Hamlet

Question 1

Key notes from Olivier Production in 1948

Answer 1

1)Clothes – straightforward black outfit (mourning and lack of pretence)
2)Oedipal relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude (supports Ernest Jones’ theory) - kisses mother in Act 3, scene4
3) Hamlet introspective (soliloquy started as a voice over – inside his head)
4) Ophelia – pretty and wearing flowers. Her madness is pathetic rather than terrifying or politically pointed.

Question 2

Key notes from Kozintsev Production in 1964

Answer 2

Russian – sinister music (claustrophobic)
The Ghost is terrifying – speaks to Hamlet by the sea (cosmic disorder)

Question 3

Key notes from Braunaugh Production in 1996

Answer 3

Witnesses at court – huge palace and set in the 19th century: much more beautiful and without the sinister pessimism of the other productions.

Ophelia placed in a straightjacket – physically confined due to her madness.

Final shot shows H in a cross - H as Jesus - sufferd greatl, romantic interpretation

Added scenes of O and H having sex

Question 4

Key notes from David Tennet Production in 2009 - Doran

Answer 4

1)David Tennant as Hamlet – childlike, running around barefoot and wears a muscle-man t-shirt. Performing masculinity and failing?
2)Ophelia is dangerous and political in her madness. Strips naked in front of Claudius and Gertrude.
3)Lack of witnesses at court – more intimate and surveillance cameras create public/private space.

Question 5

Goethe Quote 1795

Answer 5

H is “a Oak tree in a costly jar” - better than his surroundings, contained, positive connotations of tree, Romantic

Question 6

Hazzlit Quote, 1817

Answer 6

“it is we that are Hamlet” - Romantic

Question 7

S.T.Coleridge, 1827

Answer 7

“I have a smack of Hamlet within me”

Question 8

G.H.Lewes, 1855

Answer 8

Hamlet the play is a “tradegy of thought”

Question 9

A.C.Swinburne, 1880

Answer 9

Hamlet has “more of a mind than another man to make up”

Question 10

Samuel Johnson, 1765

Answer 10

Hamet is “rather an instrument than an agent”
- Angered at Hamlet’s actions toward Ophelia - Paapa Essidue, 2016
- No poetic Justice for H - should get worse

Question 11

H.A.Taine, 1863-4

Answer 11

Hamlet is “not a master of his acts, occassion often dictates them”

Question 12

G.Wilson, 1930

Answer 12

C is a good king, whereas Hamlet is “a creature from another world”

Question 13

A.CBradley, 1904

Answer 13

Hamlet is so melancholic, its amazing he can do anything

Question 14

T.SElliot, 1919

Answer 14

G is “negative and insignificant” - opposite to Freudian view
- ‘Objctive corelative’ a chain of events that will be the formula for that particular emotion

Question 15

Spurgeon, 1930

Answer 15

Denmark as a negative place morally is a “dominating” idea

Hamlet’s surroundings is the tradegy and the “chief tragic mystery of life”

Question 16

L.L.Schucking, 1935

Answer 16

Hamlet, the play, is a “study of passion”

Question 17

Granviller-Baker, 1937

Answer 17

Elsinor has a “personality of sinister power”
- link to Spurgeon, Denmakr a sa negative place = a “dominating” idea

Question 18

Who said “more of a mind than another man to make up”

Answer 18

A.C.Swinburne

Question 19

Who said “not a master of his actions, occassion often dictates them”

Answer 19

H.A.Taine, 1863-4

Question 20

Who said “not a master of his actions, occassion often dictates them”

Answer 20

H.A.Taine, 1863-4

Question 21

Who said that Hamlet is the “study of passion”

Answer 21

L.L.Schuking, 1935

Question 22

Elsioner has a “personality of Sinister power”

Answer 22

Granville-Baker, 1937