(New) Key Quotes

Ophelia’s passivity

• 'As you did command'  (brevity of her syntax and diction does not allow for own opinions or articulation, synecdoche for wider oppression of femininity, textual archetype. She acts not from personal conviction but from external instruction, a passive  and not a subject within the sentence). Chain of Being states women were hierarchically created below men and therefore believed to be of inferior intellect and morals to men​

• Bradley: it was essential to Shakespeare's purpose that too great an interest should not be aroused in the love story. It is essential that Ophelia is characterised in a way that prevents her from becoming central to the plot​

• (women as not allowed in Elizabethan theatre so all lines would have been performed by a man - even in performance men articulate her narrative)

• Ophelia's presence in Hamlet is easy to miss – even her death occurs offstage and is told through another character. Ophelia’s death via ‘drown[ing]’ could arguably be a resort to an external retreat into femininity - used to demonstrate her desire to escape the inevitable status quo of her future. Ophelia trades her individual voice for the collective silent voice of women in death. Shakespeare uses this image to note that it seems only in death that women can reach this patriarchal ideal of voicelessness

• Through this objectification she becomes a tool through which Shakespeare can reveal the nature of other characters. Showalter points out the impossibility of having female representation in patriarchal discourse that isn't one of 'madness, incoherence, fluidity or silence,' so perhaps one ought to consider dynamics in the court, or indeed the play Hamlet itself, as a form of patriarchal discourse

• consider line allocation given to women - minimal influence upon the play as a microcosm of the minimal contributions of women within society. Gertrude only has 155 lines (4%) and Ophelia only speaks 170 lines

Ophelia treated as a victim of the patriarchy

​

• Lexical association throughout of Ophelia with 'nothing.’ The Gentleman declares her ‘speech is nothing' - if we consider speech as a reflection of Ophelia’s voice and agency, then this becomes symbolic of how women are marginalised and devalued within a patriarchal society (women as not allowed in Elizabethan theatre so all lines would have been performed by a man - even in performance men articulate her narrative). There is no substance to her words – even in madness Ophelia is absence. However, even before Ophelia goes mad, she occupies a position in which her speech has no stable meaning of its own – Hamlet is able to twist and sexualise it. 'I think nothing, my lord' she tells him in the Mousetrap scene, and he cruelly twists her words. (Hamlet’s obsessive desire to manipulate female language to performatively reassrt his masculinity). Hamlet's obscene pun on 'nothing' as a' fair thought to lie between maids' legs' exploits an Elizabethan slang that equates female genitalia with 'no-thing' (as in Much Ado About Nothing). The lexical associations of ‘nothing’ lack substance, showcasing Hamlet’s desire to reject femininity as absence in order to reassert his own fragile masculinity). In the male visual system of representation and desire, women's sexual organs reinscribe what Luce Irigaray identifies as the phallocentric horror of 'having nothing to see.' This transforms female sexuality into lack, where Ophelia's speech thus represent the horror of having nothing to say in public terms defined by the court. She is consequently deprived of thought, sexuality and language​
  (does this link to the Freudian idea of ‘penis envy’)

• 'I'll loose my daughter to him' ('loose; as if in captivity – barnyard expression, farmer would loose a cow in heat, emphasised by sustained farmyard diction 'farm and carters', degradation within the Great Chain of Being)

Ophelia as eroticised

• 'The canker galls the infants of the spring too oft before their buttons be disclosed'' contagious blastments' Laertes desires to protect Ophelia's chastity and virginity as this is at the nexus of female value (semantic field of disease and corruption, physically tainted)(innuendo of unopened 'buttons' = graphic allusion to female genitalia, Ophelia as an erotic object. Laertes' reputation/status  linked to Ophelia's chastity, idea of Virgin Mary​

• Elaine Showalter: a 'Cubist Ophelia of multiple perspectives' because she is fetishized and expected to maintain her dignity, dichotomy in which sexuality is both attractive and abhorrent​

• Ophelia’s descent into madness can be most explicitly analysed through her degradation of language in act 4 scene 5 as an external marker of her internal state. The metrical form of her speech parallels her psychological state, losing the regulated sophistication of iambic pentameter and instead reverting into songs, rich in bodily and sexual imagery surrounding defloration and loss of virginity (former simplicity, blunt and plain diction e.g. as you did command).

• Carol Thomas Neely: Ophelia’s madness is embodied and somaticized (represented bodily). Hamlet’s madness, by contrast, is arguably strategic - philosophical and politicised in form and context. Hamlet’s melancholy manifests itself in social criticism, and it is viewed as potentially dangerous – Ophelia's is also viewed as a threat to Gertrude and Claudius​

• 'There's rosemary... there is pansies' Her act of distributing flowers is somatic: meaning is conveyed through physical tokens, where her body and actions become the medium of expression. In early modern culture, flowers were often associated with virginity and chastity, therefore the image of Ophelia handing out flowers, and essential ‘deflowering’ herself, bears inextricable links to female sexuality and her bodily vulnerability. Rather than articulating her trauma through coherent speech, Ophelia is reduced to expressing it physically, through gesture and symbolic objects - thus reinforcing Carol Thomas Neely’s argument that her madness is somaticised. This embodied and physical presentation of female madness reflects contemporary Elizabethan beliefs that madness was attributed to humoral imbalances and female emotional instability. Later medical discourse also coins the term ‘hysteria’ - which was believed to be an exclusively female disorder derived from the uterus. As such, Ophelia’s condition aligns with a broader cultural tendency to pathologise women’s emotions, reinforced by Knox, a male writer during the 1500s, who suggests that women are inherently ‘weak, frail, impatient, feeble and foolish’. This contrasts Hamlet’s more controlled and intellectualised presentation of madness

• Ophelia's symbolic flowers also function as a silent indictment – naming corruption and crime within the court implicitly. Her madness ultimately becomes a form of truth-telling that the court cannot control
  (‘columbines’ = ingratitude/infidelity, ‘rue’ = regret/sorrow)

• Mack: Madness allows freedom of speech, but that these insights might be dismissed as merely fiction or nonsense​

