Hamlet interpretations

Mack

Hamlets world is pre-eminently in the interrogative mood.

Hui

Horatios apperances mark pivotal moments of revelation

Shapiro 2

The ghost of hamlets father...not only evoks a catholic past, then, but is also a ghostly relic of the chivalric age.

Shapiro 1

Hamlet was born at the crossroads of the death of chivalry and birth of globalisation

Kittredge

Horatio shows scholars knowledge in his enumeration of the causes that send ghosts back to earth

Swinburn

The single characteristic of hamlets innermost nature is...the strong conflux of contending forces

Hazlitt 1

[hamlet] seems incapable of deliberate action

Hazlitt 2

He is the prince of philosophical speculators

Alexader

The question remains, how does one deal with such a man (Claudius) without becoming like him

Knight

Hamlet is an element of evil in the state of Denmark

Showalter

Ophelia is deprived of thought, sexuality and language

Smith 1

Polonius seems to love his children ... his means of action however are totally corrupt

Smith 2

[polonius] trained his daughter to be obedient and chaste and is able to use her as a price of bait for spying

Vary

[polonius] he is at the heart of the rotten danish state and embodies the new realpolitik

Knight 2

[Claudius] a good and gentle king

Altick

Claudius' evil has corrupted the whole kingdom of Denmark

Bevington

It is his conscience that makes Claudius such a complex villain

Wormald

There is a corruption of both human and natural orders in the play

Vardy 2

In a state characterised by dishonesty, surveillance and subterfuge, hamlet cannot trust anybody.

Limmer

Horatio demonstrates loyalty and virtue throughout the play

Prosser

Laertes is like a hurricane. He rushes into the palace in an uncontrolled rage, roaring for blood.

prosser 2

[leartes] denies his conscience, his king, and his God

Hall

Leartes and Fortinbras are both representatives of action

Kerrigan 2

Hamlet never promises to revenge, only to remember

Adelman

Hamlet's principal concern is not revenge but complex feelings towards his mother

Kerrigan 3

The ghost condemns hamlet to an endless fruitless yearning for the lost figure

Bradshaw

The three sons who all react differently to the loss of a father

Smith 3

Contemporary fears that a foreign military power would annex England on the death of Elizabeth

Smith 4

The play prefers to look backwards rather than forwards: to dare to think forwards, to a time post Elizabeth, was a crime

Bradshaw 2

the new king of Denmark is arguably far more concerned to protect his country and his subjects than the old one was

Knight 3

Claudius is not draw as wholly evil - far from it... Claudius shows every sign of being an excellent diplomatist and king.

Smith 5

Gertrude...has traditionally been played as a sensual, deceitful woman.. but the traditional view of Gertrude is a false one.

Smith 6

In the plays second scene we see two young men setting off on different courses.

Grindlay

The trouble with Ophelia is that she is nothing.

Dusinbeere

[ophelia] his daughter must not rely on her own judgement...Ophelia has no chance to develop in independent conscience of her own.