hamlet essay plans Flashcards
hamlet plan
OA - despite subversions of conventions, hamlet = poignant tragic hero
1- struggles to assert his position as the hero - unable to summon violent resolve to enact vengeance, characterised by + criticised for emotional + poetic contemplation
2 - ambiguous transition from feigned to real madness reveals feeling of betrayal + disgust at gertrude, so femininity + reveals characters true motivations
3 - tragic hero - hamlet adjusts to the idea of death + finally fulfils his revenger role as his dying act once he gains certainty
conc - most poignant tragic hero as he = reminder of human experience - renaissance influence
hamlet para 1 quotes + critics
“o that this too sullied flesh would melt […] or that the everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self slaughter” “o god, god” - grief stricken sense of disillusionment so great he wants to cease to exist, perhaps this is the cause of his inaction to begin with
cedric watts - “the ghost seeks to impose a stereotype on the prince, that of a dedicated revenger; but hamlet repeatedly displays a very credible resistance to that stereotype” - criticised for not meeting this stereotype - the ghost evokes fear of uncertainty + a sense of paranoia = intense moral conflict + suspicion
goethe - hamlet is “without strength of nerve” to consider himself a hero - no, hamlet requires “grounds more relative than this” - his uncertainty is not negative but necessary for him to be an effective revenger in a society characterised by a fledgling law system
“o what a rogue and peasant slave am i!” - chastises himself for inaction
“that i, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell” - this should be a significant motive, yet hamlet remains torn - true motivations seen, avenging father not enough
hamlet para 2 quotes + critics
“that i […] must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words” - emasculation - “frailty thy name is woman” - shows effect of mothers betrayal
david leverenz- “hamlets disgust at the feminine passivity within himself is translated into violent revulsion against women” - seen with his cruelty towards ophelia
ambiguous transiton from fake -> real madness: hamlet sees ghost but gertrude doesn’t - she insists that “[he does] bend [his] eye on vacancy, and with th’ incorporeal air [holds] discourse” - idea that now the ghost is “the very coinage of [hamlets] brain” for “this bodiless creation ecstasy is very cunning in” intensifies idea of hamlets insanity - no longer a facade so reveals true motivations - return to critical quote - mothers betrayal = worse than fathers death, perhaps because he can be certain link to para 1 - ghost tries to reignite a passion for vengeance in distracted hamlet who is more impassioned about gertrude
hamlet para 3 quotes + critics
belsey - “the moral uncertainty persists to the end […] hamlet dies a revenger, a poisoner, but also a soldier and a prince” - doesn’t take away from his characterisation, if anything it further emphasises it
“no, no the drink […] i am poisoned” - gertrude immediately exposes claudius’ lie + names her murderer so no uncertainty + allows hamlet to fulfil mission + end denmarks suffering
“thou incestuous damned dane, drink off this potion […] follow my mother” - emphasises hamlets heavier focus on gertrude whos betrayal was far more potent + her sacrifice = greater emotional motivator
laertes - “he is justly served, it is a poison tempered by himself” - claudius stabbed + poisoned by hamlet, after killing both his parents, hamlet successfully enacts his revenge then dies - tragic fate
ophelia plan
elaine showalter - “ophelia might confirm the impossibility of representing the feminine in patriarchal discourse as other than madness, incoherence, fluidity, or silence”
1 - fem archetype - product of elizabethan england, value is inextricable to chastity, suppressed, but smart
2 - tool used by claudius + polonius agaisnt hamlet, hamlet rejects her allowing him to become the revenger, mistreatment = tragic deterioration
3 - madness gives her a voice - progressive, she shouldn’t be undermined - death is tragic, smothered by patriarchy
conc - challenge showalter quote
ophelia para 1 quotes + critics
laertes - “the chariest maid is prodigal enough if she unmask her beauty to the moon” - moon symbolises chastity, ophelia must not dishonour family reputation by being unchaste, beauty is seen as a threat, must remain masked lest it attracts lustful attention
polonius - “think yourself a baby” “affection? pooh, you speak like a green girl” - feelings + thoughts dismissed, emph lack of value - infantalised
