Hamlet - critical views

"a vulgar and barbarous tragedy" -

Voltaire Play C

"it is not only Hamlet but his play that delays" -

Kermode Play C

"no-one in this play knows or understands anyone else." -

Linda Charnes Play C

"the hero-villain" -

Bloom Hamlet C

"there are more Hamlets than actors to play them" -

Bloom Hamlet C

"sterile concentration on death and evil" -

LC Knights Hamlet C

"pure, noble and most moral nature" -

Goethe Hamlet C

"the strong conflux of contending forces"

Swinburne Hamlet C

"Hamlet is obliged to act on the spur of the moment"

Coleridge Hamlet C

"Hamlet is an element of evil in the state of Denmark"

Wilson Knight Hamlet C

"Claudius' evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of Denmark" -

Richard D Altick Claudius C

"Claudius, as he appears in the play, is not a criminal... he is good and gentle"

Wilson Knight Claudius C

"a bad parent" -

Michael Pennington Polonius C

"made palatable by the fact that he is funny" -

Michael Pennington Polonius C

"Trained his daughter to be obedient and chaste and is able to use her as a piece of bait for spying"

Rebecca Smith Polonius C

"suffers a series of patriarchal oppressions" -

Emi Hamana Ophelia C

"inability to express herself by means to words" -

Toshiko Oshio Ophelia C

"only concern is pleasing others" -

Rebecca Smith Ophelia C

"All duties seem holy for Hamlet"

Von Goethe Religion C

“Denmark is described as a prison, as rotten: it is a world of political uncertainty, intrigue with an ever-present threat of war”

Richard Vardy Denmark C

“Power and politics evidently trump family values in Claudius' Denmark”

Richard Vardy Power C

“Hamlet represents a political threat to the kingdom”

Richard Vardy Hamlet C

Hamlet “wears alternately the twin theatrical masks of tragedy and comedy, sane prince and mad fool, from the moment he decided to put on an 'antic disposition’”

Marian Cox Madness C

“Hamlet's downfall is connected rather with his intellectual nature and reflective habit than with any yielding to passion”

A.C. Bradley Hamlet C

“Hamlet is unable to carry out the sacred duty, imposed by divine authority, of punishing an evil man by death”

A.C. Bradley Hamlet C

“It takes Hamlet 14 scenes and 5 soliloquies to fulfill his role as an avenger”

Yi Wen Ho Procrastination C

“Hamlet dramatises delay and inaction, The play is dominated by the mental and physical busyness Hamlet creates to fill the gap between accepting his duty and actually carrying it out”

Lucy Webster Delay C