Hamlet context

Hamlet context

1. The story first appears in the work of Saxo Grammaticus called 'Amleth'. An avenger seeks justice for his father who was murdered by the uncle. He does this by putting on a mad act. Shakespeare adds ambiguity.

   • Did Gertrude and Ophelia kill themselves? Is he mad? Etc.

2. Shakespeare was about 30 when he wrote it, the same age as hamlet is in the play. When he wrote it, his son Hamnet died at 11. The names Hamnet and Hamlet are the same. Its likely that the feelings shown in the play are personal thoughts of Shakespeare and his real concerns about death and mourning.

3. Shakespeare was the owner of the Globe theatre-see the play within a play about holding a mirror up to nature.

   • The groundlings pay the least and their social superiors are above them in the balconies. They would appreciate the clowns/ clever commoners being able to outwit their superiors.

4. The average life span was 30 years, many children died in society of death was common and the Bubonic plague killed thousands in 1593.

   • Suicide was forbidden, they can punish you after death by not giving you a proper burial. It can stain the family reputation.

5. Marriage between in-laws was forbidden and seen as incest. It is likely that the audience would have been disgusted by the remarriage like Hamlet was.

6. Great chain of being- natural order places kings above men. God comes first. A usurper to the throne is a disruption to the chain and causes disruption throughout.

7. People thought that four humours governed the body and mind, they could get out of balance and cause sickness. mental illness was linked to physical illness. E.g. Hamlet is melancholy, he's depressed and 'love sickness'.

8. Blood feuds were private forms of revenge and were very common. A violent form of retribution. Frances bacon 'a wild sort of justice' as it bypasses legal processes of ensuring guilt. It's dangerous as it is an act of passion which. Vengeance is lost in emotion and so is sense.

   • the avenger must uphold their families honour and their own.

9. There were acts of offense against Elizabeth's government. the play asks what happens when the system is flawed, when people making the laws are corrupt? Surveillance intrudes on peoples lives 'Denmark is a prison'. Violence revenge is the only way to achieve resolution for his anger and frustration

10. Patriarchal society-despite the female monarch. Women must submit to their dads and husbands without question. They're intellectually and physically inferior. The men are considered unmanly when they cry or grieve, emotion is associated with women and men with strength

11. Marriage is often arranged, particularly in the royal court in which it is political. It explains the suspicion around Ophelia and Hamlet.

12. Honour is key for men- following the chivalric code which is a set of rules governing behaviour.

13. Eizabeth 1- 68 and reigning for 40 years by the time of Hamlet, first performed 3 years before her death.

14. She was considered to be the Virgin Queen as she never married. However it was known that she used her sexuality as a political tool and had many relationships.

15. The lack of an heir causes a constitutional crisis as it brings an end to the Tudor lines, who will be her successor?

16. There were many pllots to kill Liz, mostly from angry Catholics who wanted to replace her with Mary Queen of Scots. Liz has Mary killed for treason in 1587. On account of these plots, it was a very paranoid time.

    • A network of spies operated and people were often arrested for mutiny, e.g. Thomas Kyd, he was tortured for plotting against the queen. Writers get caught in paranoia and so base plays in other countries. Marlow also died mysteriously- was he a spy or was he taken out.

17. Ghosts wouldn't have surprised the audience. Pagans outlawed it as blasphemy. Audience would have been sympathetic to Hamlet's distress.

18. England shifted from Catholicism to Protestant. Many Catholics remained with their beliefs in secrecy (possibly Shakespeare's family too), risking death.

    • Purgatory is a Catholic belief, the dead stay there if they're stuck without confessing their sins. Ghosts may come from here seeking redemption or they could come from hell as the devil in disguise.

19. renaissance- rich period of social change and challenging old ways of thinking. Involves a revival of interest, Hamlet ofen references greek culture.

    • Humanism is a new political and educational idea. An optimistic belief in the potential of mankind. the renaissance man is an aspirational figure with a range of ability of interests.
      • Our virtues should be expanded to their full potential. It generated a new interest about the potential scope of human understanding. Could also improve peoples ways of acting which would in the end benefit society.

20. A more skeptical strain of it appeared that stressed the limitations of human understanding e.g. Michel Montaigne maintained the idea that humans could never see past the appearances in the world to see the realities. Shakespeare uses this idea with hamlet, is frustrated that he cannot answer these questions. However the play stressed the difficulty of knowing the truth about other people their guilt, innocence, motivations,, feelings or insanity.

    • Hamlet is essentially a play about the difficulty of living in that world.