AO2: Act 5 Flashcards
Ophelia’s burial
5:1
The gravedigger scene adds comic relief to an otherwise heavy tragedy through songs, riddles and playful banter. Also, this scene gives the audience insight into the customs of the time and highlights the social disparity between the upper and lower classes.
Second Gravedigger: “If this had not been a gentlewoman she should have been buried out o’ Christian burial”.
Gravediggers debate the legitimacy of Ophelia’s burial. The 2nd gravedigger argues that, as a suicide, Ophelia should rightfully be denied “Christian burial” and that it is only Ophelia’s status as daughter of the King’s most senior counsellor which has guaranteed her some, albeit limited, form of Christian service.
AO3+4: In Elizabethan England, suicide was considered a mortal sin against God. Those her were found to have taken their own lives were denied a Christian burial by the church, which forbade them from being buried in blessed ground or having their grave marked by a Christian monument.
Laertes: “And from her fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring!
The constant association of Ophelia with flowers suggests her fragile & innocent nature. ‘Unpolluted’ is ironic as it is implied that she lost her virginity to Hamlet.
Shakespeare does not resolve the ambiguity around Ophelia’s death and it is unclear whether it was an accident or suicide.
“Alas, Poor Yorick!”
5:1
Hamlet holds death and decay (Yorick’s scull) in his hands, which forces him to come to terms with the fact that everyone dies and everyone, no matter who they were in life, will end up the same in death.
The imagery is symbolic of mortality
Hamlet’s misogyny
Hamlet (to Yorick’s skull): “Now get you to my lady’s table and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come.”
AO2: Hamlet reflects on the inevitability of death and creates dark comedy from his realisation that no amount of “paint” (cosmetics) can protect women from the ravages of time.
AO5: Some critics have noted a touch of misogyny in Hamlet’s repeated use of the motif of cosmetics being used to hide the truth, eg his accusations towards Ophelia in 3:1 - “God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another”.
Dramatic Irony - Hamlet is unaware that Ophelia is about to be buried in this grave.
What two famous men does Hamlet allude to, to emphasise that nobody can escape death
Alexander the Great and Juluis Caesar.
‘Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust’ - parallel phrasing shows that even kings end up dead.
‘There’s a divinity that shapes our end’
Hamlet 5:2
In recognising that a higher power/God controls human destiny, Hamlet is no longer tortured by self-doubt. He revelas that he has rewritten Claudius’ letters to Enlgand and made them a death sentence for R + G and tell Horatio of his perfect conscience at his actions, untroubled by any feelings of guilt.
The climax
Hamlet: ‘Treachery! Seek it out.’
after Gertrude is poisoned the play reaches it’s climax, everything is downhill afterwards.
The Resolution
Fortinbras lays his claim to the throne of Denmark, re-establishing the order.
In his first act as ruler, he orders that Hamlet’s body be given a military gun salute.
Significance of the gunfire - The gunfire marks the moment of a decisive break with Denmark’s “rotten” past. A new regime has the opportunity to restore order in Denmark.
Hamlet: “Was’t Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet. / …Who does it then? His madness…”
AO5: Hamlet has insisted that his madness has been feigned (an “antic disposition”)
Is Hamlet’s apology fundamentally dishonest?
A.C. Bradley: Hamlet is still not in a position to reveal the truth about Claudius’ guilt
At times, Hamlet has lost control over his behaviour
Fortinbras: “And for his passage / The soldiers’ music and the rite of war / Speak loudly for him.” 5:2
AO5: Some critics have complained that Fortinbras assumes Hamlet to be too like himself, a warrior prince, and that the military funeral given to Hamlet sounds a false note.
However, as the heir to the throne, Hamlet would have had strong ties to the military - he would have later commanded the military. He also proves himself a skilled swordsman in the final scene.
Laertes realisation of guilt
‘I am justly killed with mine own treachery.’
Hamlet’s denunciation
to claudius 5:2 ‘thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion’
Throughout the play, Hamlet can be seen as a detective figure - feigning madness in order to investigate the accusations against Claudius and the ‘Mousetrap scene’ is a classic ‘setup’ scenario.
Hamlet takes time to bring the criminal to account and this revelation that the pursuer knows all does not take place until the end of the play.
AO2: Summative triplet/denunciation
‘Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes between the pass
and fell incensed points of might opposites. (Hamlet)
(Act 5, Scene 2) means thatit is dangerous when a weaker or less noble person gets involved in a conflict between two powerful and intensely opposed forces, essentially warning against meddling in a situation where the stakes are very high between strong adversaries.
“Baser nature”:Refers to a person of lower character or moral standing.
“Might opposites”:The two powerful opposing sides in the conflict.
Context in the play: Hamlet is speaking about the situation where Claudius, the king, has manipulated others into carrying out his plot against Hamlet, suggesting that these individuals are “baser natures” who have gotten caught up in a dangerous conflict between Hamlet and the King.
Hamlet feels no remorese fore the deaths of Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
