context

Question 1

what is it about hamlets melancholy and how it would have been perceived by physicians?

Answer 1

Elizabethans believed the human body was made up of four basic elements, called humors: phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile. Hamlet seems to be suffering from what Elizabethans referred to as “melancholy,” which was associated with too much “black bile” in the body.

Question 2

how was the play influenced by the actors in the original production?

Answer 2

shakespeare wrote his plays with the actors of his companies strengths in mind

Question 3

what were hamlet’s origin stories? (3)

Answer 3

• Thomas Kyd’s ur-Hamlet (possibly)
• Saxo Grammaticus’s “legend of Amleth: Gesta Danorum”
• ## Belleforest’s Histoires tragiques

Question 4

what were the key elements of Seneca’s revenge tragedies? (6)

Answer 4

• Principle character trying to get revenge on someone, avenging an event or a death.
• A ghost will reveal its gruesome death
• Calls on a hero to take revenge
• Vengeance is delayed
• Hero pretends to be mad
• Before revenge, the protagonist (avenger) will die.

Question 5

Elizabethan monarchy (4)

Answer 5

• mary queen of Scots executed
• 5 years after Hamlet, plot to blow up the monarchy
• there would be no heir to Elizabeths throne
• she is succeeded by foreign prince

Question 6

first performed in…

Answer 6

1602

Question 7

what was denmark like at the time

Answer 7

The main action of Hamlet takes place in Denmark, a largely Protestant nation at the time of the play’s composition.

Question 8

why does the ghost pose a religious problem for Hamlet

Answer 8

Protestantism didn’t believe in purgatory. Hamlet is hesitant to accept the ghost’s claims that he is tormented until his life’s crimes are “purged” away.

Question 9

what tragedy did Hamlet suffer?

Answer 9

his father and his son died

Question 10

cain and abel?

Answer 10

Stories based on the idea of fratricide—the killing of one’s brother—for personal gain easily bring to mind the biblical tale of Cain and Abel: these themes have been incorporated into tales for thousands of years. Shakespeare, however, masterfully captured these universal tales and put his unique spin on them.

Question 11

what is the relevance of Wittenburg?

Answer 11

The German city of Wittenberg was the
birthplace of the Reformation – the
Protestant movement for the reform of the
Catholic church.

Question 12

how did mary queen of scot’s marriage reflect Hamlet?

Answer 12

Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen
of Scots, was murdered at Kirk o’ Field,
Edinburgh in 1567. Shockingly soon
afterwards, Mary married Lord Bothwell,
the chief suspect in the murder. This was
part of the reason for Mary’s deposition
from the Scottish throne and the accession
of her one-year old son James V (Gertrude)

Question 13

henry VIII and catherine of aragon

Answer 13

she married Henry after marrying his brother and therefore he got a divorce

Question 14

who was the character of Polonious’s arguably based on?

Answer 14

Lord Burghley, the queens chief minister who often spied on his children

Question 15

how long was the officail mourning period for a king?

Answer 15

1 year

Question 16

who was Machiavelli?

Answer 16

14th century politician and writer, wrote The Prince on how to keep order in power. is often seen as the cunning villian

Question 17

what was the monarchy like in Denmark?

Answer 17

it was not successive, however to a British audience the succession of Claudius would have been unusual and suspicious.

Question 18

what was the dual meaning of the therm nunnery?

Answer 18

could be religious training for nuns or a brothel

Question 19

what was the opinions on women who had had sex?

Answer 19

that hysteria would be bought on due to their knowledge of sex, like Ophelia

Question 20

what was government surveillance like in Elizabethan britain

Answer 20

Queen Elizabeth had her own “Watchers,” organised by walshingham, a network of agents who intercepted letters, cracked codes, and captured possible dissenters to protect the crown in secret. The queen’s network of spies formed the original surveillance state in the U.K.

Question 21

what was titus andronicus like in comparison?

Answer 21

much more savage and brutal as an earlier revenge tradgedy, where the character has little inner thought and is unlikely to be relatable

Question 22

what is Classic antiquity?

Answer 22

common feature of renaissance ideologies - references to classical Greek and Roman stories, such as the hyperion to a satyr line or hecuba

Question 23

what is humanism and how is humanism included in Hamlet?

Answer 23

humanism is believing in the endless possibilities of man and the human mind, for example Hamlet’s line “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties…”

Question 24

what is the renaissance idea against religion, ie the man is the meaning of all things?

Answer 24

A statement by the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras. It is usually interpreted to mean that the individual human being, rather than a god or an unchanging moral law, is the ultimate source of value.

Question 25

how was honor interpreted in elizabethan england?

Answer 25

• Male honour depended on physical courage, bravery and a propensity for violence
• Female honour depended on chastity, fidelity and motherhood

Question 26

what is interesting about the conversation between polonius and Hamlet on polonius acting in universtiy

Answer 26

it can be classed as metadramatic or intertextual, as they talk about Polonius playing Julius Caesar, which was performed a few years earlier, liekly by the same actors - this reference would have been comical