hamlet

Question 1

Themes of a tragedy

Answer 1

• ideas surrounding corruption, loss of power, death
• may relate to social issues
• madness (in Hamlet, his madness is ambiguous as we don’t know how far his madness has truly gone as he was playing a part in some aspects

Question 2

When was it performed in relation to the monarchy and what is the importance

Answer 2

• First performed at the end of Queen Elizabeth’s rein
• Links to the anxiety and uncertainty relating to what happens once her rein ends and the possible chaos that could occur
• Renaissance era - inspired by the classics (Greek and Romans)

Question 3

Renaissance beliefs about ghosts (AO3)

Answer 3

• Catholics: ghosts were souls from purgatory, seeking help from the living to enter heaven
• Protestants: ghosts were devils in disguise trying to tempt the living into committing sins

Ghosts were an ambiguous figure for early audiences and would be unsure as to whether they should be trusted

Question 4

“fair and warlike form”
“such as the very armour he had on”
“Hyperion to a satyr”
“I to Hercules”

about King Hamlet

Answer 4

• Idealised portrayal of his father as being morally superior to others.
  “Hyperion” “Hercules” - portrays King Hamlet as a god like figure which kept the balance of Denmark

AO3 - Relates to the divine right of kings - King Hamlet was rightfully King and ruled with benevolence meaning that there was no corruption
- Amplified through the personification of Denmark as a garden

Question 5

“this bodes some strange eruption to our state”

Answer 5

Foreshadows the idea that the threat is internal (relating to the idea of corruption)
- Image of a volcano eruption or an image of a body (boil)

Question 6

King Claudius vs King Hamlet reaction to conflict

Answer 6

• King Hamlet approaches conflict with military forces and a battle whereas Claudius uses the modern strategy to use language ad strategy instead
  “we have here writ to Norway”

Question 7

Book of common Prayer (AO3)

Answer 7

• worship book similar to the bible
• used in churches
• FORBIDS marriage between a former brother and sister in law

According to this book, Hamlet is not wrong by talking about Gertrude’s “incestuous sheets”

Question 8

Natural Order and the Divine Right of Kings (AO3)

Answer 8

Chain of beings - a hierarchy put in place by God
- The divine right of Kings referred to the belief that the King was appointed by God

• If the king is corrupt then the corruption will effect those below him in the chain of beings - eventually corrupting the whole nation

Evidenced in Hamlet in Hamlet’s 1.2 soliloquy “an unweeded garden” “a beast (…) would have mourn’d longer”