William Shakespeare

1
William Shakespeare
34

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

2
Shakespeares England

• At the time of Shakespeare, England was a small
  nation by modern standards, with a population of
  about five million.
• The English Renaissance was in full bloom. The
  arts and sciences flourished, and increased
  contact with other nations led to new styles of
  living, new fashions, new art forms (the sonnet),
  and a broader vocabulary (which Shakespeare
  eagerly appropriated).
• England was mostly rural. Agriculture was the
  chief means of livelihood. Mining and timber
  were expanding industries.

A Marriage Feast at Bermondsey by Joris Hoefnagel
(ca. 1569)
3
Shakespeares England continued

• New domestic comforts included chimneys, metal
  dishes, carpets, windows, beds, and pillows.
• Travel within England was slow because of poor
  roads and dangerous because of highway robbers.
• The heart of London stretched for a couple of
  miles at most.
• The city had trees, gardens, and meadows. London
  Bridge was a fashionable thoroughfare with shops
  festively decorated for certain occasions. But
  London Bridge also displayed the heads of
  executed traitors.
• City houses were small and crowded, and the
  streets narrow and filthy.

4
Shakespeares England continued

• Epidemics and plagues resulted from the
  unsanitary conditions.
• England was a proud nation that had begun to
  forge a strong national identity.
• The English took pride in their nations overseas
  exploration and empire expansion. Sir Francis
  Drake circumnavigated the world from 1577-1581,
  and the English founded its first permanent
  colony in America with Jamestown in 1607.
• Ireland was declared a kingdom under English rule
  in 1541, but was more a source of trouble than of
  economic strength.

5
Queen Elizabeth

• Elizabethan England takes its name from Queen
  Elizabeth, who lived from 1533-1603, reigning
  from 1558-1603. She was the daughter of King
  Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who was executed
  three years after Elizabeths birth.
• Elizabeths reign was generally marked by peace,
  economic prosperity, and social advancement.
• Despite her success, the age was openly skeptical
  about a womans ability and right to rule.
• The Babington Conspiracy of 1586 refers to a plot
  to assassinate Elizabeth. Mary, Queen of Scots,
  was involved and executed when the plot was
  uncovered.

The Darnley Portrait of Queen Elizabeth 1 (ca.
1575)
6
Queen Elizabeth continued

• Elizabeth was a skilled diplomat who dealt
  effectively with foreign governments, factions at
  home, and Parliament.
• Elizabeth never married. Marriage would have
  upset the delicate political relationships she
  maintained with one foreign or domestic group or
  another.
• She was a patron of the arts and several poems
  have been credited to her.
• Elizabeth was succeeded by James I (reigned until
  1625). A far less successful monarch, he was not
  a good diplomat as he resisted compromise. He
  was out of touch with the English people, and his
  reign helped widen the gap between crown and
  Parliament that led to the Civil War.

7
The Globe Theatre

• The theatre was so important and influential to
  the Elizabethans that Queen Elizabeth found it
  necessary to censor plays. Shakespeare avoided
  the controversial political issues of the day.

• The Globe Theatre opened on the south bank of the
  Thames River in 1599. Shakespeare was a minor
  shareholder in the theatre and many of his
  greatest plays premiered at the Globe.
• The Globe could accommodate an audience of
  perhaps 3,000, including 800 groundlings, who
  paid a penny to stand on the ground surrounding
  the stage.
• More prosperous spectators sat in one of the
  three stories nearly encircling the stage.

8
Globe Theatre continued

• The stage projected out into the audience,
  creating more intimacy between actors and
  audience than on Greek stages. Like the Greek
  amphitheaters, the stage was open to the sky.
• The Globe had a fairly versatile stage,
  containing a balcony, several doors for
  convenient entrances and exits, a curtained
  alcove, and a stage floor trapdoor. Costumes
  were often elaborate.
• All parts were played by men or young boys.
  Women were not allowed to appear on stage until
  after the English Restoration in 1660.
• In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII,
  sparks from a stage cannon set the thatched roof
  on fire. The theatre burned to the ground in
  less than two hours. There were no deaths. The
  theatre was quickly rebuilt with a tiled roof.
  The theatre functioned successfully until 1642
  when the Puritans rose to power and closed all
  theatres. The Globe was demolished to make room
  for tenements in 1644.

