HamletActs 1 & 2

Setting

How does Shakespeare use the setting in these Acts to develop:

a. Hamlet’s characterb.themes

The GhostWhat is the purpose of the

Ghost?

How does it help to develop the themes of the play?

What would have been the significance of its appearance in Shakepeare’s time?

Hamlet Describe Hamlet’s

relationships with: Gertrude Claudius Ophelia Polonius Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern Hamlet (his father)

soliloquies There are three soliloquies in

these Acts:

"O that this too too sullied flesh would melt" (1.2.129-159)

"O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?" (1.5.92-111)

"O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" (2.2.549-607) How do they develop:

A. the action B. the themes C. Hamlet?

Finally… Is Hamlet –

Frozen by self doubt? Overly moral Depressed A hero?