| Samuel Johnson- not mad | he does nothing which might not have done with the reputation of sanity. |
| William Hazlitt- mad because of thinking | too much taken up with the airy world of contemplation |
| Sigmund Freud- can’t revenge old.H | Hamlet is able to do anything-except take vengeance on the man who did away with his father |
| A.C Bradley- madness… | becomes his doom |
| T.S Eliot- his madness is really… | a form of emotional relief |
| Valerie Traub- male power | Male power is restored through such mechanism as cuckold jokes |
| Graham Holderness- Hamlets nature | chameleon nature |
| Carol Thomas Neely- Ophelia’s madness uses… | thematically coherent quoted discourse |
| Philip Armstrong- mirroring identities | the child constructs its fantasy ego according to the upright and coordinated figure in the glass |
| Philip Armstrong- Hamlet copying Pyrrhus | the player vividly foreshadows the moment at which Hamlet, a few scenes later, will stand with his sword poised above his uncle’s head |
| Lisa Jardine- mother as object (closet scene) | the son crosses into the enclosure of her mother’s privacy to encounter her as a sexual object |
| Alexander- difficulty with revenge | The proof of the King’s guilt does not solve Hamlet’s problem. The question remains, how does one deal with such a man, without becoming like him? |
| Belsley- revenge is not justice | Revenge is not justice. It is rather an act of injustice on behalf of justice |
| John Lennard- complex reveng e | Shakespeare deliberately complicates the ABC of revenge |
| John McRae-hamlet discovering himself | (hamlet) has reached equanimity |
| Lee Edwards- Ophelia’s meaning | Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet |
| Michael Pennington- polonius and parenthood | a bad parent |
| Gertrude’s guilt- T.S. Eliot | Hamlet is a play about dealing with the effects of a mothers guilt upon her son |
| Claudius’ love for Gertrude- Coleridge | he loved Gertrude deeply and genuinly |
| Ophelia’s downfall- Helena Faucit | strong and intelligent woman destroyed by the heartlessness of men |
| women representing…- David Leverenz | women represent everything denied by reasonable men |
| Claudius as villain Clara Stocklon | clearly the antagonist |
| Claudius not a monster- Amanda Mabillard | he is not a monster he is morally weak |
| Polonius evil- J.H Walter | cold hearted devil |
| Polonius’ morality- Coleridge | a man whose moral compass is infinitely wobbly |
| Ghost’s uncertainty- John dover Wilson | we are never perfectly certain as to just who or what the ghost is |
Hamlet critical quotes
November 5, 2019