An analysis of Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark

3. “Something is rotten in
the state of Denmark.”

6. To the Elizabethans, social order was very important,
yet there had been political and religious conflicts before
and during Elizabeth’s rule.
Shakespeare may have used the Hamlet story—and
other plays that featured murdered kings—to reflect
the concerns of his own time.
Hamlet depicts a conflict over what to do when an
orderly state is actually corrupt inside and there
seems to be no civilized answer.

9. The Tragedy of Hamlet: Background
Shakespeare’s plays often
contain clues in the dialogue to
indicate time of day or place.
However, the plays often
used dramatic effects, such
as flying actors on a wire
above the stage, as well.
The theater audience is expected
to combine their imagination
with the stage effects before
them to see the play’s action.

10. The ghost in Hamlet entered
the play through the trapdoor
on the stage.
THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET:
BACKGROUND
The other door was on the
stage and often indicated a
doorway to hell.
The theater had two
trapdoors. One, above the
stage, allowed the actors to
descend from the heavens.

11. During the first fourth of Shakespeare's
Hamlet – Hamlet starts wishing he were dead –
later, comes to terms with life, keeps his integrity,
and strikes back successfully at what's wrong
around him.

12. • Born into nobility
• Responsible for their own fate
• Endowed with a tragic flaw
• Doomed to make a serious error in judgment

13. • A tragic hero has the potential for greatness
but is doomed to fail.
• He makes some sort of tragic flaw, and this
causes his fall from greatness.
• Realizes he has made an irreversible mistake
• Faces and accepts death with honor
• Meets a tragic death

14. • A drama of retribution in which an evil is avenged and often the
vengeance is repaid in a series of bloody and horrible deeds.
• The form of a revenge tragedy dates back to classical Greek
drama.
• The theme of a Revenge Tragedy is the revenge of a father for a
son or vice versa. Other traits include
– Hesitation of the hero
– The use of real or pretended insanity, suicide, intrigue, and
evil scheming villain
– Philosophic soliloquies and the sensational use of horrors.
(the horrors are murders on the stage and exhibition of dead
bodies on the stage.)
– There are supernatural visitations.

15. Written around 1601
Setting:
• Shakespeare's Hamlet was a remake of an already
popular play, known today as the . Which
was based in turn on historical fiction, “
,” or written by
Thomas Kyd. Which was based in turn on a Historical
episode from the Dark Ages about a real life Hamlet
who was the son of a Danish "King of the Jutes."

16. • In Hamlet, Shakespeare holds up a
mirror to nature, showing us ourselves.
• If this were an action-movie, Hamlet might
be entirely sympathetic, and his enemies
altogether despicable; however it's
characteristic of Shakespeare's
tragedies that our sympathies are divided.
• The audience comes away from Hamlet liking the prince very
much. He is a thinker, and he is funny. We see into his own mind
and discover him to be genuine and sincere. We admire him for
resisting the evil around him.
• But he begins the play with a nasty, bitter outlook on life. If you
do not like everything about today's teenaged culture of cyber
bullying, being disrespectful and playing with people's feelings,
and complaining that life seems meaningless and empty, you may
not like the Hamlet whom we meet at the beginning of the play.
We see him as both foolish and mean spirited when he accidently
kills Polonius.

17. Shakespeare develops the plot of his "revenge" tragedy in classical form.
Act I is largely expository in nature, introducing the main characters and the
conflict. Acts II, III, and IV contain the rising action of the plot as the conflict
develops, largely in Hamlet's mind. Act V contains the climax, a short period
of falling action, and the denouement, or conclusion, in which Fortinbras
takes control of Denmark to bring order to the country once again.

18. Exposition information – In the story Hamlet is a
prince of Denmark, his father was the king. The King had
died, before anything could have happened. Hamlet’s
uncle Claudius had his marriage with the queen Gertrude
or Hamlet’s mother, and then soon he owned the throne.
Then one day Hamlet’s father appear in a form of ghost in
front of hamlet’s eye and informed him that Claudius was
the one who murdered him and so hamlets swore to take
the revenge.

19. Inciting incident or conflict –
Hamlet’s king was murdered by Claudius
and Hamlet’s swore to take revenge for
his father.

