Hamlet

Hamlet

1. Important Concepts

   • Loyalty/Selfishness
     • Revenge
     • Loyalty
       • To self
       • To others
         • Hamlet and the Ghost - Hamlet doesn't fear danger in the presence of the ghost as his life is meaningless anyway, "Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee." Life/Death link - Hamlet is more interested in his intention than the ghost's and he distorts what the ghost said to him, "I will speak daggers to her but use none." Intention distorting perception and being truer to self than others.
         • Horatio is loyal to Hamlet and therefore likeable - Horatio is willing to die for Hamlet, "Here's yet some liquor left". Horatio is likeable because of his loyalty but he's the one telling the story, "Thou livest. Report me and my cause aright to the unsatisfied." He may simply be determining our perception of him.
       • To audience
   • Roles/Acting
     • Women
     • Plays and Acting
   • Life and Death
     • Afterlife - Hamlet's Fate
     • Tragedy
     • Great Chain of Being
   • Reality/Perception
     • Roles/Acting
     • Truth
     • Audience
     • Betrayl
   • Wellbeing
     • Madness
     • Love and Grief
     • Healing
   • Reference to Past
     • Determine audience perception
     • To describe present self
     • Insight of the present
   • Art

2. Character Development/Contrast

   • Parings
     • Ophelia and Hamlet
     • Gertrude and Hamlet
     • Claudius and Hamlet
     • Laertes and Hamlet
     • Claudius and Old Hamlet
     • Gertrude and Ophelia

3. Tension/challenge for audience

4. Text: Structure/Contrast etc.

   • Symbolism
     • Flowers
     • Sleep/Dreams
     • Classic
   • Paralells
   • Foreshadowing

5. Useful for Scholarship