Hamlet AO5
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71 Terms
18th century - states that "all duties seem holy for Hamlet"
Goethe
18th century - believes Shakespeare puts the young Prince in a position that doesn't fit his characteristics and Hamlet finds it difficult to cope with the situation
Goethe
18th century - focuses on the fact Shakespeare builds an external conflict between Hamlet and Gertrude. Hamlet finds it difficult to comprehend the hasty and "incestuous" marriage
Goethe
18th century - believes the motive of Hamlet's "antic disposition" is to make the Queen realise what she has done
Goethe
18th century - Believes that the leading theme of the play is "appearance vs. reality"
Samuel Johnson
18th century - believes that Laertes, like Polonius, cares more about appearance than reality
Samuel Johnson
believe that Hamlet is a moral, pure and lonely man. They see him as a man who hesitates so much that he struggles to take any action. This is seen in the beginning of Laurence Olivier's 1948 film adaption, where a narrator says "This is a tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind"
Coleridge
19th century - believes the Prince's downfall comes from deliberating too much; "Hamlet is obliged to act on the spur of the moment".
Coleridge
19th century - believes that Hamlet "loses himself in the labyrinth of thought"
Coleridge
19th century - believes that one of the main concerns of Hamlet is his relationship with his mother and how revenging will impact that
Coleridge
19th century - contrasts Hamlet with Macbeth, who takes action immediately
Coleridge
20th century - states that Claudius performs his "ceremonial duties efficiently". This is possibly because he is trying to woo the Danish Court.
A C Bradley
20th century - believes that Claudius "nowhere shows cowardice" and that his love for Gertrude "seems to be quite genuine"
A C Bradley
20th century - notices how Claudius, despite having a conscience (proven in the prayer scene), is still determined to keep his place on the throne
A C Bradley
20th century - believes that Hamlet delays because of external forces; he can't simply trust a spirit's words, especially if he is uncertain if it actually is his father. However, there are plenty of opportunities to kill the king (Act 3, Scene 3, for example).
A C Bradley
20th century - links Hamlet's delay with religion, like Von Goethe, stating that he is "unable to carry the sacred duty", a difference to the interpretation of Coleridge, who believed that Hamlet delayed because he was an intellectual who "loses himself in the labyrinth of thought"
A C Bradley
20th century - calls the play "an artistic failure", believing the play is too long. To him, it is the play rather than the protagonist that is the problem.
T S Eliot
20th century - States that the play deals "with the effects of a mother's guilt upon her son".
T S Eliot
20th century - believes that Hamlet "is dominated by an emotion" that ruins his relationship with Gertrude and Ophelia.
T S Eliot
20th century - believes that Hamlet cannot kill Claudius because he is his own reflection; "he cannot kill him without also killing himself". To Him, Claudius has done what the young Prince has always wanted to do; kill the father and mate with the mother. Therefore, Hamlet partially identifies himself with Claudius.
Ernest Jones
20th century - argues that the Prince's obsession with his mother is to blame for the unsuccessful courtship with Ophelia. However, it is arguable that Ophelia's betrayal is what ruins their relationship.
Ernest Jones
20th century - to him, a modern perspective of Hamlet's unease comes from "the destruction of good mothering".
David Leverenz
20th century - believes that "there are many voices in Ophelia's madness". A modern audience would see Ophelia trying to break free from patriarchy in her madness (consider the interpretation of Ophelia being hosed down in her madness in Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film adaption).
David Leverenz
20th century - believes Ophelia's death by drowning is symbolic of the way women are oppressed in a patriarchal society.
David Leverenz
20th century - describes Claudius as a "good and gentle king" and that "as he appears in the play, he is not a criminal"
G Wilson Knight
20th century - believes that Hamlet is the cause of all the trouble in the play; "Hamlet is an element of evil in the state of Denmark".
G Wilson Knight
20th century - believes that "a consideration of Fortinbras must involve Laertes too", stating that both contrast the Prince.
Harold Jenkins
20th century - believes Laertes to be a "villain". However, it is arguable that he is a victim of the corrupt and diseased Danish Court.
Harold Jenkins
20th century - believes that "Revenge exists on a margin between justice and crime". Hamlet seeks justice, but doesn't want to commit the crime that would give his father's murder justice.
Catherine Belsey
18th century - believes that the play would have ended had Hamlet killed Claudius immediately; "there would have been an End of our Play".
Thomas Hanmer
20th century - states that Hamlet "felt himself involved in his mother's lust"
John Dover Wilson
20th century - believes Old King Hamlet to be a "majestical King" whilst Claudius is a "smiling, creeping serpent".
