Hamlet Critic Quotes

Coleridge argues that Shakespeare ‘writes not for past ages’ but?

“for that in which he lives, and that which is to follow… He shakes off the iron bondage of space and time”

Whilst many fixate on the idea of ‘hamartia’ what does Coleridge argue that all of Shakespeare’s great protagonists, including Hamlet are?

“fools of Time” in the sense that they are hoodwinked by history. In spite of their capacity to embrace an entirely different destiny, they are overpowered by the constraints of the era they have the misfortune to inhabit rather than by some malign metaphysical force or some unfortunate flaw in their character

What is Act 1 of Hamlet?

The Exposition Phase

What does Catherine Belsey argue that the ghost in revenge plays are?

“Questionable (dead yet living, visible to some figures on the stage not to others) they inaugurate a course of action which is both mad and sane”

Emma Smith notes that the first Hamlet we hear about in the play is the former monarch so what does she say about this Hamlet?

“a dead man who will not lie down”

What does historicist critic Catherine Belsey argue that Hamlet dramatic interest lies in the conflict of?

Authority and power in the play-Prince H is a prince and heir to the throne yet he opposes those in power

What does Emma Smith say about Hamlet agreeing to stay instead of going to Wittenberg?

“fixes himself as forever a child.. Hamlets arrested development is a continued theme”

What do critics like G.B Harrison see Polonius as?

essentially corrupt

What does Historicist critic Stephen Greenblatt argue that Hamlet addresses the Elizabethan fear of?

Being forgotten after death . Elizabeth I was approaching 70 and childless and the question of who would succeed her preoccupied late Elizabethan society and the theatre

What does critic Emma Smith in This is Shakespeare conclude that Hamlet should be seen as?

a belated history play

What does Historicist critic Alan Sinfield argue that the play was shaped by?

the confusion at the time of conflicting Catholic and Protestant beliefs

What is Act 2 of Hamlet?

The Anticipation Phase

What is Act 3 of Hamlet?

The Confrontation Phase

What does John Dover Wilson note about Hamlets attitude towards Ophelia?

“without doubt the greatest of all puzzles in the play”

What does John Nettles argue about Hamlet being the “Catholic community at large, a crypto-Catholic himself”?

“Why doesnt he act? Well why didnt the Catholics at the time act? Nobody knows the answer to that. They had cause and means and opportunity to act but they didn’t. And Hamlet, as the restorer of the Catholic fortunes does nothing”

Why does Critic Anon (quoted in Hoy) argue that there is “something so very Bloody in it, so inhuman, so unworthy of a Hero” when Hamlet does not kill Claudius while in prayer in Act 3?

“To desire to destroy a Man’s Soul, to make him eternally miserable, by cutting him off from all hopes of repentance”

What does Wilson Knight mean by Hamlets “devilish hope”?

“of finding a more damning moment in which to slaughter the King”

What does Mellor say about Hamlets reluctance to kill?

“we can see that his reluctance to act is due to other causes”

What does Bradley state that despite the opportunity being perfect with a “damning confirmation of the story” and having people on “his side”. What does Bradley note that Hamlet was required to do that caused a moral revulsion?

“required to attack a defenceless man; and here this difficulty is at its maximum” Moral revulsion- murder someone not fighting back-assassination than justice

What does Bradley mean when he says that “Hamlets chief desire…is to save Gertrude’s soul” as he is?

“selflessly set upon his end of redeeming a fellow creature from degradation”

What does Jones a critic influenced by Freud say about “the thought of her misconduct” effect on Hamlet?

“expresses itself in that almost physical disgust which is so characteristic of intensely ‘repressed’ sexual feeling’.” Hamlets unconscious, repressed sexual feeling triggers deep psychological conflict

Why does Eliot argue that Gertrude is “not sufficient as a character”?

“to carry the weight of the affect which she generates in her son”

What does Eliot argue that Gertrude is deprived of “not only her son, but also the play, of the”?

“Proper emotional support”

What is Act 4 of Hamlet called?

