Hamlet Critics

4 Main types of critics

1. Literary

2. Marxist / New Historicists

3. Psycho-Analytical / Freudian

4. Feminist

Literary Criticism

The informed analysis, interruption and evaluation of literary works, focusing on themes, style and context to deepen understanding

Examples of Literary Critics

• Coleridge

• Goethe

• A .C. Bradley

• T.S Elliot

Coleridge (1819)

“Hamlet is crippled with an over-imaginative mind or a mind ‘too vivid’ to cope with reality. His over-intellectualisation hinders his ability to take action.”

“I have a smack of Hamlet in myself”

Goethe (1795)

“Hamlet is a ‘noble soul’ crushed by the impossible burden placed upon him”

A. C. Bradley (1904)

“Hamlet is like Macbeth and Othello, ‘great’ in its embrace of universal issues (good and evil, temptation and sin, self-knowledge and betrayal). Hamlet stands revealed in this broad moral context as an idealist, deeply sensitive and vulnerable to the shocks of a father’s murder and a mother’s hasty remarriage”

T. S Elliot (1919)

“The play was an ‘artistic failure’ because Hamlet’s ‘disgust is occasioned by his mother,’ but Gertrude is so ‘insignificant’ a character which is left undeveloped by Shakespeare that she cannot convincingly be represented as a plausible cause of Hamlet’s feelings.”

Marxist / New Historicists Criticism

Examines texts through the lens of class struggle, society, economics or ideology, focusing on how literature reflects, reinforces or challenges the oppressive social and material conditions in which it was created

Examples of Marxist Critics

• Shapiro

• Terry Eagleton

• C. L. R. James

• Graham Holderness

• Terence Hawks

Shapiro (2005)

“The tension in the play results from the conflict between the different dominant ‘forces’ of history in the context of an old world of ‘chivalry’ fading away and a new society founded on Protestantism and global capitalism”

Terry Eagleton

“Hamlet is crushed between his inability to define himself and the social pressure and expectations of what he should be."

Eagleton explains that this harsh pressure in Hamlet’s life which is what caused the destruction of his character

C. L R. James (1901)

The intellectual as a key part of Shakespearean society and Hamlet as a part of the ruling class / dominant elite, but isolated in that community.

Graham Holderness (1989)

The play dramatizes fundamental changes in Elizabethan society, the ‘medieval world’ of hamlet is fading into the past with Denmark no longer being ruled by the values of a ‘medieval warrior king.’ Hamlets is stranded between two worlds, unable to emulate the heroic values of his father, unable to engage with the modern world of political diplomacy

Terence Hawks (1996)

“Claudius is a worthy opponent of Hamlet. We use Hamlet for our own political purposes today, just as people throughout history have and always will”

Psycho-Analytical / Freudian Criticism

Interprets literature through the lens of psychology, (particularly inspired by the theories of Sigmund Freud). It focuses on the unconscious motivations, desires and conflicts of the author, characters or readers.

Examples of Psycho-Analytical / Freudian Critics

• Jacques

• Gabrielle Done

• Ernest Jones

Jacques (1977)

“Hamlet is an oedipal drama”

Ernest Jones (1910)

A disciple of Sigmund Freud - “Hamlet is driven subconsciously by an incestuous desire for his mother" which complicates his task of avenging the murder of his father; how can he kill the hated uncle for having taken sexual possession of the mother whom Hamlet himself yearns for.”

Gabrielle Dane (1998)

“Although every human psyche might be said from a psycho-analytical perspective, to be constructed largely as a result of social interactions, Ophelia’s unique development has given her an especially permeable psyche. Motherless and completely circumscribed by the men around her, Ophelia has been shaped to conform to external demands, to reflect the desires of others.”

Feminist Criticism

Reinterprets literature by analysing gender representation, challenging patriarchal biases and recovering the overlooked works written about and/or by women

Examples of Feminist Critics

• Elain Showalter

• David Laverenz

• Rebecca Smith

• Carolyn Heilbrun

Elain Showlater

“Ophelia is denied of thought / sexuality. She represents the strong emotions of Elizabethan women”

She asserts that many critics focus too much on Hamlet as a vehicle for Ophelia’s character, not the other way around

David Laverenz

“Ophelia’s suicide is a microcosm of the male world’s banishment of the female, because ‘woman’ represents everything denied by a reasonable man.”

Ophelia’s suicide as a microcosm of repressed femininity in Shakespearean England

Rebecca Smith

“In Hamlet one hears a great deal of discussion on Gertrude’s personality and actions by other characters.”

Carolyn Heilbrun

“Unable to explain her marriage to Claudius as the act of any but a weak-minded, vacillating woman, they fail to see Gertrude for the strongminded, intelligent, succinct, and apart from this passion, sensible woman that she is.”

A. C. Bradley - Gertrude

“Hamlet is suicidal because of the moral shock of the sudden ghastly disclosure of his mother’s nature”