9
William Shakespeare

• William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in
  Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was a successful
  merchant and fairly prominent member of the
  community who later fell on hard times.
• The young Shakespeare attended local schools,
  where he learned some Latin and a little Greek.
• In late 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway,
  who was eight years older than he. They had three
  children together.
• Shakespeare spent most of his working life, some
  twenty-five years, in London, as one of a troupe
  of players called Lord Chamberlains Men. He was
  an actor and the companys principal playwright.
• Apparently a political conservative, he seemed to
  enjoy London, but never surrendered his roots in
  the countryside. In 1597, Shakespeare purchased
  New Place, a fine house in Stratford-upon-Avon
  a sign that he had prospered in his career.

10
Shakespeares Life continued

• By most counts, Shakespeare wrote some 37 plays
  between 1591 and 1611.
• His poetry includes long narrative poems, such as
  Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, and
  154 sonnets.
• Shakespeare retired to New Place in 1611 and died
  on April 23, 1616.
• Contemporaries, like Ben Jonson wrote about him
  with extravagant praise and contemporary critic
  Harold Bloom calls Shakespeare the supreme
  genius (Genius A Mosaic of One Hundred
  Exemplary Creative Minds 11).

Hes the rain forest of our language in fact
the first user of thousands of words and he is
one of the great creators of beauty. You cant
solve the pain of life. But you can set beauty
against it and maybe endure it. Ralph
Williams, University of Michigan
11
Ben Jonson on Shakespeare

• Soul of the age!The applause! delight! the
  wonder of our stage!My SHAKESPEARE rise! I will
  not lodge thee byChaucer, or Spenser, or bid
  Beaumont lieA little further, to make thee a
  roomThou art a monument without a tomb,And art
  alive still while thy book doth liveAnd we have
  wits to read, and praise to give.
• But stay, I see thee in the hemisphereAdvanced,
  and made a constellation there!Shine forth, thou
  Star of Poets, and with rageOr influence, chide
  or cheer the drooping stage,Which, since thy
  flight from hence, hath mourned like night,And
  despairs day, but for thy volume's light.
• from To the Memory of My Beloved Master
  William Shakespeare

12
Harold Bloom on Shakespeare

• Shakespeare is the supreme genius who at the
  least changed our ways of presenting human
  nature, if not human nature itself.
  Shakespeares language is primary to his art he
  employed more than twenty-one thousand separate
  words. He invented about eighteen hundred
  coinages, many of them now in common use. The
  great French dramatist Racine used two thousand
  words, not many more than Shakespeare coined.
  The true Shakespearean difference, the uniqueness
  of his genius, is elsewhere, in his universality,
  in the persuasive illusion (is it illusion?) that
  he has peopled a world, remarkably like what we
  take to be our own, with men, women, and children
  preternaturally natural. Is there another
  dramatist who excelled equally at comedy and
  tragedy? We have no comedies by Sophocles, or
  tragedies by Aristophanes.

13
Shakespeares Endurance

• In short, Shakespeare endures because of his
  masterful use of words, his insight into the
  human mind and human action, and his ability to
  explore and reveal the complexities and paradoxes
  inherent in the human condition.
• Shakespeares greatest tragedies are generally
  considered to be King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, and
  Hamlet (written c. 1600 and for which Shakespeare
  used several sources).

14
Hamlet

• Hamlet, the most famous play in English
  literature, continues to fascinate and challenge
  both readers and audiences.
• In Hamlet, Shakespeare has given us perhaps his
  richest and most complex tragic hero. Actors
  have long craved to play Hamlet to prove their
  depth, resourcefulness, and skill.
• Famous actors who have played Hamlet onstage or
  onscreen include John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier,
  Richard Burton, Nicol Williamson, Ben Kingsley,
  Maximilian Schell, Sarah Bernhardt, Mel Gibson,
  Kenneth Branagh, Sam Waterston, Ethan Hawke, and
  Jude Law.

