Name: ...................................................
HSC Module B
Lesson 4: Hamlet III
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
Introduction
Last week, we covered the foundations of Hamlet – an overview of textual integrity,
contextual influences, and main themes and issues. This week, we’ll be
deconstructing these areas of analysis even further by looking into the first two acts
of the play. This is where all your in-depth textual analysis will come in to play in
your essays, as you’ll be drawing on quotes and textual evidence to support your
claims about the issues we talked about last week.
Textual Form and Structure
Before we begin close textual analysis of each scene, we’ll be looking into some of
the stock elements of the revenge tragedy genre, how they fit into Hamlet, as well as
how Shakespeare implements the five-act structure.
Genre
‘Genre is a constant process of negotiation and change’
- David Buckingham
Students will often ask the question: Why is genre important? And Why should I
include it in my critical response? Indeed, some understanding of what the term
‘genre’ means is necessary to appreciate the way in which popular genres such as
revenge tragedy have evolved over the centuries and gained influence.
David Crystals (a renowned British academic, linguist and author) defines genre as:
“established categories of composition, characterized by distinctive language or subject
matter” (such as plot or setting).
The reason this categorization is important, is because conceptual uniformity can be
a useful tool not only during the composition of a text, but also in your analysis – it
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
allows loose categorization into literary groupings such as tragedy or comedy that
share stylistic elements and conventions. This creates a sort of textual code that is
tacitly understood by audiences, rather being explicitly taught or learnt, and these
perceptions are shaped by prevailing cultural attitudes and values.
Since new forms and genres continually evolve throughout time, they are
historically relative; shaped by and reflective of their social context. Text and
context (or the zeitgeist) thus remain strongly inter-related, and this is the essence
of what you have you demonstrate understanding in Module B.
Revenge Tragedy
‘Let the man who seeks revenge remember to dig two graves’
- Chinese proverb
The genre of revenge tragedy is one that you should think about when approaching
questions relating to the enduring relevance of Hamlet throughout time – what is it
about the play that strikes audiences time and time again? Is it something intrinsic
to the revenge tragedy genre? What is it about revenge that strikes the core of the
human condition?
Retribution is an instinctive human response to what is perceived as an unwarranted
injury or offence – it’s triggered by a violent passion for returning evil to evil (in the
loose words of Aristotle). Once personal vengeance is unleashed, tragic
consequences typically follow, and we can regard the longevity of the revenge
tragedy genre as partly being explained by its exploration of the moral complexity
and emotional interplay that lies at its core.
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
Typical Conventions
Corrupt social milieu
•
Social milieu is typically represented as being inherently corrupt and
immoral
•
Traditional and accepted standards of morality are perverted or subverted by
a tyrannical political leadership
•
Hierarchal instability is reflected in disordered and flawed societies whose
ruling class is shown to be of questionable virtue
•
Social values, faith and relationships have become tainted
•
Social and moral corruption also infects the legal and judicial system,
eroding justice and embedding the power wielded by those in control
Injustice – source of corruption
•
The predicament of a wronged hero is highlighted
•
A revenger is forced to respond to circumstances beyond his control
•
The legal system has failed to adequately punish the wrongdoers so that
the avenger must resort to plotting personal vengeance
•
The storyline usually starts mid-action, disorienting the audience but
effectively engaging their attention
•
Traditionally, the victim was often initially unassailable due to social status
The avenger
•
The traditional revenge protagonist was typically heroic (but in a
contemporary context, the genre has evolved and the avenger is no longer
necessarily a person of noble or eminent social standing like Hamlet was)
•
Highly flawed individuals, characterization can be stereotyped
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
•
Dramatic tension is developed by protagonist hesitating and being
initially reluctant to react
•
Complex plotting results from avenger doubting how retribution can be
best achieved
•
Madness, either feigned or real, becomes a typical motif associated with the
avenger
•
Duplicity and deception become key strategies, but whilst effective in
gaining vengeance, they further the avenger’s isolation
John D. Rea, Hamlet and the Ghost Again
Revenge and retribution
•
A clash of great forces and powerful motivations such as greed, lust,
vendetta, justice and truth is depicted
•
Suffering is extensive
•
Complex plotlines integrate different revenge threads (see last week’s
course material on the theme of revenge) that can show several plotters working
simultaneously for their own ends
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Violence
•
Retribution is shown to have destructive and violent ramifications
•
Blood, spectacle and death feature heavily in the plot
•
Levels of emotional passion intensify as the story unfolds and vengeance is
finally attained
Richard Brucher, Fantasies of Violence: Hamlet and the Revenger’s Tragedy
Moral decline
•
Injustice predominates in immoral social contexts foregrounding issues of
social values and attitudes
•
Avenger morally degenerates as a result of his actions
•
Avenger’s integrity is ironically compromised by his personal attack on
injustice
Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy
Of course, because the nuances of the revenge tragedy genre have evolved through
time, Hamlet is not going to reflect each and every single element or convention
that revenge tragedies today perhaps may explore. However, Hamlet is one the finest
Renaissance examples of the genre, offering Elizabethan audiences a humanist
exploration of personality as well as a tale of justifiable vengeance in response to a
usurper’s act of regicide.
