| in context | 1st performed July 1602; mirrors real story of Danish prince; transforms revenge story into play whose problems resonate with fundamental concerns of Renaissance; demonstrates how difficult it is to know people and to understand motivations, feelings, mental states |
| Act I | The ghost of King Hamlet demands that his son Hamlet kill Claudius, the current king and Hamlet’s uncle. *watchmen & Horatio first to see ghost, they tell Hamlet*Hamlet reluctantly agrees to stay in Denmark*Polonius forbids Ophelia to see Hamlet & Laertes leaves for France |
| Act II | Hamlet pretends to be crazy, hesitates to kill Claudius, and increasingly feels alienated from everyone else.*Ophelia tells Polonius that Hamlet has accosted her, acting crazy*Hamlet feels betrayed by school friends and worries Gertrude and Claudius with crazy behavior |
| Act III | Reeling from Claudius’s violent reaction to a play, Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius.*Hamlet contemplates suicide and spurns Ophelia when he suspects that she has betrayed him*Hamlet almost kills Claudius but because Claudius is praying hesitates*Hamlet kills Polonius behind the curtain |
| Act IV | Claudius sends Hamlet to England, but Hamlet manages to return, resolved to kill Claudius.*On way to England, Hamlet encounters Fortinbras of Norway, resolves to stop wallowing and start acting*Ophelia goes mad and drowns, Laertes demands revenge and plots with Claudius |
| Act V | Denmark is purged of corruption as Claudius’s treachery is exposed and everybody dies.*Hamlet meets gravedigger, realizes all men turn to dust*Gertrude drinks poison wine, Laertes stabs Hamlet, Hamlet stabs Laertes and Claudius*Hamlet tells Horatio to live to tell story, Fortinbras to become king |
| Characters in Hamlet | Bernardo and MarcellusCaludiusFortinbrasFranciscoQueen GertrudeThe GhostHamlet, Prince of DenmarkHoratioLaertesOpheliaOsricPoloniusReynaldoRosencrantz and GuildensternVoltimand and Cornelius |
| Hamlet | more than meets eye, but not forthcoming about true nature; becomes obsessed with proving Claudius’s guilt, plagued with questions about afterlife, suicide, what happens to bodies after death; discontent with state of Denmark, family, and world; contemplates own death and option of suicide |
| Claudius | Hamlet’s antagonist; shrewd king, contrast with other male characters; most concerned with power; politician; craftiness undoes him in the end |
| Gertrude | actions and feelings are hard to read; craves affection and has strong instinct for self-preservation; best in social situations |
| Horatio | Hamlet’s close friend. Loyal and helpful throughout the play. Only major character to survive past the last act. |
| Ophelia | Polonius’s daughter, Laertes’s sister, and Hamlet’s sometime love. A sweet and innocent young girl, Ophelia obeys both Polonius and Laertes. Ophelia is smart and loving, but madness and death overtake her. |
| Polonuis | The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Polonius is a pompous, conniving old man. |
| Themes | the impossibility of certaintythe complexity of actiondeath |
| Motifs | incest and incestuous desireears and hearing- language is slippery |
| Symbols | Yorick’s skullrot |
| the impossibility of certainty | Hamlet questions what people around him take for granted- ghosts exist, ghost of Hamlet’s father is what it appears to be, ghost has reliable information; wonders if our actions have intended consequences; refusal to act paralyzes Hamlet |
| the complexity of action | Hamlet questions if can act in controlled way; Claudius’s power grab leads to his death |
| death | Hamlet ponders spiritual aftermath and physical remainders of death |
| incest and incestuous desire | Gertrude and Claudius were siblings-in-law, subtle hint found in Laertes’ relationship with Ophelia; strongest overtones found between Hamlet and Gertrude |
| ears and hearing | language is slippery; communicate facts, but also distort truth, manipulate people, further corrupt quests for power |
| Yorick’s skull | makes Hamlet think about inevitability of death and bodily disintegration; reveals fascination with physical consequences of death |
| rot | draw explicit connections between moral legitimacy of ruler and the health of a nation; upright Fortinbras’s rise to power suggests Denmark will be strengthened |
| major conflict | Hamlet struggles with doubts and difficulties as he considers killing his uncle Claudius to avenge his father’s death. |
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
July 20, 2019