Hamlet Critics

Question 1

On Claudius’ rhetoric

Answer 1

“Lubricated rhetoric… is as gross and sweaty as the incestuous marriage itself” (Booth)

Question 2

Gertrude and her hedonism

Answer 2

“Gertrude is “maternally voluptuous” (Tynan)

Question 3

Ophelia’s insanity with production

Answer 3

Ophelia bears the “chewed appearance of an advanced schizophrenic” (1976 production at the National)

Question 4

Ophelia’s self awareness / assertion

Answer 4

“self possessed, strident” (1965 RSC Production)

Question 5

Polonius’ philosophising and shallow advice

Answer 5

“Polonius is a man of Maxims” (S.T. Coleridge)

Question 6

Hamlet’s dithering / indecision

Answer 6

“Hamlet’s hamartia is “otiose thinking” (Bradley)

Question 7

Hamlet’s Humanism

Answer 7

Hamlet bears the capacity “to love and be loved” (Crutwell)

Question 8

Laertes as a mirror of Hamlet

Answer 8

Laertes is a “demonic mirror of Hamlet as an avenging son” (Foakes)

Question 9

Massive criticism of Hamlet and the danger he poses

Answer 9

“Hamlet is a danger to the state” (Knight)

Question 10

Fortinbras as the hero

Answer 10

Fortinbras as the “true saviour of society”