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Read the following points in conjunction with the themes and issues discussed last
week – this is step one in linking together different aspects of textual analysis:
textual integrity.
Corrupt social milieu
•
Elsinore is a deceptive and corrupt world, full of political intrigue (Denmark
would have been perceived by Elizabethan audiences as a foreign and
physically isolated place)
•
Grief-stricken Hamlet is overwhelmed by despair and melancholy, appalled
by those ‘noble’ courtiers who have ‘freely gone with this affair along’ –
integrity has been compromised by tacit acquiescence to a hasty and
questionable accession and incestuous marriage
•
For Hamlet, ‘Denmark’s a prison’, and his emotional alienation amidst such
corruption is reinforced by the ‘inky cloak’ and ‘solemn black’ of his apparel
(keep an eye out for our future discussion of the motif of clothing and
appearances!) – he’s distrustful and prefers solitude, using his soliloquys to
reveal his innermost thoughts
•
Compare his innate nobility to the evil infested environment he perceives:
‘this world… ‘tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed’
•
Danish court represented as a venal world, where corruption prevails and
nothing can be trusted
Supernatural apparitions
•
Supernatural forces play a role in Hamlet, with the ghost of King Hamlet
demanding his son avenge Claudius’ ‘foul and unnatural’ deed – the grave
injunction for vengeance from this ‘majestical phantom’ ensnares Hamlet in a
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tragic situation where moral and intellectual inclinations contest with the
demands of filial duty
•
This ghostly thing that is described as a ‘dreaded sight’, ‘illusion’, ‘spirit of
health of goblin damn’d’ is spectre of awe – his/its stately walk and measured
words leave witnesses awestruck and bewildered
•
The ghost’s first appearance is not motivated by a desire for justice rather
than compassion: ‘pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing / to what I shall
unfold’ – his ‘horrible form’ attests to the horrible purgatory he has been
forced to endure because he died unshriven and his suffering can only be
alleviated by his son’s retribution against ‘murder most foul….strange and
unnatural’
•
The ghost’s second appearance is more condemnatory in tone, encouraging
Hamlet to action by stinging his conscience with the many reasons that exist
for vengeance to be enacted (‘he that hath killed my kind, and whored my
mother…’ see Act V Scene II)
- John D. Rea, Hamlet and the Ghost Again
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Villains
•
The usurper King Claudius is clearly a villain through the acts of regicide,
fratricide and biblical incest that he commits – such crimes have universal
resonance, offering the moral and legal codes of justice as the Ghost reveals
the truth to his son (‘Thus was I, sleeping by a brother’s hand / Of life, of crown,
of queen, at once dispatched’)
•
Hamlet describes Claudius in the opening as an undeniable rogue who
characterizes the corrupt underbelly of Denmark: ‘O villain, villain, smiling
damned villain!’ and ‘Let not the royal bed of Denmark be / A couch for luxury
and damned incest’, yet Claudius is also a competent statesman; articulate,
perceptive and cunning (see last week’s material on appearances v reality and
the facades that Claudius puts on)
•
Remember though, that in your analysis you need to look beyond what
is most evident, go beneath the surface and present an interesting
insight! Claudius is not the only villain in the play – Gertrude can also be
perceived as a villain (though more guilty of being weak and inconstant than
evil) – she is a ‘most pernicious woman’ who disgusts her son by her ‘o’er hasty
marriage’ and disloyalty to her former spouse
•
Think of the revenge tragedy genre’s typical depiction of lust and debauchery
– this is clearly evident in Gertrude’s actions which cause her son to declare
her frailty (‘frailty, thy name is woman!’)
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Richard D. Altick, Hamlet and the Odor of Mortality
Malcontents
NB: The Malcontent is a character type often used in Shakespeare’s plays – this type of
character is discontent with the events and other characters in the play, and is often an
observer who comments on the action or may even show awareness that they are in the
play. Their role is usually both political and dramatic; with the malcontent voicing
dissatisfaction with the usually Machiavellian political atmosphere and often using
asides to build up a kind of self-consciousness and awareness of the text itself which
other characters in the play will lack to the same extent.
•
The play has three different individuals feeling compelled to avenge wrongs
committed against their fathers (see last week’s content on Revenge) –
Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras
•
Hamlet believes that ‘time is out of joint’ and is tortured by inner conflicts (‘O
cursed spite’ that I was born to ‘set it right’) – and is largely unable to act while
the other sons are, by contrast, assertive and clear of purpose (foil
characters).
•
(From A History of Hamlet Criticism 1601-1821 by Paul S. Conklin): “Hamlet
was seen, first of all, most decidedly as a malcontent; and at times as ‘mad’,
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either as a lover or as possessed with a madness that is quite primitive and
realistic, with comic overtones. The Elizabethans must have looked upon the
malady of malcontentism as containing aspects that were close to real
madness… there are a number of echoes of a malcontent Hamlet who seems
far from unbalanced. He is a Hamlet whom we know today if we rid our
perceptions of any sentimental coloring, and try to be imaginatively
sympathetic with this earlier period. This Hamlet is masculine and primitive.
He is melancholy, but his emotion is not of the graveyard type so common in
the next century; nor is it similar to that century’s ‘social tear’. This
malcontentism is often bitterly sarcastic, cynical, cruel and obscene.”
Madness
•
Another typical convention of Renaissance revenge tragedy is the unstable
mental states commonly found in the key characters – it is often a ruse used
to facilitate deception and manipulation and the extent of Hamlet’s madness
has long been a contentious issue amongst critics
•
Hamlet’s manner alternates between periods of composure and paroxysms of
fury – this ‘antic disposition’ he adopts only exhibiting outward show of
madness that obscures his actions
•
See Polonius’s remark in Act II: ‘Though this be madness, yet there is method
in’t’
Intrigue and Deception
•
Many characters adopt false masks to hide behind – verisimilitude pervades
the plays of this era, developing dramatic tension through our confusion
about what is real and what is false – this is fostered in the very opening
scenes of the play
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•
Sympathy for Hamlet is aroused by his finding himself increasingly isolated
in a world awash with deception and intrigue
•
The conspiratorial core of Elsinore – Polonius, whose devious stratagems and
lies even extend to spying on both his children for his own political ends (see
last week’s material re deception)
•
See Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who admit they ‘were sent for’, arousing a
sense of foreboding
•
No one can be taken at face value, so that the atmosphere becomes charged
with paranoia and suspicion
Physical horrors/violence
•
The genre’s love of spectacle resounds in the numerous descriptions of
rancor, violence and the eight deaths through poisoning and duels – just how
many ‘carnal, bloody and unnatural acts’ are represented?
•
Graphic detail describes ‘my prison house’ and ‘eternal blazon’ when the
ghostly king’s revelation of his hellish fate is revealed at the outset of the
play
•
Wilson Knight (a 20th century literary critic and academic) described Hamlet
as having a “death infected” imagination which dwells on the futility, aridity
and pointlessness of life
•
Look at symbols of corruption, death and disease – a place contaminated by a
‘foul and pestilent congregation of vapours’ where life has been tainted by ‘the
hidden abscess’ of vice and pervesion that surrounds Hamlet
•
Atypically however, the violence does not take the life of Horatio, the
avenger’s accomplice – Hamlet’s friend yearns for self-destruction: ‘I am
more an antique Roman than a Dane. Here’s some liquor left’ – but he is coerced
to remain alive through the prince’s explicit request that he give an honest
report of the story
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These are just some elements of a revenge tragedy in Hamlet to get your thinking
started – have a look at the characterization of Hamlet in your own time, and try
and ascertain how he lives up to the typical conventions of an avenger within the
genre.
The Five-Act Structure
Act One:
Orientation – this act introduces the setting, the basic plot, the major themes and
issues and the characters (as well as character relationships) that will feature in the
play.
Act Two:
Problems arise: one or more major issues in the play will begin to unfold, as the
events entangle relevant characters into the conflict.
Act Three:
Complications: Problems detailed in previous acts become more obvious – there is
more detail and importance placed on these issues, as the challenges that the
characters face become trickier and more dangerous.
Act Four:
Turn-around of fortunes: Often the play’s balance (perhaps between happiness
and sadness, or good and evil) changes for the last and most significant time.
Act Five:
Resolution: The event that the play has been building up to finally occurs – for
example, the tragic hero meets his doom – order is usually restored (but is it really,
in Hamlet?) and the surviving characters, usually the minor ones, are forced to deal
with the aftermath of the events.
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Paul A. Cantor:
Close Reading of ACT I
What happens in Act I?
Scene one:
Characters present: Francisco (soldier), Bernardo (officer), Marcellus (officer), Horatio
(Hamlet’s friend and Wittenberg schoolmate), ghost (spirit of Hamlet’s murdered father)
It’s the middle of the night in winter and we’re outside Elsinore castle, with Franciso
standing guard until he’s relieved by Bernardo. Marcellus and Horatio soon join
them, and they all discuss whether or not they think the castle is haunted by a
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ghost. Suddenly, the ghost of King Hamlet appears and just as quickly vanishes.
Horatio speculates about the meaning of the ghost’s appearance in terms of
Denmark’s fate, when it reappears and disappears again. The men decide to inform
Prince Hamlet of their strange encounter as the morning dawns.
Scene two:
Characters present: Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle and current King), Cornelius and
Voltemand (courtiers), Gertrude (Queen of Denmark and Hamlet’s mother), Hamlet
(Prince of Denmark), Polonius (Lord Chamberlain), Laertes (Polonius’ son)
The morning after the sighting of the ghost, King Claudius attends to domestic
affairs, first of all informing his courtiers of his recent marriage to Gertrude (whilst
mourning the death of King Hamlet), and also giving Laertes his blessing and
permission to leave for France, yet persuading Hamlet to remain in Elsinore. Hamlet
broods over his mother’s second marriage and curses his fate, when he is
interrupted by Horatio and the officers who inform him of their encounter with the
ghost that resembled Hamlet’s deceased father. Hamlet resolves to see the ghost for
himself, telling the men that he will join them at the platform outside the castle
later that night.
Scene three:
Characters present: (same as above), plus Ophelia (sister of Laertes and daughter of
Polonius, as well as Hamlet’s love interest)
Laertes is preparing to leave for France, and warns Ophelia before he learns, to be
wary of Hamlet’s romantic advances and not to fall in love with him because his
birth status is too far above her own. Ophelia accepts his words, but also retorts that
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he ought not to preach virtue that he does not follow himself. Polonius bids his son
farewell and echoes Laertes’ advice. Ophelia pledges to obey.
Scene four:
Hamlet joins Horatio and Marcellus on the castle platform at midnight, when he
hears the trumpets from within the castle that signify the start of Claudius’
celebrations. Hamlet is disgusted, and criticizes this Danish tradition when the
ghost appears and calls for Hamlet, beckoning him to follow. Hamlet’s companions
dissuade him from following, but Hamlet follows the apparition into the darkness.
Scene five:
In the darkness, after having followed the ghost to a remote part of the castle
platform, the ghost informs Hamlet of the deeds that Claudius had committed
against him, and exhorts Hamlet to take revenge on Claudius (but spare Gertrude).
Horatio and Marcellus finally find Hamlet, but Hamlet refuses to share what the
ghost told him, coercing both men into secrecy.
What are the main issues introduced?
“Orientation – this act introduces the setting, the basic plot, the major themes and
issues and the characters (as well as character relationships) that will feature in the
play.”
Act I has introduced us to the major characters in Hamlet, given us an insight into
what type of person they are, as well as portraying the setting of the play in the
corrupt court of Elsinore in Denmark. We’re introduced to the deeds committed by
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Claudius, as Hamlet’s revelation sets the tone for the scenes to follow – the play has
been framed around this one act of regicide that Hamlet is to avenge.
Contextual issues:
•
Look at the reign of Queen Elizabeth and the questions surrounding
succession of the throne – who would take over after her death? How does
Act I immediately deal with concerns about transferal of power from one
monarch to the next?
•
Hierarchal instability and uncertainty, as well as upheavals and betrayal and
accompany these shifts in power – Prince Hamlet does not inherit the throne
as one would expect to be the ‘right’ or ‘natural’ move – there’s an aura of
fear and suspicion
•
Relevance of the Great Chain of Being – how do religious allusions fit in? The
internal hierarchy of the court of Elsinore?
Textual issues:
•
Appearance of the ghost at night – motif of darkness and uncertainty, what
does this say about the future of Denmark? Look at the ghost’s role as an
internal foreshadowing of the later tragedies to come in the play
•
The function of Horatio’s character – he’s established as a good-humoured,
well educated and intelligent man who is skeptical of supernatural events –
first he is reluctant to give credence to the existence of ghosts, yet is then
overwhelmed with terror upon seeing it (without denying its presence) –
characterizes him as trustworthy
•
Audience’s suspension of disbelief re the ghost – Horatio
represents
audience’s perspective in this scene to allow them to mirror his overcoming
of disbelief with the ghost’s existence
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•
How is Claudius introduced and characterized? Do we know more about him
than the characters in the play do?
(Translation sourced from No Fear Shakespeare)
Original Text
Modern Text
Enter BARNARDO and FRANCISCO,
BARNARDO and FRANCIS
two sentinels
CO, two watchmen, enter.
BARNARDO
BARNARDO
Who’s there?
Who’s there?
FRANCISCO
FRANCISCO
Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold
No, who are you? Stop and
yourself.
identify yourself.
BARNARDO
BARNARDO
Long live the king!
Long live the king!
FRANCISCO
FRANCISCO
Barnardo?
BARNARDO
He.
Is that Barnardo?
BARNARDO
Yes, it’s me.
- Act I, Scene I
Looking at the lines above, the dialogue in the opening of the play (whilst revealing
little substantial material), sets the tone for the entire play. The opening line of
“who’s there”, though spoken by a relatively minor character, establishes an
inquisitive or interrogative mode that reflects the play’s ontological and existential
focus on questions (see last week’s material on uncertainty).
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Throughout the play, Hamlet attempts to discover “who’s there”, in terms of the
ghost, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia and himself – the issues of identity and
appearances plague him, and the motifs of clothing and masks inform the entire
play’s focus on acting.
Secondly, this question also functions to highlight the setting of the scene – in the
darkness of midnight, in the middle of winter. Not only is the audience in the dark
about what’s currently happening, but there’s also this sense of uncertainty that is
about to follow in terms of the characters being in the dark about each others’
intentions.
Enter GHOST
The GHOST enters
MARCELLUS
MARCELLUS
Peace, break thee off. Look where it
Quiet, shut up! It’s come again.
comes again!
BARNARDO
BARNARDO
In the same figure like the king
Looking just like the dead king.
that’s dead.
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MARCELLUS
MARCELLUS
(to HORATIO) Thou art a scholar.
(to HORATIO) You’re well-educated,
Speak to it, Horatio.
Horatio. Say something to it.
BARNARDO
BARNARDO
Looks it not like the king? Mark it,
Doesn’t he look like the king,
Horatio.
Horatio?
HORATIO
HORATIO
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Most like. It harrows me with fear
Very much so. It’s terrifying.
and wonder.
BARNARDO
BARNARDO
It would be spoke to.
It wants us to speak to it.
MARCELLUS
MARCELLUS
Question it, Horatio.
45
Ask it something, Horatio.
HORATIO
HORATIO
What art thou that usurp’st this
What are you, that you walk out so
time of night
late at night, looking like the dead
Together with that fair and warlike
king of Denmark when he dressed for
form
battle? By God, I order you to speak.
In which the majesty of buried
Denmark
Did sometimes march? By heaven, I
charge thee, speak.
!
Act I, Scene I
There’s a blurring of lines between statehood and supernatural – these incongruous
associations that result in impertinent digressions as, according to Tillyard (see E.
M. W Tillyard, British classical and literary scholar), “the appearance of the ghost
means a breaking down of the walls of the world and chaos supervenes as the ghost
creates doubt, uncertainty and bewilderment”.
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Alan Ackerman Jr., Visualising Hamlet’s Ghost
CLAUDIUS
CLAUDIUS
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s
Although I still have fresh
death
memories of my brother the
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
elder Hamlet’s death, and
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole
though it was proper to
kingdom
mourn him throughout our
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
kingdom, life still goes on—I
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
think it’s wise to mourn him
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
while also thinking about my
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
own well being. Therefore,
Therefore our sometime sister, now our
I’ve
queen,
sister-in-law, the queen, with
Th' imperial jointress to this warlike state,
mixed feelings of happiness
Have we—as ’twere with a defeated joy,
and sadness. I know that in
With an auspicious and a dropping eye,
marrying Gertrude I’m only
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in
doing what all of you have
marriage,
wisely advised all along—for
In equal scale weighing delight and dole—
which I thank you. Now,
Taken to wife. Nor have we herein barred
down to business. You all
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
know
married
what’s
my
former
happening.
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With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
Young
Now
underestimating my strength
follows
that
you
know.
Young
Fortinbras,
Fortinbras,
or imagining that the death
Holding a weak supposal of our worth
of the king has thrown my
Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death
country into turmoil, dreams
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
of getting the better of me,
Colleaguèd with the dream of his advantage,
and never stops pestering me
He hath not failed to pester us with message
with
Importing the surrender of those lands
surrender the territory his
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
father
To our most valiant brother. So much for
Hamlet, my dead brother-in-
him.
law. So much for Fortinbras.
demands
lost
to
that
the
I
elder
- Act I, Scene II
In our first encounter with Claudius in the play, we are immediately given the
impression that he is the quintessential statesman – noble, rational and diplomatic
– as he talks of ‘Hamlet, our dear brother’s death’ – look at the bolded words in the
first portion of his speech – how does he use collective pronouns and words to foster
a sense of unity and ‘togetherness’? Do you think this inclusion of his audience
aims to deflect his own guilt?
Indeed, in true Machiavellian style, Claudius utilizes rhythm, alliteration,
assonance, and syntactical balance to smooth over any inconsistencies or
objections within his speech. His tone is authoritative yet compassionate, this sense
of calm that his character fosters almost juxtaposes the darkness and uncertainty of
the first scene, giving a sense of order and stability.
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
What else does this speech reveal about Claudius? His carefully balanced
appearances cover up the paradoxes and contrasts bound within his speech that
his audience is unaware of. We’re alerted to this duplicity through the line ‘with one
auspicious and one dropping eye’ – indicating that he’s looking happily to the future
with one eye, and casting down the other with grief – the genesis of his
contradictory facial expressions. This paradox is repeated immediately in the
proceeding lines: ‘with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage’, and then ‘with
delight and dole’, yet are smoothed out by his syntactical balance (look at his
eloquent rhetoric and smooth, regular stresses, as well as the feminine endings of
several lines).
This complex phonetic equation is presented by Claudius as natural and decorous,
despite their associated moral quandary and he uses such language devices to
disguise the inconsistencies within what he’s saying (see last week’s thematic
discussion on facades, and appearance v reality). He strategically presents us with
information in ‘equal scale’ and even his incidental diction is of joining: ‘jointerous’,
‘disjoint’ – indeed, this is reinforced through the excessive enjambment within his
speech, which provides cohesion and fluidity to present an articulate and calculated
character.
HAMLET
HAMLET
(aside) A little more than kin and less
(speaking so no one else can
than kind.
hear) Too many family ties
there for me.
CLAUDIUS
CLAUDIUS
How is it that the clouds still hang on
Why are you still so gloomy,
you?
with a cloud hanging over you?
HAMLET
HAMLET
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
Not so, my lord. I am too much i' the
It’s not true, sir. Your son is
sun.
out in the sun.
!
Act I, Scene II
Immediately after Claudius’s speech to the court, Hamlet addresses the audience
through an aside remark – ‘A little more than kin and less than kind’, a sarcastic
remark that reinforces the malcontent’s removal from other characters. This play
on words is repeated in his next line when responding to Claudius: ‘I am too much I’
the sun’ (meaning he feels uncomfortable with his position as Claudius’ now-son),
thereby establishing for the audience the antagonistic relationship between
Claudius and Hamlet.
His aside to the audience (indeed, the first character to give an aside) also fosters a
connection with the audience, allowing him to become an agent on the stage to
foster a trustful bond.
In the later lines of this scene, we also begin to see the early traits of Hamlet as
avenger – he starts to forge his exclusion and alienation amongst the people around
him and acts against all who stand in his way. His most visible action at this stage is
his repeated undermining of Claudius – most notably through his refusal to engage
with his uncle-father in conversation. Hamlet is insistent with holding his pride and
feelings from the interrogation of his ‘parents’, a performance that insists on the
opposition of private-public and is an open affront to Claudius.
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Richard D. Altick, Hamlet and the Odor of Mortality
Teresa Hooper,
Dangerous Doubles: Puns and Language in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
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HAMLET
HAMLET
Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would
Ah, I wish my dirty flesh
melt,
could melt away into a
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
vapor, or that God had
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
not made a law against
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God,
suicide. Oh God, God!
God!
How
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
pointless life is to me.
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Damn it! It’s like a garden
Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
that no one’s taking care
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross
of, and that’s growing
in nature
wild. Only nasty weeds
Possess it merely. That it should come to
grow in it now. I can’t
this.
believe it’s come to this.
But two months dead—nay, not so much,
My father’s only been
not two.
dead for two months—no,
So excellent a king, that was to this
not even two. Such an
Hyperion to a satyr. So loving to my
excellent king, as superior
mother
to my uncle as a god is to
tired,
stale,
and
a beast, and so loving
toward my mother that he
kept
the
wind
from
blowing too hard on her
face.
That he might not beteem the winds of
Oh
God,
do
I
have
to
heaven
remember that? She would
Visit her face too roughly.—Heaven and
hang on to him, and the more
earth,
she was with him the more
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Must I remember? Why, she would hang
she wanted to be with him;
on him
she couldn’t get enough of
As if increase of appetite had grown
him. Yet even so, within a
By what it fed on, and yet, within a
month of my father’s death (I
month—
don’t even want to think
Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is
about it. Oh women! You are
woman!—
so weak!), even before she had
A little month, or ere those shoes were
broken in the shoes she wore
old
to his funeral, crying like
With which she followed my poor father’s
crazy—even an animal would
body,
have mourned its mate longer
Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she—
than she did!—there she was
O God, a beast that wants discourse of
marrying
reason
father’s brother, who’s about
Would have mourned longer!—married
as much like my father as I’m
with my uncle,
like Hercules. Less than a
My father’s brother, but no more like my
month
father
death, even before the tears
Than I to Hercules. Within a month,
on her cheeks had dried, she
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
remarried. Oh, so quick to
Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes,
jump into a bed of incest!
She married. O most wicked speed, to post
That’s not good, and no good
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
can come of it either. But my
It is not nor it cannot come to good,
heart must break in silence,
But break, my heart, for I must hold my
since I can’t mention my
tongue.
feelings aloud.
my
after
uncle,
my
my
father’s
- Act I, Scene II
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
Hamlet’s passionate first soliloquy in Scene II of Act I provides a markedly striking
contrast to the controlled and artificial dialogue in his exchanges with Claudius and
the court in previous lines. Indeed, the main function of his soliloquys is to reveal
intimidate details about his inner psyche to the audience – in this case, his profound
melancholia and the reasons behind his despair.
The tonal shifts within the confines of Hamlet’s soliloquy ademonstrate the
complexities of his character and the effects of his inner turmoil. Shakespeare uses
juxtaposition and contrast to enhance Hamlet’s contempt and disgust. As soon as
Claudius leaves the stage, Hamlet explicitly contrasts the two kings – each the
antithesis to the other, a ‘hyperion to a satyr’. Hyperion was the god of the sun in
human form (representing honour, virtue and regality), and a satyr is a creature half
man half beast (representing laviciousness and overindulgence), so this early image
immediately reinforces our perception of the dual nature of man upon which
Hamlet will repeatedly reflect.
Hamlet also reflects on his existential crisis – how everything in his world is either
futile of contemptible and his speech is saturated with his disjointed outpouring of
emotions: disgust, anger, sorrow and grief. There are suggestions of rot and
corruption: ‘rank’, ‘gross’, as well as the metaphor of the world as being an
‘unweeded garden’ – a biblical reference to the prelapsarian garden of Eden.
We’re exposed to the nature of his grief stemming from the marriage of Gertrude
and Claudius, immediately following the death of his rightful father and King, and
he is tormented by the images of Gertrude’s tender affections toward King Hamlet,
believing that her insincere displays of love were only a pretense to satisfy her own
greed.
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Finally, another important remark by Hamlet in this soliloquy is his self-deprecating
comment ‘but no more like my father / Than I to Hercules’ – a foreshadow to his
developing lack of self-worth that is to become the focus of his next soliloquy, and
indeed will inform his later existential crises.
POLONIUS
POLONIUS
Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for
You’re still here? Shame on
shame!
you—get on board! The wind is
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail
filling your ship’s sail, and
And you are stayed for. There, my blessing
they’re waiting for you. Here, I
with thee.
give you my blessing again.
And these few precepts in thy memory
And just try to remember a few
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no
rules of life. Don’t say what
tongue,
you’re thinking, and don’t be
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
too quick to act on what you
Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.
think. Be friendly to people but
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption
don’t overdo it. Once you’ve
tried,
tested out your friends and
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of
found them trustworthy, hold
steel,
onto them. But don’t waste
But
do
not
entertainment
dull
thy
palm
with
your time shaking hands with
every new guy you meet. Don’t
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade.
be quick to pick a fight, but
Beware
once you’re in one, hold your
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
own. Listen to many people,
Bear ’t that th' opposèd may beware of
but
thee.
everyone’s
Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.
reserve your judgment. Spend
Take each man’s censure but reserve thy
all you can afford on clothes,
judgment.
but make sure they’re quality,
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
not flashy, since clothes make
But not expressed in fancy—rich, not
the man—which is doubly true
gaudy,
in France. Don’t borrow money
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
and don’t lend it, since when
And they in France of the best rank and
you lend to a friend, you often
station
lose the friendship as well as
Are of a most select and generous chief in
the money, and borrowing
that.
turns
Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
spendthrift. And, above all, be
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
true to yourself. Then you
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
won’t be false to anybody else.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
Good-bye, son. I hope my
And it must follow, as the night the day,
blessing will help you absorb
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
what I’ve said.
talk
a
to
few.
Hear
opinion,
but
person
into
a
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee.
!
Act I, Scene III
Is Polonius just a simple old fool or does he actually hold considerable political
power within Elsinore? From his spiel to Laertes above, we get the impression that
he’s long-winded, self-absorbed and dull. It’s taken him nearly thirty lines to give
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
Laertes his final greeting that could really have been summed up in one (albeit
commonly quoted) line: “this above all, to thine own self be true”.
From a feminist perspective, we could also look at how revered Polonius’ perception
of Laertes is compared to his later treatment of Ophelia. Ophelia’s opening line is
inquisitive and cast with doubt; where all other major characters have pasts
signifying occupations as a royal, student or counselor, Ophelia’s character is
constructed through her relationships as a sister, daughter and sweetheart. Her
occupation is to be a girl in a court dominated by men, where her only refuge is
submission at the mercy of the patriarchal hegemony: this is evident in this scene
where her father chastises her innocence and refers to her interest in Hamlet as
‘springes to catch woodcocks’ (basically implying that these vows of Hamlet are just
traps for stupid birds).
The imagery of traps here doesn’t just apply to Ophelia’s love for Hamlet however,
the notion of entrapment also informs the play’s broader themes of deceit (see
last week’s material on lies, deceit and facades). The metaphor of the springes that
Polonius uses when talking to Ophelia is recreated by Laertes when he dies later on
in the play, as he says “as a woodcock to mine own springe”, referring to how he’s
been caught in his own trap.
We’ll be looking at the motif of traps as they come up in future scenes and acts.
HAMLET
HAMLET
Murder?
Murder?
GHOST
GHOST
Murder most foul, as in the best it is.
His most horrible murder.
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.
Murder’s always horrible,
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DELTA SPECIALIST EDUCATION | HSC MODULE B: HAMLET III
but
this
one
was
especially horrible, weird,
and unnatural.
HAMLET
HAMLET
Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as
Hurry and tell me about
30 swift
it, so I can take revenge
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
right away, faster than a
May sweep to my revenge.
person falls in love.
!
Act I, Scene V
In Hamlet’s first encounter with the ghost, he pledges himself to filial duty,
unquestioningly accepting the validity of what the ghost has proposed, and
committing himself to take revenge out on Claudius. His haste in promising the
ghost’s vengeance (‘Haste me to know’t, that I… may sweep to my revenge’) however,
wavers throughout the coming Acts, informing his constant rumination.
- Cherrell Guilfyole, Not Two: Denial and Duality in “Hamlet”
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- Alan Ackerman Jr., Visualising Hamlet’s Ghost
Questions to think about for Homework:
i.
How do the events of the first Act inform the (issues in the) rest of the
play?
ii.
What is the function of the ghost? How is suspense built up before and in
between its appearance(s)?
iii.
What is our initial interpretation of the relationship between Hamlet and
Horatio? How does their relationship dynamic develop or change
throughout the play?
iv.
How do you think we, the audience, would portray Claudius, compared to
the characters in the court?
v.
What is the significance of Hamlet’s first soliloquy in Act I, Scene II?
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