440 likes | 919 Views
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. By William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Shakespearean Tragedy:. a serious, blank-verse play (drama) having an unhappy ending. Elements of Shakespearean Tragedy:. the action revolves around a tragic hero hero has internal and external conflicts
E N D
Shakespearean Tragedy: a serious, blank-verse play (drama) having an unhappy ending
Elements of Shakespearean Tragedy: • the action revolves around a tragic hero • hero has internal and external conflicts • humor is used to relieve the dark mood • supernatural incidents occur • hero’s motivation is desire for revenge • chance happenings precipitate tragic catastrophes
The Tragic Hero: • is often involved in historical or socially significant events • evokes pity and fear • usually dies at end of play
The Five-Act Structure (recall Freytag’s triangle)
ACT I = Exposition • the rotten state of Denmark is disclosed • the ghost appears with his call for revenge
ACT II = Rising Action • Hamlet tries to discover the truth about the ghost’s accusations. Will he take revenge?
ACT III = Climax • Hamlet springs his “mousetrap” and gets the proof he needs; Claudius is guilty! • The play’s climax occurs: Hamlet kills Polonius by mistake.
ACT IV = Falling Action • Claudius, not Hamlet, takes charge of events; with the help of Laertes, he devises a counterplot against Hamlet.
ACT V = Resolution / Catastrophe • The consummation of everyone’s vengeance is achieved in a bloody ending that leaves only Horatio alive to tell the tale.
use of sensational horrors (murders on stage, exhibition of dead bodies, etc.)
“soliloquy” the words a character speaks aloud to him or herself when alone; often used as a device in drama to disclose a character's innermost thoughts
Quotes from Hamlet you may already know… (or soon will)
“Frailty, thy name is woman!” -Hamlet, referring to his mother, I.ii
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” • “This above all: to thine own self be true.” -Polonius to Laertes, I.iii
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” -Hamlet, I.v
"Murder most foul, as in the best it is,But this most foul, strange, and unnatural." -the ghost of Hamlet’s father, I.v
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” -Marcellus, to Horatio after Hamlet follows the ghost, I.iv
One that literary scholars quibble about… “O, That this too too sullied flesh would met, thaw and resolve itself into a dew.” -Hamlet, I.ii
“The time is out of joint. O, cursed spite, that I was ever born to set it right.” -Hamlet, I.v
" There is nothing either good or bad - but thinking makes it so. " -Hamlet, II.ii
" The play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. " -Hamlet, II.ii
"Though this be madness - yet there is method in't. "-Polonius, II.ii
“Brevity is the soul of wit.” -Hamlet, II.ii
“To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?” -Hamlet, contemplating suicide, III.i
“---Soft ye now! The fair Ophelia! – Nymph, in thy orisons, be all my sins remember’d.” -Hamlet, to Ophelia, III.i
“Get thee to a nunnery; why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” -Hamlet to Ophelia, III.i
" The lady doth protest too much – methinks. " -Gertrude, III.ii
" When sorrows come - they come not single spies but in battalions. "- Hamlet, IV.v
“Alas! Poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio.” -Hamlet, V.i
“If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.” -Hamlet, talking of death, V.ii
Famous last words… • “O, I die, Horatio… the rest is silence.” -Hamlet’s dying words, to Horatio, V.ii
“Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” -Horatio to Hamlet, V.ii