ENGL 4313/5583: Shakespeare: Tragedies

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide 4: Hamlet

Revised 9-15-10

Background

Hamlet holds a special place among Shakespeare’s plays. It is the earliest of Shakespeare’s “four great tragedies,” followed by Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. Until the mid-20^th century, when it began to be eclipsed to some extent by King Lear, it was generally considered to be the greatest of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

1. More has been written about the character Hamlet, it is said, than about any other fictional or historical character with the exception of Jesus. A Google search for “Shakespeare’s Hamlet” yields more than one-quarter million hits—more than for “Shakespeare’s King Lear” or “Shakespeare’s Othello.” Extra-credit research: According to your own computer searches, is Hamlet still number one?
2. During whose reign and in what year did Shakespeare write Hamlet?
3. According to the textbook’s introduction to the play and “Note on the Text” following the play, what are the distinctive features and relative merits of each of the following texts of Hamlet?
1. First Quarto (Q1, 1603)
2. Second Quarto (Q2, 1604)
3. First Folio (F1, 1623)
4. Which of these three texts does The Riverside Shakespeare use as its “copy-text” of Hamlet? Why?
5. What is Ur-Hamlet? (“Ur” in this context means “original,” “primitive,” or “prototypical.”) What is its relationship to Shakespeare’s Hamlet?

Hamlet’s Delay

The central problem in the interpretation of Hamlet is why Hamlet delays in avenging the death of his father. As you read the play, record evidence and/or arguments that support each of the following competing explanations of Hamlet’s delay.

1. Hamlet delays only because of external circumstances beyond his control. He does not delay unnecessarily.
2. Hamlet delays because his temperament and character do not allow him to act in this particular situation. He is so highly introspective and analytical that he is unable to kill Claudius. Or he is a Christian who looks for excuses not to kill another human being.
3. Hamlet delays because he has a psychological condition called an Oedipus complex, which makes a son subconsciously desire to kill his father and marry his mother. He is unable to kill his uncle Claudius because to do so would be (a) to fulfill these forbidden desires, since Claudius is in the position of his father by being married to his mother and (b) to kill himself, since Claudius has already done what Hamlet desires to do.

Other Problems in the Interpretation of Hamlet

Besides Hamlet’s delay, the play presents many other problems of interpretation. Indeed, it may be Shakespeare’s most problematic play. As you read it, record evidence that helps to answer the following problems:

1. What is Hamlet’s hamartia?
2. Does Hamlet lose his sanity, or is his madness only an act?
3. Does Hamlet experience “recognition”? Does he gain self-knowledge in the course of the play?
4. Is Claudius as thoroughly despicable a character as Hamlet believes him to be? Is he a good king?
5. What is the nature of the relationship between Hamlet and his mother?
6. Does Ophelia die by suicide or accident? (And why does no one try to save her from drowning?)

Famous Lines in Hamlet

Hamlet has probably given the English language more well-known phrases, lines, and passages than any other play. As you read the play, look for the following famous phrases in the play. For each, answer the following questions:

1. Where is the quotation found in the play, and what is the longer passage from which it comes?
2. Who is the speaker, who is the listener, and what is the situation of each quotation?
3. What does the quotation mean in context?

Most of these quotations are compiled in McCrum, Cran, and MacNeil’s The Story of English (Viking, 1986). The quiz on acts 4-5 will include questions about these famous lines from throughout the play.

1. “Frailty, thy name is woman!”
2. “More in sorrow than in anger”
3. “The primrose path of dalliance”
4. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”
5. “This above all: to thine own self be true”
6. “A custom more honored in the breach than the observance”
7. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
8. “The time is out of joint”
9. “Brevity is the soul of wit”
10. “More matter with less art”
11. “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it”
12. “What a piece of work is a man, . . . . this quintessence of dust”
13. “The play’s the thing”
14. “To be or not to be: that is the question”
15. “Ay, there’s the rub”
16. “Get thee to a nunnery”
17. “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action”
18. “The Mouse-Trap”
19. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”
20. “Hoist with his own petar”
21. “I must be cruel only to be kind”
22. “Alas poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio”
23. “Sweets to the sweet”
24. “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends”
25. “The rest is silence”
26. “Good night, sweet prince”