John Dover Wilson
Feminist critic - focuses on Hamlet's fascination with his mother's sex life, branding it "sex nausea"
Linda Bamber
20th century - believes that "the appearance of Hamlet's pretended madness contrasts with the reality of Ophelia's madness"
Camden
20th century - describes Claudius and Old King Hamlet as "mimetic rivals"
Girard
21st century - believes that, with madness, Ophelia "opens up her role"
Charney
20th century - praises Polonius for being a good father but believes that his means of action are "totally corrupt".
Rebecca Smith
20th century - believes that Polonius has raised his daughter up to be obedient and pure so he can use her "as a piece of live bait".
Rebecca Smith
21st century - believes that Ophelia "has no story without Hamlet"
Edwards
Elizabethan philosopher - believes revenge to be "a wild kind of justice" and that it offends the law.
Francis Bacon
17th century - compares Ophelia to Electra, stating that Shakespeare should not have let the young girl become "immodest in her madness"
Jeremy Collier
21st century - states that "although Hamlet is a tragedy, it is also known for its comedic elements"
Alforque
19th century - believes that "for humour he should go mad. Sanity is humour."
Sir Herbert Tree
Instead of the traditional stabbing through the arras, Hamlet is aware that it is Polonius that he will kill instead of mistaking it for Claudius. Chasing him, Hamlet screams "A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead" as he stabs Polonius brutally upon discovering him eavesdropping on his conversation with his mother. This really does prove the extent of Hamlet's antic disposition causing harm to others but also discards the debate of Hamlet's delay affecting all his decisions. Thus, it really presents Hamlet as an erratic character. Therefore, it was effective in proving Claudius's assertion that he should be sent to England - he is dangerous to others and himself.
(Hamlet) 2022, Sean Holmes Production - Sam Wanamaker
Hamlet is played by a woman, Angela Winkler. This has happened before (Bernhardt in 1899, de la Tour in 1979). Within the play and in critical interpretation, it is claimed that Hamlet's actions and delay are unmasculine.
(Hamlet) 2000, Zadek
It scraps the first scene and has Jonathan Pryce's Hamlet be possessed by the spirit of his father, speaking the lines of his father's Ghost in the scene in which Hamlet is confronted by the Ghost. The only way for Hamlet to exorcise himself of the spirit is to revenge himself on Claudius. In this interpretation, Hamlet's madness is real as he physically has little control over his actions.
(Hamlet) 1980, Richard Eyre
HAMLET'S MADNESS - REAL OR FEIGNED Mark Rylance's Hamlet wears pyjamas, drawing parallels with psychiatric patients
(Hamlet) 1989, Ron Daniels
The set increasingly becomes more dismantled and covered in graffiti in Hamlet's slow descent in madness. All the characters except for Hamlet start in Elizabethan period-appropriate attire but slowly transition to modern clothing by the end. Claudius remains in his period attire, only becoming more dishevelled.
(Hamlet) 2022, Sean Holmes Production - Sam Wanamaker
In the second half, the theatre floor is piled high with stones and rubble representing the emotional and physical devastation, as Denmark falls into the hands of Fortinbras. The characters struggle over it, sinking into the court's moral corruption
(Hamlet) 2015, Lydnsey Turner - Barbican
APPEARANCES VS REALITY Use of the mirror in Gertrude's closet to reflect reality; after Polonius' death it is cracked. As a result of his murderous actions, Hamlet looks at this cracked mirror again in 5.2
MODERN INTERPRETATION (Hamlet) 2009, Gregory Doran RSC production,
OPHELIA'S MADNESS On the Elizabethan stage, the conventions of female insanity were sharply defined. Ophelia dresses in white, decks herself with "fantastical garlands" of wild flowers, and enters distracted and wistfully. Her flowers suggest the discordant double images of female sexuality as both innocent blossoming and whorish contamination.
ELIZABETHAN INTERPRETATION
OPHELIA'S MADNESS Ophelia's madness was in a sense censored. Actresses such as Mrs Lessingham in 1772, and Mary Bolton in 1811, played Ophelia in this decorous style, relying on the familiar images of the white dress, loose hair, and wild flowers to convey a polite feminine distraction Her lines were frequently cut, and the role was often assigned to a singer instead of an actress, making the mode of representation musical rather than visual or verbal.
