Hamlet Flashcards
Death
G-Wilson Knight
Death
“Death is over the whole play”
Madness
Sir Herbert Tree
Sanity
“Sanity is humour”
Subjectivity
Harold Bloom
All that matters
“All that matters is Hamlet’s consciousness of his own consciousness, infinite, unlimited and at war with itself”
Theater
T.S.Eliot
Few critics
“Few critics have ever admitted that Hamlet the play is the primary problem, and Hamlet the character only secondary”
Conflict
Belsey
Revenge
“Revenge is always in excess of justice”
Prince Hamlet
Wilson Knight
He is in fact
“He is in fact the poison in the veins of the community”
Old Hamlet
Belsey
The question
“The question whether it is nobler to suffer in Christian patience or to take arms against secular injustice is not resolved”
Claudius
Leonard Tennenhouse
What more heinous
“What more heinous crime would be committed against the aristocratic body than a fratricide that is also a regicide”
Polonius
Rebecca Smith
Polonius seems
“Polonius seems to love his children; he seems to have the welfare of the kingdom in mind. His means of actions, however, are totally corrupt”
Ophelia
Rebecca Smith
Trained his
“Trained his daughter to be obedient and chaste and is able to use her as a piece of bait for spying”
Ophelia
Showalter
Ophelia is deprived
“Ophelia is deprived of thought, sexuality and language…she represents the strong emotions that the Elizabethans thought womanish”
Claudius
G.Wilson Knight
the sickness
“the sickness of (Claudius’) soul only further infects the state - his disintegration spreads out”
Hamlet
Wolfgang Von Goethe
(Hamlet) sinks
“(Hamlet) sinks beneath a burden which (he) cannot bear”
Religion
Bradley
Hamlet is unable
“Hamlet is unable to carry out the sacred duty, imposed by divine authority, of punishing an evil man by death”
Theater
Alexander
The audience are entertained
“The audience are entertained because they are asked to see, feel and understand a little more about the hidden springs of action”