Act 1

1. Young Fortinbras, son of the late King Fortinbras of Norway, is the first of several foils to Hamlet in the play. (See 1.1.80-107). Why and how is Fortinbras seeking revenge against Denmark? How does Fortinbras’s situation parallel Hamlet’s situation after the Ghost appears to Hamlet?
2. What does Hamlet mean when he says in his first line of the play, “A little more than kin and less than kind” (1.2.65)? (One definition of kind in Early Modern English is “natural.”)
3. Why are Claudius and Gertrude concerned about Hamlet?
4. In what different ways do Hamlet and Gertrude use the word “common” (1.2.72, 74)?
5. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy (1.2.129-59), he expresses extreme despondency even before he hears about the Ghost of his late father. In this soliloquy, what does he say about his feelings toward each of the following?
1. his mother
2. women in general
3. his own life
6. Shakespeare’s original audience would have recognized Polonius’s advice to his son Laertes (1.3.58-81) as containing well-known clichés. Why is Polonius giving advice to his son? In your own words, what advice does he give? Is this good advice?
7. It is believed that Shakespeare played the role of the Ghost in the original production of this play.
1. In your own words, what past events does the Ghost reveal to Hamlet? In what two ways did Claudius wrong King Hamlet? How did Gertrude wrong her husband before his death?
2. What does the Ghost ask Hamlet to do (and not do) in the future?
8. Many Elizabethans believed that ghosts could be sent by God with a truthful message or faked by Satan to bring a false message. What lines show that Hamlet holds this belief? (See also 2.2.598-603.)
9. How does the stage direction “Ghost cries under the stage” (1.5.148) reflect the structure and use of space in the Globe Theatre and other Elizabethan public playhouses?
10. What is an “antic disposition” (1.5.172)? Why does Hamlet plan to “put an antic disposition on”?

Act 2

1. What instructions does Polonius give his servant Reynaldo about spying on Laertes? What does his giving these instructions suggest about Polonius’s character? How does Polonius’s love of spying undo him later in the play?
2. According to Ophelia’s description, what strange behavior has Hamlet exhibited to her? Why do you think Hamlet has acted this way?
3. What do Claudius and Gertrude want Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to do?
4. What does Polonius believe to be the cause of Hamlet’s madness (2.2.86 ff.)? What is humorous about this speech by Polonius?
5. When Hamlet encounters Polonius, what does he do and say that confirms Polonius’s belief that Hamlet is mad? In asides, what does Polonius say, however, that indicates his awareness that Hamlet’s words reveal more understanding than an insane person would ordinarily have?
6. In Elizabethan England, traveling players (actors) frequently visited towns outside London. In fact, Shakespeare probably saw a play for the first time when traveling players came to Stratford-upon-Avon during his youth. When Hamlet meets the players, he asks the First Player to recite a speech about the Greek warrior Pyrrhus’s killing of King Priam of Troy. What difficulty does Pyrrhus have in killing Priam (2.2.477-82)? How does this situation parallel Hamlet’s own slowness in carrying out the revenge commanded by the Ghost?
7. According to Hamlet’s second soliloquy (2.2.550-605), why does Hamlet feel shamed by the actor who delivered the speech about Pyrrhus? Why is Hamlet so upset with himself? How do Pyrrhus and the actor delivering this speech about Pyrrhus serve as foils to Hamlet?
8. At the end of this soliloquy, what plan does Hamlet reveal? Why, according to Hamlet, is it necessary to carry out this stratagem?

Act 3

1. Where and how does Claudius express guilt for the first time?
2. Hamlet’s third soliloquy (“To be or not to be,” 3.1.55-87) would be an excellent choice for your performance of a monologue.
1. In your own words, what two alternatives does Hamlet consider?
2. According to the soliloquy, what are the problems that make Hamlet want to choose “not to be”?
3. What nevertheless makes most people, like Hamlet, choose “to be”?
3. The so-called “nunnery scene” is one of the most famous in the play.
1. What is Ophelia’s stated reason for approaching Hamlet on this occasion (3.1.92-94)?
2. According to Hamlet, why should Ophelia go to a nunnery?
3. Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia in this scene is highly emotional, angry, and cruel. What different reasons might help explain why Hamlet treats her this way?
4. Hamlet’s advice to the players (3.2.1-45) is another famous passage.
1. What kind of language does Hamlet use here (such as prose, blank verse, or rhymed couplets)? How can you tell? How is this kind of language appropriate to the situation?
2. In your own words, what advice does he give the actors?
3. Given Hamlet’s situation in the play as a whole, what is ironic about Hamlet’s telling the actors how to act?
5. The play-within-the-play is an important turning point in the plot.
1. According to what Hamlet tells Horatio, why does Hamlet have the players put on the play-within-the-play?
2. What strange things does Hamlet do and say before and during the play-within-the-play? What reasons might help explain his behavior?
3. The “dumb show” is a brief pantomimed overview of the play-within-the-play. King Claudius is present, but it is unclear whether or not he sees and pays attention to the dumb show. If he sees it, how would you expect him to react? Based on the scene as a whole, do you believe he sees it? Why or why not?
4. In the play-within-the-play, the Player King and Player Queen disagree about whether she would ever do what? How is this issue relevant to the play Hamlet?
5. What brings an abrupt end to the play-within-the-play? Does the play fulfill Hamlet’s aim (see “5a” above)?
6. According to Claudius’s soliloquy (3.3.36-72), why can he not pray for or receive forgiveness?
7. According to Hamlet’s soliloquy (3.3.73-96), why does Hamlet not take advantage of the opportunity to kill Claudius while he is kneeling? Since the audience hears Claudius’s soliloquies (3.3.36-72 and 3.3.97-98) but Hamlet does not, dramatic irony is created. What is ironic about Hamlet’s reason for not killing Claudius? In class, please ask me to discuss other explanations for Hamlet’s not killing Claudius at this point.
8. The “closet scene” with Hamlet and Gertrude (3.4) is usually identified as the crisis or turning point of the play. Why?
1. What circumstances lead to the accidental killing of Polonius?
2. The killing of Polonius directly leads to the deaths of several other characters in acts 4 and 5. Which characters? How are their deaths the result of Hamlet’s killing of Polonius?
3. How does the stage direction “Parts arras and discovers Polonius” (3.4.30) relate to the structure of the Globe Theatre? What is an “arras”? In what part of the stage would Polonius’s body be revealed?
4. What contrast does Hamlet try to force his mother to see? What does he plead with her not to do in the future?
5. What does this scene reveal about Gertrude’s innocence or guilt?
6. When the Ghost suddenly appears in this scene, what does he tell Hamlet? How is the Ghost’s appearance different here than previously in the play?
7. What does Hamlet mean when he says he must be heaven’s “scourge and minister” (3.4.175)? (See also the end of the textbook’s introduction to the play, page 1188.)
8. What does Hamlet tell his mother about his madness?

