Hamlet Key Themes

Hamlet Key Themes

1. Love and Desire

   • Maternal love - Gertrude and Hamlet share a strong bond - ending eventually in the ultimate sacrifice to save her son. She also protects him from Claudius by pretending he is mad - "mad as the sea and wind"
   • Sexual love - Ophelia's family is greatly concerned that the relationship between her and Hamlet will develop sexually as well as romantically, destroying her value to society.
     • "Hamlet is a play about a father and a son who were weak because they were undone... by sexually treacherous women" - Avi Erlich
     • "Trained his daughter to be obedient and chaste and is able to use her as a piece of bait for spying" - Rebecca Smith
   • Romantic love - Ophelia wants to keep her love with Hamlet romantic only - she is keen to keep her family happy, and her moral conscience forces her to abstain from sexual activity.
     • "Women are often given the same advice that is given to servants... Chasity, piety, obedience" - Diana Bornstein

2. The 3 Avenging Sons

   • Hamlet's avenging arc - revenge for the murder of his father by Claudius, however he undergoes a character shift, killing Claudius in the end for his own development rather than out of an act of revenge.
   • Fortinbras - more of a military method of revenge, avenges his father's death successfully at the end through the combination in forces with Hamlet.
   • Laertes avenges his father's death successfully by killing Hamlet, however his story is plagued by the manipulation of his good nature by Claudius' corruption

3. Appearance vs Reality

   • Hamlet's "antic disposition" is a great example of the "appearance vs reality" as thuis example of fake madness can be contrasted to Ophelia's real madness, creating an interesting conflict.
   • Claudius’s many schemes and plots involving Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern act as another example of the intricate nature of corruption in the crown - linking strongly to the theme of appearance vs reality
   • Claudius' fake persona of a man of diplomacy and peace contrasts to his power hungry nature - in reality he is an evil and violent villain.

4. Mortality

   • Hamlet assesses his own mortality in his first soliloquy - "O that this too too sullied flesh would melt"
   • There is a shift in the perception of death after Hamlet sees Yorick's skull - death eliminates any difference between people.
   • Old Hamlet breaks the laws of mortality - the scene with him explores the nature of mortality and immortality - "I am thy father's spirit, doomed for a certain term to walk the night"
   • The nature of faith and immortality stopps Hamlet killing Claudius earlier in the play, where he is concerned that he will only go to Heaven if killed, as Hamlet believes he is praying.
   • "To be or not to be soliloquy explores the nature of mortality, and whether it is easier to simply die to leave troubles behind.
     • "Hamlet is haunted, not by a physical fear of dying, but of being dead" - C.S Lewis
   • The ending of the play explores the nature of mortality - 9 characters are dead but how many of them are truly at rest? the questions surrounding mortality are left up to interpretation by Shakespeare.

5. Madness

   • "The antic disposition" that Hamlet puts on is a method of exploring the nature of real madness, and questions are frequently asked by the reader whether the antic disposition has become real. To some extent, the fact that Hamlet is questioning suicide contextually makes him mad.
   • Ophelia develops true madness towards the end of the play - driven mad by Hamlet's treatment of her. The physical symptoms of her madness contrast that of Hamlet, allowing the audience to understand the severity of real madness.
   • The dangers of real madness are shown by the drastic consequences felt by Ophelia in her suicide, and the shock of her family - "One woe doth tread upon another's heel... your sister's drowned Laertes"

6. Surveillance

   • Reynoldo spying on Laertes in Paris - "by indirections find directions out"
   • R+G are tasked to spy on Hamlet by Claudius - "My lord, we were sent for"
     • "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sacrifice the bond of human friendship" - Marilyn French
   • Hamlet sets the play up to expose Claudius for the murder of OH - "The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."
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   • Claudius and Gertrude observe Hamlet to test his antic disposition - "We'll so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen, we may of their encounter frankly judge"

7. Action/Inaction

   • Hamlet begins this play as the "procrastinating prince" - he tends to favour inaction over action, much to the reader's dismay. This is demonstrated by the extent of his antic disposition, as well as his restraint from killing Claudius as he prays at the Altar, for fear that he will go to Heaven.
     • "With the strongest purposes of revenge, he is irresolute and inactive" - Henry Mackenzie
   • Over the course of the play, Hamlet leaves his vendetta of revenge behind, and eventually kills Claudius as a result of his own shift from the "procrastinating prince" to the "man of action". He becomes more brave and more like the usual "tragic hero", reaching its peak in the murder of Claudius.
     • "Hamlet is obliged to act on the spur of the moment" - Coleridge