Hamlet, prince of Denmark

CORE Work 2*: Hamlet: Prince of Denmark

*in-depth work (for oral examination)

Introduction

• Hamlet: Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare

• Revenge Tragedy
• But when the play opens, Hamlet is already in a state of mourning
• Eponymous: Hamlet + Hamlet (character)
• The revenge is layered in the play

• Renaissance Beliefs

• Reason led to virtue
• Order led to reason
• Love was an ideal; lust was a rejection of God given reason
• Belief in ghosts

• The Nature of Evil

• Inherited defect, which does not involve human responsibility; the individual is the victim of fate
• Complexions based on the four humours
• Impulse

• Setting

• Hierarchy of creation
• Man’s ability to reason made him closer to angels, or symbols of “pure virtue”
• Reason had to overcome passion, grief and “bestiality” for man as a rejection of reason.
• Mankind remains tainted from original sin
• Divine Right of Kings
• The King is God’s minister on Earth

• Context

• Written in 1599
• Problems at that time
• Plague
• Elizabeth’s successor
• Irish rebellion; threat of the Spanish Armada
• Death of his only son, Hamlet
• Five-act structure
• Dilemma
• Soliloquy

• Themes

• Hamlet’s foils: Laertes, Fortinbras
• Appearance v. Reality
• Sanity v. Insanity
• Decay v. Corruption
• Revenge
• “antic disposition”
• King Fortinbras was killed by King Hamlet
• Prince Hamlet (a man of contemplation)
• Prince Fortinbras (a man of action)
• Cain & Abel

1. Act 1 Scene 1 (Opening Scene)

• “Who’s there”: infused with fear and anxiety / identity

• Opening -> tension, foreshadowing

• Time: midnight
• Unusual appearance of people that are not guards
• Horatio is expected
• Frightening mood

• “I am sick at heart”

• Reference to the motif of illness
• Problematic situation
• Social malaise

• The heart = the core of the being; the feelings, the spirit of a person
• This malaise is widespread
• Ordinary account/exchange between two soldiers
• Preoccupation with a desire for peace and quiet
• Foreshadowing

• Honesty v. Corruption

• He defines Francesco’s characterization as honest
• Emphasis on honesty
• Therefore, who is dishonest?

• The anonymity of something that is clearly bothersome

• Eerie, unsettling atmosphere -> MOOD
• The play opens with soldiers (-> military, conflict)

• The play ends with Fortinbras
• Mortality
• Scholarly (Horatio and Hamlet)
• The Ghost is seen, is witnessed
• The audience sees these 3 characters witness the Ghost
• There is no doubt of the Ghost’s apparition
• The Ghost is the catalyst of this revenge-tragedy
• Through Horatio, the soldiers can validate what they have witnessed
• Horatio’s functions are manifold
• Political conflict + strife
• Identity
• The Ghost returns
• Ominous foreshadowing

• “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”

• Dishonesty, corruption
• Death persuasive in Denmark

• Why is Denmark preparing for war?

• Synecdoche: “Fortinbras of Norway”
• Heraldry -> code of chivalry
• Norway will seek to reclaim the land
• Desire to reclaim what once belonged to Norway
• LKH = legitimate ruler
• “hot and full” = Fortinbras
• Rhythm
• F is gathering fighters in exchange for food
• “landless resolutes”: not legitimate
• The theme of the past enters

• Summary of A1S1’s function:

• informative, expository, introductory purpose
• Historical elements
• Plot device: the Ghost triggers the revenge-tragedy

• “A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye”: the mind is disturbed and cannot think clearly
• References Julius Caesar (omens, supernatural used to foreshadow his assassination used in this play)
• He frames the Ghost’s presence in Denmark
• Semantic field of Roman references
• high, palmy, mightiest
• Unnatural events before Caesar’s death
• Compares Ghost’s presence with the events that took place before JC’s assassination
• parallel, juxtaposition
• “stars”, “fire”, “sun”, “eclipse”, “Neptune’s empire”, “dews of blood” => natural phenomena
• Trains of fire -> cf. meteor scene in the Scarlet Letter
• Chaos, catastrophe