Ophelia as a foil to Hamlet, used by madness, rather than Hamlet who usesmadness. However, as the narrative unfolds his behaviour becomesincreasingly erratic, leading us to question the boundaries between whatconstitutes sanity or madness. The device of madness could be used byShakespeare as a representation of female autonomy and the patriarchy.Hamlet has autonomous control over his madness, able to manipulate it to hisown advantage within society, whilst Ophelia is a victim of madness –vulnerability of women and lack of agency. (Converse interpretation of madnessas providing Ophelia with autonomy, where madness becomes a method ofspreading contagion at court - her symbolic flowers function as a silent indictment: naming crime and corruption within the court implictly. C + G fears that ‘she may strew/dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds’, Ophelia is powerful in this moment, as her madness has ultimately become a form of truth telling that the court cannot control. Shakespearean tragediesexplore deep patriarchal anxieties about female power, their potential threat,and the consequent male effeminisation)

Oedipal reading of Gertrude

• 'Gertrude's private room' ('private' evokes space of intimacy and secrecy – hidden recesses of the mind. Many directors chose to stage this scene in a bedroom, which emphasises the sexual and maternal undertones through a reading via an Oedipal lens.​

• Freud’s interpretation positions Hamlet as possessing an Oedipus complex, harbouring unconscious sexual attraction to Gertrude, and therefore viewing Claudius as a rival who has enacted the very impulses Hamlet repressed. This provides a rich psychological framework to understanding Hamlet’s inaction and conflict​

• As the Oedipus complex operates within the unconscious mind, Hamlet may not have full control over his actions; his erratic behaviour becomes a symptom of the corruption of the human psyche rather than moral weakness. This reading reframes his inaction not as indecisiveness but as a deep internal paralysis, created by desires he cannot articulate or even consciously recognise​

• Adelman: argument that Hamlet's principle concern is not revenging for his father but complex feelings towards his mother, desire to remake his mother in the image of the Virgin Mary

• However, contrasting opinion of rather than Hamlet expressing an Oedipal complex by urging Gertrude not to sleep with Claudius(‘refrain tonight’), he is instead adopting the role of a religious preacher – extended lexical field of religious language ‘devil’ ‘angel’ ‘blessing’ ‘confess’ ‘repent’ ‘heaven'

Smith: Hamlet seems obsessed with his mother as a sex object

Hamlet’s and societal attitudes towards the nature of women through Gertrude (incl GCoB)

•  According to the medieval chain of being still given credence at this time, women came below men on the hierarchy of creation, since it was believed that they were of inferior intellect and moral understanding to men. They could not bear arms or hold military rank or public office, and it was therefore unacceptable for them to attempt to dominate or overrule their husbands. Women could rise only through their association with men and their rank, hence Gertrude's need to secure her status as queen by marrying the next king.​ This was not unusual in the Tudor times: indeed Henry VIII’s first wife Catharine of Aragon was initially married to his older brother, Arthur. To do this, Henry VIII catalysed the division of the church, as according to law of 1563, a woman could not marry her husband’s brother.

• Habib suggests that Shakespeare critiques ‘unpleasant patriarchal customs and culture’

• 'Frailty thy name is woman' Hamlet's anger at his mother's quick remarriage translates to placement of blame inherently on the nature of women – collapses Gertrude, Ophelia and 'woman' as an abstract concept into one ideological figure (Showalter). No longer women in their own right but drafted into a misogynistic shorthand. ('Frailty' -personification of weakness defined by femininity – Adam and Eve as misogynistic cliché, opposition between supposed male stoicism and stereotype of female foolishness or inconsistency​
  (Knox, a male writer during the late 16th century - women are ‘weak, frail, impatient, feeble and foolish’)

• Idea of fickle females was a classical literary stereotype fostered by the medieval church,whose misogyny was founded upon the premise that Eve betrayed her husband andall mankind in allowing herself to be seduced by a serpent. Idea of original sin in Genesisequates to his mother being ‘wicked’ and incestuous’ - her sin transcends to a level ofbiblical disgust​

‘To whom do you speak this?’ (Gertrude to Hamlet)

• Marks a shift from the Ghost's visibility to invisibility – marks a descent into lunacy​

• Mirroring of the opening line ‘who’s there?’, establishing a cyclical pattern of uncertainty and mistrust. This structural mirroring ties into the motif of Hamlet questioning his identity throughout, where the repetition of the interrogative form highlights Hamlet’s preoccupation with the unreliability of perception​

• Dramatic method of selective visibility creates a disjunction between Hamlet’s subjective experience and objective reality perceived by others – is this a genuine supernatural encounter or a psychological break in which Hamlet outwardly projects his conscience?​

• Uncertainty and confusion surrounding the nature of his father’s ghost - ‘majestical’ or ‘guilty’ (contrasting adjectives underscore enigmatic nature). For contemporary Elizabethan audiences, this ‘ghost’ would have elicited similarly conflicting opinions, as Hamlet is a product of the Reformation, written at the end of the 16th century after which Protestantism (headed by Martin Luther) was eclipsing Catholicism. Readings of the ghost differs between Catholicism and Protestantism, but also through modern psychological readings of the ghost as symbolic of repressed trauma​ (freudian ideologies of the unconscious mind). Mirrors social changes (e.g. reformation, humanism) of the time, and broader doubt/uncertainty - link to the instability of truth, and Hamlet’s inaction.

