Contextual Interpretations Of ‘Hamlet’ Flashcards
1
Q
Revenge
A
- Scholars have observed that revenge tragedy is often come from to Josh and Lily Catholic countries, presenting the contradiction that the strongest duty of a Catholic is to God and family (reflected on what Hamlet must choose to do)
- King Edward the first introduced the law against blood revenge.
- Christian Elizabethan England condemned private revengers: only God was supposed to have this power.
- ## Roman view of revenge & Roman tragedies of Seneca inspired revenge drama - hence also link to philosophy
2
Q
Madness
A
3
Q
Women
A
4
Q
Corruption
A
5
Q
The King
A
6
Q
Death
A
- Despite progressing enlightenment to the Renaissance, superstition was still rampant along Elizabeth and Londoners. They had a morbid curiosity, reflected in their violent entertainment, like a bear-baiting and public hangings.
7
Q
Indecision v & Impulsiveness
A
8
Q
Surveillance
A
9
Q
Genre of Revenge Tragedy
A
- as defined by Aristotle: harmartia (hero’s tragic flaw), anagnorisis (When the tragic hero recognises something about themselves that spur the change in action), peripeteia (Reversal of fortune in the plot which marks the protagonists, descent towards tragedy = cathartic for audience) = saw tragedy as “morally ambiguous genre”
10
Q
Elizabethan England
A
Written at a time of great religious upheaval, and in the wake of the English Reformation, the players, alternately, Catholic (or piously, mediaeval) and Protestant (or consciously modern) -audience questioning of religious values
11
Q
Shakespeare’s Theatre
A
12
Q
Fathers
A
•an Elizabethan audience would’ve regarded Hamlet with “ambivalence” because paternal loyalty was important and you should murder a bad king
•modern audiences are more suspicious of using violence and do not care so much about paternal loyalty - more inclined to “admire more than we condemn”
