Follow along in your booklet Themes in Hamlet Follow along in your booklet

1. Justice and Revenge All action in the play is based on the one task the ghost gives his son, which is to avenge King Hamlet’s death This demand is counteracted by three questions: Is revenge a good or evil act? Is Claudius truly guilty and so to be punished? Is it Hamlet’s responsibility to punish him?

1. Justice and Revenge Shakespeare raises questions about whether justice is the responsibility of the state or taken into one’s own hands As well as whether it is possible, in a cunning and deceitful world, to tell a good person from an evil one These questions are focused on Hamlet who must decide whether he should avenge his father and if so, how?

1. Justice and Revenge There are parallel story structures here as Laertes and Fortinbras also have obligations of revenge to fulfull…

2. Destiny and the Purpose of Life Link to the revenge theme is the question of Hamlet’s meditations: is there a point to life at all? Do we suffer in this harsh world for a purpose or simply because we are afraid to find out what may lie behind it? If there is a higher universal force guiding each of us in a certain direction, how do we know what it is so we can accept this guidance? Much of Hamlet’s anguish is caused by his effort to link even the most trivial event to the order of the universe Does he succeed in getting any answers to his questions and does life ever reveal its meaning to any of us?

3. Madness and Insanity The question of Hamlet’s insanity is openly discussed in the play and has been the subject of conjecture for centuries Is Hamlet really mad, and if so, what causes his madness? Is it his reluctance to take revenge, confused feelings of his mother? Is he in fact sane and the world is mad for failing to understand what he is saying?

3. Madness and Insanity Is he sometimes pretending to be mad and at other times genuinely unbalanced? The play also gives another example of madness in the case of Ophelia Shakespeare seems to like to have his female characters go “round the twist” (consider Lady Macbeth as well) The same questions we have of Hamlet’s madness can be applied to Opehila as well

4. Appearance vs. Reality One of Shakespeare’s most famous lines states “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players” (As You Like It) Allied to the question of madness is a variety of references to the idea of acting a part or of presenting a false image to the world Claudius, for example presents himself at the start of the play as a grieving uncle, father, and king Hamlet demands honesty and loyalty of the people around him but is he in turn honest?

4. Appearance vs. Reality Many other characters seem at various times to be playing parts and the troupe of players is in the play to remind us that in real life a person may play many roles (Think, Miss Brill) Also, it is not always easy to determine what is true from what has the appearance of truth At the center of the play, Hamlet’s advice to the players expresses his views about acting Compare this advice with the picture Shakespeare gives us of Hamlet and the other characters acting in their “real” life

5. Women Hamlet’s views on women are complex and intensely emotional The only two women in the play are the two characters that Hamlet is most attached to (Gertrude and Ophelia) Why is his bitterness towards his mother so strong? What are the various feelings that go into his changing attitude towards Ophelia? Hamlet is often very accusatory to the women in his life As you read the play you will see to what extent his accusations are true or poorly founded

6. Rights and Duties of Kingship Shakespeare bases the right and duty of the king on Natural Order and Hierarchy of Kings Philosophy and belief that there is order in everything called “chain of being” very strict and governs ALL LIFE At the highest is God and moves down to “lesser beings” (like angels, demons, stars, moons, kings, princes, nobles, men, wild animals, plants, precious stones, metals and other materials)

6. Rights and Duties of Kingship Plato argues there is order to ALL THINGS. When they’re in order = harmony in the universe When the chain is broken (someone moves unnaturally up in order) everything in nature is upset and everyone suffers In Macbeth the universe reacted unnaturally – horses ate each other, there was a lunar eclipse, it was dark even during the day – a reaction to Macbeth killing the King

6. Rights and Duties of Kingship “Divine Right of Kings” King is God’s representative on earth If his position is removed it will disrupt perfect order. Any act against the King (like treason) was considered an act against God To kill a king is a terrible crime and the heavens would show ominous sings

6. Rights and Duties of Kingship Apply this to Hamlet: In the second scene of the play, it is clear that Denmark has become weak and corrupt under Claudius’ rule (which is why it is being attacked by Norway) Like Hamlet, we have suspicions early in the play of Claudius, only confirmed later in the play. (Such as Claudius’ drinking and debauchery) As a result, all of Denmark has been corrupted. The crime between Claudius and his father is now a crime against the state and needs to be cleansed.

7. Poison and Corruption Corruption, rot, disease, poison – poetic imagery linked to this theme Related to duties of kingship (the rightful king will bring prosperity, the wrongful king will poison the land) The poison with which Claudius kills King Hamlet gives idea that the kingdom is poisoned, “something is rotten in Denmark” Is the arrival of Fortinbras at the end meant to be a cure?