莎劇賞析之六：《哈姆雷特》 Hamlet

莎劇賞析之六：《哈姆雷特》Hamlet 董崇選中山醫大應用外語系教授懂更懂學習英文網站負責人網址：http://dgdel.nchu.edu.tw

I. Plot: • Type: Revenge Tragedy, 復仇悲劇 Romantic Tragedy 浪漫悲劇 Time: c. 1200 • Locale:Elsinore (艾西諾), Denmark • First presented: 1602

II. Principal Characters: • Hamlet: Prince of Denmark • Claudius: King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle • Gertrude: Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother • Polonius: Lord Chamberlain under Claudius • Ophelia: Polonius’ daughter, Hamlet’s love • Laertes: Polonius’ son • Horatio: Hamlet’s schoolmate & loyal friend • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern: Hamlet’s schoolmates • Fortinbras: Prince of Norway • Ghost of King Hamlet

III. The Story: • 第一幕: Horatio and two others are on watch at the castle of Elsinore. They see an apparition resembling the late King of Denmark. The specter cannot be persuaded to speak. It vanishes at cockcrow. Claudius thanks his subjects for assistance in the ceremonies at his brother’s funeral and his own marriage. He also sends ambassadors to curb Fortinbras’ threatening invasion. Hamlet grieves over his mother’s speedy re-marriage. He is told of the ghost. Laertes warns Ophelia of Hamlet’s attentions. Polonius orders Ophelia to reject Hamlet. The ghost leads Hamlet away, tells him how he was murdered, and asks him to revenge.

III. The Story: • 第二幕: Polonius directs someone to look into his son’s private life. Ophelia comes and reports about Hamlet’s symptoms of madness. Polonius decides that Hamlet is mad for love of Ophelia and hurries her off to report the matter to the King. Claudius and Gertrude ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to observe Hamlet and determine the cause of his “antic disposition.” News comes that Fortinbras will not invade Denmark. Claudius agrees to observe unseen a meeting between Ophelia and Hamlet. Hamlet suspects that R and G are Claudius’ spies. He arranges for a company of players to perform The Murder of Gonzago.

III. The Story: • 第三幕: Ophelia walks where Hamlet will see her. Hamlet enters, greets Ophelia, but then rails against women. He insults Polonius and urges Ophelia to enter a nunnery. Claudius is convinced that Hamlet is not a distracted lover, but a dangerous presence. Hamlet instructs the players and sets Horatio to watch the King’s reaction to the play. He himself sits by Ophelia and jests with her. Claudius leaves during a pantomime. Hamlet passes by Claudius, who repents while kneeling. He faces Gertrude in her chamber. His wild manner makes her cry out for safety, and her outcry makes the eavesdropping Polonius call for help. Hamlet kills Polonius with a thrust through the arras. Claudius gives orders that Hamlet be sent to England.

III. The Story: • 第四幕: Hamlet taunts R and G. Claudius seals his orders to kill Hamlet in England. Fortinbras and his army pass by Hamlet. Hamlet compares himself with Fortinbras, despising himself for his irresolution. The Queen hears of Ophelia’s distracted behavior. Laertes has heard of his father’s death and has come back for revenge. The King calms Laertes. Hamlet returns from a piracy. Claudius and Laertes plan to kill Hamlet in a fencing match by a poisoned rapier and a poisoned drink. Gertrude comes to report the drowning of Ophelia.

III. The Story: • 第五幕: Hamlet and Horatio come upon two rustics digging a grave. A funeral party enters and Hamlet discovers that the corpse is that of Ophelia. Laertes expresses grief, Hamlet comes forward, and they have a grapple before they are separated. The fencing match starts. Hamlet scores two hits. Gertrude drinks to his health from the poisoned cup. Laertes pricks Hamlet with the poisoned rapier. Their weapons are exchanged and Laertes is fatally wounded. Gertrude dies. Laertes reveals the plot. Hamlet leaps at Claudius and runs him through. Finally Hamlet insists that Horatio live on to tell the whole story, and names Fortinbras as successor to the Danish throne.

IV. Famous Lines: • “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” --Hamlet to Claudius • “Frailty, thy name is woman.” --Hamlet in soliloquy • “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.” • “Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend.” --Polonius to Laertes

IV. Famous Lines: • “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” --Polonius’ comment • “... there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” --Hamlet to Rosencrantz • “O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space—were it not that I have bad dreams.” --Hamlet to R and G

IV. Famous Lines: • “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” --Hamlet to R and G • “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.” --Hamlet to Guildenstern • “The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscienceof the King.” --Hamlet in soliloquy

IV. Famous Lines: “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 sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep, 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 wished. ...

IV. Famous Lines: ... Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But the dread of something after death, ... Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action.” --Hamlet in soliloquy

IV. Famous Lines: • “Get thee to a nunnery. Why, wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” • “God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another.” --Hamlet to Ophelia • “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action ... overstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold as it were the mirror up to nature.” --Hamlet to players • “There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. 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 to Horatio

V. Discussion: • What kind of man is Hamlet? Is his case really a typical one of the Oedipus complex? • Is Hamlet mad or not mad? • What’s Ophelia’s role in the play? • How many people in the play are to avenge their fathers? • Does the play teach any moral about revenge?

莎劇賞析之六：《哈姆雷特》 Hamlet