Hamlet

The Geography of Hamlet

Denmark: Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Marcellus, Francisco, BernardoNorway: Fortinbras, Fortinbras’ uncleEngland (United Kingdom): Hamlet (sent to England, but never arrives)France: Laertes

Characters in HamletThe Character relationships in Hamlet can become rather confusing. Use the following diagram to keep track of the essential relationships throughout the play.

Act IQuestions1) Francisco and Barnardo are both nervous. They get things in the wrong order. Francisco, as the soldier on duty, should challenge the newcomer; but it is Barnardo who speaks – ‘Who’s there?’’ – as if he’s expecting to see someone but fears it may be the ghost. Francisco has to insist on his right to be answered first -- Nay, answer me.”(An actor will probably emphasize “me.”)It doesn’t seem as if Francisco has seen the figure himself, in fact; but he’s obviously been on edge and is pleased to hand over the watch to Barnardo.Look for details in this opening passage that suggest Francisco’s fear. Record 3 pieces of evidence below.

2) Horatio does indeed know how to address a ghost: with a command, in formal language, that it disclose its identity. How does he indicate to the Ghost that he does not altogether trust it?

3) What suggests that Horatio might have offended the Ghost?

4) The Ghost has stalked before, then, and “gone by” their watch without approaching them. So perhaps it has not left because it was offended, after all. Can you think of another reason?

5) There’s a dramatic (theatrical) reason also, however. Can you see what it is?

6) In line 130, what two meaning’s does “cross” imply?

7) What do we expect the Ghost to do when it spreads its arms?

Hamlet’s First Soliloquy

Soliloquies are important pieces of every Shakespearean work. They help us understand how individual characters are feeling. Hamlet’s first soliloquy is important because we are made aware that Hamlet is depressed over the loss of his father and hasty marriage to his mother; however, we are not yet sure how emotionally vulnerable Hamlet actually is. Use the following questions to help you understand that first soliloquy and insight into Hamlet’s true feelings.

O that this too too solid flesh would melt,Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!Or that the Everlasting had not fix'dHis canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitableSeem to me all the uses of this world!Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,That grows to seed; things rank and gross in naturePossess it merely. That it should come to this!But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not two –So excellent a king, that was to thisHyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother,That he might not beteem the winds of heavenVisit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!Must I remember? Why, she would hang on himAs if increase of appetite had grownBy what it fed on: and yet, within a month, — Let me not think on't, — Frailty, thy name is woman! — A little month; or ere those shoes were oldWith which she followed my poor father's bodyLike Niobe, all tears; — why she, even she, — O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,Would have mourn'd longer, — married with mine uncle,My father's brother; but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules: within a month;Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tearsHad left the flushing in her galled eyes,She married: — O, most wicked speed, to postWith such dexterity to incestuous sheets!It is not, nor it cannot come to good.But break my heart, — for I must hold my tongue!

Questions1) Reread the first two lines. What does Hamlet want? Why? Are his feelings

completely abnormal?

2) What does he say in lines 3 and 4?

3) What do the next two lines add?

4) Explain the metaphor that follows.

5) Hamlet then gives a fairly clear account of events of the past two months. What happened?

6) Why is Hamlet so terribly upset? Is he behaving in an irrational manner?

7) Explain the last two lines.

8) If you were Hamlet’s friend and you overhear this soliloquy, what would you say to him?

Act IIA Method to His Madness

Near the end of act 1, Hamlet reflects, “I perchance hereafter shall think meet / To put an antic disposition on…” Among the people who encounter him in this role are Ophelia and Polonius. Complete the chart below, and answer the questions.

Character

Hamlet’s Antic Behavior Reactions

Ophelia

Polonius

Questions1) Why does Hamlet engage in this pretended madness in the first place?

2) Why does Polonius say, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.”

Questions1) Polonius is sending Reynaldo to spy on Laertes. What does that suggest about

Polonius?

2) Is there in Polonius’ ploy a further foreshadowing of Hamlet’s behavior?

3) Polonius has decided that Hamlet has, in fact, gone crazy. What does Polonius suggest is the reason for Hamlet’s personality shift?

4) How do Gertrude and Claudius respond to Polonius’ explanation of Hamlet’s madness?

5) What is the alternative, less preferred reasoning to Hamlet’s madness?

6) Translate the following soliloquy into your own words and explain in paragraph form what Hamlet is discussing in this speech. Write your response on the following page.

HAMLET: Hum - I have heard That guilty creatures sitting at a play Have, by the very cunning of the scene,Been struck so to the soul that presently They have proclaimed their malefactions. For murder, though it have no tongue, will speakWith most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players Play something like the murder of my father Before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks; I’ll tent him to the quick. If’ do blench,I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be a devil, and the devil hath power

T’assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds More relative than this. The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.

