Hamlet Critics

Question 1

Walsh

Answer 1

Hamlet is a play about “pitiful procrastination”

Question 2

David Leverenz

Answer 2

“[Ophelia] goes mad rather than gets mad”

Question 3

Elaine Showalter

Answer 3

“The madwoman is a heroine, a powerful figure who rebels against the family and the social order”

Question 4

Nietzschean philosophy

Answer 4

Hamlet cannot kill Claudius because he knows that his actions will change nothing in the eternal nature of things.

Question 5

Nietzsche

Answer 5

“Knowledge kills action, for action requires a state of being in which we are covered by a veil of illusion”

Question 6

John Locke

Answer 6

Hamlet lost his moral guidance when his father died. This provoked him towards the notion of murder and seeking revenge.

Question 7

Marxist

Answer 7

There is a clear division between the aristocracy, bourgeoisie and proletariat in Hamlet. Hamlet mocks both Polonius and Osric. C+G use R+G as spies, and Polonius uses Reynaldo as a spy.