Post on 18-Jan-2016
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
• Jump in time: 1300 Dante’s start of the Inferno
• Hamlet composed around 1600 or 1601
• From Medieval to High Renaissance in one leap
Hamlet as Renaissance Man
• Medieval supernaturalism: faith; afterlife; uniform view (more or less); suppressed the ego and individual
• Renaissance humanism: movement toward secularism; appreciation of worldly pleasures; individual experience rather than shadowy afterlife; reliance upon faith and God weakened
• Renaissance man suspended between faith and reason (scientific attitude came later)
Elizabethan Agereigned 1558-1603
• Renaissance English Literature 1485-1603
• Became queen when she was 25; nation bankrupt; not believed legitimate heir of throne by most
• Educated as well as any prince; pragmatic--never passionate about religion
• Quest for prosperity-stability guiding force of her reign
Struggles between Church of England and Catholics
• Despite her desire to prevaricate or play both sides, tensions mounted
• She was considered Protestant leader
• To be activist Catholic was to be a traitor to England
Themes in Hamlet
• Revenge: Can personal revenge ever be justified? What effects does seeking revenge have on the avenger?
• Friendship-betrayal: Who is loyal in this “rotten state” of Denmark?
Hero Journey
• More psychological, though it has some spiritual components
• Play of questions & mystery—more questions than answers
• Struggle to take action of revenge
• He has inherited his situation
Sanity vs Insanity
• Hamlet feigns madness as a ploy
• Seems on the edge of insanity
• Ophelia struggles to keep her sanity
Appearance vs Reality
• Nature of reality-truth (Myth of the Cave)
• Phony or feigned appearances (deception)
• Appear or seems• Four interpretive
possibilities of the Ghost, for example
Family RelationsFriendship-Love-Loyalty
• Father-son (King Hamlet and Prince Hamlet; Polonius and Laertes; Old Fortinbras and Fortinbras
• Mother-son (Gertrude-Hamlet; Ophelia as motherless)
• Brother-sister (Ophelia-Laertes)
• Brother-brother (King Hamlet and Claudius; Cain and Abel connection)
• Polonius-Laertes-Ophelia subplot
Prominent Imagery Patterns
• Disease-poison-infection
• Animal imagery
• Music-painting imagery
• Garden imagery
• Drama (show-act-play)
• Allusions to Greek and Roman myths