Context Flashcards
Historical - spies (eg Hamlet watching others)
The play is a commentary on Elizabethan England, a place notorious for spying.
Elizabeth ran a network of spies to help discover anti-royal and anti-Catholic conspiracies.
- This anxiety dominated the Elizabethan political scene and therefore Shakespeare’s play’s courts are centred around the notion of spinning webs of power with secret knowledge
Cultural / biblical
Killing a King is an insult to God.
‘thou shalt not kill’ - bible
Kings were believed to speak directly to God
Historical - mary queen of scots + mourning (Gertrude)
Mary Queen of scots = Elizabeth I’s cousin, threat to protestantism (she was a devout catholic) - she was imprisoned by Elizabeth I and executed for going against Elizabeth
Mary Queen of Scots failed to observe a proper period of mourning for her husband Henry. She chose to remarry a few months after his death and compounding her disrespect for propriety by marrying the man commonly believed to have murdered her husband.
she was king james I of scotland (next king after elizabeth’s) mothe
Politics - fears around what would happen when Elizabeth died
Hamlet’s ethical dilemma mirrors the religious and political conflict and uncertainty in history.
There was a lot of uncertainty to what would happen after Elizabeth’s death as there was risk of invasion from Scotland, Ireland and Spain. Rumors were rife, conspiracies, government spies and informers were everywhere.
Cultural - Hamlet’s wisdom
The life expectancy in London was 30 - Hamlet was 30, which was not young thus suggesting the worldly-wise and weary tone of Hamlet’s observations.
Cultural/biblical
Suicide was a sin and would not receive a Christian burial.
Cultural - women
Women married young and spent most of their active years pregnant, managing the home and looking after children.
Cultural women
Many women died in childbirth and it was common for a man to have two - three wives in his lifetime.
cultural women
Women were not allowed to be academically educated, have a profession, become priests and their rights in law were severely limited. The oldest male would inherit from the father and anything the woman possessed would become her husbands after marriage. Women had little say in government.
cultural - women
Although played by boys, Shakespeare’s major women characters were often bold, articulate and resourceful. Shakespeare would not normally ‘silence’ his women and audiences today could interpret him as a feminist.
why would the audience feel revulsion at gertrude and claudius’ marriage
as the marriage of brother in law and sister in law was viewed as incest by the church
what is a machiavellian (Claudius)
a villainous plotter and schemer
eg. Claudius is a Machiavellian character because he is the villain ….
body politic = the people of a nation, state, or society considered collectively as an organized group of citizens.
The Body Politic concept stated the health and state of the country was measured by that of the King, therefore it was essentially he was respected and honoured. Claudius’ usurpation has sickened the country
bible - garden of eden (eg. paradise, adam and eve - eve is offered an apple by the serpant, eats it and is thrown out of paradise)
- Claudius is the symbolic manipulative serpent, responsible for the destruction of the paradise that was previously Denmark - perpetrating the fall and corrupting and manipulating all the wholesome values of the old paradise.
- Since the death of Hamlet’s father, Denmark has turned into a world of decay and corruption, like Eden after the Fall of Man.
Bible - great chain of being - idea that king/queen are highest in society because closest to god, can talk to god)
- This places humans closer to the throne of God and above the beasts, with the upper class morally and intellectually superior to lower class (servants, soldiers) similarly to the medieval Feudal triangle
- Nobles were considered innately superior, more moral, righteous and intelligent. This give them the right to their place and prevented challenge from those beneath
bible on revenge
- “Vengeance is Mine saith the Lord”: means only God can really judge and punish mankind for his sins
- Only a Christ figure would have that level of spiritual purity, no shred of hatred in him, to act as a divine instrument of universal justice - Hamlet is too tainted or poisoned by the fallen world. Hamlet sense this and it is why he delays.
it was forbidden by the church
supernatural eg ghosts
- Elizabethan’s believed the night belonged to the devil, evil spirits and supernatural creatures (Ghost!) until dawn banished them with the light
therefore by talking to the ghost, hamlet was talking to the devil
madness
- madness was a socially recognised disorder rather than a medical condition - tolerated by society
- Elizabethans would diagnose Hamlet with despair (suicidal) - the ultimate sin against the moral laws of God, linked it to the Original Sin of Pride. It was considered arrogant and selfish, believing Christ had no power to save you
- would be considered outrageous by Shakespeare’s audience
- Superstitious respect for mad people thought to be in touch with the spiritual world therefore closer to God - they had some kind of superior insight into the truths that the sane could not see. They were sometimes kept as prophesiers for their hallucinations and visions.
madness + gender
- There was thought to be a gender difference in madness. Men suffered from Melancholia, whilst women suffered from a hysterical manifestation, often symbolised in songs and wailing.
- Rejected of unsatisfied lovers were thought to be at risk of melancholy and mental unstability
eg. hamlet and ophelia
marriage
- Marriages were usually arranged, especially in higher social classes.
- A dowry was paid to the groom, then the groom’s family paid a “bride-price” - very substantial sum, to buy a virgin who would be healthy and from good breeding stock.
- Women who were not virginial were no longer desirable and had no financial family to her family (What Ophelia is warned of)
women + sexuality
- Double standards - despite sinful sex outside of marriage, men’s behaviour was ignored
- Pregnancy = nunnery, to deny the body, elevate the spirit and regain purity. They were socially shunned (ostracisation) and had no other value/purpose in society
women + sexuality
madonna vs whore
belief that women were either virginal and pure (ophelia) or whores (Gertrude) - stems from the bible
ophelia death
- Ancient pagan fertility rites -maidens were flung into the water and drowned (as were witches) to appease the wrath of unseen dark forces that had been unleashed.
Oedipus complex
- One psychoanalytical reading (AO5) sees Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude as Oedipal. The son cannot share the mother- cannot allow her sexuality to detract her attention from him. It is like her marriage betrayed him not his father.
ghosts
The Elizabethans believed in spirits. An unquiet spirit (in old ideas) meant universal displeasure, an indication or a warning that something was not right in the world. Immediate action would be needed to cleanse the wrong and restore harmony and stability.
- Strong Protestant belief that Ghost (evil spirits) were agents of the devil, waiting for any chance to corrupt a mortal soul.
ghosts - purgatory
- This is the outer ring of hell, where those who had not purged their sins before death could repent to try to reach heaven.
genre - revenge tragedy
- The hero’s ambition was contextually the feared fatal flaw that causes the downfall of so many arrogant figures (Lucifer, Adam, tragic heroes) as it’s the same instinct as to rebel against the divine right and laws of God.
- “Hamlet” turned the tradition of the revenge play on its head - revenge as a form of justice was ludicrous, complicating the issue, less black and white
