Hamlet- Critical Analysis

Hamlet- Critical Analysis

1. Madness

2. Memory and Remembrance

3. Revenge

   • Janet Adelman
     • 'Cain and Abel'- first killing in the bible, linking to Claudius killing Old Hamlet. Brother betrayal.
       • 'This was I sleeping by a brothers hand/ of life, of crown of queen'
     • 'The playlet is in fact designed to capture the conscience of the queen. '
       • Contrasts idea of Hamlet avenging his father, loving Gertrude- protecting her.
       • 'and wants not buzzers to infect his ear, with persistent speeches of his fathers death'
       • Implies Gertrude is guilty.
   • William Hazlitt
     • 'Everything is left for time and circumstances to unfold'
       • 'How now! A rat? Dead for a ducat/dead.'
         • definitive end- death. Juxtaposition of uncertainty

4. Uncertainty

   • David. Katsan
     • 'For shakespeare anyhow, the uncertainty is the point'
       • Death of playwright's son Hamnet.
       • Uncertainty on whether to kill Claudius
       • Uncertainty on love for Ophelia
       • 'There is something rotten in the state of Denmark'
   • Janet Adelman
     • 'remake her in the image of the virgin mother'
       • Gertrude is the sin. Prize for killing Old Hamlet
   • William Hazlitt
     • 'he remains puzzled, undecided and sceptical'
       • 'Now might I do it pat, now he is praying'
         • repetition of now= procrastination
     • 'Not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion'
       • 'Am I a coward?'