02 18 Hamlet

Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet in the eponymous film
he directed (1996).
Hamlet
Performer Heritage Second Edition Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella, Margaret Layton © 2023
Hamlet
1. Sources
• Hamlet is based on the
story of Amleth in Historia
Danica (12th century) by
Saxo Grammaticus where
the hero pretends he is mad
to avenge his father’s
murder.
• Shakespeare kept the

murder of the king a secret
and used the ghost to
reveal it to Prince Hamlet.
Eugene Delacroix, Hamlet Sees the Ghost of His Father,
1825. Krakow, Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Hamlet
2. The setting
The late Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries)
The royal castle in Elsinore, a city in Denmark
Why Denmark?
Like England, it was a Protestant country.

The subplot deals with a possible war against Norway
sense of menace from another country increases the
tension and sets the mood of the play.
Hamlet
3. The main situation
• Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark and studies in Wittenberg,

Germany.
• During his absence from Denmark, his father died

and his uncle Claudius succeeded to the throne
and married his mother.
• Hamlet returns to Denmark and is greatly upset.
• He is concerned about his mother’s quick marriage,

his uncle’s sitting on the throne, and his own fate.
Hamlet
4. The character of Hamlet
The real psychological

dimension of the play lies in
Hamlet’s use of language.
He is the most talkative

of all Shakespeare’s
characters.
Nikolay Lazarev as Hamlet on stage at the

Theatre of the Russian Army in Moscow, 2006.
Hamlet
Ambiguity is the most striking characteristic

of Hamlet’s language.
Everything he says
is conveyed through
• metaphor;
• simile;
• wordplay.
His words have
a hidden meaning. Nikolay Lazarev as Hamlet on stage at the
Theatre of the Russian Army in Moscow, 2006.
Hamlet

He has many roles in the play he
does not believe in:
• the [non]-revenger in a revenge

play;
• the [non]-heir to the throne;

• the [non]-lover of the heroine;
• the [non]-son to the [non]-father.
Hamlet holds the skull of Yorick in the graveyard
scene from the 1948 film adaptation of Hamlet.
Hamlet
4. Hamlet’s melancholy
Hamlet
5. Claudius
• He is Hamlet’s uncle.
• He is guilty of killing the king, his own brother.
• He becomes Hamlet’s stepfather when he hurriedly marries

his mother Gertrude, whom he seems to love.
• He becomes king by election of the nobles when King

Hamlet dies.
Hamlet
5. Claudius
• He is a man of action who coldly plans Hamlet’s murder

and has no moral doubts.
• He manipulates everyone in the play: Gertrude, Ophelia,

Polonius, Laertes, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
• He is the villain but Shakespeare shows he has a

conscience when he tries to pray.
Hamlet
6. The ghost
• Hamlet’s father, whose name
was also Hamlet.
• Hamlet talks to him and finds

out the truth about his
father’s death.
• Hamlet wants to confirm the

true identity of the ghost
before.
Eugene Delacroix, Hamlet Sees the Ghost of His Father, 1825.

Krakow, Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Hamlet
7. The minor characters
Gertrude Hamlet’s mother and the queen.
Polonius The Principal Secretary of State, the father of

Ophelia and Laertes. Hamlet does not trust him.
Horatio Hamlet’s best friend and confidant.
Ophelia Hamlet’s tragic love. Her madness contrasts with

Hamlet’s pretended madness.
Laertes A student at the University of Paris, he comes back

to avenge his father’s death and finally kills Hamlet with a
poisoned sword.
Hamlet
8. The chain of being

• The Elizabethans believed in the
natural order determined by a
great chain of being.
• The chain was organised in a
series of hierarchical links with
God at the top.
• The king was at the top of the
human level.
• Any disruption in the chain had
consequent effects on the natural
order of things.
Hamlet
9. Regicide
and the chain of being
The Elizabethans believed that:
• the king was appointed by God to embody order and stability;
• the murder of the king disrupted the chain of being, brought

about the collapse of order and universal disaster;
• the ghost of a murdered person could return to ask for

revenge on his murderer;
• the Devil could appear on earth and take on many forms,

including that of a ghost.
Hamlet
10. Themes
Hamlet
11. A play-within-the-play
The Murder of Gonzago
• organised by Hamlet to expose his father’s murderer;

• interesting expedient because it turns the actors into an
audience;
• dealing with the background to the tragedy.
Hamlet
12. Hamlet
and the tragedy of revenge
Revenge The avenger has a close
tragedies relationship with the Hamlet
audience through
soliloquies
• a sexual or violent crime is • follows the conventions

committed against a family of the tragedy of revenge
member • shows greater
• the hero exacts the psychological penetration
revenge • focuses on the theme
• he has a period of doubt of doubt and uncertainty
• a ghost appears to get the
avenger carry out his task

02 18 Hamlet

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Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet in the eponymous film

• Shakespeare kept the

The royal castle in Elsinore, a city in Denmark

Like England, it was a Protestant country.

3. The main situation

• Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark and studies in Wittenberg,

• During his absence from Denmark, his father died

• Hamlet returns to Denmark and is greatly upset.

• He is concerned about his mother’s quick marriage,

4. The character of Hamlet

The real psychological

He is the most talkative

Nikolay Lazarev as Hamlet on stage at the

4. The character of Hamlet

Ambiguity is the most striking characteristic

4. The character of Hamlet

• the [non]-revenger in a revenge

• the [non]-heir to the throne;

• He is guilty of killing the king, his own brother.

• He becomes Hamlet’s stepfather when he hurriedly marries

• He becomes king by election of the nobles when King

• He is a man of action who coldly plans Hamlet’s murder

• He manipulates everyone in the play: Gertrude, Ophelia,

• He is the villain but Shakespeare shows he has a

• Hamlet talks to him and finds

• Hamlet wants to confirm the

Eugene Delacroix, Hamlet Sees the Ghost of His Father, 1825.

7. The minor characters

Gertrude Hamlet’s mother and the queen.

Polonius The Principal Secretary of State, the father of

Horatio Hamlet’s best friend and confidant.

Ophelia Hamlet’s tragic love. Her madness contrasts with

Laertes A student at the University of Paris, he comes back

8. The chain of being

• the king was appointed by God to embody order and stability;

• the murder of the king disrupted the chain of being, brought

• the ghost of a murdered person could return to ask for

• the Devil could appear on earth and take on many forms,

The Murder of Gonzago

• organised by Hamlet to expose his father’s murderer;

• a sexual or violent crime is • follows the conventions

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