1. THEMES IN HAMLET

2. TRAGEDY/ TRAGIC HERO Apparent order: Denmark stable
Beneath the order : seeds of chaos and corruption
Tragic hero that restores the order
Tragic hero has a weakness which leads to further chaos
Tragic hero makes fatal mistakes
Tragic hero has an epiphany.
Rights the balance and asks for pardon
Tragic hero dies in his quest
Balance is restored and a new leader takes over.

3. REVENGE Traditional revenge play Ideas about revenge:
- honourable to take revenge
- Unlawful
- Not Christian
This forms the basis of his procrastination /dilemma
Eventually vengeance does happen
Other characters have reason for revenge : Laertes
Fortinbras

4. HAMLET’S DILEMMA Is the ghost true? Is murder /revenge justified?
Conflict of the religious views and the traditional revenge views
Hamlet by nature is not a man of action / violence
Ghost gives two conditions for revenge: Taint not they mind
Harm not they mother
Does Hamlet resolve the dilemma?
“The readiness is all”
Circumstances lead to action, which leads to the death of Claudius
How?

5. JUSTICE
The act of punishment for evil deeds and reward for good deeds.
Cause and effect
Where is justice enacted?
Polonius death (spying, deceit)
Claudius death ( regicide, fratricide, incest /death of Gertrude/, deception and plotting)
Laertes (dishonourable revenge – poison)
Gertrude (incest, possible adultery when she was married)
Injustice ?
Ophelia
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

6. OPPOSITES opposite Similar Hamlet Fortinbras H. Man of words
F. Man of action
Fathers
Revenge / Justice
Potential kings
Laertes
H. Wittenburg / honourable /serious/ contemplative
L. France/ dishonourable/ fun loving/ action
Fathers are killed
Revenge or honour
Both love Ophelia

7. opposite Similar Horatio R+G H. Loyal to Hamlet
R+G. Loyal to the King/ disloyal friends
Young students.
Known each other from young
King Hamlet
Claudius
King Hamlet honourable
C. Dishonourable
Both loved Gertrude
Ophelia
Gertrude
O. Constant in love
G. Inconstant in love
O. Innocence
G. Worldy wise
Both love Hamlet
Representation of women in Elizabethan England – property of the men/ pawns/
Hamlet
Ha. Impulsive/ passionate/ thinker / non action
Ho. Constant/ rational/ action
Both students
Both honourable
HAMLET
OPHELIA
Genders/ social class/ age/ madness

8. THE EXISTENTIAL DILEMMA
Death: To be or not to be/ Great leveller/ Accept that when it comes it comes
Suicide – Hamlet considers it/ Ophelia / Grave diggers
The worth or purpose of life/ Stage and actors / “All the world’s a play and all the men and women merely players”
Hamlet has to find his purpose.
Scene with Yorrick’s skull symbolises for Hamlet the temporality, transience of life.

9. ACTION / NON ACTION PROCRASTINATION
Men of action: Fortinbras/ Laertes / Claudius /Horatio
Fortinbras: Prepared to take revenge. Action governed by reason (good action)
Laertes: Action prompted by extreme emotion / Emotion leads to dishonour (evil actions)
Claudius: Action to fulfil his lust and ambitions/ prompted by evil. (evil actions)
Horatio: Hamlet says that his judgement governs his actions (good actions)
Men of inaction: Hamlet thinks too deeply/ needs to be righteous action. / sometimes acts impulsively. The lesson he needs to learn through the play is how to tke action justly and with reason.

10. APPEARANCE AND REALITY
Denmark is a stable kingdom
Denmark is rotten. Fortinbras attacking. Carousing of the king. Incest.
Hamlet – apparent madness
Depressed/ angry/ wants revenge.
R+G – loyal friends
Sycophants wanting to please the king for their own gain. Prepared to betray Hamlet.
Laertes – Honourable/ good and clean/
Dishonourable – cheated fight.
Claudius – Justly on the throne/ concerned about Hamlet/ honourable and concerned/ appear to ask for forgiveness.
Murderer (fratricide) /drunk/ smooth talker/ adulterer.
Polonius – wise / trusting
Foolish / suspicious + lacks morals – spying.
Gertrude – Loyal wife to King Hamlet.
Possibly an adulterer / Married to soon to have been in any way resmorseful of his death/
Ophelia – innocent/ appears not to know about the spying
But this fair ? She really had little control.
Actors – appear to be real people
Merely playing roles.

11. VIRTUE/ HONOUR Those characters who are virtuous:
Horatio : Hamlet speaks of his balance between reason and action/ throughout the play he acts with discretion and in a reasonable way. In the end, prepared to kill himself to follow Hamlet, but then listens to reason.
Fortinbras: Fights for the honour of his King (his father) and his country.
Hamlet: Believes in honour and being righteous. Appalled by Claudius’ lack of honour. Idolises his father’s good example of honour. Strives to act honourably with regards to revenge. Finally redeems his honour – fights Laertes in duel/ Kills the king. Dilemma about acting honourably over the revenge.
Ophelia? Could debate this.
The actors portray characters who lived by honour. (Pyrrhuys)
Those who lack honour: Claudius/ Gertrude “seeming virtuous” / R+G/ Laertes/ Polonius.

12. MADNESS
Hamlet’s antic disposition : Why? Fool Claudius and everyone else.
Give him time – prove the authenticity of the ghost.
Is Hamlet actually unbalanced at times?
Is the second appearance of the ghost an hallucination. / His conscience warning him.
The ghost doesn’t appear again.
The play scene and the bedroom scene are all over exaggerated and Hamlet acts impulsively, rashly. He calls it madness when he asks for forgiveness from Laertes.
Ophelia: Genuine imbalance. Caused by the trauma of her father’s death and the rejection of Hamlet.

