'HAMLET' CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS Flashcards
Von G_______ : Religion
“All duties…”
Van Goethe : “All duties seem holy for Hamlet”.
Br_______ : Religion
“Hamlet is unable to carry out the…”
Bradley : “Hamlet is unable to carry out the sacred duty, imposed by divine authority, of punishing an evil man by death”.
Samuel J_______________: Hamlet’s Character
“Hamlet is…rather an….”
Johnson : “Hamlet is…rather an instrument than an agent”.
Co________ : Hamlet’s Character
“Hamlet is obliged to act on…”
Coleridge : “Hamlet is obliged to act on the spur of the moment”.
Wilson K_______ : Claudius is a Good King
“Claudius, as he appears in the play, is not a…”
Knight : “Claudius, as he appears in the play, is not a criminal… He is… a good and gentle King, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime”.
Wilson K_______ : Hamlet’s Character
“Hamlet is an element…”
Knight : “Hamlet is an element of evil in the state of Denmark”.
Al_________ : Human Aggression
“The play does not offer any conclusions about what is…”
Alexander : “The play does not offer any conclusions about what is the right response to the questions it poses about human aggression”
B_________ : Revenge
“Revenge is not justice…”
Besley : “Revenge is not justice. It is rather an act of injustice on behalf of justice”.
B___________ : Morals
“Revenge exists on a margin…”
Besley : “Revenge exists on a margin between justice and crime”.
A___________ : Vengeance
“The desire for vengeance is seen as part of a…”
Alexander : “The desire for vengeance is seen as part of a continuing pattern of human conduct”.
A____________ : Audience Reaction
“The audience are entertained because they are asked to…”
Alexander : “The audience are entertained because they are asked to see, feel and understand a little more about the hidden springs of action”.
Rebecca S_______ : Plononius’ Character
“Polonius seems to love…”
Smith : “Polonius seems to love his children; he seems to have the welfare of the Kingdom in mind. His actions, however, are totally corrupt”.
Rebecca S________ : Polonius and Ophelia’s Relationship
“Trained his daughter to be…”
Smith : “Trained his daughter to be obedient and chaste and is able to use her as a piece of bait for spying”.
Marilyn F________ : R&G
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sacrifice the…”
French : “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sacrificie the bond of human friendship to a social property”.
Sh__________ : Ophelia’s Character
“Ophelia is deprived of…”
Showalter : “Ophelia is deprived of thought, sexuality and language… she represents the strong emotions that the Elizabethans thought womanish”.
Bu_______ : Revenge and Justice
“Revengers create…”
Bucher : “Revengers create their own civil justice”.
Sir Herbert T_______ : Comedy
“But for humour he should…”
Sir Herbert Tree : “But for humour he should go mad. Sanity is humour”.
Jonathon Do__________ : Corruption
“Articulates a crisis in the…”
Dollimore : “Articulates a crisis in the decay of a traditional social order in England”
‘To be or not to be’ SPEECH :
- David Tennant (200__), he has a…
- Directed by…
David Tennant, 2009,
- He has a paranoid, wallowing, emotional approach.
- Directed by Doran.
‘To be or not to be’ SPEECH :
- Kenneth Branagh (199__) Movie.
- Intense… Trying to… Very…
Kenneth Branagh, (1996) Movie.
- Intense eye-contact. Trying to empower/reassure himself. Very menacing & villainous.
‘To be or not to be’ SPEECH :
- Andrew Scott (201__)
- Directed by…
- Slight…
Andrew Scott (2017).
- Directed by Lcke.
- Slight mocking, humorous tone.
Act 3, Scene 4
- Andrew Scott (201___), DR Lcke.
- Very…
- Hamlet portrayed as ‘…’, Gertrude as ‘…’ and ‘…’.
Andrew Scott (2017)]
- Very incestuous and intimate.
- Hamlet portrayed as ‘overwrought’, Gertrude as ‘fear’ and ‘motherly connection’.
(KENNETH BRANAGH very incestuous too).
Emma S________ : Hamlet
“Hamlet’s own instincts are towards…”
Smith : “Hamlet’s own instincts are towards undoing rather than doing”.
D______ : Claudius and Hamlet
“To everyone except Hamlet, Claudius is…”
Danby : “To everyone except Hamlet, Claudius is as good as his predecessor”.
William H________ : Hamlet’s Inaction
Hamlet is he whose,
“powers of action have been eaten…”
Hazlitt : “Powers of actions have been eaten up by thought”.
