arrows” and “take arms” are associated with war, struggle, fighting, hostility, and being active. Consider the expression “a sea of troubles”. Think of the overwhelming and uncontrollable power of the sea, and state the significance of taking arms against the sea. Significance: taking arms against the sea is useless, futile, a lost cause; it means fighting against the impossible.

3. Focus on lines 5-9. What is death associated with? Define Hamlet’s attitude to death, and state if it contradicts or confirms the opinion he has already expressed.

A sort of syllogism “To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream” introduces the consideration on dreams. Read carefully lines 10-13, and explain what dreams represent. Association: death appears a most welcome escape from the evils. It is associated with sleep, rest, peace. Hamlet’s attitude to death: positive (“Devoutly to be wish’d”). It confirms the opinion expressed in text B. Dreams represent: the after-death, a mysterious reality that might be good or bad (dreams might be nightmares).

4. When referring to the human body, Hamlet uses the expression “mortal coil”. Focus on the various meaning of “coil”, and state what he wants to emphasize with the metaphor “shuffled off this mortal coil”.

These considerations place Hamlet in the tradition of ____ mediaeval philosophy _X__ religion _X__ asceticism ____ the Renaissance ____ stoicism

_X__ Platonism Look up for information, discuss with the class and your teacher, then tick as you consider appropriate. The body suffocates the soul, keeps it imprisoned and linked to the earth. The body is something that that destroys, that is dangerous, unreliable. These considerations place Hamlet in the tradition of religion, asceticism, Platonism. 5. With a rhetorical question “who would bear…” Hamlet lists the troubles that afflict mankind. Read them carefully, and state how many of them still hold today.

The meaning of this question is: ‘Who would bear all the troubles of life when he could release himself with a dagger?’ What idea is conveyed by the reference to arms? Troubles: all of them still hold today. Idea: killing oneself.

6. The concept of the total mystery of what happens after death, already present in line 11, is emphasized later on through a very effective metaphor. Find it and write it down below. Then, comment on its meaning. Where in the play have you found a hint at the horrors that can lie in wait for us after death? Metaphor: “The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn No traveller returns”. Meaning: Personal interpretation. Suggestions:

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Nobody has ever come to life again to tell what really happens after death. The ghost himself poses several doubts and could be an evil spirit or a devil, a manifestation of Hamlet’s suspicions, just a stage-device… This metaphor reflects an aspect of the Elizabethan age: geographical discoveries. Men like Drake, or Raleigh reported their adventures in far away countries. Hint at the horrors: in the words of the Ghost (text A, ll. 13-22)

7. The soliloquy ends with the acknowledgement of human incapacity to make resolutions and pass to action. Man does not so much choose, in life, but passively accepts what happens for fear of facing something worse. The motive of thought versus action is very important in Shakespeare. Discuss with the class and your teacher, and point out another moment in the play where Hamlet deprecates lack of action.

Note the imagery which refers to manifestations of health conditions (lines 29-30). What is associated with red complexion? And what renders man pale and sick? * Traditionally,

suicide is seen as an act of weakness, of cowardice, a form of defeat. A person who commits suicide is unable to face problems, difficulties, losses, and decides to escape from troubles though death. Here the question is reversed. Suicide requires courage because it means facing the unknown reality of the after-death. Only few people are bold enough to go towards the unknown, because mystery generates fear; the majority of people prefer to continue to live without conviction or participation, rather than face “the undiscover’d country”. The discussion on suicide poses other implications: religious: man has no right to take his own life. God has given man life, and God alone can take it; moral: damaging others, leaving other in trouble, causing suffering to those who love us...

Another moment: text 50, soliloquy where Hamlet deprecates his lack of action. Red complexion: resolution, determination. Man pale and sick: meditation, melancholy.

8. This soliloquy is built on considerations on the opposites of life and death, and balances a double attitude to each: longing for death, but fear of the after death; wish to escape from the troubles fo life but ultimate acceptance. How would you define Hamlet’s vision of suicide? Do you think it is in line with traditional opinion? Suggestions to the teacher on the left *. It is up to him/her to decide if the class is motivated and mature enough to expand these considerations into a class discussions on suicide.

9. Work in groups. Imagine that you direct Hamlet (film or play). Give instructions for this scene as regards: Personal interpretation.

. the setting (i.e. where is Hamlet when he is making this speech?)

(ex.: in a hall, in a garden, in his closet…)

. Hamlet’s movements/What Hamlet does during his speech (ex. He walks up and

down, he sits still, at first he is lying down, then… , he does not utter words, but his voice is heard…)

. sound effects (ex.: background music, sound of the waves, sound of the wind…)

. special technological devices in the case of the film (ex.: flash-backs of the ghost, of Ophelia rejecting him… ) The Shakespearean soliloquy, which reaches its maturity in Hamlet, is not merely an expansion of the conventional ‘aside’ or a simple speaking aloud of a coherent stream of thought. It is a poetic rendering of a character’s complete mental and emotional state at a critical point in his development, drawing on all the resources of imagery and rhythmic movement for its total expression. For this is poetic drama, not ‘realistica’ drama, and the recurrence of related images, the rise and fall of certain rhythms, the sounding of certain overtones of meaning and suggestion, are as important in building up the total significance of the play as the mere sequence of events or paraphrasable content of the speeches.