20. –Hamlet then got the idea to let
the actors performed the murdered situation of his
father’s case. As he was told from the ghost and
observed how will Claudius respond. After the play
displayed the scene of how his father’s was murdered,
Claudius stood up with anger then left to be alone. He
then pray to the lord to ask for forgiveness then
admitted that he did murdered Hamlet’s father. Hamlet
hesitated to kill Claudius with his sword behind him,
but he feared that if he were to kill Claudius while he is
praying he’ll sure go to heaven but Hamlet’s wanted
him to go to hell.

21. When Hamlet stabs
Polonius after the talk with his mother on trying to
tell her why she’s wrong in sleeping with Claudius,
as then he committed himself due to his violent
action and brings himself into a conflict with the
king.
In the fencing match
when Gertrude started to drink the poisonous drink
that Claudius intentionally made for Hamlet’s, then
they all started to fight and died.

22. – Ophelia decided to suicide
due because of her father’s death. Hamlet then
was sent to England by Claudius and was meant
to put to death, but soon people realized that
Hamlet was alive because he maintained to
retrieve the death sentence letter. Hamlet then
fought the fencing match.

23. – Hamlet
told Rachael to remain and
announce the truth, later
Prince of Norway,
Fortinbras arrived with his
army and so he saw that the
whole family had died, he
claim the kingdom for
himself.

24. Prince of Denmark. About 30 years old
at the start of the play, Hamlet is the
son of Queen Gertrude and the late
King Hamlet, and the nephew of the
present king, Cladius.
The King of
Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle,
and the play’s antagonist

25. : The Queen of
Denmark, Hamlet’s
mother, recently
married to Claudius
The Lord
Chamberlain of
Claudius’ court; father
of Laertes and Ophelia
Hamlet’s close
friend, who studied with
him at the university in
Wittenberg

26. Polonius’s
daughter, who
obeys her father
and her brother,
Laertes. Hamlet
has been in love
with her.
Polonius’s son
and Ophelia’s
brother

27. The young Prince
of Norway, whose father the king
(also named Fortinbras) was killed
by Hamlet’s father (also named
Hamlet).
The specter of
Hamlet’s recently deceased father
•
Officers who first see the ghost and
who call Horatio to witness it.
Marcellus is present when Hamlet
first encounters the ghost.

28. Friends of Hamlet's from Wittenberg who help Claudius and
Gertrude try and figure out the source of Hamlet's melancholy.
Hamlet sees that the two are, essentially, spying on him, and turns
on them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren't the smartest fellows,
but they do seem to mean well, and the announcement of their
deaths at the end of the play helps to drive home the absurd and
bloody lengths to which vengeance can extend once it is unleashed.

29. A soldier and guardsman at
Elsinore (the castle)
Polonius’s servant, who is
sent to France by Polonius to check up on
and spy on Laertes

30. The Tragedy of Hamlet:
Introduction – Plot Revisited
And now Claudius
has declared
himself king.
Prince Hamlet returns home
from university to discover
that his father is dead and
his mother has married his
uncle Claudius.

31. As if that’s not bad
enough, the ghost of
his father appears to
Hamlet . . .
He tells Hamlet that he’s
been murdered by Claudius
and demands that Hamlet get revenge.
The Tragedy of Hamlet:
Introduction – Plot Revisited

32. What should Hamlet do?
Instead of jumping into any
action, Hamlet broods over
his options—
and then starts acting very
strange.
The Tragedy of Hamlet:
Introduction – Plot Revisited

33. He starts talking in
riddles.
He acts cruelly to
Ophelia, a girl who
loves him.
He’s suspicious of
everyone.
The Tragedy of Hamlet:
Introduction – Plot Revisited

34. ASK YOURSELF!
Should he kill his uncle? Is he insane? Or
faking insanity?
Will he make up his
mind to take action?
Why is Hamlet acting like this?
The Tragedy of Hamlet:
Introduction – Plot Revisited

35. The Tragedy of Hamlet: Background
However, it is based on
a pattern called .
For a better understanding of iambic pentameter,
watch the video at the link posted below
The language of the play is unrhymed. This is
called blank verse or now it is called free rhyme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0aAWuUX5jU

37. Iambic pentameter
• A commonly used metrical line in traditional
verse and verse drama.
• The term describes the particular rhythm that
the words establish in that line.
• That rhythm is measured in small groups of
syllables; these small groups of syllables are
called "feet".
• The word "iambic" describes the type of foot
that is used (in English, an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable).
• The word "pentameter" indicates that a line
has five of these "feet."