• The Ghost cannot portend anything positive
• Horatio foreshadows
• The natural world informs (warns) the human world of danger

• Second entry of the Ghost:

• “It spreads his arms”
• “The cock crows” -> sound effect (indication of time: day)
• Warning for the G who has to depart
• The god of day = Apollo

• L166 -> A4S1L29
• Personification
• Russet -> scarlet
• dawn, breaking of day
• The unknown
• The opening mood of the play
• TONE.
• “This bodes an eruption to our state”
• “I am sick at heart” (disease, illness)
• “bitter cold”

1. Act 1 Scene 2

• Flourish: “Trumpet Call”
• The entrance of order, state
• King as symbol of harmony in the state
• Claudius seeks to establish legitimacy
• Claudius is the LKH’s brother (Cain & Abel)
• Family connection
• Mourning period
• Wisest sorrow => justified sorrow
• Claudius’ speech

• Oxymorons
• Opposites aligned
• C speaks in opposites
• conflict, artifice, ambiguity, duplicity, lacks clarity

• “eye”

• Perplexity, confusion

• Gertrude is a widow
• The scales are balanced
• “taken to wife”
• Semantic field of happiness / of grief and mourning
• C quickly addresses and dismisses
• Private -> public (affairs of state)
• Dramatic irony: C admits to the disruption of the state -> Fortinbras’ supposition was correct
• Regicide = the murder of a King
• Hypocrisy in addressing the court on this topic
• Rhetorical techniques that Claudius uses to move on from topic to topic
• C=a man in action; makes decisions v. H=a man in reflection
• Hamlet v. Laertes v. Fortinbras: How are these 3 young men linked? What motivates them?
• levies=money
• He defines the limits of their power
• Public -> private
• The patriarch, the avuncular
• P=advisor, counsellor, Lord Chamberlain
• Synecdoche
• P is very powerful, very close to the King
• “son” = Hamlet
• The most important for lat
• First time H speaks in the play
• H makes it clear that he is not C’s son
• pun, double entendre
• Foreshadows the action of the play
• sun/son (dramatic irony as the sun=King and although C has usurped the throne, Hamlet is the rightful king, and therefore the sun / Hamlet does not approve of C calling him as his own SON)
• Clouds v. Sun
• Sense of loyalty/faithfulness?
• The strong inclination to believe that there was an affair between Gertrude and Claudius before
• Contemptuous tone
• Ge is insensitive
• Imagery of sight: “eye”
• Public setting
• Juxtaposed to the closet scene (A3S4)
• “seems” x4 -> APPEARANCE
• Ironic comment of C’s speech (only appearances)
• Theme <-> Setting

• Appearance v. Reality
• Exterior v. Interior
• Public v. Private (-> secrets)
• Common v. Particular

• Seeming indifferent at the loss of her first husband
• Parent-child conundrum/conflict
• Appearance in clothing (cloak)
• Anaphora of negation
• H refuses to be told how long to mourn
• Antic disposition
• H sees the appearance embodied by Ge and C
• Message directed to C
• Undermines H
• Every aspect of Hamlet’s character is questioned and challenged by C
• C brings Hamlet and himself together
• Gertrude is manipulative

• 1st Soliloquy: “O that this too too solid flesh would melt”

• sullied/soiled
• Sin, corruption, lust, incest, suicide
• “O” => tone of lamentation, desperation
• CONFLICT WITHIN HAMLET
• He wants to commit suicide, but cannot
• Garden seeks to control nature
• “unweeded” -> corruption and sin (=> RC)
• Rank and gross: lascivious, incestuous relationship
• He compares the LKH to Hyperion
• Death -> source of life
• Elizabethan Chain of Being
• Satyr (man-goat) = sexual lust (≠nobility of love)
• Hamlet’s revulsion, loathing, disgust for C and Ge
• grief, anguish, pain, suffering
• Time references: “heaven and earth” -> “within a month”

