Hamlet Themes

Hamlet Themes

1. Humanity

2. Action and Inaction

3. Appearance and Reality

   • characters
     • Hamlet uses everyday imagery to describe characters to unmask false natures
     • most conceal their true impulses and motivations behind outward appearances
     • Hamlet abhors deception in people, but is ironically guilty of it in his feigned madness
   • references to clothing and makeup suggest that they are sometimes reveal and otherwise cover up the truth
     • Hamlet's mourning clothes -- his true mourning
     • ''the apparel oft proclaims the man' -Polonius
     • Hamlet in Ophelia's closet -- reveals madness
     • Hamlet and Claudius both compare makeup to deception
   • productions
     • John Bell's use of mirrors
     • BBC use of cameras

4. Death and Mortality

5. Sexuality

6. Madness

7. Revenge

8. The State