Hamlet’s Character Flashcards
Coleridge (1818), on Hamlet & Action
“Hamlet wished to impress upon us, the truth, that action is the chief end of existence”
Goethe (1795), on Hamlet’s suitability as Revenge Hero
“ Shakespeare sought to depict a great deed laid upon a soul unequal to the performance of it”
Goethe (1795), on Hamlet’s nature
“A beautiful, pure, noble, and most moral nature”
Coleridge (1818), on Hamlet Thinking Too Much
He lost “the power of action in the energy of resolve”
Schlegel (1809), on Hamlet’s weakness
“ ..his weaknesses to apparent: he does himself…no greater dissimilarity then between himself and Hercules. “
Schlegel (1809), on Hamlet’s Lack of Belief
“ Hamlet has no firm belief either in himself or in anything else. “
Schlegel (1809), on Hamlet’s Sorrow
“ He is too much overwhelmed with his own sorrow to have any compassion to spare for others. “
Hazlitt (1817), on Hamlet and the Audience
“ It is we who are Hamlet. “
Hazlitt (1817), on Hamlet’s Action
“ Hamlet’s powers of action have been eaten up by thought. “
H A Taine (1863), on Hamlet’s Control over his Action
“He is not master of his acts; occasion dictates them”
Harley Granville - Barker (1937), on Hamlet’s Inaction
“Here is a tragedy of inaction; the centre of it is Hamlet“
A C Bradley (1904), Criticism of his Criticism
It focuses on the character as a living, breathing person, rather than a literary construct. He falls into the trap of trying to reduce Shakespearean tragedy to a formula: the tragic hero is someone suffering from a particular weakness of character.
A C Bradley (1904), on Fate & Hamlet’s Heroism
“ Fate descends upon his enemies, and his mother, and himself.“
John Holloway, on the Role that Hamlet Takes
“ There is a sense on Hamlet’s part that he is discharging a role…It is now possible, however, to see the stress on delay in the soliloquies as being not so much for the sake of stress and delay in itself, as of showing how the protagonist is preoccupied with his role, in order to stress that it is indeed a role: It a recognisable part, undertaken by him, with what might almost be termed a pre-ordained course and end.“
Philip Edwards, on Hamlet’s Failure
“ There is no doubt of the extent of Hamlet!s failure. In trying to restore the beauticious Majesty of Denmark, he has brought the country into an even worse state in the hands of a foreigner. “
J W Lever, on Tragedy & the Fatal Flaw
“ The fundamental flaw is the world they inhabit: in the political state, the social order it upholds…”
Alex Newell, on ‘To Be or Not To Be’
“ Entirely motivated by reason, untouched by passion. In its academic method and style, the speech carries the stamp of Hamlet’s identity as a student, formally posing a question or topic for debate. “
Josipovici
“Hamlet is a merge of the tragic hero and the clown figure”
Dr Johnson
Ha,let is an instrument rather than an agent
Romantic Critics thought…
Hamlets introspective approach led to inaction because one who focuses on one’s internal emotional state cannot act.
Spiritual agony and the searing insight of an individual alienated from society was a theme close to romantic sensibility.