“i shall obey my lord” “i do not know my lord what i should think” - lack of autonomy + looks to be directed + passivity emphasised by short simple sentences
smart - she tells laertes “do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven whiles […] himself the primrose path of dalliance treads” + calls out hypocrisy = capable of thinking for herself, but knows her place in society is silent
barbara bleiman - “shakespeares daughters challenge patriarchal authority at every turn”
ophelia para 2 quotes + critics
polonius dismisses her emotions again when she encounters hamlet “with his doublet all unbraced […]” in a clear state of disarray and impropriety and exclaims “my lord i have been so affrighted” yet he immediately decides to “seek the king” - uses her to advance socially
david leverenz - “hamlets disgust at the feminine passivity in himself is translated into violent revulsion against women and into his brutal behaviour towards ophelia”
hamlets cruelty - “i loved you not” highlighted by brevity of the sentence and full stop
ophelia para 3 quotes + critics
“her speech is nothing” - in madness = more dismissed than ever
ophelia songs - fluid fragmented language, not truly her voice, yet rhyming may reflect new control she has in madness - controls scene
“there’s fennel for you, and columbines” - false flattery + deception in court, K+Q adultery - “there’s rue for you, and here’s some for me […] you must wear your rue with a difference” - regret, also defiance to associate herself with recipient, sense of command + control in imperative speech - “there’s a daisy, i would give you some violets but they all withered when my father died” - not given out, represent faith + innocence, criticises royal court - her smarts proven here
“willow” = grief / “nettles” = pain / “daisies” = unrequited love - surround ophelia when she dies, also associated with pain relief, suggests suicide - or finally in death freed of pain caused by men
“oh this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her fathers death” - only exists in relation to men
david leverenz - “ophelias suicide becomes a microcosm of the male worlds banishment of the female”
bachelard + showalter - “drowning becomes the truly feminine death”
gertrude plan
common harsh perception = dismissive - rebecca smith “gertrude has not moved in the play toward independence or a moral stance” - OA - argue against this - her development is essential in hamlets fulfilment of his purpose
1 - audience sees hamlets perspective - adulterous + incestuous, criticises hamlet for grieving - but internal grief shows she is strong
2 - queen but lacks power - men command her - confrontation reveals she = hamlets main motivator, reveals G+H relationship strength + her guilt
3 - her sacrifice - final act of defiance + death motivates hamlet + allows him to fulfil his purpose
gertrude para 1 quotes + critics
“good hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off” - cold + lacks grief, despite kings recent death, further emphasised by hasty remarriage -comparison to hamlets outward grief, she = fake + performative
hamlet - “frailty thy name is woman” - suggests gertrude lacks character + morals, as no loyalty to dead husband - doesn’t consider the idea that rather than not grieving at all, she must grieve silently - as image of royal strength following king death + female monarch + must seem loyal to claudius - strong character
gertrude para 2 quotes + critics
“i will obey you” - she is the queen, but still must answer claudius/a man
hamlet - “heavens face […] is thought sick at the act” - attitude of disgust - “confess yourself to heaven […] and do not spread the compost on the weds to make them ranker” - imperative orders but to save her + purge sins
“o hamlet, speak no more, thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul and there i see such black and gained spots” - guilt revealed - pivotal moment - link to lady macbeth (out damned spot), motif of women stained by sins
G-“as will not leave their tinct” H-“nay but to live” - breaks iambic pentameter as hamlet completes line throughout scene - close bond, though unsteady, sense of familiarity
gertrude’s aside - “guilt, it spills items in fearing to be spilt” - use of rhyme = her grasping for control, none found, audience sees she aware lack of power despite being queen
gertrude para 3 quotes + critics
hamlets hatred of claudius - “he hath kill’d my king and whor’d my mother” - second phrase carries more intimate + emotional weight, true passions directed towards mother