• Hamlet as a microcosm of this uncertainty - raised in Catholic Denmark, but educated in Protestant Wittenberg

• The Ghost’s return from Purgatory evokes not only a lost Catholic past, but is also a ghostly relic of a chivalric age (Shapiro). The ghost is the symbol of the past - costume, he is not dressed as he died, but instead in the ‘armour’ that he heroically fought in thirty years earlier. (suggestion that this is antiquated, representing a bygone era of masculinity)

[Beneath] ‘Swear’
In Elizabethan theatre the space under the stage was associated with hell. This spatial positioning is symbolic, as it both physically and aurally links him to the underworld – with ideas of hell or damnation. Shakespeare begins to blur the boundaries between justice and vengeance, good and evil 

Gertrude as gross/corrupt

• 'Rank sweat of an enseamed bed' 'nasty sty' (Grotesque and sensory imagery. Such visceral language evokes filth, decay and animality - 'sty' as a direct evocation of pigs reduces Gertrude's sexuality to something base and bestial. This zoomorphism would reduce her humanity within the Great Chain of Being.) Virginity and chastity were also linked to religion via the Virgin Mary and regarded not only as an ideal state for women but as a test of the nobility of males, since only the higher orders were thought to be able to resist the temptations of the flesh; hence Hamlet's disgust at the sexual behaviours of his mother and his uncle. Such a graphic preoccupation with Gertrude’s sexual body has led many critics to interpret the scene through an Oedipal lens, suggesting Hamlet’s psychosexual fixation on his mother and his revulsion as a repressed form of desire​

• ‘Sets a blister there’  ‘Blister’ as a reference to prostitution, and a euphemism for prostitutes as being physically branded for sexual sin (external marker of their internal sin) – association with blisters and sores from the prostitution. This accusation positions Gertrude not merely as morally compromised, but as contaminated, demonstrating Hamlet’s fixation on the body as a site of corruption. Consistently uses female sexuality against women in the play, focus on chastity as divinely immoral​

• ‘Sweet religion makes a rhapsody of words’
  'Rhapsody’ as a miscellaneous collection of words suggests that Gertrude’s actions have rendered the sanctity of marriage – a sacred contract before God – meaningless. Religion was deeply entrenched within Shakespearean England, and therefore Hamlet appeals to audience's disgust by constructing Gertrude to have made a mockery of these scared promises. ​

• Exposes Hamlet’s meta-theatrical linguistic anxiety, as Hamlet’s condemnation also indicates a deep distrust of language itself – Gertrude's moral failure corrupts not only religious vows but the capacity of words to hold weight. ​

Habib suggests that Shakespeare critiques ‘unpleasant patriarchal customs and culture’

Polonius as corrupt

​

• Polonius depicted at the heart of the rotten Danish state, embodies modern age typified by political ruthlessness, surveillance and secrecy​

• 'I hold my duty... both to my God and gracious King' (Polonius instrumental in securing Claudius' claim to the throne). Elizabethan view of monarchs as imbued with a divine right to rule, appointed by God himself – therefore Claudius' unnatural ascension to the throne usurps divine order. Microcosm-macrocosm theory – Polonius as chief counsellor therefore firmly ensconced within web of corruption and political deceit​

• Shown to possess great power over knowledge and truth within the play – public reading of Hamlet's private letter to Ophelia in Act 1. Polonius as a controlling medium over Hamlet's voice tangibly symbolises the contrast between human emotion and bureaucratic distortion – questioning personal agency and integrity within a corrupt court. Overt reading of letter = pervasion of political/patriarchal authority = mediation of other narrative voices. 'Doubt thou the stars are fire; doubt that the sun doth move' (Parallel syntax, anaphora. Lexical obsession with doubt could be extended to Polonius - ‘doubt’ the morality of his actions and ‘doubt’ nature of truth through his mediation of Hamlet’s voice

Treatment of Ophelia

• Polonius views Ophelia's relationship with Hamlet as a further means of endearing himself to Claudius​

• 'Loose my daughter to him' (as if Ophelia is in captivity, barnyard expression – farmer looses a cow in heat, sustained farmyard diction in subsequent line 'farm and carters', degrades autonomy and agency through animalistic connotations. Elizabethan hierarchical Great Chain of Being, Ophelia reduced to animalistic state of being​

• Richard Vardy: Polonius has no qualms about abusing or using his daughter to serve the new king​

• Interestingly, many productions choose to cast Polonius with the same actor as the gravedigger, the irony here being that through his own desire for status and reward, he metaphorically digs the grave for his own daughter

Polonius context

• Polonius’ espionage draws parallels to Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth’s aid, or her spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. Draws on political tensions of the Elizabethan era, making audiences continuous link about their own political situation. Mirrors fears around wrong person claiming the throne – Elizabethan has no heir, bringing these fears to the fore​

• TO ADD - Machiavellian leader

Polonius as a source of comedic relief

• Richard Vardy: Polonius to be nothing more than a stock character, primarily fulfilling the role of 'an unwitting form of comic relief'​

• Polonius’ linguistics and rhetoric throughout certainly serve to reinforce this interpretation. His character becomes epitomised by long, rambling speeches and inarticulation - where Shakespeare utilises this comic disfluency to critique Polonius’ authority and encourage the audience to mock his flaws

• 'And then sir does a this – a does – what was I about to say?' (caesurae work in opposition to the logic of syntax to expose lack of rhetorical adeptness. Brevity of syntax, short monosyllabic words = simplicity)​

• 'Why day is day, night night and time is time' (repeated diacope, cyclical, phonologically heavy and tedious. Temporal marker creates cruel irony of concept of 'time'. ​

• Mark Manson: Shakespeare portrays incoherence through the extensive clauses and subordination of Polonius' sentences, crafting his character to be one of foolishness and comedic relief​

Claudius Corruption

‘Our dear brother’s death the memory be green’ ​

• The colour ‘green’ is polysemic, on the one hand bearing connotations to fresh vegetation and the fact that this new marriage is so soon after the death of the King, but also as the traditional association of ‘green’ with envy, and the way in which Claudius killed old Hamlet for power. This highlights his duplicitous character and could link to the theme of appearance vs reality ​(link to the ‘rank garden’ as a subversion of Edenic ideals)

• ‘Dear’ also as polysemic – Old Hamlet is beloved but simultaneously expensive – the death of old Hamlet will be costly for the entire nation, which foreshadows that chaos will soon unfold​

• The opening speech from Claudius begins with sentences of 7, 9 and 9 lines respectively in length – perhaps seemingly unnatural or rehearsed? He attempts to construct a veneer of elegance or sophistication to convince the public of his authority and intelligence, however this is subverted by the undertones of rehearsal and insincerity that arise from the formal and scripted style of speech.​