• Enter Ho+M+B
• There is going to be a recounting of the encounter with the G
• Hamlet questions his identity
• The profound effect of the LKH’s death
• Ho is measured and not provocative
• Once the existence is announced to Hamlet, the play may begin […]
• Ghost: plot mechanism
• Hamlet’s soul will be damned if he engages with a dishonest Ghost
• This information spurs him to action (he is impatient)

1. Act 1 Scene 3

• A private room = a change of setting
• New characters to whom we are introduced
• Exposition of plot
• Ophelia listens, is obedient and submissive (-> but can also be critical)
• Blossoming relationship between H and O
• Reciprocal
• Direct
• Deflect her father’s prying into her private life
• Naïve
• defends, reassuring
• Sibling exchange
• Focalisation of H through L: Hamlet thought the eyes of Laertes
• Superficial interest/whim
• “violet” -> A4S5
• Health of the body; nature
• Body as a motif of the play to represent the malaise/illness that is Denmark
• Body-politic
• The body, the mind, the soul must mature together
• Body -> love
• There is impediment, no deceit
• Midline stops emphasize what is about to come next
• Laertes’ speech foreshadows ironically H+O’s scene
• “honour” = virginity/chastity
• Danger in accepting and returning Hamlet’s love
• Misdirection
• the danger does not lie in Hamlet but in Ge and C
• Polonius -> Laertes Rhetoric use of parallel structure
• Clothing as an indication of station, class, rank
• Moving, poignant
• Patriarchal attitude
• “w” -> C’s evil characteristics
• Gertrude: false appearance: “seeming virtuous”
• Through the G, the audience wonders if this relationship (between Ge and C) existed prior to the death of LKH as Hamlet=in media res -> ambiguity
• Filial devotion to her father
• Sibling difference: obedience is not expected of Laertes v. Ophelia automatically shows obedience

• The marriage => corruption

• Ge is corrupt
• Ge v. HP: focalisation, characterization
• Ge v. O: corrupt v. pure, virginal
• Appearance of legitimacy

1. Act 1 Scene 4

• Setting shifts: gun platform
• Counterbalances the setting of the first scene: Continuation thereof
• The corruption extends to the entire court
• Setting in parallel
• The allégeance of Horatio, Marcellus to Hamlet
• Semantic field of nature
• Evolution is what H says
• Exterior perception the nature of men
• Nature (fate) v. Nurture
• Baked manners
• The habit that comes from the vicious mole of nature takes over the plosive manners
• It affects the individual’s manners
• Hamlet is trying to understand Claudius
• Strength in Hamlet’s will
• To give absolution of sins
• Last sins
• In abundance, profuse
• The marriage => corruption

1. Act 1 Scene 5

• “revenge”
• Snake motif
• 2nd soliloquy: “O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?”

• Knowledge
• Writing
• Burden
• “I have sworn’t” -> promise
• “villain”
• Absolution before death

• Summary of Act 1

• Expository function

• Introduction of the characters
• Setting
• Exterior v. Interior
• The state of Denmark itself
• The appearance of the Ghost and Hamlet => revenge-tragedy

• tension, fear, conflict, mood
• Curiosity is piqued (theatrical interest)
• G is essential to the exposition of plot

• Dramatic irony:

• The audience and the characters are partied to information simultaneously  

• Horatio
• Claudius’ speech

• Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship:

• Interaction between the main plot (Hamlet’s family, Hamlet’s revenge) and the subplot (P+L+O+Rey)

