hamlet

Question 1

• “o that this to

Answer 1

• “o that this to too sullied flesh would melt” – he feels tainted by his mothers sexual crime. If it was “sullied” and not solid, then hamlet is suggesting that female sexuality is capable of poisoning life.
• “incestuous sheets” – yet at this time it would have not been very shocking. Furthermore, it is interesting that the Ghost shows no anger towards Gertrude but asks Hamlet to be gentle to her, as if she is totally innocent. He focuses on Claudius crime (which Hamlet sways from).

Question 2

• “tis an unwedeed

Answer 2

• “tis an unwedeed garden that grows to seed” – image of procreation but in a disgusting way. As if his mother is sick and polluted.
• Hamlet tells Gertrude that she cannot be in love as her “blood is tame” (she is too old), and states that lust has driven her insane. He totally denies female sexuality here.

Question 3

“god hath given

Answer 3

• He says how he has been driven “mad” by women whom “god hath given you one face and you make yourselves another”. As a result of this, he ultimately drives Ophelia to madness as she links her lover to the death of her father. Her reaction, unlike hamlet, makes her language become sexual and bolshie.
true of all women of that time: make up: idea that external beauty reflects internal beauty but makeup is threatening as it can deceive. also women of that time were forced to change the face given by god to submit to the demands of patriarchy by being innocent, chaste and virtuous.

Question 4

Tragic hero: to be or not to be

Answer 4

• The tragic hero consists of a Hamartia, or tragic flaw. It seems that Hamlet does not have so much of an obvious flaw or failure as Lear, but more struggles with conflicting demands placed on him. As an obvious tragic hero, he would presumably murder Claudius when he is praying, yet he is unable to do so immediately due to his complex inner battle between his feelings towards his mother and death.
• “whether tis nobler in the mind” – contemplating if he should play the role of nobility; links to this idea of him being in a play he doesn’t want to be in. To become the hero and fulfill his destiny.
• “tis a consummation devoutly to be wished” – consummation here reminds us of his mother and the line “to too sullied flesh would melt”: due to her marriage he wants to become nothing

Question 5

• “conscience does

Answer 5

• “conscience does make cowards of us all” – fear of god as “conscience”. Bradshaw calls onto Septimus “the coward!”. Yet here hamlet makes suicide seem almost heroic and brave? Hamlet does not kill self due to fear of god, yet he is ok to murder? He says no one returns yet he just saw his father? Are we convinced, or is he worried about his reputation? Septimus commits suicide due to fear of oppression.