Hamlet AO5 Flashcards
About the play itself…
John Evelyn (1660)
‘The play began to disgust this refined age.’
About Ophelia’s character…
Jeremy Collier (1698)
‘[The depiction of Ophelia is] lewd and unreasonable.’
About Hamlet’s character…
Thomas Hanmer (1736)
‘Hamlet’s conduct [is] cruel… there is something very bloody in it, so inhuman, so unworthy of a hero.’
About Hamlet’s character…
Samuel Johnson (1765)
‘Hamlet is… rather an instrument than an agent.’
About Hamlet’s character…
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1795)
‘Hamlet represents the type of man whose power of direct action is paralysed by an excessive development of intellect.’
About Hamlet’s character…
William Hazlitt (1817)
‘[Hamlet] seems incapable of deliberate action’
About Hamlet’s character…
Sigmund Freud (1900)
‘The play is built up on Hamlet’s hesitations over fulfilling the task of revenge that is assigned to him’
About Hamlet’s character…
Sigmund Freud (1900)
‘[Hamlet] is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish.’
About Hamlet’s character…
A.C. Bradley (1904)
Three quotes *
‘Melancholia [is] at the root of Hamlet’s problems.’
‘[Hamlet’s] genius might even become his doom.’
‘Nothing stands between Hamlet and suicide except religious awe.’
About Hamlet’s character…
John Dover WIlson (1935)
‘[Hamlet] may even seem a monster of inconsistency.’
About Ophelia’s character…
Juliet Dusinberre (1975)
‘Ophelia has no chance to develop an independent conscience of her own, so stifled is she by the authority of the male world.’
About Hamlet and Ophelia…
Lee Edwards (1979)
‘We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet.’
About Gertrude’s character…
Rebecca Smith (1980)
‘[Gertrude is] a nurturing and caring maternal presence’
About the ghost …
Terence Hawkes (1986)
‘The ghost… dominates… even in his absence.’
About Claudius’ character …
Terence Hawkes (1986)
‘[Claudius is] no simple villain, but a complex, compelling figure.’
About Hamlet’s character…
Valerie Traub (1988)
‘Hamlet describes sexuality… with metaphors of contagion and disease.’
About Gertrudes character …
Janet Adelman (1992)
‘[Gertrude’s sexuality in the play] is literally the sign of her betrayal’
About marriage …
Lisa Jardine (1996)
‘Church courts only prosecuted such ‘unlawful’ marriages [Claudius and Gertrude] if a complaint was brought by someone.’
About the ghost …
Stephen Greenblatt (2002)
‘The ghost… initiat[es] a nightmare.’
About Polonius’s character…
Richard Vardy (2017)
‘[Polonius] is nothing more than a stock character, frequently wrong in his judgements, providing a source of comic relief.’