Act 4

1. In Hamlet’s “egg-shell” soliloquy (4.4.32-66), Hamlet again berates himself for not having carried out revenge for the death of his father.
1. At this moment, why does he feel so guilty for not having acted? In what way is Fortinbras a foil to Hamlet here?
2. What possible explanations does Hamlet suggest for his failure to act?
2. Ophelia’s madness is revealed in 4.5.
1. When Ophelia is speaking (rather than singing songs), what form of language does she use (e.g., prose, blank verse, or rhymed couplets)? How is this language appropriate to the character and situation?
2. What traumatic events has Ophelia recently experienced? (See, for example, Claudius’s list at 4.5.75 ff.) How do the words of Ophelia’s songs and speeches reflect these traumas?
3. Up until now Ophelia has been a proper aristocratic young lady, but the words of Ophelia’s songs are particularly bawdy. What would explain her use of such language here?
3. What events does Hamlet report in his letter to Horatio (4.6.13-31)? What is ironic about Hamlet’s behavior?
4. What “dirty tricks” do Claudius and Laertes plan to use in Laertes’s fencing match with Hamlet?
5. Ophelia’s death is problematical.
1. According to the Queen’s explanation (4.7.166-83), what circumstances lead to Ophelia’s death?
2. What evidence in acts 4 and 5 suggests that Ophelia’s death is a suicide?
3. What evidence in acts 4 and 5 suggests that Ophelia’s death is an accident?

Act 5

1. The two gravediggers are identified as “clowns.” Which dictionary definition of clown applies here?
2. The language of the gravediggers is typical of clowns in Shakespeare’s plays.
1. What form of language do they use (e.g., prose, blank verse, rhymed couplets, etc.)? How is this language appropriate to the characters and situation?
2. What examples of humor do you find in the language of the clowns? What examples of the use of puns and double meanings do you find?
3. What does the conversation between the gravediggers reveal about each of the following topics of current gossip in Elsinore?
1. The circumstances of Ophelia’s death and burial
2. The problems and whereabouts of Prince Hamlet
4. According to the First Clown, how old is Prince Hamlet? To what extent does this age seem to consistent with Hamlet’s behavior in the play?
5. What important stage property does the First Clown give Hamlet? Why is Hamlet so deeply moved by this object? Of what universal process does this object remind Hamlet?
6. Why does Hamlet fight with Laertes? Given the structure of the Globe Theatre, how might this fight have been staged?
7. How do Hamlet’s words to Horatio in each of the following passages show that Hamlet is now more at peace with his difficult circumstances than he was before his departure for England?
1. “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, / Rough-hew them how we will” (5.2.9-10)
2. “There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. . . . [T]he readiness is all.” (5.2.219-23)
8. According to what Hamlet tells Horatio, what has happened to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? How does Hamlet feel about his role in their fate? Do your own feelings coincide with Hamlet’s? Why or why not? Toward what characters in the play does Hamlet behave cruelly?
9. In what way is Laertes’s situation parallel to Hamlet’s? In what way is Laertes’s reaction to the situation different from Hamlet’s? What passages reveal that Hamlet sees Laertes as his foil (pages 1230, 1232)?
10. Why does Hamlet apologize to Laertes before they begin their fencing match? On what does Hamlet blame his bad behavior? Is Hamlet being truthful here?
11. Be sure not to confuse what happens during the final scene in the script of the play with what happens in various film versions of the play. How does each of the following characters die?
1. Gertrude
2. Claudius
3. Laertes
4. Hamlet
12. Who is to become king of Denmark at the end of the play? Why?
13. What events in the plot of the play correspond to each of the following phrases in Horatio’s summary of events (5.2.380-86)?
1. “carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts”
2. “accidental judgments, casual slaughters”
3. “deaths put on by cunning and [forc’d] cause”
4. “purposes mistook / Fall’n on th’ inventors’ heads”

The Big Picture

1. What does this play demonstrate about the human condition? How are we all like Hamlet?