• ‘Our’ - collective pronouns to create sense of unity within the court ​

'With one auspicious eye and one dropping eye'​

• Exploration of a dichotomy through the juxtaposition of antithetical words

• This acts as an impressive piece of rhetoric from Claudius, highlighting the duplicity of his character

• This line becomes a microcosm for Claudius’ reign, metaphorical for the emotional and moral split mirrors within his character – he appears composed and diplomatic, but in truth is full of corruption. This foreshadows greater moral conflict within the play and the duality of man

‘Hyperion to a satyr’

• Hamlet elevates old Hamlet in comparison to Claudius by using hyperbolic classical imagery. In Greek mythology, Hyperion is a great and powerful titan, an emblem of supreme power with divine status - whilst a satyr is a man-goat, associated with being ugly and lecherous. Satyrs were emblems of lust and intoxication. Link to the seven deadly sins (including lechery/lust, avarice and envy). These vices were the foundations of morality in the medieval, Elizabethan and Jacobean periods – and were thought to consign one’s soul to hell​

• OH praised as ideal Renaissance ruler​ and epitome of medieval masculinity - leads to idealised reverence from Hamlet, who views his father as a paragon of masculinity. John Russel asserts that ‘Hamlet reveres his father as though he were far removed from the merely human’

• A powerful and radiant leader figure replaced by a grotesque and animalistic one – highlights dichotomy in both physical state but also in dignity – Claudius is not just worse than Hamlet, but is beneath human decency –references the decay or morality within society and constructs a strong emotional contrast that mirrors Hamlet’s internal conflict ​

• This disrupts the Great Chain of Being, in which Elizabethans inherited from medieval theology the concept of a hierarchical chain of being – where failure to apply reason reduces humans to an animalistic state of being, governed by appetite and instinct. A human that falls below the level of man into the realm of bestiality is labelled a monster​

• Links to the microcosm/macrocosm medieval theory

• OH as further epitomised through his costume - dressed not as he died, but in his ‘armour’ from a heroic battle 30 years ago. The military and powerful connotations of ‘armour’ inherently aligns with the role of an Elizabethan man as stoic, powerful and dominant. Knox expressed this view within his work
  (However Shapiro suggests that OH’s armour is antiquated, representing a bygone era of masculinity that is no longer applicable to Hamlet … Hamlet therefore idolises his father’s conventional masculinity in a nostalgic sense, rather than with the desire to emulate this)

Claudius repent?

‘O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven’

• The adjective ‘rank’ connotes rottenness or disease, establishing Claudius’ corruption as an infection of his morality. This creates a great dichotomy between the pure and religious imagery evoked through the notion of ‘heaven’, and the use of the archaic biblical ‘O’, which evokes a liturgical register. Has Claudius tainted heaven through his usurpation of the divine right to rule. Reflects his own corruption of the soul, transcendent to a biblical level (link to 'unweeded garden... things rank and gross in nature', both the cause and embodiment of spiritual decay)​

• Breakdown linguistically from Claudius’ first speech, interrogation of his diction and rhetoric to show a loss of control, reflective of his tenuous grasp on morality (over the Kingdom and over his own conscience). Claudius’ first speech was marked by balanced clauses and legalistic syntax, yet in A3s3 these dissolves into language of confession and lack of control. High frequency of exclamative - reflects governance by emotion rather than logic​

• Claudius’ inability to pray here could be interpreted by audiences of the time as Claudius’ damnation, and God’s refusal to grant him grace(McEvoy)​

Hamlet as feminine - does Hamlet love Ophelia?

• Ophelia also provides a manifestation of Hamlet's masculinity, which he must reject in order to execute his revenge. Jaques Lacan argues that the etymology of 'Ophelia is o'phallus'; she exists as the symbiotic double of masculinity. This perhaps explains Hamlet's rejection of Ophelia which Rutter argues seems so unfair. The economy of language in 'I loved you not' mirrors the barrenness that it describes, is highlighted by the end stopped line and brevity of language to emphasise Hamlet’s finality in his assertion. This is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s other works, such as Lady Macbeth, who must purge herself of femininity in order to commit her atrocious acts. As femininity is the antithesis of masculinity in the 1500s, through his rejection of Ophelia, Hamlet proves himself to be a man capable of the task he has been assigned.
  Yet, beyond this, Hamlet’s renunciation of Ophelia’s love not only explores his reassertion of masculinity, but simultaneously explores how love is encoded as masculine within the patriarchal structures of Elizabethan society (a semiotic tool through which dominance was encoded). Whilst women were reliant upon love for social security, as the hierarchical Great Chain of Being placed them inferior to men, men were able to operate within society independently without dependence upon relationships with a woman. As a male heir of royal status, Hamlet is afforded the luxury of rejecting Ophelia’s love

• Sue Hemming highlights Shakespeare's use of Fortinbras to expose Hamlet's lack of masculinity. The nominal determinism of Fortinbras, 'strong arm', immediately proves Hamlet to be the weaker of the two. At the beginning of the play, Act 1 Scene 2, Claudius' claim 'tis unmanly grief', immediately indicates the importance of a rejection of emotional responses which Hamlet is so afflicted by. (Many Shakespearean tragedies explore a deep-rooted patriarchal anxiety about female power, the threats of this, and the subsequent male effeminisation. In Elizabethan era, emotion equated with femininity rather than masculinity - derived from the condition of hysteria)

• Perhaps Shakespeare uses the femininity of Hamlet to explore the Humanist arguments at the time for a new kind of king, one not involved in the masculine fighting, but involved in thought and philosophy. In this way, Ophelia is used once again as a tool, exploring Hamlet's struggle with masculine ideals.​

Hamlet’s struggle with language

'Why she, even she - '​

• The smooth literary elegance of a scholar is disrupted by this fragmented, self-interrupting rhythm of speech. The caesuras halt the flow of the line, working in opposition to the logic of syntax - however his speech is still contained within the metrical scheme of iambic pentameter.​

• Therefore, Hamlet’s verse manages to be both powerful, innovative and contradictory, mirroring the internal conflict and complexity of the human mind​

• Within this opening soliloquy, the metrical form of Hamlet’s speech also parallels his lack of action, transitioning from iambic pentameter to prose. Prose was typically associated with lower status or comic characters, a common style of speech that lacks the intellect or morality necessary to effectuate revenge.
  Perhaps reflecting an emotional and moral degradation in Hamlet’s character, or conversely a degradation in his opinion on his mother (prose = ordinary metrical structure used for lower class characters)​

• Throughout this first soliloquy Hamlet's speech jumps and roils around, allowing interjections, playing with allusions and puns, becoming frequently side-tracked by this or that image. This tendency of Hamlet’s, to become side tracked by his own train of thoughts, is crucial to the play, and crucial to the central motivational mystery of Hamlet – the delay of revenge and his inaction.

