ACT 1 SCENE 2

ACT 1 SCENE 2

1. Key themes

   • Love
     • Are Claudius and Gertrude in love? At some points it seems as though they are
   • Honour and duty
     • Claudius tells Hamlet that to mourn his father is honourable - but only to a point. Then he has a duty to the living around him, to Denmark, even to God to cease mourning.
   • Women and sexuality
     • Hamlet is often angrier with Gertrude's remarrying than over the fact of his father's death. His soliloquy is often more concerned with her apparent sexual misconduct and the betrayal he feels at the short time she has spent mourning.

2. Form, structure and language

   • Claudius' speech to the court
     • Very important. Its the first speech he's giving to the court in his new position as king, revealing his marriage to his sister-in-law.
     • Speaks in blank verse and uses a series of parallelisms and closely linked images to highlight his suggestion that he is the best option for Denmark.
   • Moving from outside to inside
     • Moves the focus from the supernatural and the natural laws of good and evil to politics, and man-made laws of the same.
     • Outside - whether the ghost is good or evil.
     • Inside - the conflict is over Claudius' motivations.
   • Impressions of Claudius and Hamlet
     • Claudius, despite turning first to Laertes, is kind, conciliatory, measured and apparently caring. But Hamlet, moody, difficult and deliberately goads his uncle.