38.  An "iamb" is an unaccented syllable
followed by an accented one.
 "Penta" means "five," and "meter" refers
to a regular rhythmic pattern.
 So "iambic pentameter" is a kind of
rhythmic pattern that consist of five iambs
per line.

39. Like dance or rock music, iambic pentameter is
based on a beat that is pleasing to the ear.
 It matches the sound of five heartbeats : ba-DUM, ba-DUM,
ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM. It's the most common rhythm in
English poetry.
“and BY opposing END them? To DIE to SLEEP;
no MORE; and BY a SLEEP to SAY we END”
• It includes an unstressed syllable
followed by an stressed syllable:
“To BE or NOT to BE . . .”

41. “How noble in reason! how infinite
in faculty! in form, in moving, how
express and admirable! in action
how like an angel! in apprehension
how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And
yet, to me, what is this quintessence

42. To be, or not to be: that is the question;
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And byopposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and bya sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutlyto be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams maycome,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamityof so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,

43. The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthytakes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a wearylife,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than flyto others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

44.  This soliloquy, probably the most
famous speech in the English language, is
spoken by Hamlet in Act III, scene i (58–
90). His most logical and powerful
examination of the theme of the moral
legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably
painful world, it touches on several of the
other important themes of the play.

45.  Hamlet poses the problem of whether
to commit suicide as a logical question:
“To be, or not to be,” that is, to live or not
to live. He then weighs the moral
ramifications of living and dying. Is it
nobler to suffer life, “the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune,” passively
or to actively seek to end one’s suffering?

46.  He compares death to sleep and thinks of
the end to suffering, pain, and uncertainty it
might bring, “[t]he heartache, and the
thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir
to.” Based on this metaphor, he decides that
suicide is a desirable course of action, “a
consummation / Devoutly to be wished.”
But, as the religious word “devoutly”
signifies, there is more to the question,
namely, what will happen in the afterlife.

47.  Hamlet immediately realizes as
much, and he reconfigures his
metaphor of sleep to include the
possibility of dreaming; he says that the
dreams that may come in the sleep of
death are daunting, that they “must give
us pause.”

48. He then decides that the uncertainty of
the afterlife, which is intimately related
to the theme of the difficulty of
attaining truth in a spiritually
ambiguous world, is essentially what
prevents all of humanity from
committing suicide to end the pain of
life.

49. He outlines a long list of the miseries
of experience, ranging from
lovesickness to hard work to political
oppression, and asks who would
choose to bear those miseries if he
could bring himself peace with a knife,
“[w]hen he himself might his quietus
make / With a bare bodkin?”

50. He answers himself again, saying no
one would choose to live, except that
“the dread of something after death”
makes people submit to the suffering
of their lives rather than go to another
state of existence which might be even
more miserable.

51. The dread of the afterlife, Hamlet
concludes, leads to excessive moral
sensitivity that makes action
impossible: “conscience does make
cowards of us all . . . thus the native
hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with
the pale cast of thought.”

52. In this way, this speech connects many
of the play’s main themes, including the
idea of suicide and death, the difficulty
of knowing the truth in a spiritually
ambiguous universe, and the connection
between thought and action. In addition
to its crucial thematic content, this
speech is important for what it reveals
about the quality of Hamlet’s mind.

53. His deeply passionate nature is
complemented by a relentlessly logical
intellect, which works furiously to find a
solution to his misery. He has turned to
religion and found it inadequate to help
him either kill himself or resolve to kill
Claudius. Here, he turns to a logical
philosophical inquiry and finds it
equally frustrating.

54. The Tragedy of Hamlet: Background
Hamlet is filled with imagery of:
• decay and death
• corruption and dishonesty
• reality versus unreality

55. The Impossibility of Certainty
About the ghost’s apparition; Hamlet’s
father’s death; Hamlet’s insanity
The play shows us how many uncertainties our lives
are built upon, how many unknown quantities are
taken for granted when people act or when they
evaluate one another’s actions.
This play poses many questions
that other plays would simply take
for granted.