Act IIIHamlet’s Famous Soliloquy: To Be, or Not To Be

Read the famous speech made by Hamlet and answer the questions that follow.*You will be asked to memorize and present this soliloquy

To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of th’unworthy takes,When he himself might his quietus makeTo grunt and sweat under a weary life,But that the dread of something after death,The undiscover’d country, from whose bournNo traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we haveThank fly to others that we know not of?Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,And thus the native hue of resolutionIn sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pitch and momentWith this regard their currents turn awryAnd lose the name of action. Soft you now,The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisonsBe all my sins remember’d

Questions1) How would you paraphrase the first sentence?

2) How do the next lines echo the feeling Hamlet expressed in his first soliloquy?

3) How does Hamlet now see life?4) According to Hamlet, what would make a person want to avoid death?

5) How would you paraphrase the soliloquy’s concluding lines, beginning, “This conscience doth…” and concluding with Hamlet’s awareness that Ophelia is present?

6) What is the tone of this soliloquy?

7) Does the soliloquy confirm that Hamlet is indeed crazy?

You Decide

Suppose you were writing this play, and you just completed act 3, scene 1. What decisions would you make about choices, thoughts, and actions of the following characters? Keep in mind the details listed below.

Questions1) What directives does Hamlet give the actors?

Character

Circumstances Prediction

Claudius

Ophelia

Hamlet

Gertrude

Horatio

King of Denmark Troubled by a guilty conscience Worried about a lunatic stepson

An obedient daughter Disappointed about her relationship

with Hamlet Apparently lonely, except for the

companionship of her father

Young man who saw and talked to a ghost

Disillusioned by his mother Sense of betrayal by nearly

everyone

Widowed, but now happily married again

Worried about her moody son and his antic behavior

Aware that her marriage was awfully hasty

Like Hamlet, a Wittenberg scholar who has been away from school for months

Skeptic and realist who actually saw a ghost

Close friend of a very depressed young man

2) What do we learn about Horatio as a person? How does Hamlet regard him?

3) Why is Horatio’s presence important to the presentation of The Mousetrap?

4) Why are the actors unable to complete the show? Why is this significant?

5) How does Hamlet manipulate Guildenstern and Polonius?

6) What does the king say he wants to do with Hamlet? Who are his agents?

7) Why does Hamlet skip the opportunity for vengeance?

8) What happens to Polonius? Does he deserve this? How does this event change Hamlet?

9) Does Gertrude appear to have played a role in King Hamlet’s murder?

10) Why does the ghost reappear?

11) Hamlet confirms that he will be going to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. What does he plan?

Act IV

Questions1) What happened to the relationship of Hamlet and Ophelia?

2) Judging from Gertrude’s conversation with Claudius, do you think she believes Hamlet’s story? Explain your answers.

3) Why is it so important to the king to find Polonius’ body? Where has Hamlet put it?

4) In scene 2, what is Hamlet’s appraisal of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

5) What does the king reveal in his closing comments in scene 3? What is his motivation? Do you think his plan will work? Why?

6) How do you think the death of Polonius will affect his children?

7) What has happened to Ophelia? How do you know?

8) Why has Laertes returned to Denmark? How does he respond to the sight of Ophelia?

9) How has Hamlet escaped the king’s plan to have him killed in England?

10) What plan do Laertes and Claudius concoct to ensure Hamlet’s death?

11) Ophelia’s death is an unplayed scene; it does not appear on the stage. The queen, however, describes it in detail. What happened?

Act V

Questions1) Why do the gravediggers question Ophelia’s burial in this cemetery?

2) What has the gravedigger heard about Hamlet?

3) When Hamlet sees the approaching funeral procession, of what is he unaware?

4) Why does Laertes jump into the grave? How does Hamlet react?

5) For the first time we hear Hamlet speak in utter sincerity about Ophelia. What does he say?

8) What did Hamlet do abroad the ship when he found himself troubled and sleepless?

From the pre-play action of Claudius pouring poison into his sleeping brother’s ear to the tainted sword and cup at the very end, poison is one of the major motifs in Hamlet. There are literal poisons, and they kill King Hamlet, his son, Claudius, Gertrude and Laertes. There are also metaphorical poisons that result in the rottenness in the state of Denmark.

9) Who is the source of all the poison in the play?

10) In what sense are Hamlet, Laertes and Gertrude poisoned long before they actually die?

11) How are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern poisoned?

The Three Layers of Hamlet

Some critics see the play as one that comes in three distinct tiers, each with its own climax. Use the following questions to discover these layers.

Phase 1: Hamlet as a ghost story or mystery1) At which points in the play is it a ghost story?

2) What are the main questions about the ghost?

3) Where does the ghost story climax?

Phase 2: Hamlet as a detective story1) What does Hamlet the detective need to discover?

2) What clues does he utilize during his investigation?

3) Where does the detective story climax?

Phase 3: Hamlet as a revenge story1) Identify the steps in the rising action of this aspect of the play

2) Where does the revenge story climax?