What critics say

Containing something of the larger dimensions of life within the limiting formality of art, Hamlet, perhaps more than any other of Shakespeare’s stragedies, lends itself to a variety of interpretations. Hamlet is both the ideal Renaissance prince and the conventional malcontent, the traditional avenger and the sensitive

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idealist in a brutal world, and other things besides. And, in lesser degree, the same multiple description can be given of the other characters. The play is not, however, simply a series of portraits; the action is what gives it shape and primary meaning, and it is a mistake to remove the characters from the action and speculate about them as though they are characters in a psychologist’s case-book (though the fact the critics have been tempted to do this is surely a tribute to Shakespeare’s dramatic skill). Of the many meanings that can be extracted from the action of Hamlet, perhaps the most tragic, and the one which fits in best with what appears to be Shakespeare’s view of the essential tragedy of human life at this time, is that here is a presentation of the paradox of guilt and justice. Justice demands appropriate action where a crime has been committed, but in fact no action is ever appropriate.

(from D. Daiches, A Critical History of English Literature, Secker & Warburg, 1971) Each of the plays is so made that it can appeal to different audiences at different

levels of intelligence. Hamlet is a story of murder, suicide, madness, to those who call for melodrama, but for others it is a most subtle analysis of character, and a play in which verse is used with great skill.

Hamlet, the earliest of the great tragedies, is the most self-conscious. The

renaissance atmosphere of art, ostentation, learning, and crime, governs a play in which the central character is himself a renaissance scholar-prince, clever, melancholic, introspective. Like a character in life itself, Hamlet may not be capable of full interpretation, though it is clear that through him Shakespeare exploored the whole problem of action and the reflective mind.

(from I. Evans, A Short History of English Literature, Penguin, 1971).

This is how the play develops: The players perform the scene of the murder of Hamlet’s father before the court, and Hamlet obtains the proof of his uncle’s guilt, but at the expense of revealing his own knowledge of it: the king is not only upset, but also alarmed, and will soon take action against him.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that the queen wishes to see him, and take the opportunity to ask him the cause of his mental disorder. Hamlet mocks their attempt to find out his secret (and solve the riddle of his personality). Then he goes to talk to the queen, and Polonius decides to hide behind an arras and listen to the conversation.

Claudius is left alone; for a moment he feels remorse for the crime he has committed and tries to pray. Hamlet arrives and draws his sword to kill him. But killing Claudius when he is praying could mean sending him to Heaven; if Hamlet wants to perform a true revenge he must wait and kill Claudius when he is in a state of sin.

Hamlet goes to his mother’s room, and once again gives evidence of his quick and

harsh spirit: HAMLET: Now, mother, what’s the matter. QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended.

Hamlet then tries to get the queen to understand what wrong she has done, but she feels threatened and shouts for help. Polonius in his turn is frightened and shouts. At this Hamlet, thinking that the king is behind the arras, instantly plunges his sword through the arras and kills Polonius.

In the course of the dramatic discussion that follows, the ghost appears again and reminds Hamlet of his purpose. But he is visible to the prince only. The queen cannot see or hear him, and believes that her son has a hallucination.

This stage stratagem is very effective because it poses several questions: 1) Who is right, Hamlet who sees the ghost, or the queen who sees her son speaking to the air? 2) Does the ghost choose to be visible only to Hamlet? And why not to the queen who was his legitimate wife? Is it because she has not been faithful to him? Or is it because the ghost does not want to frighten her? 3) Does Hamlet only believe that he sees a ghost, because his reason has nearly been overturned by the tragic events?

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Here is what an established critic has written on this scene.

This remarkable scene –the only one in which we see the Hamlet family together, father, mother, and son- has a strange kind of pathos, with the queen unable because of her guilt to see her husband’s spirit so that the ghost, after a vain effort to reestablish the family unit, as it were, departs in silence forever. (from D. Daiches, A Critical History of English Literature, Secker & Warburg, 1971) Claudius realizes that Hamlet intended to murder him and not Polonius, and hastens to remove him from the court: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will take him to England and here, following the king’s instructions, he will be murdered. However, pirates attack the ship and Hamlet can thus return to Denmark. Meanwhile Ophelia becomes insane and dies, falling into a brook, and Laertes, her brother, is determined to avenge her death and that of Polonius. A duel is organized between Hamlet and Laertes; the latter, at the suggestion of the king, uses a foil with a poisoned tip and kills Hamlet who, however, has mortally wounded both Laertes and the king. Meanwhile the queen drinks a cup of poisoned wine, that Claudius had prepared for Hamlet. Fortinbras, prince of Norway, will succeed to the throne of Denmark. CONCLUDING TASKS

1. Point out the main features of the Elizabethan tragedy. How does Hamlet

compare to it?

It is commonly agreed that Hamlet is not in line with the standard treatment of revenge. Discuss this point.

Personal interpretation.

2. How do you explain the immense success of this play, which is regularly performed in theatres of all the world, and also the subject of numerous films?

Personal interpretation.