Laurence Olivier as Hamlet in film (1948)
15

• Of all of Shakespeares plays, Hamlet probably
  holds the most interest for an actor. Because
  one of the things its about is acting and
  pretending to be what youre not. Its a play
  that very much inhabits the world of the
  imagination the world of what if, the world of
  finding out who you are, what you are, where you
  are in relation to other people and to the
  universe.

- Derek Jacobi, actor and director
16
Hamlet continued

• At plays beginning, Hamlet is an untested
  college student and a prince who returns home for
  his fathers funeral and his mothers remarriage.
  
• Through the course of the play, his movement to
  the heroic is not swift nor is it always smooth
  and direct. He is far more reflective and
  hesitant than Oedipus and Othello, who are both
  more action-oriented.
• But Hamlet is younger and far less experienced
  than either Oedipus or Othello when their plays
  open. By the plays conclusion, however, Hamlet
  proves himself as not just a mature man but as a
  hero as he challenges King Claudius and risks his
  life for the sake of Denmark and a rightful King.
  

17
Hamlet continued

• As a maturing and unproven young man, Hamlet must
  deal with grief, an unaware mother, a ghost, a
  corrupt court, manipulated but well-intentioned
  friends, love, sycophantic courtiers, despair,
  and emotional pain.
• As a result, Hamlet can be introspective,
  melancholy, sensitive, cruel, courageous,
  indecisive, impetuous, intelligent, deliberate,
  cynical, witty, suicidal, playful, warm, vain,
  self-indulgent, and gracious. Yet he is always a
  convincing character.
• Hamlet is as full-blooded a character as ever
  created. He is very much a young, confused man
  in search of himself and the truth.

18
Hamlets Delay

• Why does Hamlet take so long to avenge his
  fathers murder?
• Hamlet has several reasons for his delay
• He is not sure that the ghost is his fathers
  (2.2).
• He needs confirmation of Claudiuss guilt (The
  Mousetrap, 2.2).
• He does not kill Claudius at prayer as his soul
  will ascend to heaven (3.3).
• Hamlets depression over his fathers death and
  mothers quick remarriage has immobilized him, as
  depression will often do.
• His own nature, which tends to be cautious and
  non-violent.
• How plausible is each of these reasons?

• The 1948 film version, starring Laurence Olivier
  as Hamlet, begins with the following statement
  This is the story of a man who could not make up
  his mind. Is this statement fair to Hamlet?

19
Hamlet and Insanity

• The question of Hamlets sanity has long been
  debated. Does he just pretend to be insane? Do
  the pretense and the pressure truly drive him
  temporarily insane?
• Consider the following scenes Ophelias report
  of Hamlets behavior to her father (2.1.78-102)
  Hamlets conversation with Polonius
  (2.2.172-218) his interaction with Ophelia (3.1,
  3.2) his behavior immediately after The
  Mousetrap (3.2) his seeing a ghost that the
  Queen doesnt see (3.4) his treatment of
  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern his actions in the
  graveyard with Laertes (5.2).
• He does warn us that he will feign madness (1.5.
  179-89 3.2.89), and he is never insane with
  Horatio or in his soliloquies.
• Does he pretend madness as a protective device,
  one that would give him license to speak boldly?
  Remember, he is very interested in acting and the
  stage see his discussion with the players (2.2).

20
Hamlets Development

• Hamlets self-development can be charted through
  his soliloquies and speeches.
• Hamlets first soliloquy (O, that this too
  sullied , 1.2.129) is marked by passion,
  specifically melancholy, anger, and disgust, as
  his emotions spill out uncontrolled with an
  excessiveness that is self-indulgent and
  self-pitying, displaying a kind of teenage angst.
• In the theatres most famous soliloquy, To be or
  not to be (3.1.57), Hamlet is philosophical, but
  broodingly self-centered and indecisive.