56. The Complexity of Action
 In Hamlet, the question of how to act is affected
not only by rational considerations, such as the
need for certainty, but also by emotional, ethical, and
psychological factors.
 Hamlet himself appears to distrust the idea that it’s
even possible to act in a controlled, purposeful way.

57. The Mystery of Death
 Throughout, the idea of death is closely tied to the
themes of spirituality, truth, and uncertainty in that
death may bring the answers to Hamlet’s deepest
questions, ending once and for all the problem of
trying to determine truth in an ambiguous world.
 And, since death is both the cause and the
consequence of revenge, it is intimately tied to the
theme of revenge and justice.

58. The Nation as a Diseased Body
Throughout the play, characters draw explicit
connections between the moral legitimacy of a ruler and
the health of the nation.
Denmark is frequently described as a physical body
made ill by the moral corruption of Claudius and
Gertrude.
(“something is rotten in Denmark”)

59. Tone
 Dark
 Uncertain
 Introspective
Tortured

60. Motifs & Questions to focus on:
• The Theme of Vengeance
• Appearance vs. Reality
• Some things to consider:
– Is Hamlet Crazy?
– Does Hamlet Hesitate?
– Is life worth living?
... What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Is but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. -- Hamlet

61. Multiple approaches taken
• Over the years there have been a variety
of approaches to the play Hamlet (both on
stage and in the analysis of).
– Hamlet Seen Solely as the Victim of
External Difficulties
– The Romantic Interpretation
– The Psychoanalytical Approach
– The Historical Approach

62. Hamlet Seen Solely as the Victim of
External Difficulties
• the simplest approach to the play
– With his father dead and his mother remarried
to his enemy, Hamlet has no one to turn to for
help; therefore, he is totally a victim of
circumstance.
– The critics further argue that the external
situation prevents him from taking swift action.
• After all, Claudius is an extremely powerful man
now that he is King; any person would have faced
enormous difficulties in scheming against him.
• They excuse Hamlet's lack of action, and in so
doing, make him a much less interesting character.

63. The Romantic Interpretation
• The Romantic critics of the nineteenth century,
led by Coleridge, were more interested in the
character of Hamlet than in the plot construction
of the play. For them, Hamlet was one of the
greatest artistic creations ever.
• They saw Hamlet as an individual torn apart by
doubt and fearful of taking action. As an idealist,
Hamlet was unable to deal with the harsh
realities of life; as a result, he paid a tragic
penalty. These critics often quoted Hamlet's own
words in support of their interpretation.

64. The Psychoanalytical Approach
• The psychoanalytical approach focuses on
the neurotic tendencies of Hamlet and judges
him to suffer from an Oedipus Complex.
• The psychoanalysts believe that Hamlet's
possessiveness towards his mother proves
his Oedipal Complex; they defend their
arguments in specifics from the play. Hamlet
explicitly urges Gertrude not to have
intercourse with Claudius; moreover, he
advises her to curb her desire to have sex as
well.

65. The Psychoanalytical Approach
• The psychoanalysts then argue that Hamlet's
repressed Oedipal Complex prevents him
from killing Claudius. They feel that Hamlet
procrastinates because, in his subconscious,
he does not really want to murder the man
who killed the father that he so envied.
• They also argue that it is Oedipal Complex
prevents him from committing himself to
Ophelia.

66. The Historical Approach
• The historical approach holds that only
those theories prevalent in
Shakespeare's time should be utilized
to interpret his texts.
– Supporters of this school of thought argue
that the clue to Hamlet's madness and his
hesitancy in killing Claudius lies in his
melancholic disposition.

67. The Historical Approach
• Indeed, Shakespeare calls Hamlet the
"melancholy Dane." The malady of
melancholy was well known in the Elizabethan
age, and several treatises were written on the
subject.
– Shakespeare had probably read or heard about
these treatises, which state that the primary
characteristics of melancholy are sadness, fear,
distrust, doubt, despair, and diffidence.
• Sometimes the negative feelings are
interrupted by a false laughter or sardonic
humor.

