Hamlet

Hamlet

 I. Basics:

Author: William Shakespeare

Setting: Denmark, mostly Elsinore

II.) Characters:
Prince Hamlet: The main character of Hamlet, often given to monologue digressions and emotional fits, Hamlet struggles to reveal the mystery of his father’s death and to summon the courage to act.
Old Hamlet: The old King of Denmark. Murdered by his brother, he demands revenge from Hamlet.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Two of Hamelt’s school-mates, the two are indistinguishable throughout the play and serve only as pawns to the King and Queen. Their betrayal of Hamlet eventually leads to their demise.
Gertrude: The queen and wife of Old Hamlet and Claudius. These marriages stir up quite a bit of controversy forcing Hamlet to have mixed feelings regarding his mother.
Claudius: The new king of Denmark. Although much can be said to villainize Claudius, his monologue in Act 3 serves to humanize him and bring him down to life a bit.

Ophelia: Daughter of Polonius and lover of Hamlet, Ophelia seems to struggle with balancing her position as faithful daughter and the secret lover to Hamlet. Like Gertrude, she indirectly causes much of the action of the play although she herself is powerless as the events unfold.

Polonius: The hand of the King, in my mind Polonius is best described as a Shakespearian Nixon. His advice to Laertes upon leaving for France sheds light on many of his qualities as well as his constant spying.
Laertes: A foil to Hamlet, upon hearing of Polonius death, Laertes immediately demands revenge. His eagerness for justice however brings about his downfall. Laertes makes a deal with Claudius in the heat of the moment and his deceit of Hamlet backfires.
Fortinbras: Another foil to Hamlet who also seeks to revenge his father, Fortinbras differs from Laertes and Hamlet in that through his failure to get revenge he succeeds.
Horatio: Hamlet’s trusted confidante, Horatio stands as Hamlet’s one true friend. Amidst Hamlet’s betrayers, Horatio alone stands out and for this reason Hamlet asks Horatio to tell his story.

III.)Plot
The play begins on a dark, mysterious note. The night watch is confronted by what is the third appearance of Old Hamlet’s ghost and the watch makes plans to inform Hamlet. Meanwhile, Hamlet is present at the coronation of his new step-father/uncle. Clearly, this pulls at some heartstrings especially considering its only been two months since Old Halmet’s death. Despite this, the royal couple keeps their appearances up and encourages Hamlet to do the same although he does not comply. After the ceremony, Horatio tells Hamlet of his ghost sighting, and Hamlet immediately agrees to see the ghost for himself. At midnight the ghost reappears and beckons Hamlet to join him. Hamlet agrees against the better judgement of his friends, and is told that his father was murdered by Claudius. He swears revenge to the ghost and forces his companions to swear  that they will not reveal what they have seen and will not disclose the reason for Hamlet’s change in behavior. Despite his initial promise, Hamlet falters to make a decisive move. With many eyes on Hamlet, Claudius quickly notes the change in behavior and enlists Polonius to help him discover the cause. Polonius believes the cause to be his daughter Ophelia and forces her to set a trap for Hamlet. Unfortunately, Hamlet recognizes Ophelia’s deceit, although he fails to see it is not her own, and breaks her heart. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and then enlisted to help discover the reason for Hamlet’s madness, but Hamlet also recognizes their betrayal and eludes them. Meanwhile, Hamlet himself schemes to catch the king’s guilty consciousness and so he has a company of actors perform a play that traces through Claudius’ murder of Hamlet. Astounded, Claudius rises and Hamlet feels that he has won. Claudius plans to send Hamlet to England straight away, but first he attempts to guilt him with his mother. However, Hamlet and Gertrude’s meeting, Hamlet hears someone behind the curtain spying and stabs them, hoping its Claudius. In fact, the spy is Polonius and his murder is a bad move for Hamlet. Hamlet is sent to England leaving Claudius angrier than ever and forced to deal with damage control. On the way to England, Hamlet admires Fortinbras, is captured by pirates, and recognizes the deceit of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern just in time to betray them. Meanwhile, Claudius contends with a rebellion caused by Laertes and Ophelia driven into frenzy. To Ophelia, Claudius offers no comfort and she eventually commits suicide. To Laertes, however Claudius promises him the chance to revenge his father’s death. Hamlet returns and after Ophelia’s funeral, he duels with Laertes. The plan Laertes and Claudius devised in order to kill only Hamlet winds up killing the entire royal court and all die except Horatio. Horatio then is left to welcome the new king of Denmark, Fortinbras who came to Elsinore requesting safe passage.

IV.)    Narrative Voice/Author’s Style

POV: As a play, the work does not contain a narrator. Although the focus is mainly on Hamlet, the play also shifts from Polonius, to Claudius and even to Ophelia.

Tone: The tone of Hamlet is dark and mysterious.

 Symbolism: Opehlia’s flowers, the skull at the graveyard, ghosts, revenge

V.)    “To be or not to be. That is the question.”
This quote, stated in one of Hamlet’s first monologues represents Hamlet’s uncertainty to act. Through this line, Hamlet shows his disconnect between thought and action which prevails throughout the entire play.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

This quote is stated by Marcellus as he attempts to follow Hamlet and the ghost. The presence of the ghost suggests to Marcellus that the entire kingdom is unwell. This is one of many references to the the synecdoche between the king and the state.

VI.)    Theme:

In all human endeavours, we must try  to strike a balance between thought and action, although ultimately our courses are already charted.

This theme is especially apparent when comparing Hamlet’s fate to that of  his two foils, Laertes and Fortinbras. Hamlet’s story is a tragedy- he puts too much thought into considering whether to act or not until he finally realizes that “there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow”. Laertes acts to quickly, and rushes into a duel with Hamlet and to his death. Fortinbras on the other hand, decides not to act, yet his revenge is granted to him in the end.