Hamlet Themes and Characters

Hamlet Themes and Characters

1. Appearance vs Reality

   • Play in a play - Senecan convention - reality is to expose Claudius' guilt for the murder of Old Hamlet.
   • Claudius as a character - diplomatic and kind, or evil and cunning
   • Hamlet's antic disposition - contrast to Ophelia's reality.

2. Mortality

   • Yorick's skull - Hamlet realises the nature of mortality - symbolises the inevitable decay of the human body, and that all are equal in death
   • Progression in Hamlet's soliloquies - repeatedly questions suidice as a means to bring about an end to this painful world.
   • The relevance of the grave diggers represent the grave that Hamlet’s life has become - they highlight the inevitability and commonality of death

3. Action vs Inaction

   • Hamlet is one of the only characters to undergo a significant change in the play - goes from the procrastinating prince to a man of action.
   • Hamlet always tries to act in the most purposeful way, and when he does take action, his cats usually are wild and clumsy. this has parallels with other characters who, when they act, bring about drastic consequences for themselves.
   • Where is the pivot from the procrastinating prince to the man of action? Could be argued as the conversation with Gertrude or Yorick's skull.

4. Madness

   • Hamlet takes on an 'antic disposition' after conversing with the ghost in order to fool Claudius. Interesting debate as to whether hamlet has really gone mad or if he is just pretending.
   • Hamlet's 'antic disposition' can be contrasted with Ophelia's real madness in order to gauge how sane Hamlet really is - the downfall of Ophelia is really tragic.

5. Gender + Sexuality

   • The use of the 'virgin and the whore' idea with Ophelia and Gertrude shapes their actions, and leads to some harsh early interpretations of Gertrude especially
   • Links can be made throughout to the gender roles in society for context - keep in mind AO3 not need for this

6. Family

   • Contrast familial love with romantic love, and especially focus on the maternal love from Gertrude - good place to show critic changes over time.
   • Contrast the three different avenging sons and how they bend the tragic convention in different ways, all trying to avenge their fathers.

7. Faith

   • It is possible that it is religion that slows Hamlet's progression to a man of action in the play - use example of Claudius at the altar.
   • Hamlet is an implied protestant - Denmark was a protestant state, and his thought processes reflect that of a protestant.

8. Deceit

   • Hamlet's 'antic disposition' is a good example of deceit in the play - look at the effects caused by the performance.
   • Deceit from Claudius - a two faced killer who is diplomatic on one hand, but evil on the other