• Acts as a microcosm for wider doubt and inaction in the play

Metatheatre/The Mouse Trap

• Central theme exploring the intersection of performance and reality, blurring the lines between the characters and the audience. ​

• Shakespeare's use of metatheatre through The Mousetrap exposes the tension between truth and performance, as Hamlet’s manipulation of theatre mirrors the play’s broader preoccupation with deception and unstable identities​

• Mirror imagery – Hamlet wants the play to “hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature’, with the purpose of acting to reflect truthfully what human beings are like, not to exaggerate or distort reality – just as a ‘mirror’ reflects and does not distort reality. This is an early statement of mimesis, the representation of life through art. Hamlet’s obsession with acting also mirrors Renaissance humanist concerns with selfhood and performance (all the world’s a stage)​

• The effect of Hamlet instructing the players to act truthfully establishes irony, as he himself has assumed an ‘antic disposition’ and is feigning madness – a conflicted character. Shakespeare therefore blurs the boundaries between acting on stage and acting in real life – suggesting that everyone in Elsinore is performing a role, and that life itself (whether conscious or unconscious) is theatrical.​

• Coleridge: ‘Hamlet’s intellect paralyses him – The Mousetrap is an intellectual exercise rather than decisive action’ (action vs inaction)​

• This scene operates a place about mid-way through the third act, a position in which Shakespeare frequently set climactic action. Dramatic development up until the climax in which the King stops the play​

• Placement of the Mousetrap after a long stretch of uncertainty 

Horatio as a ‘perfect friend’

'Whose blood and judgement are so well commeddled'​

•  Horatio acts as a harbinger of truth in the play, and an educated scholar. Contextually, one who becomes overcome by emotion and loses touch with reality is reduced to a bestial state within the Great Chain of Being, degradation of morality​

• Fortune is not in charge of Horatio, as it is for Hamlet (‘not a pipe for Fortune’s finger’). Returning lexical field of instruments to describe fate.  Hamlet ruled by emotion and fate, Horatio ruled by agency and logic.​

• Shakespeare presents the bond between Hamlet and Horatio as an example of the classical ideal of friendship, drawing Renaissance humanist ideas such as alter ispe - meaning ‘another self’. This concept originates from writers like Cicero and Aristotle, who described perfect friendship (‘Amicita perfecta’) as a relationship between two men who share the same moral virtues and intellectual harmony, embodying ‘one soul in two bodies’. This is based on classical depiction of ideal friendship, with feelings so intense that it seems almost romantic to the modern eye​
  Limmer: perfect friendship between Hamlet and Horatio - necessity that this is between exclusively two individuals

• Strength of a more sensitive masculinity embodied through their ‘perfect’ classical friendship - use of a divine lexical field ‘flights of angels’ elevates Hamlet through Horatio’s eyes as a ‘sweet prince’

• This philosophical and spiritual connection juxtaposes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – who act as instruments of Claudius rather than independent moral agents, thus destroying the mutual trust essential to ‘amicita perfecta’. This weakens their male friendship with Hamlet

Idea that Horatio has characteristics that Hamlet does not - they complete each other

Horatio as a representation of education

'Thou art a scholar, speak to it Horatio'​

• Spirits considered to speak Latin, Horatio as a scholar is the only one that would have known this​

Political instability at the time when Shakespeare was writing. Hamlet reflects the unstable political figure, Horatio juxtaposes this image.​

Growing interest in humanism and rational thought, which valued the study of classical literature and philosophy, as well as scientific inquiry. Horatio is therefore the representation of intellect within the play. Intellectually uncorrupted by emotion.

Laertes = revenge hero

• 'I'll be revenged most thoroughly for my father' (as a foil to Hamlet, highlights Hamlet's inaction – however is he governed by the heart over the head and therefore degraded within the Great Chain of Being) Laertes is arguably free from ethical scruples when playing the revenge hero​

• 'To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! … I dare damnation'  (Use of exclamative to show passion and perhaps uncontrolled emotion – his willingness to 'dare damnation' stands in direct contrast to Hamlet's deep anxiety about the afterlife and morality of murder)​
  Hyperbolic imagery and biblical allusions, hellish connotations enhance his fury. For Elizabethans, ‘black’ was considered the colour of death - foreshadows the final scene in which his death occurs

• Bradley: Laertes is the convention 'revenger.' He is  the typical 'man of action,' who is not given to reflection and who does not question the morality of the act of revenge

Fortinbras revenge

‘Of unimproved mettle hot and full... sharked up a list of landless resolutes'​

• Actively seeking revenge and rectify the damage done to Norway through his father’s death and loss of their land ​

• The use of hendiadys (use of ‘and’ between two verbs or nouns) adds emphasis and gravity to Young Fortinbras’ motivation – he is both ‘hot and full’ with the desire to avenge his father. In this context, ‘hot’ bears connotations to his anger and ability to become dangerous​

• ‘Sharked up’ characterises young Fortinbras as a powerful predator with a vicious army, as ‘shark’ bears connotations of blood and brutality – thus depicting young Fortinbras as bloodthirsty and with a revengeful spirit. This escalates the sense of danger surrounding his character, subsequently heightening the audience’s fear​

