| 1) Hamlet uses his madness to spout universal truths whereas Ophelia descends into madness as a result of her cruel sexualisted treatement | 1) The contrast between Hamlet’s ‘antic disposition’ and appearance of madness and the real madness of Ophelia |
| 1) ‘By Cock they are to blame’; ‘We fat ourselves for maggots; I am but mad north by north west | 1) Quote |
| Mack: ‘Madness contains both punishment and insight’; for shakespeare…the uncertainty is the point’ | 1) Critic |
| Claudius’ master rhetoric to the courtiers and Hamlet’s reaction: ‘brow of woe’ synecdoche and elongated vowel sound -mimics that of a lament. Carefully unites the kingom, enhances this through his employment of the royal ‘we’. Subverts customs in ‘mirth in funeral and dirge in marriage’, again the subtlty in his vowel sounds…Claudius’ manipulation of Laertes to kill Hamlet, pretends to honour the filial relationship though merely uses Laertes as a tool to exact his own desires. Repetition of ‘would’, manipulation of syntax is reflective of his manipulation: that we would do, we should do when we would..’ and ‘this ‘should’ is like a spendthrift sigh’ sibilence??? | 2) Claudius’s appearance of ‘seeming’ respectability and the Machiavellian manipulation of the court |
| Conflicting realities of the ghost in its ambiguity: is the ghost truly malicious because of its desire to commit regicide -ref the Divine right of kings- or protecting innocent partiesHamlet’s doubts about the ghost in context e.g 1.5 pg 31: expressing religious confusion of the time ‘angel or goblin’ 3.2 pg 83: ‘thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit and time agreeing…Hecate’s ban thrice blasted”If his occulted guilt do not itself unkennel in one speech it is a damned ghost’ pg75 Hamlet’s interaction with the ghost in 3.4, unobserved by Gertude ‘this visitation is but to whet they almost blunted purpose’ | 3) The appearance of the ghost and Hamlet’s quest to prove the reality of his words |
| ‘The whole play is an exact transcript of what might be supposed to have taken place at the court of Denmark’ | 2) Critic |
| Greenblatt: ‘the revolutionary generation… is all dying out and the survivors hear only hypocrisy…and look back with longing at what they have lost’ | 3) Critic |
Hamlet: Appearance Vs Reality
August 4, 2019