Introduction to Hamlet

1
Introduction to Hamlet
2
Themes in Hamlet

• Appearance versus reality
• Corruption, disease, and death
• Parents and children
• Justice and revenge

3
Themes in Hamlet (2)

• Sanity and madness
• Destiny and the purpose of life
• Rights and duties of kingship

4
Basic Elements of a Revenge Tragedy

• A hero has been violently wronged and is
  justified in seeking revenge.

5
Basic Elements of a Revenge Tragedy (2)

• His revenge must be aimed at an opponent equal to
  him in power and cunning.

6
Basic Elements of a Revenge Tragedy (3)

• There must be an atmosphere of gloom and terror
  usually with supernatural elements.

7
Basic Elements of a Revenge Tragedy (4)

• A woman the hero loves must be involved in the
  action.

8
Basic Elements of a Revenge Tragedy (5)

• A counterplot (or subplot) needs to be started by
  the antagonist to defend himself this will
  engulf the hero as he accomplishes his own
  vengeance.

9
Basic Elements of a Revenge Tragedy (6)

• The hero achieves poetic justice on Earth and
  is punished by heaven for committing murder.

10
Elizabethan Belief in Ghosts

• Spirits are unable to rest due to unfinished
  business on Earth.

11
Elizabethan Belief in Ghosts (2)

• The devil is disguised as a human (or ghost) in
  order to trap us and damn us.

12
Elizabethan Belief in Ghosts (3)

• Hallucinations
• Signs of evil

13
Hamlet the character

• Hamlet is the most complex character any
  playwright has ever placed on stage.

14
Interpretations of Hamlets Character

• Ineffectual soul unable to take action
  (indecisive).

15
Interpretations of Hamlets Character (2)

• (In the late 19th century) a manic depressive.

16
Interpretations of Hamlets Character (3)

• Freudian analysis he desires to take his
  fathers place, feels guilt when his father
  suddenly dies, and resents his new surrogate
  father.

17
Interpretations of Hamlets Character (4)

• A moral person who cannot bring himself to do
  what he knows is morally wrong.

18
The Four Humors (Bodily Fluids) and Hamlet

• Black bile melancholy depressed (indecisive)
• Choler - choleric - powerful

19
The Four Humors (Bodily Fluids) and Hamlet (2)

• Yellow bile - sanguine friendly/popular
• Phlegm - phlegmatic laid back

20
The Four Humors (Bodily Fluids) and Hamlet (3)

• Hamlet is known as The Melancholic Prince.

21
Hamlet is Character is
Clever Polonius Thick-headed
Honest Claudius Dishonest
Displays decency Gertrude Displays impropriety
Emotionally strong Ophelia Emotionally weak
Man of thought Fortinbras Man of action
Has scruples Laertes Unscrupulous