69. • Outside Elsinore Castle in Denmark, Bernardo comes to
relieves Francisco. Bernardo hears a footstep near him and
cries, “Who’s there?” ….. But it is nothing….Bernardo and
prepares to go home and go to bed.
• what literary elements are these?
• Bernardo is joined by Marcellus, and Horatio. They discuss
the apparition Bernardo and Marcellus have seen for the
past two nights: the ghost of the recently deceased King
Hamlet

70. • Horatio is skeptical, but then the ghost suddenly
appears before the men and just as suddenly vanishes.
• Terrified, Horatio acknowledges that the ghost looks
like the dead King of Denmark.
• . Horatio declares that the ghost must bring warning of
impending misfortune for Denmark, perhaps in the
form of a military attack.
• He talks about the story of King Hamlet’s conquest of
certain lands once belonging to Norway, saying that
Fortinbras, the young Prince of Norway, now seeks to
re-conquer those forfeited lands.

71. • The ghost materializes for a second time, and
Horatio tries to speak to it. The ghost remains
silent, however, and disappears again just as the
rooster crows at the first hint of dawn.
• Horatio suggests that they tell Prince Hamlet,
the dead king’s son, about the apparition. He
believes that though the ghost did not speak to
him, if it is really the ghost of King Hamlet, it
will not refuse to speak to his beloved son.

72. • The morning after Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio see
the ghost, King Claudius gives a speech to his courtiers.
• He explains the he recently married Gertrude, his
brother’s widow and the mother of Prince Hamlet.
Claudius tells them that he mourns his brother but has
chosen to balance Denmark’s sadness with the
happiness of his marriage.
• He mentions that young Fortinbras has written to him,
boldly demanding that Denmark give up the lands King
Hamlet won from Fortinbras’s father
• Calaudius sends Cornelius and Voltimand with a
message for the King of Norway, Fortinbras’s elderly
uncle.

73. • Attention is turned to Laertes, Polonius’s son,. Laertes
wants to return to France, where he was staying before
his return to Denmark for Claudius’s coronation.
Polonius gives his son permission, and Claudius grants
Laertes his consent as well.
• Claudius turns his attention to Hamlet and asks why
“the clouds still hang” upon him, because Hamlet is still
wearing black mourning clothes (I.ii.66).
• Gertrude (Hamlet’s mom) urges him to take off his
“nightly colour,” but he replies bitterly that his inner
sorrow is so great that his dour appearance is merely a
poor mirror of it (I.ii.68).

74. • Taking a fatherly tone, Claudius states that all fathers
die, and all sons must lose their fathers. When a son
loses a father, he is duty-bound to mourn, but to mourn
for too long is unmanly and inappropriate. Claudius
urges Hamlet to think of him as a father, reminding the
prince that he stands in line to succeed to the throne
upon Claudius’s death.
• With this in mind, Claudius says that he does not wish
for Hamlet to return to school at Wittenberg (where he
had been studying before his father’s death), as Hamlet
has asked to do. Gertrude echoes her husband,
professing a desire for Hamlet to remain close to her.
Hamlet stiffly agrees to obey her.

75. O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in
nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not
two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on
himAs if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,
Let me not think on't, — Frailty, thy name is
woman!
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's
body
Like Niobe, all tears; — why she, even she,
O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer, — married with
mine uncle,
My father's brother; but no more like my
father
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married: — O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good;
But break my heart, — for I must hold my
tongue!

76. • This quotation, Hamlet’s first important
soliloquy, occurs in Act I, scene ii (129–158).
• Hamlet speaks these lines after enduring the
unpleasant scene at Claudius and Gertrude’s
court,
• They then being ask him not to return to
university at Wittenberg but to remain in
Denmark, presumably against his wishes.
• Here, Hamlet thinks for the first time about
suicide (desiring his flesh to “melt,” and wishing
that God had not made “self-slaughter” a sin),
saying that the world is “weary, stale, flat, and
unprofitable.”

77. • What he means is suicide seems like a better option to life
in this pain filled world. Hamlet feels that the suicide not
an option for him because it is not allowed in his religion.
• Hamlet then goes on to describe what is causing his pain
– his intense disgust at his mother’s marriage to Claudius.
• He describes how fast they got married, noting that the
shoes his mother wore to his father’s funeral were not
worn out before her marriage to Claudius.
• He compares Claudius to his father (his father was “so
excellent a king” while Claudius is a bestial “satyr”).