her final act = defiance + reconciliation for her son - sacrificial - defies claudius order “no gertrude do not drink” “i will, my lord, i pray you pardon me” + immediately exposes claudius’ lie - “no, no, the drink, the drink - o my dear hamlet! - the drink, the drink! i am poisoned” - repetition emphasises exposure, indirectly names her murderer, immediately hamlet is spurred into action, kills claudius twice - final purpose = cementing hamlets duty of vengeance
hamlet - “thou incestuous damned dane, drink off this potion […] follow my mother” - emphasises heavier focus on gertrude, her betrayal = more potent to him, her sacrifice = greater emotional motivator for hamlet - character significance - ts eliot said it is a play “dealing with the effects of a mothers guilt upon her son”
ghost/supernatural plan
OA - use of supernatural plays on renaissance public fears to to give hamlets mission a greater psychological complexity
1 - contributes to suspcious + mysterious atmos - emphasises political instability + unrest - context link - claudius corrupt = state corrupt
2 - ignites hamlets conflict + paralysis about revenge + evokes fear of uncertainty + sense of paranoia
3 - evokes qs about hamlets true motivations allowing a more advanced reading of the play
ghost para 1 quotes + critics
supernatural appearances = bad omen - represents + foreshadows suffering of state + characters
“most foul and unnatural murder” - emphasises claudius’ crimes + moral depravity
“in the same figure like the king that’s dead” - supernatural = uncertainty, juxtaposition as ghosts = hellish and kings = divine - corruption of old king with hellish imagery = corruption of state
“this bodes some strange eruption to our state” - foreshadowing
1 denmark suffers because claudius is corrupt - critic richard altick “the cunning and lecherousness of claudius’ evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of denmark” - 2 because last legit ruler suffers “confined to fast in fires” / “sulphurous and tormenting flames” either way denmark corruption is undoubted
ghost para 2 quotes + critics
cedric watts - “the ghost seeks to impose a stereotype on the prince, that of a dedicated revenger; but hamlet repeatedly displays a very credible resistance to that stereotype”
hamlets uncertainty - “be thy intents wicked or charitable” for the ghost could be “a devil [which] hath power t’assume a pleasing shape” - context - shakespeares audience, like hamlet = protestant, the ghosts suggestion that the king suffers “confined to fast in fires” / “sulphurous and tormenting flames” in purgatory = suspicion as purgatory is catholic doctrine, audience would be just as conflicted as hamlet upon seeing ghost
after seeing ghost hamlets mind = “distracted globe” introducing state of confusion and uncertainty - develops into internal conflict
ghost para 3 quotes + critics
hamlet sees ghost but gertrude doesn’t - she insists that “[he does] bend [his] eye on vacancy, and with th’ incorporeal air [holds] discourse” - idea that now the ghost is “the very coinage of [hamlets] brain” for “this bodiless creation ecstasy is very cunning in” - allows audience to question hamlets psychological stability + true motivations - returning to critical quote - david leverenz “hamlets disgust at the feminine passivity within himself is translated into violent revulsion against women”
can be argued that his mothers betrayal = worse than fathers death, perhaps because he can be certain - ghost comes to reignite passion vengeance - “this visitation is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose” - when he has become distracted with his mother - more impassioned about this
horatio plan
OA - vehicle to immerse audience in story, as he then becomes the story teller himself
1 - voice of reason - andrew hui “embodies the early modern fusion of stoic and protestant rationality” - allows audience immersion in play
2 - hamlets only ally - contrast with others + increases audience sympathy
3 - only one left - andrew hui “his ultimate purpose in the play is to bear witness to his closest friend, to turn hamlet into Hamlet” - harold bloom “actually we are horatio, hamlets perpetual audience” “without horatio we are distanced from the bewildering hamlet”
horatio para 1 quotes + critics
marcellus - “horatio says ‘tis but our fantasy and will not let belief take hold of him […] if again this apparition come, he may approve our eyes” - horatios skepticism allies himself with audience - bloom link
“by god i might not this believe, without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes” - horatios admission that he sees ghost = essential to audiences belief + cements horatio as voice of reason early on