• Theme
• Foreshadowing
• Motifs: the body, the body-politic; sickness, illness, mortality
• Change and evolution in Hamlet (->Tone)
• Symbols: the snake, bestial imagery, the Ghost, imagery of corruption, decay, death
• Sound effects: the canons, the Ghost, trumpets, cock
• Evocation of myths (biblical and classical)
• Reason v. Action / Reason v. Corruption
• Juxtaposition
• Foil characters
• Antagonists v. Protagonists
• Political health of nation
• The individual that reflects the state as a whole
• Appearance v. Reality
• melancholy, mourning, suffering (-> Knowledge)
• Antic disposition = major product of Act 1 that leads us to Act 2 and to the further development of the plot
• The past v. The present
• Movement in setting

1. Act 2 Scene 1

• Passage of time
• New setting
• The idea of movement is implicit (within the play; +within Hamlet who has evolved)
• Polonius: manipulative, interfering, provocative
• Reynaldo=instrument in P’s hands
• Creating climate of suspicion around Laertes
• Laertes’ discourse
• He sets up traps for Laertes: Reynaldo has to tempt Laertes
• No dialogue, no speech
• Hamlet is mute
• O’s obedience: she gives an account of this meeting
• Madness stems from Ophelia’s rejection
• Only Ge, C, P: intimate trio
• Gathering of intelligence
• Receiving reports from various sources
• Claudius is very calculated, careful and aware
• Fortinbras has taken advantage of his uncle’s situation and has exploited it
• order, obedience and respect maintained in Norway
• Fortinbras is contained
• A potential war is averted
• invasion, war awaits Poland
• External v. Internal threat

• Documents in the play:

• Contract from Norway
• Letter from Hamlet
• Hamlet writes in his notebook

• Ophelia through being mentioned in this metaphor of decay has been soiled
• Polonius is the reason Hamlet is unable to see Ophelia
• Polonius is the fool/the one who is trying to find ou the truth
• Power relations
• Prose exchange -> Hamlet has the power
• Polonius thinks aloud in the “aside”
• P believes the antic disposition
• R & G enter
• Antic disposition (->Prose)
• He plays with identity
• AD enables to shift from one identity to the other
• Hamlet is also an interrogation
• No shortage of H’s ability to manipulate language
• Different POV
• The audience watches
• R & G are: outsiders, mediators -> in danger
• Stooges
• Revelation: where is the truth hid?
• Hamlet and Claudius will not reveal
• Hamlet speaks in metaphors
• IS HAMLET MAD?

• Exchange between Rosencrantz + Guildenstern + Hamlet (given for commentary purposes):

• Hamlet is the prisoner
• Claudius, and the court by extension => jailor
• P in collusion with Claudius
• P: misguidance of loyalty and faithfulness
• His ability to think freely is not restrained
• By introducing “ambition” he tries to get to the cause of Hamlet’s “madness”
• Ambition -> Claudius is driven by his ambition
• It is a man’s mind that creates the situation of prison/confinement or freedom
• mind=independent instrument
• The mind of Man is the source of freedom, countless inspiration and creation
• But also source of pain, suffering
• Ambition at the source of dreaming
• Allusion to the scheming mind
• Subtext -> a discussion of Claudius
• Ambition is not necessarily concrete, substantial
• A dream itself is unsubstantial , fleeting, not reality, intangible transitory
• The dialogue works on two levels:

• R & G
• Hamlet

1. Act 2 Scene 2

• Aristotle: quintessence of dust

• Celestial elements were made of quintessence (≠terrestrial - Fire, Water, Air, Earth)

• As Prince, Hamlet = the body-politic, but also the individual
• Our desire to learn is infinite, like our universe
• Man is peerless
• Literal/metaphorical meanings
• Hamlet’s intentions
• Recipients of the monologue (R&G + audience) -> dramatic irony as audience is partied to Hamlet’s intentions while R&G are not
• Different interpretations are possible from both R&G and the audience’s perspectives
• “stuff”: R’s response to Hamlet’s rhetorical genius

• =bewilderment on R’s part
• Hamlet’s characterization

• Hamlet might be deranged (according to R&G)
• Man’s relationship to the universe
• Foreshadows the play to come
• Enactment of a dramatic scene before H, R, G, and P
  