21
Hamlets Development continued

• By Act 4, Hamlet is more outward looking, still
  philosophical but committed to action, action
  requiring great courage and resolute see his
  soliloquy, How all occasions do inform against
  me, 4.4.33. To see Hamlets development,
  juxtapose the first line of the soliloquy, To be
  or not to be that is the question, with the
  last line of the soliloquy in 4.4, which ends,
  My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!
• In Act 5, Hamlets speeches can still be quite
  emotional as when he leaps into Ophelias grave
  and proclaims his love (5.1), but throughout Act
  5 Hamlet is more in control of his emotions he
  is more philosophical, more concerned with
  Denmark and others than himself and his personal
  concerns which dominate his first soliloquy
  (1.2.129). In fact, as he dies he announces his
  support for Fortinbras to assume the throne
  (5.2.355). These final words reveal a selfless
  prince more concerned with state than self.

22
Hamlet as Tragic Hero

• 1. The traditional tragic hero must be
  extraordinary in rank and deed of high
  estate, great reputation and prosperity.
• Hamlet is a prince who rises to the level of
  tragic hero as he challenges the corrupt King
  Claudius and risks his life for the sake of
  Denmark and a rightful king. Certainly, he is
  different from Oedipus and Othello who have
  accomplished much by the beginnings of their
  plays.
• 2. A Tragic Flaw Hamartia
• A tragic flaw is the personality trait or fated
  mistake that leads to a tragic heros downfall.
  Does Hamlet have a glaring tragic flaw, or is it
  his whole character that causes him to rise and
  then fall?
• 3. Outside elements cooperate in the heros
  fall.
• There are several elements that contribute to
  his downfall. First and foremost, is Claudius.
  Others, however, play a role Gertrude, Ophelia,
  Laertes, and just about all characters with the
  exception of Horatio and Fortinbras.

23
The Tragic Hero continued

• 4. Recognition Anagnorisis
• Hamlet experiences recognition or anagnorisis,
  as he not only learns the specific truth about
  his fathers death, Claudiuss corruption, and
  Denmarks corruption, but he also learns about
  himself and the complex nature of the world
  itself.
• Willingness to Suffer
• Hamlet is willing to die for Denmark, and
  accepts death graciously as he forgives Laertes,
  praises Fortinbras, and asks Horatio to tell his
  story.

24
Hamlet as Traditional Tragedy

• Restoration Traditional tragedy follows a
  pattern of upheaval and restoration. As the play
  opens, Something is rotten in the state of
  Denmark (1.4.90). The court, led by a corrupt
  King and a clueless Queen, is comprised of
  sycophants. By the end of the play, Hamlet has
  lost his life but has rid the court of its
  corruption and installed an honest king on the
  throne.
• Poetry The traditional language of tragedy is
  poetry, which establishes an exalted atmosphere
  and expresses the heights and depths of human
  emotion and action more completely. See, for
  example, one of Hamlets soliloquy.
• Catharsis The emotional renewal created by an
  audiences feelings of pity and terror for a
  tragic hero, resulting in the recognition that
  the heros tragic fate was just and that his
  acceptance of that fate makes the tragedy
  complete.

25
Setting

• The action takes place in the King and Queens
  palace, the seat of power and the center of
  corruption, a visual illustrating that something
  is rotten in the state of Denmark (1.4.90) and
  that the future of the state is in jeopardy.
• The play is set in multiple rooms of the palace,
  many of which are small spaces and private
  enclosures, where the characters hope their moral
  corruption and duplicity can be hidden and kept
  private a very different setting from the
  palace steps of Oedipus the King.
• The plays first scene is set on a platform
  before the castle. Here is where the ghost will
  be received. The implication is that moral
  leadership must come from without. This
  foreshadows what happens at the conclusion of the
  tragedy when Fortinbras, a Norwegian, enters the
  castle to begin Denmarks regeneration.

26
King Claudius

• Claudius wastes his talents in his selfish desire
  for power. He is a murderer, manipulator, and
  coward. Seemingly incapable of love, he watches
  his wife drink poison rather than reveal himself.
  Although he tells Laertes that Hamlet is a
  murderer, he will not imprison the Prince, he
  says, because of his love for the Queen and the
  love of the common people for the Prince.