• However, this hot-headed pursuit of rectification could exemplify weaknesses of thought or logic within his character; governed by the heart over the head. (Degradation within the Great Chain of Being, almost animalistic). Fortinbras is leading his army to fight over an ‘egg-shell’, a worthless piece of land, prepared to waste the lives of himself and his 20,000men to restore his family honour and pride. Whilst this is arguably a great public show of family loyalty, it could be considered foolish, and merely an attempt to restore social and political standings rather than tactically or meaningfully react to his fathers’ death. Placement of scenes is important. We experience Hamlet's inaction, then Fortinbras' action, which prompts Hamlet's action.​

Madness

• Epistemology. Habib critic

• Ophelia as a foil to Hamlet, used by madness, rather than Hamlet who uses madness. The device of madness could be used as a vehicle by Shakespeare to interrogate the subjugation of female autonomy under the patriarchy. Hamlet has autonomous control over his madness, able to manipulate it to his own advantage within society, whilst Ophelia is a victim of madness – vulnerability of women and lack of agency. (somaticised madness paragraph)
  In contrast to Ophelia’s embodied and uncontrollable madness, Hamlet’s feigned ‘antic disposition’ reflects his intellectual privilege and advantaged position within a patriarchal court. As a male heir of royal status, Hamlet is afforded the luxury to indulge in what Coleridge describes as ‘intellectual exercise’- he is able to weaponise madness as a tool of inquiry and control. This is most evident in the Mousetrap scene, where Hamlet orchestrates an entire performance to ‘catch the conscience of the king’, where madness becomes a strategic facade that he can manipulate to his advantage

• Coleridge’s interpretation of ‘intellectual exercise’ links inherently to Renaissance humanist ideals of intellectual self-consciousness, rational inquiry, psychological depth etc. Emphasis on critical thinking and questioning of traditional authority that were culturally coded as masculine traits of the ideal ‘renaissance man’ (Shakespeare’s fascination with performed identity also reflects a post-Reformation crisis of uncertainty - instability of truth)

• This is even more potent when considered with Rutter’s idea that Ophelia ‘performs… the psychic journey of Hamlet’ - she is able to enact the very behaviours that he cannot. Hamlet toys with madness through his ‘antic disposition’, but Ophelia lives it for real. Hamlet contemplates and philosophises upon the idea of suicide, however it is Ophelia who is the one driven to this tragic demise. Camden suggests the different presentations of their madness serve to expose women’s subordinate status within the play: despite the tragic reality of Ophelia’s madness, she remains a marginalised figure - instead the play is dominated by Hamlet’s feigned ‘antic disposition’

• (Converse interpretation of madness as providing Ophelia with autonomy, where madness becomes a method of spreading contagion at court -‘she may strew/dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds’, Ophelia is powerful in this moment. Shakespearean tragedies explore deep patriarchal anxieties about female power, their potential threat, and the consequent male effeminisation)​

• During the Elizabethan era, mental illness was poorly understood, and often attributed to wither supernatural entities, moral failings or humoral imbalances​

• Madness for Ophelia is not liberation, it is the only space left to her when rational discourse is closed off. Her insanity exposes oppression rather than transcending it​

'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark' ​

• Link to the microcosm/macrocosm medieval theory , but also how Denmark acts as a microcosm for wider society and humanity

• Marcellus crystallises the sense of unease that the Danes are experiencing. The effect of this line being spoken by a minor character explores how corruption is felt across all levels of society, that Claudius’ evil has the ability to permeate the entirety of Denmark​

• Denmark’s ‘rotten’ core is a tangible manifestation of the corruption that taints Elsinore court, a hot bed of spiritual and political corruption

• ‘Rotten’ as an adjective with connotations of filth and impurity acts as a synecdoche for moral and political corruption within Denmark. The core of this country has become spoiled and decayed, revealing that the natural order was disrupted with the death of Old Hamlet. This implies that Claudius’ reign is unnatural even before the ghost reveals the truth. This links to a degradation within the Great Chain of Being

'Denmark's a prison' Hamlet​

• Prison repeated throughout as a profound metaphor, through which Hamlet’s rhetorical adeptness transforms political geography into a psychological space – Shakespeare invites audiences to consider not only the literal confines of the court, but also the emotional and existential confines that permeate his psyche​

• Condemnation of the world, appearing as a man trapped – in his own family situation, in his own flesh, and in the world. A psychoanalytic interpretation suggests that Hamlet’s own mind becomes a symbol of self-imposed paralysis and overthinking. It is instead his own intellect and conscience that restrain him, rather than the corruption of society [Romantic critics such as Coleridge viewed Hamlet as ‘a man living in thought rather than action’ - Denmark becomes a projection of his mental confinement]​

• Spiritually imprisoned in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Elsinore and the ‘rotten’ state of Denmark​

• Descriptions of the world as a prison echoes radical forms of ancient Gnosticism, within which the material world was viewed as a prison containing misleading sparks of the divine​

• Prison – connotations of evil and corruption

‘Then, venom, to thy work!’ (+ ending of the play)

• The moment in which Hamlet finally performs his work of revenge - however is this truly what happened?
  Harold Bloom interpretations that Claudius is not slain as an act of vengeance – only as a final entropy of the plotted shuffling. Claudius is wounded by Hamlet using the sword that Claudius himself poisoned

• The staging of the final duel intensifies the sense of inevitability, with the physicality of the poisoned sword and cup giving physical manifestation to the corruption that has long infected the Danish court. The stage directions, full of chaotic energy – ‘scuffling’, ‘drinking’, accidental ‘wounds’ – reflects the uncontrollability of violence once unleashed. Shakespeare’s structural choice to have all principal characters die in quick succession evokes the catastrophic purges of classical tragedy but, by embedding the deaths within a scene of confusion and error rather than clear moral retribution, he resists any simple equation of death with justice. The tragic arc is ultimately completed in a way that leaves moral ambiguities unresolved 

• Shapiro: the weaponry used in the final duel represents a newer way of fighting. It was only in the second half of the 16th century that the rapier replaced the heavy sword as the weapon of choice - wasn’t until the 1580s until the weapons of the rapier and dagger became popular in England

• Harold Bloom: Hamlet as a tragedy of consciousness rather than a tragedy of action (‘What is Hamlet’s tragedy? It is the tragedy of having a consciousness that cannot be reduced to a single action’). By presenting the ending as simultaneously tragic, political and existential, Shakespeare transcends the conventions of revenge tragedy to create a work that interrogates the nature of action, mortality and meaning itself – the conclusion of the play, rather than resolving tensions, intensifies them – leaving the audience with a vision of human fragility 

• Political resonance of the final scene would have been potent for Shakespeare’s original audience, aware of Elizabeth I’s childlessness and the anxieties surrounding succession crisis. The play, written at the turn of the seventeenth century, thus captures the deep unease about the fragility of dynastic stability and the vulnerability of nations in the absence of clear legitimate rule 
  Greenblatt - ‘The death of Hamlet signals not only the end of an individual but the passing of a world, and the anxious hope for a stable succession’ 

• Shapiro: Shakespeare is sensitive to moment of epochal change, conveying what it means to live in the bewildering space between familiar past and murky future.