•    ^[a]
• Players’ passage
• Framework (or the main plot of the play, and indirectly the subplot)
• Pyrrhus (no pity, bloodthirsty)
• Hecuba is struck with grief at the loss of her husband as well as Troy
• Hecuba <-> Gertrude
• Implication: Did Ge witness Claudius’ killing of the LKH?
• Reflection of what H is thinking
• H will emphasize Hecuba’s reaction to the death of Priam
• REVENGE-CYCLE: cycle of revenge constantly in motion
• Both families decimated
• Ultimately an outsider, it is Fortinbras who claims the throne in the end
• Hecuba:

• icon, symbol of tragic loss
• Hamlet wishes that Gertrude could have embodied Hecuba
• Priam was a great king (=>LKH)

• Reminder: a play is not being enacted, the player only describes the murder of Priam
• The players are a device (Shakespeare)
• H uses the players for the fruition of his own plotting and scheming

• 3rd soliloquy: “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”

• Juxtaposition (=> inner conflict):

• “rogue”: not part of society; free, lost vagabond -> He has lost his rights of succession, he feels out of place, he doesn’t belong (-> “aunt-mother”); he places himself on the outskirts; antic disposition
• “peasant slave”: ≠Prince -> at the bottom of the Elizabethan Chain of Being /hierarchy; references feudalism; “slave” -> lack of freedom; cf. bondservant (The Scarlet Letter)
• Hamlet schemes: scheming is a behaviour that is outside of society’s norms        -> rogue

• Dilemma
• His displacement within Denmark
• Technique: hyperbole, characterization
• Link to the bondservant: member of Governor Bellingham’s household + mansion / member of the Danish royal family + Elsinore castle; through servitude, the bondservant has to pay off what he owes -> the theocracy still embodies many of the rules and regulations of the Old World (-> HYPOCRISY -> AD)
• To the audience, it appears to be true, even though its is all conceit, fiction
• Conceit: we watch Hamlet (who is played himself by an actor) comment on acting
• We, ourselves, as the audience, are carried away by Hamlet’s speech
• Conceit = play on the play  (simultaneous)
• “I”: he doesn’t only speak to others, but also to himself
• Conceit of Hecuba, of Hamlet, of Pyrrhus
• Unlike Pyrrhus, Hamlet does not act
• He is dreamy, sleepy -> He has not only not acted physically, he hasn’t even acted mentally (planned the murder of C)
• In mind and body, H is passive
• Claudius deprives LKH of his life, but also of his role as King
• He reproaches himself for not having made Claudius’ life miserable, not made him suffer
• Burden that Hamlet bears
• Hamlet does not mention even once Claudius’ name but the audience assumes and knows directly that it is Claudius that Hamlet is speaking about
• In committing the sin of murder, it is also a sin against God, against Nature (the taking of a life)
• Hamlet suffers from this burden
• isolate, separated, alone
• Irony: as it is through an illusory world that he will be able to find out the reality           (->appearance v. reality)

1. Act 2 Scene 2

• R&G reporting to C (spies reporting to the spymaster)
• R&G don’t tell Claudius that Hamlet found out their purpose in Denmark
• The head of state, the King announces openly that he is going to spy on Hamlet (the Prince)
• Culture of spying and corruption is revealed
• At the highest level of the state
• C:

• Devious behaviour
• Is “crafty”

• C & H both know how to eliminate doubt and uncertainty
• Hamlet: hurt by the Ophelia’s withdrawal of affection?
• Ge allies herself with Claudius, she does not object his spying: “I shall obey you.”

• cf. A1S3 (Ophelia + Polonius)
• 2 female characters are both obedient
• Ge does not realize the gravitas of the situation

• Motif -> the Black Man -> evil-doings/evil-workings
• Claudius’ 1st aside foreshadows A3S3L35
• Placing a mask over the original features
• Ophelia is given instructions to which she has to comply (+no sign of revolt, of objection)

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