Hamlet Critical Perspectives Flashcards
How does Marxism interpret literature?
by focusing on the relationships between socioeconomic classes
What is the classism ideology?
it equates someone’s worth value as a human being with the social class they belong to
Who is characterised as the main antagonist in Hamlet?
Claudius
Horatio: The same my lord and good servant ever
Hamlet: I’ll change that name with you
What does this exchange represent?
Hamlet going against The Classism ideology by viewing Horatio as his equal.
“I am still possessed of these affects for which I did the murder - my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen”
How does this relate to Marxism?
demonstrates how economic power is the motivation behind social / political activities.
demonstrates Machiavellian ambition
What is the aristocracy?
dominant, wealthy class in the feudal system
What is the bourgeoise?
middle class
What is a feudal system?
system with strict classes/hierarchal structure
What is the difference between a peasant and a proletariat?
Peasant - rural
Proletariat - industrial
What is the ‘tabula rasa’?
The Lockean idea of an ‘empty mind’
How does Locke’s idea of nature vs nurture link to Hamlet?
- Hamlet’s idea of killing Claudius is due to the shock of having his father die, he lost moral guidance leading to his desire to seek revenge.
What is a peripeteia?
A reversal of fortune (Aristotelian Tragedy)
What is a realisation that causes misery? (Aristotelian Tragedy)
Anagnorisis
How are conventions of Aristotelian Tragedy prevalent in Hamlet?
many conventions followed eg) opening scene with ghost and final cathartic scene
How does Hamlet use Ophelia’s character to reinforce contemporary gender ideologies? (feminism)
- Ophelia is the pawn of powerful men, and the abandonment of these men leads to her madness.
- Her worth is often monetised by her father
What are the 3 parts of the human psyche, according to Freud?
The Id - desires immediate satisfaction
The Ego - decision making - works by reason and strategy
The Superego - reflects on learned values and morals
What is the Oedipus complex?
the theory that all boys want to sleep with their mothers
How can we apply Freud’s psychoanalysis to Hamlet?
Hamlet desires to sleep with his mother (Id/ Oedipus)
The ghost represents his Superego (3.4 when he imagines his mother’s “unseamed bed” ghost controls desires)
What are the 3 key principles of Nietzschean literary criticism?
- life is without meaning (nihilism/atheism)
- In the absence of god, superhumans (ubermensch) replace him and establish societal values
- embrace envy and shun Christianity
What did Nietzsche say? How can we link to Hamlet?
“knowledge kills action, for action requires a state of being in which we are covered by the veil of illusion”
Hamlet knows killing Claudius will not change nothing in the eternal nature of things. He has no sense of illusion so he cannot act
What are the key ideas of a deconstructive reading?
words only have meaning in juxtaposition with their opposite (binary opposites)
What did Hooper say in 2003? (deconstructive reading)
highlighted the “puns and dangerous doubles” in the characters of Claudius and Hamlet
How can we apply deconstructive criticism to Hamlet?
In 3.4 Hamlet justifies Gertrude’s crime by presenting Claudius and his father as binary opposites
What are the key ideas of Jungism?
- all people share instinct or “collective unconsciousness”
- archetypes
- we are not aware of our archetypes - deduced using art, myth and religion
How does 4.5 reflect Jungist ideas?
the flowers Ophelia hands out represent character’s archetypes
Who are examples of shadow archetypes?
all characters - unaware of the dark side of their actions
Who are examples of self archetypes?
Horatio and Young Fortinbras, as they demonstrate balance and morality.
What did A C Bradley argue about Hamlets perception of death?
‘(Hamlet) is in the strange position of both wishing for death and fearing it intensely’
Where did Zeffirelli set Hamlet’s ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy and what is its significance? (1990)
A crypt - hamlet is asking the dead around him what happens after death - contemplation of death
What feature of Kenneth Branagh‘ stocks be of not to be’ soliloquy creates the impression that he is threatening Claudius?
He holds a dagger in front of the 2 way mirror - Claudius can see him
What era was Sir John Everett Millais painting of Ophelia depicting her as calm?
