Critics Flashcards
T. S. Eliot
‘The opening scene of Hamlet is as well constructed as that of any play ever written.’
Aristotle
‘The aim of tragedy is to arouse sensations of pity and fear.’
Knight
‘Claudious shows every sign of being an excellent diplomat and king.’
Showalter
‘Ophelia is deprived of thought, sexuality and language.’
Rogers
‘In Shakespeare’s society , the ideal female is cheished for her youth , beauty and purity.’
Von Goethe
‘All duties seem holy to Hamlet.’
Johnson
‘Hamlet is rather an instrument than an agent.’
Mack
‘Hamlet can be privileged in madness to say things about the corruption of human behaviour.’
Hazzlit
‘Hamlet seems incapable of deliberate action.’
Bradley
‘Hamlet’s delay is due to … a form of melancholy.’
Swinbourne
‘The single characteristic of Hamlet’s character is by no means hesitation but the strong conflux of contending forces.’
Bradley
‘Hamlet is a tragedy of thought.’
Edwards
‘We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet.’
Swinbourne
‘Hamlet’s disgust at the feminine passivity in himself is translated into violent revulsion against women.’
Mabillard
‘Claudius is not a monster , he is morally weak.’
Arnold
‘Claudius’ soliloquy gives the impression of rhetorical pageantry rather than sincere contrition.’
Muir
‘Gertrude is a moral defective.’
Wilson
‘The ghost is the linchpin of Hamlet.’
Charney
‘Through madness , Ophelia makes a forceful assertion of her being.’
Showalter
‘Hamlet’s madness is associated with intellectual and imaginative genius but Ophelia’s affliction is erotomania or love-madness.’
Prosser
‘Laertes is like a hurricane.’
Kerrigan
Ophelia is ‘a lesser we have never really known.’
Mack
‘In the final act , Hamlet accepts his world and we discover a different man.’
Frye
‘Hamlet is a tragedy without catharsis.’
O’Toole
‘Hamlet poses great problems for the tragic hero theory because he is patently not a hero.’