depth of historical knowledge seen in long speech about feelings of threat + harbingers + bad omens - “in the most high and palmy state of rome, a little ere the mightiest julius fell, the graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead did squeak and gibber in the roman streets” - solidifies his character as scholarly so = trusted reasonable voice in the play
“thou art a scholar. speak to it horatio” “question it horatio” - horatios knowledge valued above bravery, reminiscent of contemporary values of intelligence, in renaissance - verbs used mark contemporary recognition of diplomacy before violence
hes not intimidated by ghost - repeats “speak to me” - in spite of ghosts many enigmatic movements - strong character
horatio para 2 quotes + critics
hamlet - “horatio, thou art e’en as just a man as e’er my conversation coped withal” - emphasises honourable horatio - further reinforced as he trusts horatio to keep an eye on claudius - “observe my uncle” - for signs of “his occulted guilt” - “after we will both our judgements join in censure if his seeming” - he sees horatio as equal, regardless of social class - in asking horatio for help, hamlet doubts own senses - he trusts horatio in place of himself = telling of bond
speaks in verse to horatio, despite his tumble into prose - emphasises his respect for horatio
hamlets treatment of R+G - hamlet asks “will you play upon this pipe” - accuses them of playing him - correctly - pledged loyalty to K+Q - “obey, and here give up ourselves, in the full bent, to lay our service freely at your feet”
R+G = “my two school fellows, whom i will trust as i will adders fanged”
horatio para 3 quotes + critics
horatios loyalty is evident at the end - he considers poisoning himself to die with hamlet - “i am more an antique roman than a dane, yet here’s some liquor left” - virtue = more evident compared to macbeth “why should i play the roman fool, and die on my own sword”
hamlet - “give me the cup - let go, by heaven i’ll ha’t” - “in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, to tell my story” - horatio = the only person hamlet trusts to be truthful
⁃ horatios ultimate purpose is to ensure hamlets story doesn’t die with him - in this sense blooms comment is all the more fitting, he is like the audience that gives hamlet life after death
suffering plan
OA - corruptive + volatile presentatoin of suffering used to emphasise extent of claudius crimes and thus danger of upheaving CoB and DRoK
suffering = state of pain/hardship
1 - denmark suffers as claudius disrupts divine right of kings - corrupt ruler = corrupt state - ghost depicts suffering of state - bad omen
2 - hamlet = notable depiction of suffering - first grief, then madness - infection of mind = complete suffering
3 - hamlet inflicts suffering - kills polonius, catalyses tragic end - mass death = ultimate display of suffering, but good for state, purged
suffering para 1 quotes + critics
“most foul and unnatural murder” - emphasises claudius’ crimes + highlights suffering of old hamlet
“in the same figure like the king that’s dead” - supernatural = uncertainty, juxtaposition as ghosts = hellish and kings = divine
“this bodes some strange eruption to our state” - foreshadows suffering to come
1 denmark suffers because claudius is corrupt - critic richard altick “the cunning and lecherousness of claudius’ evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of denmark” - 2 because it’s last legitimate ruler suffers “confined to fast in fires” / “sulphurous and tormenting flames” either way denmark suffering is undoubted
suffering para 2 quotes + critics
“cast thy nighted colour off” / “tis not alone my inky cloak […] nor customary suits if solemn black” - only hamlet still mourns, emphasises his suffering + grief is deep + real
wishes “that the everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self slaughter” - suffering is so great he considers suicide, he struggles to decide what is worse, his suffering or eternal damnation - effective
“were it not that i have bad dreams” - suffering is beginning to infect his mind, suggests he’s troubled
“o what a rogue and peasant slave am i” - chastises himself - suggests he is losing his sense of identity + his suffering is deteriorating his character - further emphasised as he continues to descend into madness
suffering para 3 quotes + critics
“lo, here i lie, never to rise again […] i can no more. the king, the kings to blame” - in death laertes finds control - in dying moments he pinpoints claudius as villain
“no, no the drink […] i am poisoned” - gertrude exposes claudius’ lie + names her murderer allowing hamlet to fulfil his mission + end the suffering of the state - a purge
overall seems that suffering within the play seems to emphasise claudius’s treachery, perhaps highlighted by the time where the monarchy was seen to be of great importance - claudius’s death brings about positive change in denmark