78. • As he runs through his description of their marriage, he
touches upon the important motifs of misogyny, by crying,
• “Frailty, thy name is woman”; incest, commenting that
his mother moved “[w]ith such dexterity to incestuous
sheets”; and the ominous omen the marriage represents
for Denmark, that “[i]t is not nor it cannot come to
good.”
• Each of these motifs recurs throughout the play.
• Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text's
major themes.

79. • Shattered by his mother's repugnant decision to
marry Claudius so soon after her husband's death,
Hamlet becomes extremely cynical, even neurotic,
about women in general, showing a particular
obsession with what he perceives to be a
connection between female sexuality and moral
corruption.

80. “ ”
• This motif of misogyny, or hatred of women,
occurs only sporadically throughout the play, but it
is an important inhibiting factor in Hamlet's
relationships with Ophelia and Gertrude. He urges
Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather than experience
the corruptions of sexuality and exclaims of
Gertrude, "Frailty, thy name is woman"

81. • Alone, Hamlet states that he wants to die, and wishes that he
could evaporate and cease to exist. He wishes that God had
not made suicide a sin.
• Beyond upset, he weeps about his father’s death and his
mother’s quick marriage to his uncle. He remembers how
deeply in love his parents seemed, and he curses the thought
that now.
•
• Horatio, a friend of Hamlets, comes into the room with
Marcellus and Bernardo. He then tells Hamlet that he,
Marcellus, and Bernardo have seen what appears to be his
father’s ghost. Stunned, Hamlet agrees to keep watch with
them that night, in the hope that he will be able to speak to
the apparition.

82. • In Polonius’s house, Laertes prepares to leave for
France.
• While saying good-bye to his sister, Ophelia, he warns
her about falling in love with Hamlet. He says Hamlet
is too far above her by birth to be able to love her
honorably.
• Since Hamlet has to be responsible for his own
feelings and but for his position in the state, it may be
impossible for him to marry her. Ophelia agrees to
think about Laertes’ advice but urges him not to give
her advice that he does not practice himself. Laertes
reassures her that he will take care of himself.

83. 0 Polonius says good-bye to his son and gives him
advice
0 behave with integrity and be practical
0 to keep his thoughts to himself
0 restrain himself from being impulsive
0 to be friendly to people and not rude.
0 to hold on to his old friends but be slow to embrace new
friends
0 to be slow to quarrel but to fight boldly if the need arises
0 to listen more than he talks
0 to dress richly but not gaudily
0 to refrain from borrowing or lending money
0 and, finally, to be true to himself above all things.

84. • Laertes leaves, and Polonius is alone with Ophelia.
• Polonius asks Ophelia what Laertes told her before he left.
• Ophelia says that it was “something touching the Lord
Hamlet” (I.ii.89).
• Polonius asks her about her relationship with Hamlet. She
tells him that Hamlet claims to love her. Polonius agrees
with Laertes’ advice, and forbids Ophelia to associate with
Hamlet anymore.
• He tells her that Hamlet has deceived her in swearing his
love, and that she should see through his false vows and
rebuff his affections.
• Ophelia pledges to obey.

85. • It is now nighttime
• Hamlet is watching outside the castle with Horatio and
Marcellus, waiting for the ghost to appear.
• Shortly after midnight, they hear trumpets and gunfire
sound from the castle
• Hamlet explains that the new king is spending the
night carousing, as is the Danish custom.
• Then the ghost appears, and Hamlet calls out to it. The
ghost beckons Hamlet to follow it out into the night.
His companions urge him not to follow, begging him to
consider that the ghost might lead him toward harm.

86. • Hamlet himself is not sure if his father’s apparition is really
the king’s spirit or an evil demon, but he declares does not
care for his life and that, if his soul is immortal, the ghost
can do nothing to harm his soul.
• He follows after the ghost and disappears into the darkness.
• Horatio and Marcellus, stunned, declare this is going to have
a bad outcome for the nation.
• Horatio states that heaven will oversee the outcome of
Hamlet’s encounter with the ghost, but Marcellus says that
they should follow and try to protect him themselves.
• After a moment, Horatio and Marcellus follow after Hamlet
and the ghost.
• End of act 1

87. • Evidence that time has gone by between Act I and Act II:
• 1. Laertes back at school.
• 2. Hamlet’s madness is evident.
• 3. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been
sent for and arrived in Denmark.
• 4. Letter from Old Norway has returned.
• 5. Traveling actors have been sent
for and arrived in Denmark.

