Critics

Question 1

The theme of Hamlet

Answer 1

Is death
W. Knight

Question 2

No one in the play

Answer 2

Knows or understands anyone else
L. Charnes

Question 3

The play is fundamentally

Answer 3

Constructed on the grounds of deception, lies, and treachery
S. Shuaybi

Question 4

Hamlet is paralysed

Answer 4

By his intellect
Lowell

Question 5

Hamlet is a sane

Answer 5

Man in an insane world
Rothman

Question 6

Who is Shakespeare’s

Answer 6

Greatest villain? Hamlet for convincing critics and audiences he is a hero.
C. Butler

Question 7

Critics on Ophelia

Answer 7

She died because of her virtues whilst other perished for their faults. She did nothing wrong yet so many wrongs were dealt to her
E. Showater

Leverenz = “In her madness, she has already died.” = loss of identity without her father

Question 8

David Tennant’s 2009 1:2 soliloquy

Answer 8

He crouched into the foetal position to show his venreability

Question 9

Kenneth Branagh 1996 3:1 GTTAN
vs.
GD 2009 MG in 4:5

Answer 9

He drags Ophelia (Kate Winslet – victim performance) across the stage = exaggerated his madness
vs.
Gregory Doran’s 2009 (David Tennent’s Hamlet) Mariah Gale erratically perform’s Ophelia making her being feared as she tugs at the lapels of Patrick Stewart’s suit = empowering her

Question 10

Benedict Cumberbatch’s 3:1 TBONTB soliloquy

Answer 10

He wears a noose-like rope, which reminds the audience that he is bound/tied up — also recurring motif of death imagery —- which also highlights Hamlet’s lack of agency/autonomy

Director = Lyndsey Turner - 2015

Question 11

Friendship

Answer 11

Gregory Doran’s 2009 Hamlet = Peter De Jersey — Hamlet dies in his arms + they hold hands as he dies and he kisses Hamlet’s forehead when he delivers his goodbye
French: “Rozencrantz and Guildenstern sacrifice the bond of human friendship to a social propriety”
Philip Saville’s Hamlet at Elsinore 1964 — Hamlet = Christopher Plummer, Horatio = Michael Caine [more prominent frienship as Caine plays a large role] — Donald Sutherland plays a larger role as Fortinbras despite his brief appearance in the play

Question 12

Kenneth Branagh’s 3:1 (TBoNTB) soliloquy is

Answer 12

Performed in front of a mirror which emphasises the theme of appearance vs reality as the mirror reflects his true self

Question 13

Claudius in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet

Answer 13

Wears a red uniform with badges in a room that is black and white so he physically looks like an arrogant intruder
+ he is presented as weak and cowardly as he tries to flee in 5:2 in Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 ‘Hamlet’
+ “Claudius’ evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of Denmark” = Altick

Question 14

The number of

Answer 14

Images of sickness and disease is descriptive of the unwholesome condition of Denmark morally.
Spurgeon

Question 15

Hamlet is a Renaissance

Answer 15

Man loving contemplation
Stoll

Question 16

The play presents

Answer 16

A solution less problem
Arnold

Question 17

Hamlet is trapped

Answer 17

In a world he cannot escape or understand
Santayana

Question 18

Hamlet comes to realise

Answer 18

The role providence ordains for him
Wilson

Question 19

Hamlet’s madness is

Answer 19

Feigned. It’s a kind of defence mechanism.
Roy

Question 20

Olivier

Answer 20

Laurence Olivier’s 1948 version = Elsinore high up on a rocky cliff to highlight the perilous nature of the characrerts in the play’s actions
Hamlet kisses Gertrude = Oedipal complex
Agressive performance = throws Jean Simmons’ Ophelia to the floor
Intelligence = During his ‘Get thee to a nunnery’ speech he points to the curtain, where Claudius and Polonius are hidden when he shouts “Those that are married already - all but one - shall live.” = he points when he states ‘all but one’