Critics Flashcards
What is Kastan’s argument?
Shakespearean tragedies are treatments of age-old questions about the causes of human suffering
Human weakness / divine retribution / arbitrary fate?
Lack of clear answer central to tragedy
Give two quotes from Kastan
“The uncertainty is the point”
“The genre of uncompensated suffering”
What is Nuttall’s argument?
We find some form of enjoyment in tragedy - tension between pleasure and pain
Aristotle called it the “proper pleasure” of tragedy
May be subconscious pleasure
What does Bradley say about tragic heroes?
Shakespearean tragedy centres on “person of high degree” who undergoes reversal of fortune
Fate affects nation, no one immune to suffering
Evokes sympathy and fear - helplessness of humans against fate / God
Give a quote from Bradley about tragic heroes
“Man is blind and helpless, the plaything of an inscrutable power”
What does Mack argue?
Shakespearean tragic heroes frequently associated with madness
Often form of punishment but also brings insight - permission to discuss otherwise taboo issues
Symbolic of “predicament of artist”
Give two quotes from Mack
“Both punishment and insight”
“Madness is to some degree a punishment or doom”
What does Mack argue about madness’ links to Shakespeare as an artist
Madness of hero symbolic of “predicament of the artist” ie Shakespeare who conveys truth through art
Both madness + art allow freedom of speech but their insights may be dismissed as fiction / nonsense
What does Kerrigan argue?
Memory + remembrance key features of play
Old H represents lost chivalric age, Ophelia recalls a Hamlet we’ve never seen - sense of past very important to world of play
Those who don’t remember past seen as selfish - C insists on “remembrance of ourselves”
How does Kerrigan argue that memory could be linked to Hamlet’s madness?
Freud wrote that “hysterics suffer mainly from reminiscences”
“Remembrance haunts him, even to the point of madness”
H attempts to replace “dead love-object” with living one ie Ophelia - by rejecting him she throws his love back onto the father he has lost
Ghost prevents H from moving on - “remember me” command “condemns H to endless, fruitless yearning”
Give two quotes from Kerrigan
“Hamlet never promises to revenge, only to remember”
“Such memories divert and slow the play, giving it an eddying onward inclusiveness”
What does McCarthy argue?
Compares Hamlet to Cinderella - family drama with four symbolic characters (protagonist, peer (eventual mate), mother and father)
To mature, protag must symbolically kill same sex parent, dodge opposite sex parent and marry peer
H must kill C, dodge G and his obsession w her sexuality, marry O - satisfying ending not given
When O dies we realise play cannot escape tragic momentum
What does McCarthy argue about Hamlet’s parallel characters?
Laertes explicitly compared to H, seeks revenge for death of father
Fortinbras - son of dead king, ruled by uncle (but able to lead army)
Horatio, R + G can all be seen as “splits” of Hamlet - R and G even die in his place
How does McCarthy argue that aspects of Laertes’ character teach us about Hamlet’s virtues?
L arrogant about duelling abilities, whereas H has been in “continual practice”
L deceived + manipulated by C
L acts “gainst my conscience”, proving that H’s “conscience doth make cowards of us all” actually marks good sense and restraint
Give two quotes from McCarthy
“In Hamlet there is no episode equivalent to Cinderella’s lost slipper; his mistake, once made, cannot be retrieved”
“In many ways Laertes seems to be the revenger that Hamlet longs to be”
What does McEvoy argue?
Claudius could be seen as strong ruler - sympathy from audience
Second half of play C gets more contact w audience, H behaves more wildly
Claudius has good traits and Hamlet has flaws - not as simple as hero + villain
Give two quotes from McEvoy
“A strong monarch like Claudius might well be thought preferable to a weak but virtuous one”
Claudius has “strength, dynamism and humanity”
What does Goethe argue?
Before the play Hamlet was virtuous and joyful but we only see a grieving H
Because he has lost his mother but she is still there physically, he cannot move on or grieve his loss
Command to avenge father is “unfit” for Hamlet’s character
Give three quotes from Goethe
“Pure, noble and most moral nature”
“He was meant to be the pattern of youth and the joy of the world”
“A great action laid upon a soul unfit for the performance of it”
What does Goethe say about soliloquies?
“The agitated heart is allowed to display itself with touching expressiveness”
What does Goethe say about Hamlet’s relationship with his mother?
“His mother too he loses, and it is something worse than death that robs him of her”
What does Clare Gunns argue?
Gertrude established as having authority - uses imperatives to H, is on stage for 10 scenes (C has 11)
She struggles with dual roles of queen and mother
Presence of P in closet - C distrusts her, thinks her loyalty will ultimately be with Hamlet
G publicly defies C (drinks wine) - makes amends for guilt and prompts H to kill C - stands with her son in the end
Give two quotes from Gunns
“Even in death, Gertrude’s dual roles and motivations are questioned by her son”
She sacrifices power and position for son and is “spurred on to act against her husband in the final scenes of the play”
What does Limmer argue?
Male friendship in H based on renaissance model of perfect friendship
Intensity - R and G’s betrayal would be shocking
Their position as school fellows of H would suggest courtly relations rather than a chosen friendship
Hamlet has chosen Horatio as a mature adult - “since my dear soul was mistress of her choice” (act 2 scene 2)
R + G can’t be true friends as ideal friendship is bond between two
Alter ipse - another self
Horatio represents classical model of friendship - Latinate name (rather than danish sounding R and G), classical mode of life (philosopher)
Give three quotes from Limmer
“Friendship as arising from a free choice made between equals”
R and G represent “wider but necessarily weaker” ties of political friendship”
“The amicitia perfecta between H and Horatio exposes the cynical and corrupted version of friendship offered by R and G”
What does Camden argue?
Past critics eg Romantics thought it was best not to analyse Ophelia and dismissed her as a pathetic beauty
Camden argues that Ophelia should not be dismissed
O is made to believe it’s her fault H is mad - loved H, believed he loved her too, feels guilty as is blamed for his madness though she was just doing what she was told (role of courtly woman/daughter)
Connects father’s death to H - father killed by man she loves, who is mad because of her - her part in this (guilt)
Give two quotes from Camden
Ophelia is a “tenderhearted, delicate-minded young girl”
“She fears Hamlet is mad for love, and if so he is mad for the love she has been forbidden to give him - she is the cause of Hamlet’s madness”
What does Icke argue? (Director Young Vic Hamlet)
Play is all about grief
Bringing back ghost in closet scene reminds us H’s motive is grief
Ophelia’s madness caused by grief
Madness is complex - not as simple as mad or not mad - links to grief + depression
They chose to call ghost “dad” rather than “the ghost” - emotive, personal, more about relationship than duty
Give two quotes from Icke
Play is about “the experience of grief, and through this grief to the experience of madness”
“We pretend that madness or mental illness is a binary state”
What does Birenbaum say about the play within a play?
Preparatory step making real confrontation more climactic
Understanding between C and H - both know what the other knows - heightened tension / drama
Adds urgency as C must act because he knows H knows truth
How does director Haider present Ophelia in Bristol Old Vic 2022 performance?
Dirty clothing - man’s shirt or nightshirt (if man’s shirt, it could be Hamlet’s) - inappropriate dress for courtly woman
Messy hair, frantic movements (only moving character on stage)
Use of pills rather than flowers
Lines explicitly about P (“beard white as snow”) taken out - ambiguity
Laertes shown as deeply distressed