LATE AUGUSTAN INTERPRETATION
OPHELIA'S MADNESS In the mad scene, Harriet Smithson entered in a long black veil, suggesting the standard imagery of female sexual mystery in the gothic novel, with scattered bedlamish wisps of straw in her hair. She put the veil on the ground as she sang, she spread flowers upon it in the shape of a cross, as if to make her father's grave, and mimed a burial
ROMANTIC INTERPRETATION (Hamlet) 1827, Charles Kemble
MODERN INTERPRETATION (Hamlet, film adaptation) 1996, Kenneth Branagh
OPHELIA'S MADNESS Kate Winslet's Ophelia appears in Act 4, Scene 5 in a straitjacket and bonnet; she walks willing to her 'prison' of a white padded cell where they keep her to prevent herself from hurting herself and hurting others
OPHELIA'S MADNESS Ophelia plays light music on a piano. Later her madness is suggested by snatches of tunes and discordant notes- as if she no longer remembers what she has been taught, cannot play as she is expected to.
MODERN INTERPRETATION (Hamlet) 2015, Lindsey Turner
APPEARANCE OF THE GHOST - MATERIAL OR PYSCHOLOGICAL + HAMLET'S MADNESS He is possessed by the tormented spirit of his father who does not appear as a "person" but rather who lives in Hamlet himself and seems to overwhelm him surprisingly.
MODERN INTERPRETATION (Hamlet: Who's There) 2016, Kelly Hunter, Flute Theatre
APPEARANCE OF THE GHOST - MATERIAL OR PYSCHOLOGICAL? The ghost never appears. He is an effect of Hamlet's psychologically disturbed state and his lines are spoken by Hamlet in a tormented, distorted voice.
MODERN INTERPRETATION (Hamlet) 1980, Jonathon Pryce
APPEARANCE OF THE GHOST - MATERIAL OR PYSCHOLOGICAL? The ghost is ashen and his clothes are blackened as though he has been burning in purgatory
MODERN INTERPRETATION (Hamlet) 2010, Nicholas Hyter
In this production, Patrick Stewart play both the roles of the Ghost and of Claudius suggesting that Hamlet's perception of his late father as a Hyperion-like figure is warped.
(Hamlet) 2009, Gregory Doran RSC production,
Simon Godwin's production uses African black magic to conjure the ghost.
(Hamlet) 2016, RSC Production
Kenneth Branagh's platinum blonde hair makes him look like Claudius - drawing parallels between the tragic hero and the villain, suggesting there is less of a distinction between the two as the play progresses.
(Hamlet, film adaptation) 1996, Kenneth Branagh
In the closet scene, Mel Gibson times his lines to four violent thrusts in "STEW'd in CORruption, HONeying and MAKing love." With each thrust, Gertrude cries out and the upper part of her body rises off the bed. Hamlet, then dissolves in tears and lays his head on her shoulder. He intercepted in his rant by his mother's passionate, open mouthed kiss.
(Hamlet, film adaptation) 1990, Franco Zefferelli
Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine defiantly as a declaration of her independence from the King despite Claudius's protestation.
(Hamlet, film adaptation) 1996, Kenneth Branagh
The director omits the political dimension entirely; it instead focuses on the measureless grief and the pathological condition of the young hero who cannot even be helped by his closest family and partner. The production fails to recognise that the action of the play stems from Claudius' illegitimate succession not just his fratricidal crime.
(Hamlet: Who's There) 2016, Kelly Hunter, Flute Theatre
This production cuts out Fortinbras and his final usurpation of power at the end and is more focused on how Hamlet destroys himself, ending with the line "The rest is silence.". This interpretation is also seen in the 2022 Sean Holmes Production.
(Hamlet) 2009, Gregory Doran RSC production,
The theme of surveillance is captured memorably through the use of security cameras, whereby those in power can watch and control Hamlet, who poses a threat to the social order. At times, the ghost can be seen through the lens.
(Hamlet) 2009, Gregory Doran RSC production,
Indirectly referenced the wars beginning in Eastern Europe, following the collapse of communist dictatorships. Branagh's Fortinbras is presented as cold-eyed and ruthless in his takeover coup - the 'new order' that he represents associated with political might and expediency. The ending features soldiers dismantling old Hamlet's statue, signifying that one tyranny based on individual power will be replaced by another and nothing really changes.
(Hamlet, film adaptation) 1996, Kenneth Branagh
Hamlet visualises himself intensely stabbing Claudius through the partition of a physical confession box.
(Hamlet, film adaptation) 1996, Kenneth Branagh
Claudius speaks his monologue to Hamlet, taunting Hamlet to shoot him.
(Hamlet) 2018, Scott
Sam West made it very difficult for audiences to like his Hamlet. He pushed Ophelia and spat in her face at one point. This was a tough, young student prince who lived life on his own terms.
(Hamlet) 2001, Sam West
HORATIO: 1.1 taken from the perspective of Horatio
Hamlet 2009 Doran