Hamlet mediation on death

‘Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make loam’

• Recognises the past identity of the tangible remains of death, acts as a conclusion or closure to his mediation, especially given the fact that his death is imminent 

• Shakespeare uses dramatic prose at this point, prose associated with commoners. Therefore, the conversation between Hamlet and the Gravedigger is stripped back and bare, taking away Hamlet’s former rhetorical adeptness and linguistic superfluity. This equality in metrical form could reflect how death equalises everything and everyone, a nihilistic perspective that humbles Hamlet in this moment.  

• Death as an equaliser – status becomes negligible. Use of Alexander the Great as symbolism of imperial conquest and supreme human ambition - the image of even a monumental figure falling highlights the futility of Hamlet’s quest for revenge 

• But: logical progression from ‘dust’ to ‘earth’ to ‘loam’ - Hamlet is no longer fearful about the unknown, tone seems calm, rational and detached – examining the physical rather than fearing the hypothetical. syntactic parallels = grounded and controlled

‘A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a King’ (about Polonius)

• Death equalises all. Hamlet poetically states that regardless of social status during life, all men die and are consumed by maggot in the grave. Death is blind to power and privilege 

• Grotesque imagery of decay

• Allusion to Martin Luther’s doctrine Diet of the Worms. Martin Luther was a Dean at Wittenberg University, showcasing Hamlet’s intelligence and rhetorical adeptness 

• Link to Hamlet’s treatment of Polonius’ body. ‘lug the guts’ - determiner ‘the’ as dehumanising, phonological harshness of plosive ‘g’ reinforces brutality, blunt syntax. Contrasts sharply with the reverence traditionally afforded to bodies in early modern Christian culture

• Marrett: Hamlet is prevented from committing suicide by his religious obedience to The Commandment ‘thou shalt not kill’, which was thought to include ‘self-murder’ 

Does Hamlet love Ophelia?

(Yes)

• Hamlet tries to protect Ophelia through his ‘antic disposition’. Whilst his insult ‘get thee to a nunnery’ implies Ophelia’s impurity or loss of chastity, it may conversely suggest that this is the only place where Ophelia will remain safe - under the watch of God himself

• Hamlet’s further insult of Polonius as a ‘fishmonger’ degrades Polonius’ humanity within the great chain of being. If we consider this insult to be directed towards Polonius’ treatment of Ophelia, then ‘fishmonger’ may be a pun on ‘fleshmonger’ - Polonius’ attempts to tender Ophelia through keeping her chaste. Rogers suggests that in this sense, Ophelia is Polonius’ pawn.

(No)

• James Russell Lowell invites audiences to question the authenticity of hamlet's love for Ophelia, encouraging us to 'doubt it rather than believe it', contrary to 'doubt that the sun doth move.' William Flazlitt interprets hamlet as a 'prince of philosophical speculation', which could arguably be used to extend upon Russell Lowell's opinion: it is not simply that Hamlet does not love Ophelia, but that he is not capable of love. As a 'prince of philosophical speculation', Hamlet is a quintessential thinker, and therefore arguably unable to love as he will dissect the emotion into yet another philosophical dilemma which he can overcome through reason and logic (Renaissance Humanist ideas)

• Ophelia also provides a manifestation of Hamlet's masculinity, which he must reject in order to execute his revenge. Jaques Lacan argues that the etymology of 'Ophelia is o'phallus'; she exists as the symbiotic double of masculinity. This perhaps explains Hamlet's rejection of Ophelia which Rutter argues seems so unfair. The economy of language in 'I loved you not' mirrors the barrenness that it describes, is highlighted by the end stopped line and brevity of language to emphasise Hamlet’s finality in his assertion. This is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s other works, such as Lady Macbeth, who must purge herself of femininity in order to commit her atrocious acts. As femininity is the antithesis of masculinity in the 1500s, through his rejection of Ophelia, Hamlet proves himself to be a man capable of the task he has been assigned.
  - Yet beyond this, Hamlet’s rejection of Ophelia’s love perhaps reinforces his intellectual privilege and advanced position within a patriarchal court. Whilst the security of love was necessary for women within the Elizabethan era due to their inferior status upon the hierarchy of creation The Great Chain of Being, men were able to operate independently without reliance upon love and relationships. As a male heir of royal status, hamlet is afforded the luxury of renouncing ophelia’s love to instead engage in what Coleridge describes as ‘intellectual exercise’ through his ‘antic disposition.’ 