The Delay Phase

Why does Catherine Belsey argue that Shakespeare was trying to break away from the Classical tradition?

In Classical plays, Characters were driven by plot, but Hamlet resists this narrative as he delays his revenge

Although Holderness acknowledges how “Ophelia madness and Laertes revenge parallel and reflect Hamlets madness and revenge”, what does he acknowledge about the adaptability of the play?

“and what one interpretation will want to foreground another will want to omit”

How does Showalter explore how Shakespearean critics see her part in the play as being “primarily iconographic”?

-“symbolic meanings” are “specifically feminine”

-madness “is a product of the female body and female nature” contrast Hamlets “metaphysical” madness

On the Elizabethan Stage how does Showalter argue that Shakespeare explores how “the conventions of female insanity” were “sharply defined”?

“dresses in white, decks herself with wild flowers and enters ‘distracted’”

“extravagant metaphors, lyrical free association and explosive sexual references”

“wistful and bawdy ballads and ends her life by drowning”

Showalter notes how “Ophelias madness can be seen as a protest and rebellion”. What do many feminist theorists see the madwoman as?

“a heroine, a powerful figure who rebels against the family and the social order”

What does French argue that Polonius is able to do regarding Ophelia?

“is able to use her as a piece of bait for his spying without any sense that he has compromised her- after all, her hymen is still intact”

How does Jones argue that Ophelia and Gertrudes Characters “sharply contrast” eachother?

"naive piety, her obedient resignation and her unreflecting simplicity” -Hamlets idealized view of women (pure and sumbmissive) embodied in Ophelia while Gertrude violates this ideal

What does Traub argue that Ophelia is able to reclaim in her death?

“Ophelia reclaims sexual desirability only as a dead, but perpetual virgin” criticism of how women’s sexuality is controlled, feared, and idealized only when its passive or absent

Where is it shown that Leverenz argues how “Ophelias suicide becomes a little microcosm of the male worlds banishment of the female”?

“Even in her madness, she has no voice of her own, only a discord of other voices and expectations, customs gone awry”

What does Leverenz argue that Opehlia is herself?

“ a play within a play or a player trying to respond to several imperious directors at once. Everyone has used her.”

What does Leverenz argue that she is only valued for?

“the roles that further other peoples plot”

What does Bruce argue about the “famous speech of Gertrude” argue that Gertrude was desperatry tries hard to do?

“piece of absolutely clinical reporting through clenched teeth”

What does Bruce argue that it is a way of?

“protecting herself and Laertes from the ghastly truth of what has happened”

What is Act 5 in Hamlet known as?

The Completion Phase

“In a play in which all is contemplated by Hamlet” what is the gravedigger?

“gravedigger is a welcome voice that trivialises the otherwise overwhelming subject of death” provides a contrasting perspective on death and treats it with casual humour and earthly wisdom

Kingsley Smith notes that “Though Hamlet claims to be a victim of fortune” what can it be argued that he is?

“ultimately responsible for his own fate” own sense of helplessness, Hamlets own choices, inaction and obsession with death are what truly cause his downfall

How does Barker explore how Hamlets words are sincere?

“He loved Ophelia and he has killed her In that terrible paradox is the essence of their tragedy”

Why does Holderness argue that “Hamlets behaviour is surely very strange”?

“there is nothing in his language or actions of tenderness, regret, guilt or any other of the emotions that might be expected of him”

What does Wilson argue that Shakespeare intended the speech to do?

“win our hearts, and never for a moment expected us to take it at anything but its face value”

Why does Ann Baeton argue that Shakespeare “does not intend us to regard Fortinbras as a tyrant”?

Because it confirms the “good impression throughout the play” “Fortinbras seems to embody Hamlets ideal of Kingship”

Why does Hattaway argue that the play ends “not with union”?

“coming to power of Fortinbras, a warrior king”

A.C Bradley notes how we are left with “sadness” and also “with a feeling of exhilaration” but above all what are we left with?

“we are left with a feeling of peace”

What does Holderness argue that “it is the plays….that endures”?

“insistent questioning”