88. Acts of deception (theme):
1. Reynaldo sent to spy on Laertes.
2. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sent for by Claudius and
Gertrude to cheer up/spy on Hamlet.
3. Polonius’ set up of Ophelia and Hamlet to test Hamlet’s
madness. (advantages/disadvantages of Polonius
believing Hamlet is mad)
4. Hamlet feigning madness.
5. Hamlet setting up Claudius with the play.

89. Aside
– Definition: when a character reveals thoughts while other
character’s are on stage; information is meant for the audience
to hear, not the other characters present.
• Soliloquy
– Definition: when a character is alone on stage revealing his/her
inner thoughts to the audience through a lengthy speech.

90. – Ironic Effect
• Definition: When a character realizes something
obvious that other characters or the
audience/reader has realized all along; an
epiphany.
• Dramatic Irony
– Definition: When the audience or reader
knows or perceives something other
characters do not.

91. Hamlet notes:
• Second of four Great Soliloquies delivered by Hamlet:
• Three main parts:
• 1. Hamlet is upset that the actors are more passionate
than he is and they haven’t experienced any of the
things first hand like he has.
• 2. Hamlet doubts his ability to avenge his father’s
death; believes he is a coward.
• 3. Hamlet discusses his plan to reveal Claudius’ guilt
to test the validity of the ghost.

92. Hamlet notes:
Act II Quotes ( 5 total)
Polonius: This must be known, which being kept close,
might move/More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
Polonius: Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.
(aside)
Hamlet: I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind
is/ southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. (Theme of
deception)

93. Hamlet notes:
Act II Quotes (cont.):
Hamlet: I have heard/ that guilty creatures
sitting at a play/ have, by the very
cunning of the scene/ been struck so to the
soul that presently/ they have proclaimed
their malefactions. (Theme of deception)
Hamlet: The spirit that I have seen/ may be a
(devil), and the (devil) hath power.

94. Hamlet notes:
• The Player’s speech about Pyrrhus and
King Priam is foiled to that of Hamlet’s life.
•
• 1. Pyrrhus is the son of Achilles who was
killed by Paris during the Trojan War.
• 2. Pyrrhus wants revenge. Since Paris is dead, he seeks
out Paris’ family including Paris’ father, King Priam.
• 3. Pyrrhus is a foil to Hamlet because both sons seek
vengeance for father’s deaths, but go about it in
different ways.

95. • Hamlet asks a group of actors to act a play that shows
events similar to the killing of King Hamlet in front of
Claudius and Gertrude.
• Hamlet becomes sure of what the ghost told him.
• He wants to kill the king, but finds him praying.
• He confronts his mother and kills Polonius who was hiding
behind the curtain.

97. Hamlet has a group of players perform a
play which is similar in action to the way the
ghost told him about how his uncle have
murdered his father. If Claudius is guilty, he will
react in a way that reveals his guilt. When the
moment of the murder arrives, Claudius
hurriedly leaves the room. Hamlet and Horatio
agree that this proves his guilt. Hamlet goes to
kill Claudius but finds him praying. Since he
believes that killing Claudius while in prayer
would send his soul to heaven, Hamlet decides
to wait. Claudius becomes afraid of Hamlet and
orders that he be sent to England at once.

99. Hamlet confronts his mother, in whose bedchamber
Polonius has hidden behind a curtain. Hearing a noise
from behind the curtain, Hamlet thinks it is the king
who is hiding there. He stabs through the curtain,
killing Polonius. The ghost of Hamlet’s father reminds
Hamlet that he mustn't hurt his mother.

