Hamlet Flashcards
Lee Edwards on Ophelia
“We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet’
Elaine Showalter on Ophelia (2)
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“The Romantic Ophelia feels too much, as Hamlet thinks too much; she drowns in a surfeit of feeling.”
“She appears in only 5 of the plays 20 scenes, and her tragedy is subordinate to that of Hamlet.”
Emi Hamana on Ophelia
“Suffers a series of patriarchal oppressions”
Elaine Showalter on Ophelia (2)
“The Romantic Ophelia feels too much, as Hamlet thinks too much; she drowns in a surfeit of feeling.”
“She appears in only 5 of the plays 20 scenes, and her tragedy is subordinate to that of Hamlet.”
Lee Edwards on Ophelia
“We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet’
Toshiko Oshio on Ophelia
“Inability to express herself by means to words”
Marguerite Tassi on Gertrude
“in the final moments of her life, she performs an extraordinary act that gives Hamlet motive and cue for killing the King’
Tamara Tubb on Gertrude’s character
“the true nature of her character and motivation is ambiguous.”
Michael Pennington on Polonious (3)
“a bad parent”
“made palatable by the fact that he is funny”
“between knave and fool, most performances fall to one side or the other”
Richard Altick on Claudius
“the cunning and lecherousness of Claudius’ evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of Denmark”
Ulrichi on the Ghost
“It cannot be an entirely innocent and heavenly spirit that would wonder the earth to demand a son to avenge his death”
Philip Edwards
“the tragic hero longs for clear directives…he longs for absolutes… [God’s] guidance and requirements are never clearly discernible… difficulty of knowing what God wants, or whether He exists”
William Knight (3) On Hamlet and the Ghost
“Hamlet is an element of evil in the state of Denmark”
“a living death in the midst of life”
“Claudius is a good King, the ghost is but a minor spirit”
Maynard Mark
“The act required of him … is one that necessarily involves the doer in the general guilt