• Claudius does feel guilt, as evident by his
  action
• during The Mousetrap, his prayer, and
  thoughts
• O, my offense is rank, it smells to
  heaven/ It
• hath the primal eldest curse upont
  (3.3.37-72).
• Does Claudiuss expression of guilt
  encourage
• your sympathy?
• While Claudiuss villainy and malice are
  clear,
• he cannot rival conscienceless Iago
  (Othello) for
• absolute evilness.

27
Laertes and Fortinbras

• Both Laertes and Fortinbras serve as foils to
  Hamlet (a foil is a minor character who, through
  contrast, underscores distinctive characteristics
  of the protagonist).
• When Laertes councils Ophelia about her
  involvement with Hamlet, he seems justifiably
  cautious and even wise. But when he hears of his
  fathers death, he seeks revenge. He becomes a
  man of action, but one who is imprudent, who is
  too easily influenced by Claudius. Hamlet
  contrasts with Laertes by being far more prudent
  and slow in his revenge-seeking.
• Similarly, Fortinbras is another man of action
  out to revenge his fathers death and loss of
  land. Although his speeches are confident and
  noble, we can question whether his actions are
  too swift. He risks lives for a little patch of
  ground/ That hath in it no profit but the name
  (4.4.19-20). Still, at the end of the play,
  Fortinbras becomes a symbol of regeneration and
  order, meant to inform the audience that
  Denmarks restoration is underway.

28
Polonius

• Polonius is a political creature unconcerned
  with
• truth, morality, or love. Above all else,
  he is
• concerned with preserving his place at
  court. To
• that end, he will flatter, eavesdrop, and
  lie, and
• hopefully see his daughter marry Hamlet.
• Polonius knows his position in the palace
  relies on
• being useful and agreeable. He avoids
• contradicting Hamlet on even the most
  insignificant
• of topics (3.2.373-85).

• A very practical man, Polonius delivers very
  sensible and often quoted advice to his son
  Laertes (1.3.58-81, which includes to thine own
  self be true). Consider how and from whom these
  lines should be delivered. Are they from a man
  who believes he is passing on valuable
  information, a wealth of wisdom acquired over a
  lifetime? Are they delivered by a cowardly,
  pathetic creature always motivated by
  self-preservation? A shrewd and selfish
  politician? A small-minded courtier, comic in
  his large opinion of himself? Or by a loving
  father concerned about his son?

29
Horatio
Horatio serves several functions - Horatio,
whom Hamlet admires, is a confidant of Hamlet,
providing Shakespeare a way to reveal Hamlets
thoughts and plans in dialogue. Hamlet, for
instance, tells Horatio about his intention with
the play (3.2).

• - He helps bring out the plays exposition. He
  hears of the Kings carousing and asks, Is it a
  custom? (1.4.13). Hamlets response helps
  reveal Claudiuss ignoble nature. In addition,
  he explains the cause of Denmarks military
  preparations (1.1.83-129).
• - He is a truly virtuous character, whose
  genuine love for Hamlet contributes in raising
  the audiences esteem for the Prince. Claudius
  no doubt recognizes Horatios intelligence and
  integrity and, although Horatio would serve his
  plotting, the King does not attempt to involve
  him.
• - Horatio will serve Hamlet, Fortinbras, and the
  kingdom by providing a history of recent events
  which will report all that has unfolded and thus
  help Fortinbras restore a kingdom to decency,
  avoid civil unrest, and establish Hamlet as a
  paragon of absolute integrity and noble heart
  (5.2.361 see 374-97).

30
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are victims of the
  courts corruption. At Claudiuss request, they
  have traveled to Denmark to help their friend
  Hamlet break his melancholy mood. They try to
  take Hamlet to England where they will present
  him and a letter to the King, who will follow
  Claudiuss request to execute Hamlet.
  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, of course, do not
  know the contents of the letter.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sincerely want to
  help their friend. By serving the King, they
  believe they are serving Hamlet as well. When
  Hamlet discovers the plot, he arranges for
  Rosencrantzs and Guildensterns executions.
  Hamlet feels no guilt over their deaths,
  believing they should not have come between
  mighty opposites (5.2.62). By getting Hamlet
  out of Denmark, they lay the foundation for his
  dramatic return in Act 5.
• In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966),
• Tom Stoppard develops the story of this
  unfortunate pair.