L.C K________ : Hamlet
“Hamlet cannot break out of the…”
Knight : “Hamlet cannot break out of the closed circle of loathing and self-contempt”.
Emma Sm_______ : Gertrude and Hamlet
“Hamlet seems obsessed with…”
Smith : “Hamlet seems obsessed with Gertrude as a sex object”.
Jeffery W_______ : Ophelia’s Death
“Trapped in a choice-less existence, Ophelia has no choice but to…”
Wood : “Trapped in a choice-less existence, Ophelia has no choice but to throw herself into the river to drown”.
A.C Br________ : Hamlet and Ophelia
“Hamlet was at one time…”
Bradley : “Hamlet was at one time sincerely in love with Ophelia”.
Ca_________ : Hamlet
“Melancholy… defeats all his impulses towards…”
Campbell : “Melancholy… defeats all his impulses towards action and increasingly paralyses his will”.
Hap_______ : Hamlet
“Hamlet’s form of _______ is ‘__________’, he finds difficulty in…”
Hapgood : “Hamlet’s form of delay is ‘inertia’, he finds difficulty in starting and coming to a stop”.
A.C. Br_________ : (Women)
“He can never see Ophelia in…”
Bradley : “He can never see Ophelia in the same light again: she is a woman, and his mother is a woman”.
Peter J________ : (Andrew Scot version)
“This is Hamlet living on the…”
John : “This is Hamlet living on the edge of his emotions”.
Amy L__________ : (Ophelia)
“Where Hamlet feigns madness, Ophelia actually…”
Licence : “Where Hamlet feigns madness, Ophelia actually loses her sanity”.
Gabrielle D________ : Ophelia’s Madness
“Madness releases Ophelia from the enforced…”
Dane : “Madness releases Ophelia from the enforced repressions of the prescribed roles of daughter, sister, lover, subject”.
Performance, 192___ Play directed by H.K.A________ :
- Polonius not played as a foolish man but a…
- Ophelia’s madness presented as uncontrolled release of…
1925, H.K.Ayliff :
- Polonius not played as a foolish man but a sophisticated and cunning politician.
- Ophelia’s madness presented as uncontrolled release of pent up sexual frustrations.
H_________ : Horatio
“He is at all times…”
Hudson : “He is at all times superbly self-contained”.
H_________ : Horatio
“‘He is the medium whereby many of the…”
Hudson : ‘He is the medium whereby many of the hero’s finest and noblest qualities are revealed to us”.
D. G. J________ : Horatio & Hamlet
“Hamlet speaks of Horatio in words of…”
James : “Hamlet speaks of Horatio in words of passionate admiration. How clearly he would like to be Horatio!’
TS E_________ : Gertrude & Hamlet
“Gertrude and her wrongdoings are out of…”
ELIOT : “Gertrude and her wrongdoings are out of proportion to the distress we see in her son”.
H_______ : Laertes
“‘Susceptible to emotional rather than…”
Hoye : “Susceptible to emotional rather than rational justification”.
G__________ : Laertes
“__________ Laertes”.
Gardner : “Unthinking Laertes”.
Richard A___________ : Claudius
“‘The cunning and lecherousness of…”
Richard Altick : “The cunning and lecherousness of Claudius’ evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of Denmark”.
(Claudius) Patrick S__________, who played Claudius in 19____ and 200__ claimed he saw Claudius as…
- Patrick Stewart, played Claudius in 1980 and 2009 claimed he saw Claudius as a character who ‘commanded respect’, who ‘loved Gertrude deeply…and killed for her sake’.
(Control) Polonius and Ophelia :
Andrew Scott’s (201__) version of Hamlet, Polonius physically controls…
Andrew Scott’s (2017) version of Hamlet, Polonius physically controls Ophelia, by dragging her by the wrist. She has little choice. She sits beneath him, showing Polonius’ superiority.
H_______ : (Hamlet)
- “His ruling passion is to…”
Hazlitt : “His ruling passion is to think, not to act”.
M_________ : (Foil H&F)
- “Had Fortinbras been so…”
- Laertes, after Polonius’ death is “back from Paris in a…”
Morley :
- “Had Fortinbras been so summoned to action, the king would have been dead in an hour”.
- Laertes, after Polonius’ death, is “back from Paris in a whirlwind, beating at the palace gates”.
(Shows different reactions).
Tr______ : (Hamlet)
- “Thought is…”
Tree : “Thought is the great destroyer”.
