1. “In all commentating upon Shakespeare there has been a radical error never yet mentioned. It is the error of attempting to expound his characters – to account for their actions – to reconcile his inconsistencies –

2. not as if they were the coinage of a human brain, but [as] if they had been actual existences upon earth. We talk of Hamlet the man, instead of Hamlet the dramatis persona –” Edgar Allan Poe

3. Shakespeare’s portrait on a stone tablet outside the castle of Kronborg in Ellsinore, Denmark

4. This play is primarily a tragedy, but it also contains elements of history (Danish), romance (Ophelia), and comedy (Rozencrantz and Guildenstein)

6. The legend A Prince Hamlet was first mentioned more than 800 years ago in a history of Denmark by Saxo Grammaticus entitled Gesta Danorum. From Saxo, the legend was retold by Christian Pedersen, whose version of the story was printed in 1514. (Kronberg Castle History)

8. This play is different from most of Shakespeare’s plays in that it involves more character development than action.

10. Hamlet is interesting from a psychological standpoint. He has issues with: 1. Being indecisive/ confused 2. Violence 3. Long winded 4. A joker; perhaps incapable of expressing true emotions

11. 5. Oedipus Rex issues 6. Issues with women in general- sees them as whores and tricksters 7. Unclear motives 8. Lacks definite boundaries 9. Comes from a dysfunctional family

12. Many critics of Hamlet question the character’s motivation. Why is he unable to seek revenge against someone who has greatly wronged him, yet he causes the violent deaths of three other men?

14. BODY POLITIC: The monarchial government, including all its citizens, its army, and its king. Political theory in the Elizabethan period thought of each kingdom as a "body," with the king functioning as its head.

15. Events affecting the body politic, such as political turmoil, warfare, and plague, would be mirrored in the macrocosm, microcosm, and the Chain of Being

16. This allegory works well with Hamlet in the sense that the King’s head is poisoned, and he dies due to the evil. The “head of state” is also poisoned, and the body politic dies due to this evil act.

17. Hamlet is a play fraught with questions. As critic Stephen Greenblatt asks, "Why does Hamlet delay avenging the murder of his father by Claudius, his father's brother? How much guilt does Hamlet's mother, Gertrude...bear in this crime? How trustworthy is the ghost of Hamlet's father...?

18. Is vengeance morally justifiable in this play, or is it to be condemned? What exactly is the ghost...? Why is the ghost, visible to everyone in the first act, visible only to Hamlet in Act 3? Is Hamlet's madness feigned or true, a strategy masquerading as a reality or a reality masquerading as a strategy?" (Greenblatt, 1659).

19. http://www.npr.org/2014/04/23/305 897405/as-shakespeare-turns-450- hamlet-tour-makes-the-world-a- stage