Hamlet

Hamlet

1. Review Questions

   • Compare and contrast Portia, Ophelia, and Cordelia as daughters by evaluating their functions, portrayals, and actions.
   • Compare and contrast two of the following couples: Gertrude and Claudius, Regan and Cornwall, Gonerill and Albany, and Lord and Lady Macbeth using Kimbrough's article "The Prisoners of Gender."
   • Compare and contrast the three sons Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras. What do they have in common? How do they pursue their revenge in different ways? What obstacles do they encounter?
   • Identify distinctive features about the play
   • Identify major turning point(s) in the play and explain how and why it is important
   • How does Hamlet correspond with the conventions of a "revenge tragedy" and where does it diverge?
   • Trace the themes of revenge in "Hamlet" and "The Tempest" and compare and contrast the major similarities and differences. (Keep in mind the genre of both plays)
   • Analyze the function of home/homecoming in the play

2. Characters

   • Royal Families
     • Prince Hamlet
     • King Hamlet/Ghost
     • Queen Gertrude
     • King Claudius
     • Prince Fortinbras
   • Courtisans
     • Polonius
     • Laertes
     • Ophelia
   • Friends of Hamlet
     • Horatio
     • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
     • Barnardo, Francisco, and Marcellus
   • Other/Minor Characters
     • Player King and Queen
     • Clowns/Grave Diggers

3. Settings

   • Elsinore, Denmark
     • Hamlet's Castle
     • Graveyard
   • Norway
   • England

4. Themes

   • Revenge
   • Action vs. Inaction
   • Impossibility of Certainty
   • Mystery of Death/Afterlife
   • Religion

5. In-Class Discussions

   • Ambiguity in the play
   • Changing alliances/Hamlet's symbolic isolation
   • Parallels between Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras
   • Comparison of Hamlet and Prospero
   • Hamlet as a "hero-revenger" and conventions of a "revenge tragedy"
   • Hamlet's hesitation/indecisiveness
   • Major turning point: Hamlet killing Polonius
   • Distinctive features of the play