100. Foils of Hamlet
All make an appearance in Act IV
Hamlet Laertes Fortinbras Ophelia
Father murdered
by a loved one
Vows to avenge
death by killing
murderer
Slow to act
Wants to catch
killer when he’s
sinning
Feigns madness
Talks of suicide
Father murdered
Vows to avenge
death by killing
murderer
Quick to act
Will kill even if
he has to cut his
throat in the
church
Father
murdered
Vows to avenge
death by waging
war on enemy
country
Quick to act
Father
murdered
by a loved
one
Goes mad
May have
committed
suicide

101. Gertrude tells Claudius about what happened between her
and her son. She says that Hamlet is very mad and that he
has killed Polonius. The king tells Hamlet that he must go to
England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius gives
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern a letter for the King of
England demanding that Hamlet be killed.

102. Ophelia seems to have gone mad. Laertes
arrives and expresses his desire to avenge his
father’s death. When Ophelia reenters,
obviously insane, Laertes plunges again into
rage. Claudius claims that he is not responsible
for Polonius’s death and says that he
understands Laertes’ desire for revenge.

103. Horatio meets sailors who give him a letter from Hamlet.
In the letter, Hamlet says that his ship was captured by
pirates, who have returned him to Denmark. He asks
Horatio to take the sailors to the king and queen, for they
have messages for them as well. The sailors give Hamlet’s
message to the king. In the message, Hamlet says that he
will come to the king the next day to explain his return to
Denmark.

104. Claudius explains to Laertes that he did not punish Hamlet
for the murder of Polonius because both the common
people and the queen love Hamlet very much. Laertes is
pleased that Hamlet has come back to Denmark so that he
can take his revenge. Claudius encourages Laertes to kill
Hamlet, since Hamlet’s behavior has made him a threat to
Claudius’s reign. Both settle on a plan. Claudius suggests
a duel between Hamlet and Laertes and Laertes will use a
poisoned sword so that even a scratch from it will kill
Hamlet. The king will also offer Hamlet a poisoned cup of
wine to drink from.

105. • The king sends Hamlet to England and sends
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with him, giving
them orders to kill the prince.
• Ophelia becomes mad.
• Hamlet returns to Denmark.
• Claudius puts a plan to kill
Hamlet by the poisoned sword
in a duel with Laertes.
• Ophelia drowns in a pond.

106. Both Hamlet and Laertes appear as Ophelia is being
buried. Both are grief-stricken and both leap into Ophelia’s
grave. Hamlet declares his love for Ophelia and that his love
must exceed the love of thousands of brothers. They fight.
Hamlet tells Horatio that he found the letter that the
king gave to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to the English
king, asking him to kill Hamlet. Hamlet tells him how he
changed the letter and wrote instead that the bearers of the
letter are to be killed.

107. Hamlet accepts the duel with Laertes. He asks Laertes for
forgiveness, saying that he murdered Polonius in his
madness. As the fencing begins, the king gives Hamlet the
poisoned cup but Hamlet does not drink and the queen
drinks it. Hamlet is wounded with the poisoned sword.
In the middle of the fight, they exchange swords, and
Hamlet wounds Laertes. Laertes tells Hamlet that the king
is to blame for the poisoned sword and the poison in the
cup. Hamlet stabs the king and forces him to drink from
the cup.

108. Fortinbras, the king of Norway, arrives with his
army to conquer Denmark. Hamlet urges
Horatio tell his real story after he dies. He says
that he wishes Fortinbras to be made King of
Denmark; then he dies.
Fortinbras orders for Hamlet to
be carried away like a brave soldier.

109. BRIEF SUMMARY of ACT V
• Hamlet and Horatio are at the graveyard.
• A funeral comes and Hamlet discovers that it is Ophelia’s
coffin.
• Hamlet and Laertes fight.
• Hamlet accepts the fencing contest with Laertes.
• The king offers Hamlet the poisoned drink, but he does not
take it. The Queen drinks it.
• Hamlet is wounded with the poisoned sword, and Hamlet
wounds Laertes with the same sword.
• As Laertes is dying, he tells Hamlet that the king is to blame
for the poisoned sword and the poison in the cup. Hamlet
stabs the king and forces him to drink from the cup.

110. • Fortinbras, the king of Norway, arrives with his
army to conquer Denmark.
• Hamlet urges Horatio to tell his story. He says
that he wishes Fortinbras to be made King of
Denmark; then he dies.
• Fortinbras orders for Hamlet to be carried
away like a brave soldier.