13. THE ROLE OF THE WOMEN IN THE PLAY
Attitudes to women : Property/ no voice / governed by strict laws in society about how to act.
Gertrude: Role – Pawn. Represents in Hamlet’s eyes a “fallen woman” incest.
Ophelia: Sacrifice. Pawn.
The importance of the women in the play: The effect on Hamlet.
Angry with his mother and Ophelia.,
Rejects women, saying they are “breeders of sinners” “paint their faces” to beguile men. Cause corruption in men.
Form part of his distaste for life in general.

14. VALOUR/ HEROES
Definition: Valour – bravery/ courage. Hero – One who performs valorous feats.
Fortinbras: Full of valour. Quick to act/ Man of action
Hamlet – The tragic hero. Has the potential to be a hero but needs to go on a personal journey / overcome his limitations before he is able to do so. Ultimately redeems himself and fulfils his quest- avenging his father’s murder.
The roles performed by the actors depict heroes. (Pyrrhuys/Aeneas)
Debate: Laertes? His use of treachery negates his being a hero. He will use poison rather than valour to achieve his end.

15. IMAGERY /SYMBOLS/ MOTIFS
Actors and the stage
Poison/ corruption
Flowers: Ophelia (violet) Uses flowers to express her turmoil/
Garden : Denmark a weedy garden
The primal sin: Fratricide – the killing of Abel by Cain.
Skull
Body = earth
Wine = Claudius

16. RELATIONSHIPS
Hamlet plays on the relationship “uncle –father”, “mother-aunt”, “mother and father is one, so father.”
Hamlet is appalled by the incest = corruption of the purity of relationships
Significant relationships to consider:
RELATIONSHIP
QUALITIES
HAMLET + GERTRUDE
Mother /son. Hamlet disgusted by his mother’s betrayal of his father and the institution of marriage.
Gertrude loves Hamlet and wants him to be safe. She is not party to Claudius’ deceit.
HAMLET AND CLAUDIUS
Hamlet despises Claudius. He does not trust him. The feeling is mutual
HAMLET AND POLONIUS
Hamlet sees Polonius as a fool. Polonius is patronising to Hamlet.

17. RELATIONSHIPS CONTINUED
QUALITIES
HAMLET AND OPHELIA
Hamlet claims he loves Ophelia. His relationship with her is damaged by her rejection of him and his mother’s corruption. He sees all women as weak and capable of corruption and manipulation. They are “breeders of sinners”
Ophelia loves Hamlet. She only rejects him because she has to obey her father. His bad treatment of her in part causes her mental breakdown.
HAMLET AND HORATIO
Hamlets only true friend. Hamlet admires him and sees him as the perfect balance between action and inaction. He sees him as facing fortune and misfortune with equanimity. Horatio is loyal and true to Hamlet.
HAMLET AND LAERTES
We know little of their relationship until the end where they are adversaries and in competition. Laertes sees Hamlet as the target of his revenge. Hamlet understands this. At the end they pardon each other.
HAMLET AND ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN
They are childhood friends. Hamlet sees them like that at first, but later realises they are sycophants of the king.

18. SPYING /DECEPTION Links up with the theme of appearance and reality.
Incidents of spying:
Polonius spies on Laertes.
Polonius and Claudius spy on Hamlet and Ophelia.
Hamlet spies on Claudius praying.
Claudius sends R+G to spy on Hamlet.
Polonius spies on Hamlet and Gertrude.
Incidents of deception:
Claudius deceives the world about the death of the king.
Claudius and Gertrude deceive the world their marriage is Iawful.
Hamlet deceives the court he is mad. (antic disposition).
Hamlet is deceived that Claudius is asking forgiveness for his sins.
Hamlet deceives the king about his motives for the play.
R+G deceive Hamlet about their real intention.
Claudius deceives Hamlet about the trip to England.
Claudius and Laertes deceive Hamlet in the duel. s.

19. THE PLAY WITHIN THE PLAY
Fits in with the motif “All the world’s a stage” / Actors
The play mirrors the killing of the king.
Intention of the adapted play – to allow Claudius to reveal if the ghost is true and hopefully to get him to confess to the murder of the King.
Also Hamlet wants to jolt his mother’s conscience.
Does the play fulfil its purpose?
Yes, partially. Hamlet can believe the ghost is a good ghost.
Claudius does not confess his sins publicly. He tries to do so privately, but even then he finds he cannot ask fro forgiveness because he still enjoys the fruits of his bad actions.

20. POLITICS/POWER/ NATIONHOOD
Power is centred on the throne in Denmark. Elective monarchy. Hamlet speaks often of the corruption in Denmark which once used to be a proud nation.
Claudius has power and says Hamlet will be king after him. But Claudius although he says his position has been approved, has to work to maintain favour – he behaves like a politician, always trying to win people and favour.
Hamlet is king briefly and nominates Fortinbras.
Hamlet is a popular figure and Claudius knows this. Laertes is also a popular figure as shown when he comes back to Denmark.
Although Claudius believes in the Divine Right of Kings (Kings are appointed by god) he is prepared to betray that belief by killing the king on the throne.

21. FREE WILL AND FATE

22. POISON AND CORRUPTION Poison is he agent of corruption. Symbol.
Poison in King Hamlet’s ear –
Represents Claudius’ poisoning the ear of the kingdom to allow him to become king.
The fact that Claudius uses poison shows he is the agent of corruption in Denmark.
Poison in the duel – Irony that the thing he loves besides himself, is killed by the poison.
Poisoned her- duel poisons her literally

23. Some good sites to research: