By William Shakespeare Hamlet By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Hamlet is full of dead bodies, murder, suicide, disease, graves, and talk about death. And there is no traditional Christian comfort or promise of eventual justice or happiness for the good people. But the message is ultimately one of hope. You can be a hero.

Idea for theme Think about how Hamlet -- who starts by wishing he were dead -- comes to terms with life, keeps his integrity, and strikes back successfully at what's wrong around him.

Some of Hamlet’s Issues… The issue of Gertrude's marriage to Hamlet's uncle surfaces immediately in the first words Hamlet speaks in the play: “A little more than kin and less than kind” (1.2.67). Notice whether Claudius and Gertrude's marriage was politically or romantically motivated and whether Gertrude played a part in the death of King Hamlet.

Hamlet is the first work of literature to look squarely at the stupidity, falsity and sham of everyday life, without laughing and without easy answers. In a world where things are not as they seem, Hamlet's genuineness, thoughtfulness, and sincerity make him special. Hamlet is no saint. But unlike most of the other characters (and most people today), Hamlet chooses not to compromise with evil.

Theme idea Unlike so much of popular culture today, Hamlet leaves us with the message that life is indeed worth living, even by imperfect people in an imperfect world.

Written around 1601 Published in 1603 Setting: Denmark Shakespeare's Hamlet was a remake of an already popular play, based in turn on historical fiction, based in turn on an episode from the Dark Ages: the lawless, might-makes-right 7th century era.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare holds up a mirror to nature, showing us ourselves. If this were an action-movie, Hamlet might be entirely sympathetic, and his enemies altogether despicable; however it's characteristic of Shakespeare's tragedies that our sympathies are divided. The audience comes away from Hamlet liking the prince very much. He is a thinker, and he is funny. We see into his own mind and discover him to be genuine and sincere. We admire him for resisting the evil around him. But he begins the play with a nasty, bitter outlook on life. If you do not like everything about today's teenaged goth culture (wearing black, being clever and disrespectful, playing with people's feelings, complaining that life seems meaningless and empty), you may not like the Hamlet whom we meet at the beginning. We see him as both stupid and mean when he kills Polonius.

Say What? The blurring of appearance and reality is a motif in this play Ideas that may appear on your test: fate, supernatural, family, tragic hero, justice…just to name a few.

Character List Hamlet: The Prince of Denmark. About 30 years old at the start of the play, Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Cladius. Claudius: The King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle, and the play’s antagonist

Gertrude: The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius Polonius: The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’ court; father of Laertes and Ophelia Horatio: Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with him at the university in Wittenberg

Ophelia: Polonius’s daughter, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. Hamlet has been in love with her. Laertes: Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother

The Ghost: The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father Fortinbras: The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). The Ghost: The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father • Marcellus and Bernardo: Officers who first see the ghost and who call Horatio to witness it. Marcellus is present when Hamlet first encounters the ghost.

Francisco: A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore (the castle) Reynaldo: Polonius’s servant, who is sent to France by Polonius to check up on and spy on Laertes

Tragic hero A tragic hero has the potential for greatness but is doomed to fail. He makes some sort of tragic flaw, and this causes his fall from greatness. Realizes he has made an irreversible mistake Faces and accepts death with honor Meets a tragic death

Tragic heroes are: Born into nobility Responsible for their own fate Endowed with a tragic flaw Doomed to make a serious error in judgment

Themes Moral corruption and the consequent dysfunction of family and state. Revenge and the complexity of taking revengeful action in relation to honor and religion (the opposition of societal expectations) Appearance and reality and the difficulty of discovering and exposing the truth in a corrupt society. Mortality and the mystery of death. Action and Inaction – which is worse? Women and their power/powerlessness Madness – What defines it? How do we know when it exists? When does pretending become reality?

Motifs Disease, rotting, decay as the manifestation and consequence of moral corruption. Actors and the theatre as highlighting the deception, illusion and role-playing of major characters in the play; also as holding a mirror up to nature, exposing the corruption of the court. Ears and hearing as needed to discover the truth in such a corrupt and dangerous world; also as vehicles for murder and for distortion of the truth Poison – literal, moral, and societal (and thus, political)