uncertainty plan
uncertainty = state of unreliability, confusion, precariousness, risk, irresolution
lawrence olivier - hamlet is the tragedy of “a man who could not make up his mind”
1 - ghost = symbol of uncertainty - as depicts precariousness of denmark + source of unreliability + ignites hamlets uncertainty on revenge
2 - hamlet = uncertain about claudius’ guilt - spreads in his life - identity + thoughts - character deteriorates, uncertain he can fulfil revenger role - atypical emotion + soliloquys
3 - death = ultimate source of uncertainty - hamlet adjusts to death - fulfils revenger role with certainty of claudius’ crimes
conc - challenge quote - hamlets uncertainty is more than lack of resolve, inevitable in this “rotten” society
uncertainty para 1 quotes + critics
horatio - “this bodes some strange eruption to our state” - uncertainty symbolised by ghost = bad omen, mirrors precarious state of denmark (at this stage reason is unknown) - setting + distrustful atmosphere effectively evokes sense of uncertainty + suspense
hamlet uncertainty on ghost - “be thy intents wicked or charitable” for the ghost could be “a devil [which] hath power t’assume a pleasing shape”
“confined to fast in fires” / “sulphurous and tormenting flames” - context - shakespeares outwardly protestant audience - ghost in purgatory goes against beliefs, purgatory = catholic doctrine
uncertainty para 2 quotes + critics
“o what a rogue and peasant slave am i” / “that i […] must like a whore unpack my heart with words” - loses identity
goethe - hamlet is “without strength of nerve” to consider himself a hero - no, hamlet requires “grounds more relative than this” - his uncertainty is not negative despite it being deemed so by many critiques such as goethe - necessary for him to be an effective revenger in a society characterised by a fledgling law system, easily manipulated against hamlet
uncertainty para 3 quotes + critics
“let hercules himself do what he may, the cat will mew and the dog will have his day” “if it be now, it’s not to come […] if it be not now, yet it will come […] let be” - what will be will be = nihilistic - things will all play out, hamlet accepts things will soon draw to a conclusion, overcomes fear + paralysis uncertainty once caused, reconciled to death - soliloquy’s have a sense nervousness + sporadicness, speech here = calm, come to terms with inevitability of death - perhaps using this to die honourably, without consequences of suicide, perhaps this was the certainty he was looking for all along
“lo, here i lie, never to rise again […] i can no more. the king, the kings to blame” - in death laertes finds control, and in his dying moments he pinpoints claudius as the villain
“no, no the drink […] i am poisoned” - gertrude exposes claudius’ lie + names her murderer, so no uncertainty, allowing hamlet to fulfil his mission + end the suffering of state - purge, with this resolution comes the start of a new age without uncertainty and unreliability, denmark is seen to be in good hands, happy ending for the state, and tragic for the characters
deception plan
deception = act of causing someone to believe smth untrue, esp for personal gain OA - establishes play is defined by secrecy + uncertainty, inspired by elizabethan england in time of paranoia + war
1 - claudius deception - unfit to rule as no moral integrity
2 - ghost ignites a fear of deception in hamlet, he requires absolute certainty to act, appears bcz claudiu’ deception - forshadows it - corrupt ruler = corrupt state
3 - hamlet madness - self deception - real or fake
deception para 1 quotes + critics
wilson kight - “claudius is a good and gentle king, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime” - no, his deception = unfit ruler, negative consequences for the state
“wisest sorrow” “defeated joy” “dirge in marriage” “delight and dole” - oxymorons in king speech reflect his duplicitous and deceptive nature
claudius - “it hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, a brothers murder” - emphasises the extent of his sin + extent of his deception, someone so morally degraded should not be king, a symbol of divinely chosen moral integrity
deception para 2 quotes + critics
hamlet uncertainty about ghost = fear of deception - “be thy intents wicked or charitable” for the ghost could be “a devil [which] hath power t’assume a pleasing shape”
“confined to fast in fires” / “sulphurous and tormenting flames” - context - shakespeares outwardly protestant audience, the descriptions of the ghost in purgatory goes against believes, purgatory = catholic doctrine
