Hamlet - Act 1, Scene 5 Flashcards
1
Q
What context may be used for 1.5?
A
- Seneca’s Agamemnon (Ghost of Thyestes) emphasises trope of ghost asking to be anvenged
- Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy
- 1596 Shakespeare’s son Hamnet died 11. Influence of death in the play
2
Q
“Mark me”
A
- Imperative emphasises the desire to be listened to
3
Q
“Sulphrous and tormenting flames”
A
- Hellish imagery creates ambiguity about the ghosts state
- Fearful to an Elizabethan audience
- Anguish
- Protestant idea of purgatory
4
Q
“Speak, I am bound to hear”
A
- Imperative : filial obligation
- Duty to avenge fathers death - reflects attitudes at time
- Ghost is manipulative and danger
5
Q
“Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night” / “To tell the secrets of my prison-house”
A
- Repetition of hellish imagery
- Replicates purgatory acting as a visualiser
- Entrapment and confinement
- Creates ambiguity surrounding the ghost
6
Q
“List, list, O List! If thou didst ever thy dear father love”
A
- Ironic : manipulative
- Ghost wants Hamlet to commit huge sin despite previously listing the detriments of purgatory
- Creates ambiguity and uncertainty of his character
7
Q
“Murder most foul as in the best it is, but this most foul, strange and unnatural”
A
- Emphasises corruption of the state : emphasises transgressive nature of act
- TGCOB disrupted
- Repetition of foul emphasises the corruption
8
Q
“May sweep to my revenge”
A
- Proleptic irony : initial reaction one of obligation but isn’t fulfilled
- Harmartia = procrastination
- Hasty and certain / instantaneous
- Speaks like young Fortinbras (medieval) : “mettle hot and full”
9
Q
“A serpent stung me so The whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death rankly abus’d”
A
- Synecdoche : corruption of the state
- Biblical allusion to the garden of Eden
- Ambiguity of ghost
- Tempts hamlet to take action (serpent figure)
CRITIC : “The ghost is the linchpin of Hamlet” (Arnold)
10
Q
“Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch’d”
A
- Anaphoric repetition / syndetic listing : empathetic towards Gertrude
- Emphasises the extent of the loss
- Instantaneous- no opportunity to repent for sin, life snatched away from him
11
Q
“Let not the royal bed of Denmark be a coach for luxury and damned incest”
A
- Imperative / symbolic of corruption - acts as a warning
- BODY POLITIK
- Controlling / authoritative nature of the ghost
- Juxtaposition used to emphasise the extent of corruption
12
Q
- “Leave her to heaven”
A
- Empathetic view towards Gertrude
- Ironic as Claudius who is guilty too is targeted
13
Q
“Thy commandment”
A
- Religious intertextuality : filial obligation
- Act of revenge seen as a holy conquest - reflects views at time
- Ironic due to the complications of treason / regicide
14
Q
“O most pernicious woman! O villain, villain smiling damned villain”
A
- Juxtaposition between “smiling” and “damned” - duplicitous nature of Gertrude
- Imperative : loss of control emphasising emotion - unhinged
- Frustration ironically directed at Gertrude
15
Q
STRUCTURE OF THE GHOST
A
- Dominates the line length when talking to Hamlet whereas Hamlets lines are short and obedient
- Repeated use of imperatives emphasise a control over him