31
Women in the Play

• The kingdom of Denmark is dominated by men.
  Indeed, Gertrude and Ophelia are the only two
  women characters in the play with speaking parts
  over twenty male characters speak!
• The men dominate the political and domestic
  dramas. Claudius uses Gertrude to gain power,
  and Polonius tries to use Ophelia to solidify his
  position in the court. Polonius exposes Ophelia
  to Hamlets abuse, which results in her madness.
  Both women are abused, and seem to possess little
  power or inclination to defend themselves.
• Hamlet is directed by his fathers ghost to take
  revenge on Claudius, not his mother (1.5), which
  implies her powerlessness. The ghost appears to
  remind Hamlet of this during the sons rough
  treatment of his mother in her bedroom (3.4).
• Hamlet seems to speak for those in power or those
  who seek increased power when he says, Frailty,
  thy name is woman (1.2.146), a characterization
  Gertrude and Ophelia live up to, no doubt,
  because of the chauvinistic nature of this
  courts culture.

32
Christianity

• Shakespeare fills Hamlet with a strong Christian
  underpinning. Consider, among others, the
  following images and lines
• - The ghost is from purgatory (1.5.10-25).
• - Claudius implores the angels for help as he
  prays in his private chapel (3.3).
• - Hamlet tells Ophelia that all men have original
  sin (1.2.132).
• - Hamlet does not commit suicide because its
  against Gods canon (1.2.132)
• - Hamlet evokes O all you host of heaven at the
  beginning of the play (1.5.93), and at the end he
  asks heaven to forgive Laertes (5.2.334).

• Consider Maynard Macks statement Throughout
  the play, the idea of Denmark as a possible type
  of the fallen garden is kept before us (Killing
  the King).

33
Graveyard Scene (5.1)

• The tone of the graveyard scene is at first
  darkly humorous with the banter of the two clowns
  and then Hamlets examination of skulls,
  including Yoricks skull and Hamlets reference
  to Alexander the Great.
• The tone shifts, however, during Hamlets
  consideration of Yorick. Hamlet becomes
  eulogistic, sincerely mournful, and respectful of
  Yoricks memory.
• The tone becomes more sorrowful and passionate
  with the entrance of Ophelias corpse, even
  melodramatic with Laertes display of grief, and
  finally antagonistic as Hamlet comes forward to
  mock Laertes.
• This penultimate scene reminds the audience of
  many of the plays themes lifes vicissitudes,
  lifes brevity, death as the great equalizer,
  human folly and vanity, flattery, violence,
  revenge, love, and false displays.

34
For Further Consideration

• Compare Hamlet as a tragic figure with Othello or
  Oedipus.
• Any staging of Hamlet requires careful attention.
  How would you stage the appearance of the ghost,
  The Mousetrap, and the graveyard scene? Consider
  especially the use of lighting and the
  positioning of the characters.
• Identify two scenes in which the characters
  speeches shift between verse and prose. Explain
  the significance of these shifts. (Try, for
  example, the scene with Hamlet and the players,
  2.2.)

35
For Further Consideration continued

• There are several film versions of Hamlet readily
  available. Select three versions of the same
  soliloquy. Discuss the differences, focusing on
  the actors and directors choices. What makes
  the three Hamlets very different characters?
  What parts of Hamlets personality does each
  actor emphasize?
• Does Hamlet have an Oedipus Complex? Discuss how
  his mothers marriage separates him from her, his
  reference to the marriage as incest, and his
  anxiety about sex (tells Ophelia to Get thee to
  a nunnry and tells her we will have no more
  marriage, 3.1). You might see how directors
  make use of this possibility. Oliviers Hamlet
  gives his mother an extended kiss, and Gibsons
  Hamlet demonstrates the possibility in the
  confrontation between mother and son in the
  bedchamber.