Hamlet

1. Hamlet “To be, or not to be: that is the question:…” (Act III Scene I)

2. Background • Written during the first part of the seventeenth century, Hamlet was probably first performed in July, 1602. • Shakespeare likely borrowed for his plays ideas and stories from earlier centuries. This was a common practice in both the sixteenth and seventeenth century • Shakespeare was able to take an unremarkable revenge story and make it resonate with the most fundamental themes of the Renaissance.

3. The Tragic Hero • The hero is torn by an inward struggle • He is an exceptional being, although human in nature and physicality, for his character is intensified • The hero’s flaw is a one-sidedness, a predisposition in some particular direction; a total incapacity, in certain circumstances, of resisting the force which is drawing him in this direction • This tragic trait is fatal to him. He errs by action or by omission which brings on his ruin • He should have so much of greatness that, in his error and fall, the reader may be vividly aware of the possibilities of human life. • When the evil in him masters the good, it destroys other people though him, but it also destroys him

4. The Language of Shakespeare • Rhythm • Metre • Foot • Iambic Foot • Metric Line: • Blank Verse • Prose: written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure

5. Archetypal Patterns • Archetypes • Archetypal Characters • Archetypal Events • Image • Recurring Subjects/Motifs and Themes • The Heroic Journey

6. The Great Chain of Being • Among the most important of the continuities with the Classical period was the concept of the Great Chain of Being. • Its major premise was that every existing thing in the universe had its "place" in a divinely planned hierarchical order, which was pictured as a chain vertically extended. • An object's "place" depended on the relative proportion of "spirit" and "matter" it contained--the less "spirit" and the more "matter," the lower down it stood. • At the bottom, for example, stood various types of inanimate objects, such as metals, stones, and the four elements (earth, water, air, fire). • Higher up were various members of the vegetative class, like trees and flowers. Then came animals; then humans; and then angels. • At the very top was God. • Then within each of these large groups, there were other hierarchies.

7. Characters… • Hamlet: A University student whose studies are interrupted by his father’s death, Hamlet is extremely philosophical and contemplative. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty • Claudius: Hamlet’s major antagonist is a shrewd, lustful, conniving king who contrasts with the other male characters in the play. Whereas most of the other important men in Hamlet are preoccupied with ideas of justice, revenge and moral balance, Claudius is bent upon maintaining his own power

8. Characters… • Gertrude: The Queen of Denmark; widow of King Hamlet; the mother of Prince Hamlet and the new wife of Claudius (her brother-in-law). • Polonius: The Lord of Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, a pompous, conniving old man. Polonius is the father of Ophelia and Laertes

9. Characters… • Ophelia: Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet. • Laertes: Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action. Laertes is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet. • Horatio: Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the university in Wittenberg. Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play.

10. Characters… • Fortinbras: The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honour, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern: Two slightly bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behaviour. • The Ghost: The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him. • Osric: The foolish courtier who summons Hamlet to his duel with Laertes.

11. Characters… • Voltimand & Cornelius: Courtiers whom Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to prevent Fortinbras from attacking. • Francisco: A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore. • Marcellus & Bernardo: The offcers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it. Marcellus is present when Hamlet first encounters the ghost. • Reynaldo: Polonius’s servant, who is sent to France by Polonius to check up on and spy on Laertes.

12. Themes:the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work • The Impossibility of Certainty • The Mystery of Death • The Complexity of Action • The Nation as a Diseased Body

13. Motifs: recurring structures, contrasts or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes • Incest & Incestuous Desire: • Misogyny: • Ears & Hearing

14. Symbols: objects, characters, figures, or colours used to represent abstract ideas or concepts • In Hamlet physical objects are rarely used to represent thematic ideas. • One important exception is: • Yorick’s Skull

15. And now, on to Act I Scene I…