Hamlet

By:William Shakespeare

s e r a e p s e k a d h n S rou m g a i k l l c i a B W

William Shakespeare
Widely regarded as the greatest writer in English Literature 1563-1616 Stratford-on-Avon, England wrote 37 plays about 154 sonnets started out as an actor

Shakespeare was alive during the late Renaissance, which in England is referred to as the Elizabethan Era. This Era is named after Queen Elizabeth I, who was Britain's rst female monarch. She was the daughter of Henry VIII, who had her mother's head chopped o for not producing a male child.

His father, John Shakespeare, owned a shop as a glove maker and also held several government positions, including Mayor of Stratford.

He learned Latin in his grammar school as a child.

In Stratford-Upon Avon, he watched pageants and shows during holidays, enjoyed fairs twice a year and enjoyed traveling companies of actors which would perform there.

In 1582 at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway who was 26. He had a daughter Susanna and twins named Hamnet and Judith.

He left Stratford for London to advance his literary career and become an actor.

In London he became a shareholder in an acting company called The Lord Chamberlains Men as well as the primary playwright and an actor.

would often perform at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

During the years of the plague, he would write poetry since the theaters were often closed. It was considered by the Elizabethans to be more important to write poetry than to write plays.

Shakespeare rst play was Julius Caesar which preformed a The Globe Theatre had a 1500 plus audience capacity. Up to 3000 people would ock to the theatre and its grounds.After the queens death ,Shakespeare gained 10%ownership in the globe theatre

After the death of Queen Elizabeth, her successor King James I licensed Shakespeare and his acting group to be called The Kings Men.

Famous Plays

Hamlet - most famous of the William Shakespeare plays

Othello - second most famous of the William Shakespeare plays

Macbeth - third most famous of the William Shakespeare plays

Romeo and Juliet - fourth most famous of the William Shakespeare plays

The Tempest - fth most famous of the William Shakespeare plays

Julius Caesar - sixth most famous of the William Shakespeare plays

In 1613 the globe theatre burned down during a performance of Henry VIII. A canon was accidentally shot into the thatched roof and the whole theatre was set ablaze. The theatre was rebuilt in 1614 without Shakespeare, for he had retired. Shakespeare dies in 1616 at age 52. About 30 years later, Puritans assume power in England and have the theatre torn down.

Now lets get to Hamlet !!

Setting

The story takes place in the country of Denmark in the late medieval period.

The Story

The raw material that Shakespeare appropriated in writing Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince whose uncle murders the prince's father, marries his mother, and claims the throne. The prince pretends to be feeble-minded to throw his uncle off guard, then manages to kill his uncle in revenge

Hamlet

The Prince of Denmark, the main character, and the protagonist. About thirty years old at the start of the play, Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius.

Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle's scheming and disgust for his mother's sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is sometimes indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts.

Claudius

The King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle, and the play's antagonist. The villain of the play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feelinghis love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere

Gertrude

The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet's mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth.

Polonius

The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius's court, a pompous, conniving old man. Polonius is the father of Laertes and Ophelia.

Horatio

Hamlet's close friend, who studied with the prince at the university in Wittenberg. Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play. After Hamlet's death, Horatio remains alive to tell Hamlet's story.

Ophelia

Polonius's daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes

Ophelia

Ophelia is the girlfriend of Hamlet. She is Poloniuss daughter who Hamlet is in love with. She loves, obeys, and respects her father Polonius and brother Laertes She is dependent on men to tell her how to behave She asks her father Polonius to spy on Hamlet . As the book progresses she takes a path of madness. Although she is becoming mad she keeps a dutiful maidens appearance. She even engulfs herself in mother natures garlands and owers(she even sings songs about owers ) Ophelia ends up drowning herself in a river among the ower garlands she had gathered.

The downfall of Ophelia is that she fails to overcome the adversities thrown in her direction and turns to turmoil. Ophelia plays a role in Hamlets dual perspectives of women being able to be callous sexual predators yet innocent virtuous women. Due to Hamlets own turmoil against his mother he plays a role in sending Ophelia along a path by redirecting his anger and discord towards his mother towards Ophelia. Similar to Gertrude, Ophelia has the tendency of childlike nave traits. Both of these women unconsciously played a role destroying a whole kingdom but could have been the penicillin to the growing destruction throughout the story.

In contrast to Queen Gertrude, Ophelia has a reason She is very young, and has lost her mother. Her father, Polonius, and brother, Laertes, love Ophelia tremendously, and have taken great lengths in sheltering her. She is not a politically knowledgeable. She spends her days engaged in needlepoint and ower gathering.

QOUTE: "Her whole character is that of simple unselsh aection" (Bradley 130). She is incapable of defending herself, but through her timid responses we see clearly her intense suering: Hamlet: ...I did love you once. Ophelia: Indeed, my, lord, you made me believe so. Hamlet: You should not have believed me...I loved you not. Ophelia: I was the more deceived. Her frailty and innocence work against her as she cannot cope with the unfolding of one traumatic event after another. Ophelia's darling Hamlet causes all her emotional pain throughout the play, and when his hate is responsible for her father's death, she has endured all that she is capable of enduring and goes insane. But even in her insanity she symbolizes, to everyone but Hamlet, incorruption and virtue.

Laertes

Polonius's son and Ophelia's brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet.

Fortinbras

The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet's father (also named Hamlet). Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father's honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet

THE GHOST

The specter of Hamlet's recently deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him

THE GHOST

It is not entirely certain whether the ghost is what it appears to be, or whether it is something else. Hamlet speculates that the ghost might be a devil sent to deceive him and tempt him into murder, and the question of what the ghost is or where it comes from is never definitively resolved

Resources

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