Pre - Raphaelite
Kantorowicz “mystic body”
it represented the relationship of the king and his subjects.
The king, in being respected and obeyed, implicitly agreed to serve the nation’s best interests. The subjects, in being served, agreed to obey and respect the king. This relationship was the foundation of English society.
Which artist depicted Terry and Irvings performance in 1879, which had Ophelia in virginal white and Hamlet in black?
Edward H Bell
What else is significant about Ophelia’s costume in Bell’s 1879 painting?
she is draped in pearls, perhaps foreshadowing her death
How did Mrs Siddens in 1785 portray the mad scene, which is characteristic of the 18th century removing violent depictions of female passion or sexuality?
“with stately and classical dignity” (Showalter)
Quotation for how Ophelia represents the ‘tabula rasa’
“I shall obey, my lord”
Showalter’s reasoning for why Ophelia took her own life
“Hamlet is full of thought whereas Ophelia is full of feeling”
Abraham Wright 1665 praised the
humour of the grave digger scene
Jeremy Collier 1698 in ‘Short view of the immorality and profaneness of the English Stage’ pamphlet
condemned Shakespeare for rendering Ophelia ‘immodest’ in her sexuality
Theobald’s neo - classical conception of death in Hamlet
thought Hamlet’s description of death as a ‘undiscovered country’ was absurd, because the ghost represents purgatory - not death
Popple 1735 on Polonius
praised the verisimilitude of Polonius’ character
Goethe 1795 on Hamlet
“a lovely, pure, noble and most moral nature, without the strength of nerve which forms a hero, sinks beneath a burden that it cannot bear, and must not cast away”
Richardson 1774 on morality
“unusually refined moral sense” “struggles against horror”
Mackenzie (Romantic critic) on Hamlet’s character
“with the strongest purpose of revenge he is irresolute and inactive, amidst the gloom of the deepest melancholy he is gay and jovial and while described as a passionate lover he is indifferent about the the object of his affections”
Samuel Caleridge on inaction vs action
“he thinks too much, and he can’t make up his mind… Shakespeare’s ultimate message was that we should act, not delay”
T S Eliot
Hamlet was an “artistic failure”, like Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa he is “overly enigmatic”
Carolyn Heilbrun 1957 (Feminist)
Gertrude is unaware of the poisoning, and marries Claudius to avoid a power vacuum
Showalter
“Ophelia is a symbol of distraught and hysterical women in modern culture”
What did Freud suggest in the 1899 ‘Interpretation of Dreams’
“the play is built upon Hamlet’s hesitations over fulfilling the task of revenge that is assigned to him, but it’s text offers no reason or motive behind these hesitations”
What does Freud suggest about Claudius’ influence on Hamlet?
shown him “the repressed wishes of his childhood realised”
Lacan’s ‘Desire and interpretation of desire in hamlet’ 1950
‘Hamlet assumes the role of Phallus’
What does Gontar suggest about Hamlet’s paternity
suggests that Claudius is Hamlet’s biological father - explains hesitation and succession
Evans (meta-interpretation)
‘The discrepancies within the text reflect the deep anxieties that were felt in an era of philosophical, scientific and religious disorientation’
Mack in ‘Everybody’s Shakespeare’ on the questions throughout the play
‘Hamlet’s world is preeminently in the interrogative mood, it reverberates with questions’
Greenblatt on the paradox presented by the ghost
‘a young man from Wittenberg, with distinctly protestant temperament, is haunted by a distinctly catholic ghost’
How did Clinton describe the ghost?
‘diabolical manifestation on a mission to trick Hamlet into forfeiting his soul’
Jan Kott (1960) on the court at Elsinore
‘a fable about totalitarian tyranny’
Describe Foak’s Hamletism
a state of disastrous indecisiveness
Bogdanov on militarism in Hamlet
describe his 1980s National Theatre Production
‘territorial imperative’ - Fortinbras comes to Elsinore
in the final scene Fortinbras’ army arrive brandishing AK47 rifles