Ethics/morality of revenge
Hamlet as a revenger

• The pursuit of revenge is a prominent motif within ‘Hamlet’, where the storyline revolves around Prince Hamlet’s pursuit of retribution against his uncle Claudius, whom he suspects of murdering his father and seizing the throne. During the course of the play, Hamlet grapples with his inclination for vengeance, critically examining its moral validity and dreading the repercussions of his deeds

• The existence of the ghost in Hamlet served as the primary impetus for the concept of retribution, as well as a representation of destiny - Ghost’s revelation of his true identity to Hamlet ‘I am the spirit of your father…’

• Shakespeare sets up Hamlet’s character as a ‘revenger’ to allow him the opportunity to explore his masculinity through this specific trope (as a representation of Elizabethan society reproducing rigid gender roles)

• In the 1600s, the role expected of a man in Hamlet’s situation would be to avenge his father by killing Claudius, where typical expectations of masculinity promoted action and strength of decision

• Hamlet’s linguistics expose difficulties in aligning with the archetypal masculine stereotype of a ‘revenger’. Within his opening soliloquy, the form of Hamlet’s speech also parallels his lack of action - shifting from iambic pentameter into prose, which was associated with the lower classes or common speech that lacked the intellect or morality necessary to effectuate revenge

Parallels between Hamlet and Claudius

'With heart strings of steel, be soft as sinews of a newborn babe'​

• These lines are reminiscent of Hamlet’s words after speaking to the ghost of his father in 1.5 (‘Hold, hold, my heart, and you, my sinews, grow not instant old, but bear me stiffly up’). Shakespeare seems to mirror the troubled consciousness of his protagonist and antagonist, though he reverses their intents and meaning. Hamlet is asking for his heart to hold, meaning not to burst or give itself away, in essence telling his heart to be firm, whereas Claudius is asking for his too troubled heart to be as soft and fresh as baby’s. ​

• Argument that Shakespeare's strength lies in a highly economical rhetoric that continually forces the audience to perceive both similarity and difference at once. Paradoxically, every intellectual conjunction is also a disjunction: opposition contains shared qualities that are simultaneously the means of uniting them

Both of them beginning as highly intelligent characters, as analysed through their linguistics and rhetoric, however both experience linguistic degradation over the course of the play

Surveillance

Surveillance is not neutral - it is male-controlled epistemology (men decide what counts as ‘truth’). Surveillance reinforces patriarchal power structures that position women as objects of observation rather than agents of knowledge

Hamlet’s antic disposition as strategic self-surveillance, a controlled performance, whilst ophelia’s madness represents a psychological collapse under external surveillance. Shakespeare constructs a gendered asymmetry in which male madness is epistemologically productive (it generates knowledge), whereas female madness is epistemologically destructive (it results in fragmentation and silence)

(Ophelia is watched and directed by men e.g. Polonius ‘looses’ her. Psychological consequences of surveillance as her madness. Masculine advantage of hamlet’s antic disposition in comparison)

Link to context

• The aftermath of the Reformation created a culture of religious suspicion and ideological instability. England had shifted between Catholicism and Protestantism across the 16th.. In a world where competing schools of thought mean truth was contested, people turned to observation and spying (humanist emphasis on individual mind, self-knowledge and interiority) Renaissance humanism places value on the inner self and individual thought - but surveillance tries to understand people from the outside, by watching and interpreting

• Surveillance in the play reflects a post-Reformation crisis of certainty, where truth is no longer guaranteed by shared belief systems, but must be anxiously sought through observation. Rather than restoring order, surveillance reflects a world in which traditional moral certainties have broken down

• Fear of rebellion and Catholic plots in Elizabethan period led to a culture of espionage and state monitoring 9Francis Walsingham). Shakespeare may be critiquing a society in which rules rely on surveillance to maintain unstable authority

Revenge plan

• Avenging father as primary impetus for Hamlet’s revenge. Ellyot and Bradley, revenge as a reassertion of masculine status

• Hyperion, Russell Lowell, Hamlet’s admiration for his father puts him in the perfect position to adopt the role of a revenge hero, has suffered misfortune, Bradley

• Armour of the ghost, Shapiro antiquated, humanist ideas for a new kind of king

• Protestant vs Catholic dispute over the ghost

• Wallace = Shakespearean tragedies as unconventional, Hamlet’s lingusitics as difficulty in aligning with revenge trope. Goethe sentimental theory vs Renaissance, perhaps outdated and archaic nature of revenge. Plato ‘keep them alive’

• Revenge as coded as masculine within patriarchal structures, must become more masculine, culture hegemonic standard, Ellot. Hamlet rejection of Ophelia

• Final scene

• Omar Alsaif, Hamlet’s difficulties of revenge = society in transience away from stoicism

Isolation

• Habib: unpleasant patriarchal customs and culture. The theme of isolation is used as a tool by Shakespeare to interrogate the subjugation of female autonomy under the patriarchy, where Ophelia’s isolation acts as a foil to Hamlets: Hamlet’s isolation is self-imposed and controlled through his ‘antic disposition’, whilst Ophelia’s madness represents a psychological collapse under external isolation. Here, Shakespeare constructs a gendered asymmetry in which male isolation is epistemologically productive within patriarchal structures of the Elizabethan era (Hamlet intellectually isolates himself to generate knowledge) whilst female isolation is epistemologically destructive, resulting in Ophelia’s fragmentation and psychological decline into madness. This ultimate silence and exclusion of women within the 1500s was intensified as women were not allowed within the Elizabethan theatre - thus, Ophelia’s lines would have been performed by a man. Femininity remained isolated even in production of the play.

• Hamlet’s ‘antic disposition’ enables him to reject relationships that might complicate his revenge, thus isolating himself as a strategic plan to gain knowledge. (Argument that Ophelia acts as a manifestation of Hamlet’s sensitive masculinity, one which he must reject in order to execute his revenge)

• Ophelia’s isolation and rejection as catalysing her descent into madness. Even in madness she is isolated

• Hamlet as not entirely isolated - close relationship with Horatio, classical depictions of friendship. Reflection of Humanist arguments for a new kind of king

Corruption

• Ophelia does not merely exist within the corrupt patriarchal court of Elsinore, but she is a product of it - her body becomes a site on which male corruption is projected, thus aligning with Carol Thomas Neely’s interpretation of Ophelia’s madness as ‘somaticised and embodied’. Her character is therefore used by Shakespeare as a tool to highlight how corruption in the Elizabethan era originates from masculine systems of power. In this way, Shakespeare’s presentation of corruption reinforces Habib’s argument that ‘Hamlet’ critiques ‘unpleasant patriarchal customs and culture.’ Ophelia’s act of distributing the flowers is somatic..

• Ophelia’s symbolic madness exposes the hypocrisy of a corrupt patriarchal society that locates corruption within female vulnerability whilst ignoring its own profound moral disease