1 / 28

Hamlet

Hamlet. A study of examination questions . “It is possible for the audience to dismiss Gertrude and Ophelia as unimportant victims in a world of court power.”. “Shakespeare engages our every sympathy with the female characters in Hamlet.”. What justification is there

mahlah
Download Presentation

Hamlet

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Hamlet A study of examination questions

  2. “It is possible for the audience to dismiss Gertrude and Ophelia as unimportant victims in a world of court power.”

  3. “Shakespeare engages our every sympathy with the female characters in Hamlet.”

  4. What justification is there in the text to support these two views? What is your opinion of the way Shakespeare presents Gertrude and Ophelia in Hamlet?

  5. Mature understanding of the difference • in the two views of the female characters. • Own view is exploratory • and thoughtful • based on confident use • of relevant scenes • with frequent quotation • embedded in the answer. Examiners’ criteria for high marks in this essay.

  6. LAERTES…Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!O heavens! is't possible, a young maid's witsShould be as moral as an old man's life?Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,It sends some precious instance of itselfAfter the thing it loves. OPHELIA [Sings]They bore him barefaced on the bier;Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;And in his grave rain'd many a tear:--Fare you well, my dove! Act4 sc5

  7. LAERTES Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, It could not move thus.OPHELIA [Sings] You must sing a-down a-down, An you call him a-down-a. Oh, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter.LAERTES This nothing's more than matter.OPHELIA There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. that's for thoughts.LAERTES A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted. Act4 sc5 contd

  8. “It is possible for the audience to dismiss Gertrude and Ophelia as unimportant victims in a world of court power.” “Shakespeare engages our every sympathy with the female characters in Hamlet.”

  9. Deal with your points in order rather than the scenes in order… • this stops you “telling the story” of the characters, • too easy to do when you are under stress.

  10. OPHELIA O heavenly powers, restore him! HAMLET I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God has given you one face, and you make yourselvesanother: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, andnick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonnessyour ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hathmade me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages:those that are married already, all but one, shalllive; the rest shall keep as they are. To anunnery, go. Exit Act3 sc1

  11. OPHELIA O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;The expectancy and rose of the fair state,The glass of fashion and the mould of form,The observed of all observers, quite, quite down!And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,That suck'd the honey of his music vows,Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youthBlasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me,To have seen what I have seen, see what I see! Act3 sc1 contd

  12. …Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.OPHELIA I shall the effect of this good lesson keep,As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,And recks not his own rede.LAERTES O, fear me not.I stay too long: but here my father comes… A double blessing is a double grace,Occasion smiles upon a second leave. Act1 sc3

  13. …O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shameWhen the compulsive ardour gives the charge,Since frost itself as actively doth burnAnd reason panders will. QUEEN GERTRUDE O Hamlet, speak no more:Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;And there I see such black and grained spotsAs will not leave their tinct. HAMLET Nay, but to liveIn the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making loveOver the nasty sty,-- Act3 sc4

  14. QUEEN GERTRUDE O, speak to me no more;These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;No more, sweet Hamlet! HAMLET A murderer and a villain;A slave that is not twentieth part the titheOf your precedent lord; a vice of kings;A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,And put it in his pocket! QUEEN GERTRUDE No more! HAMLET A king of shreds and patches,--Enter Ghost Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure? Act3 sc4 contd

  15. …Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night! KING CLAUDIUS What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet? QUEEN GERTRUDE Mad as the sea and wind, when both contendWhich is the mightier: in his lawless fit,Behind the arras hearing something stir,Whips out his rapier, cries, 'A rat, a rat!'And, in this brainish apprehension, killsThe unseen good old man.

  16. Hamlet: Look here upon this picture, and on this, The counterfeit presentment of two brothers…

  17. QUEEN GERTRUDE There is a willow grows aslant a brook,That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;There with fantastic garlands did she comeOf crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purplesThat liberal shepherds give a grosser name,But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weedsClambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;When down her weedy trophies and herselfFell in the weeping brook. Act4 sc7

  18. Her clothes spread wide;And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;As one incapable of her own distress,Or like a creature native and induedUnto that element: but long it could not beTill that her garments, heavy with their drink,Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious layTo muddy death. Act4 sc7 contd

  19. …dismiss as unimportant victims? • Male decision and indecision is of paramount importance in the play, but… • Victims certainly, but not unimportant, the plot relies on their roles as wives and lovers to underlie the tensions of the revenge tragedy unfolding around them.

  20. …our every sympathy is engaged? • Ophelia has an innocence and naivety which charms us • Her genuine madness is in contrast to Hamlet’s feigning performances • The sweetness of her songs engages our sympathy • She honours her father’s and her brother’s wishes with loyalty • Gertrude’s description of her drowning is lyrical and passionate so we are moved by her unnecessary death.

  21. …sympathy? • Gertrude is manipulated by Claudius to allow him a position of power, she is queen already and has little to gain • The ghost implores Hamlet not to harm her in Act 1 sc5 so we are influenced • She is concerned for Hamlet and his plight, recognises that “His father’s death and our oe’r hasty marriage” is the cause of his melancholy • She is moved by Ophelia's death, mourns her in elegant language • She deals with Hamlet as an exasperated mother might; we recognise human characteristics in this.

More Related