hamlet critics

Gender and ophelia

Elaine Showalter – “Ophelia’s madness is her liberation in language.”
T.S. Eliot – “She is merely pathetic.”

Showalter reclaims Ophelia’s madness as her only voice in a male-dominated world. Eliot sees her as weak and unimportant.
→ Use this to explore whether Shakespeare gives Ophelia psychological depth or sidelines her.

Use her mad songs and “He is dead and gone” to argue Ophelia critiques patriarchal tragedy.

Gertrude, Misogyny & the Mother Figure

Janet Adelman – “The main concern is not with revenge on Claudius, but with cleansing Gertrude.”
Rebecca Smith – “Gertrude is more pliant than lascivious.”

Adelman sees Hamlet’s obsession with Gertrude as deeply oedipal and psychological. Smith argues Gertrude is passive, not sexual or corrupt.
→ Use this to explore whether Gertrude is a target of Hamlet’s misogyny or a genuine political threat.

“In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed…” reveals Hamlet’s revulsion is more sexual than moral.

Corruption & Political Power

G. Wilson Knight – “Claudius is a good king but a bad man.”
Stephen Greenblatt – “A Machiavellian figure who hides behind rhetoric.”

Knight controversially claims Claudius stabilises Denmark politically. Greenblatt sees him as a classic deceptive tyrant.
→ Use this to question whether the villain is also a competent ruler.

Claudius’s speeches (“Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death…”) sound noble, but mask murder.

Surveillance & the State

Foucauldian Reading – Elsinore is a “panoptic” court of surveillance.
A.C. Bradley – Focuses on Hamlet’s internal morality, not politics.

Foucault-style readings show how spying (Polonius, Rosencrantz) reflects state control. Bradley keeps the focus on Hamlet’s soul and delay.
→ Use this to debate whether the play is about inner struggle or systemic corruption.

: Use imagery of disease and rot: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

Action vs Inaction (Tragic Flaw)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge – “Too much reflection prevents Hamlet from acting.”
A.C. Bradley – “Hamlet is noble… but paralysed by moral scruple.”

Coleridge sees Hamlet as over-intellectual. Bradley views his delay as ethical — Hamlet wants to act justly.
→ Use this to question whether Hamlet’s flaw is thinking too much or feeling too deeply.

Tie to “To be or not to be” — indecision rooted in philosophical and moral fear.

Death & Existentialism

Stephen Greenblatt – “Death is the only certainty in Hamlet’s world.”
Bradley – “Hamlet fears the afterlife; this is what paralyses him.”

Greenblatt sees death as an existential certainty — a nihilistic world. Bradley focuses on Hamlet’s Christian dread of damnation.
→ Use this to explore whether death gives meaning or causes paralysis.

“The undiscovered country…” — religion and meaning collide in Hamlet’s mind.

Theme: Madness – Hamlet’s State of Mind

Samuel Johnson – “The pretended madness of Hamlet causes much mirth.”
G. Wilson Knight – “Hamlet is the poison in the veins of the community.”

Johnson believes Hamlet feigns madness to manipulate others — it entertains the audience. Knight disagrees: Hamlet’s erratic behaviour spreads chaos.
→ Use this to discuss whether madness is a clever performance or dangerously real.

Tie to Hamlet’s line: “I am but mad north-north-west.” Real or not, madness disrupts Denmark.

The Supernatural / The Ghost

Stephen Greenblatt – The Ghost is a product of “cultural trauma around death and the Reformation.”
A.C. Bradley – Takes the Ghost at face value as a real spiritual being.

Debate whether the Ghost is truly a spirit from purgatory or a psychological projection of revenge — fits well with discussions of uncertainty and delay.

Key quote: “Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned…”

Family & Betrayal

Janet Adelman – “The real conflict is between Hamlet and Gertrude, not Claudius.”

Harold Bloom – Sees Hamlet as more concerned with honour and justice than family dynamics.

Explore how betrayal by family — Gertrude’s remarriage, Claudius’s murder — fuels Hamlet’s psychological crisis.

Key quote: “O most pernicious woman!”

The Role of Theatre / Meta-Theatre

Jonathan Bate – “Hamlet is the most self-conscious play ever written.”
Samuel Johnson – “The play lacks the basic credibility of real drama.”

Explore how Hamlet uses theatre within theatre (“The Mousetrap”) to expose truth and disguise, questioning what is real.

Key quote: “The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”