HAMLET

HAMLET

1. Hamlet is difficult to understand.

   • There is always more to him than the other characters in the play and figure out. When he speaks, he sounds as if there's something important he's not saying.
     • The ability to write soliloquies and dialogues that create this effect is one of Shakespeare's most impressive achievements.
     • "Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun"

2. His character has fascinated audiences and readers for centuries.

3. One of Hamlets flaws is he thinks long and hard about difficult questions or questions that have no answers.

   • Faced with evidence that his uncle (Claudius) murdered his father, he becomes obsessed with proving his uncle's guilt before trying to act.
   • He is equally distressed with questions about the afterlife, suicide, and what happens to bodies after they die.
     • "To be, or not to be: that is the question" "The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveller returns"
   • "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

4. He is thoughtful to the point of obsession then he behaves rashly and impulsively.

   • When he does act, it is quick with little planning.
     • As when he stabs Polonius through a curtain without checking to see who he is.
   • He seems to slip very easily into the role of a madman, behaving erratically and upsetting the other characters with his wild speeches and innuendos.
     • "How strange or odd some'er I bear myself" "If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry" "Get thee to a nunnery, farewell" "Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun"

5. Hamlet is extremely sad and dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Denmark and in his own family.

   • He is saddened by his fathers death and is disappointed with his mother for marrying his uncle (Claudius) and so quickly.
     • "But two months dead!—nay, not so much, not two" "That it should come to this!"
   • He rejects Opheila, a women he once claimed to love.
     • "If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry" "Get thee to a nunnery, farewell"
   • His words often indicate his disgust and distrust of women.
     • "Frailty, thy name is woman!"
   • At a number of points in the play, he contemplates his own death and the option of suicide.
     • "O that this too too solid flesh would melt" "To be, or not to be: that is the question"

6. He spends more time declaring his dissatisfaction with everything but the threats to Denmark's security.

   • Fortinbras's plan to attack Denmark to avenge his father's death.
   • The threats he helps create through his own carelessness.