Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
Literature Analysis
By Hayden Robel
__________________________________________
GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot
of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's
purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
2. Succinctly describe the
theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
3. Describe the author's
tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
4. Describe a minimum of ten
literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding
of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For
each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your
readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
___________________________________________
1. “Revenge his foul and most
unnatural murther!” the ghost, phantasmal father of the Denmark prince Hamlet commands his
son, calling for revenge against the newly anointed King Claudius. Byway of
brotherly betrayal, ear poisoning, the now uncle king not only seized power in
the kingdom but also married Queen Gertrude, the late king’s betroved as well
as Hamlet’s own mother. And so the tragic tale of William Shakespeare’s play
begins. Spiraling in to an ever descending abyss of internal strife, brooding
depression, the prince’s lust for revenge ascends, even against the cries of
his beloved Ophelia and her father, the royal advisor Polonius. Mimicking
insanity, this unquenchable thirst escalates after Hamlet validates Claudius
guilt via a deceptive play (a modified murder of Gonzago emulating his fathers
own demise) the prince nearly and utterly faltering into the very madness he
was attempting to mimic, accidentally killing Polonius as he verbally accosted
his mother. Realizing his vehement lust, Hamlet is sent away to England by the
uncle king only to return after a failed execution event (the letter tampered
by Hamlet himself delivering death only to the spies Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern). Enraged by the sudden suicide of his sister Ophelia and the
killing of his father Polonius, Laertes confronts Claudius concocting a
venomous scheme to poison a goblet drink as well as duel the Denmark prince
with a poison tipped rapier, a challenge Hamlet accepts. Stabbed by the poison
tip sword, Hamlet trades swords with Laertes each of them penetrated by the
venom. Drinking from the poisoned elixir, Gertrude falls, Laertes following,
Hamlet thrusting the toxin tipped blade into Claudius (as well as forceful swallow
of the poisoned goblet) achieving his vengeance at the cost of his own life,
his lust for revenge a parable, Shakespeare’s ultimate purpose, theme, a note
of caution (in my opinion): We must not obsess, lose sight, in a quest for
self-fulfillment (not limited to revenge pursuits but those of ambitions in
general) or we risk losing ourselves.
2. William Shakespeare has
not earned the legendary reputation that has survived centuries for nothing. His
many works, including that of Hamlet, are not only beautifully, excellently
executed narrative compositions but so to are they paradigms of the English
language, not limited to his time but all times (even if the structure could be
a bit…dated at times). The primary,
most prominent theme of his Hamlet (amongst the panoply such as forgiveness,
morality, etc.) would be (in my opinion) a note of caution to all: We must not
obsess, lose sight, in a quest for self-fulfillment (not limited to revenge
pursuits but those of any ambitions (money, celebrity, materialism) in general)
or we risk losing ourselves, potentially ending violently just as Hamlet and
the various selfish-agenda harboring characters of the eponymous play, played experience
to.
3.
·
“Something is
rotten in the state of Denmark.”
·
“To be, or not to
be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
·
“Revenge his foul
and most unnatural murther!”
Hamlet is a
genre, if not language, building masterpiece for many reasons not excluding
tone. Shakespeare (with quote 1 and 3) imbues the work with a strain of
foreboding dread as Hamlet struggles to achieve his task trapped in internal,
cognitive paralysis, frequently contemplating his existence/ the end of such
thru suicide (i.e. quote 2). Indeed a work largely if not entirely constructed
from dialogue, as plays must be, is further evidence to Shakespeare’s timeless
talent, skill in crafting not only an involving story with fully realized
characters but also an angst gripped, ominous dripping, introspectively
torturing tone.
4. Here we
go. Example quote denotation: (Act. , Scene , Line )
·
Tone/mood: “Something
is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
(Act. 1, Scene 4 , Line 67) Spoken by
Marcellus to Horatio, this quote almost instantly establishes the foreboding
tone that would come to characterize the entire play as Hamlet violently
thrusts towards his revenge goals.
·
Tone/mood:
“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murther!” (Act. 1 , Scene 5, Line 5) Yet
again this quote from Hamlet’s ghostly father sets the tone for the entire play
as the ghost essentially commands his son to achieve vengeance for Claudius’s
brotherly betrayal.
·
Tone/mood: “To
be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
(Act. 3, Scene 1, Line 55)
Quite possibly the most famous single quotation from Hamlet, the To be or not
to be soliloquy cements the self-existentialistic tone, angst and internal
“cognitive paralysis” of the Denmark prince, Hamlet characterized directly here
contemplating his life and the consequence/ease of ending it and his suffering.
·
Dialogue:
“example: THE ENTIRE PLAY” As it is a play the entire work of Hamlet is an
example of the literary technique/rhetorical strategy of dialogue (as well as
colloquialisms, dialect, vernacular etc.) Shakespeare utilizing expert
craftsmanship of dialogue to serve his narrative needs.
·
Pun: "A
little more than kin, and less than
kind" (Act, 1, Scene 2, Line 65). Hamlet's first words in the play show
him playing with words, Shakespeare’s own invention of the literary technique
puns, in order to state a paradox: Claudius is twice related to him, as uncle
and stepfather, but not really his kin or kind at all
·
Persona: “How
strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, as I perchance hereafter shall think meet,
to put an antic disposition on” (Act. 1, Scene 5, Line 58) Hamlet adopts a
false persona as one of the earliest documented uses of the literary
techniques, he pretends to be insane, mad in order to fool Claudius, his
mother, everyone for that mother to further his revenge plot.
·
Setting: "It
faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time." (Act. 1, Scene 1, Line 347) Not only does this quote service tone, the abysmal description of the setting, Elsinore of Denmark aids the dark mood of the play with a seemingly corrupted city bearing witness, the stage to many a turpitude, including the events that later transpire ver the course of the play.
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time." (Act. 1, Scene 1, Line 347) Not only does this quote service tone, the abysmal description of the setting, Elsinore of Denmark aids the dark mood of the play with a seemingly corrupted city bearing witness, the stage to many a turpitude, including the events that later transpire ver the course of the play.
·
Symbolism: Alas,
poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent
fancy. He hath bore me on his back a
thousand times, and now how abhorr'd in my imagination it is!
My gorge rises at it.” (Act. 5, Scene 1, Line 179) Another famous passage, the symbolism here is palpable as Hamlet speaks to “Yorick’s” (Ophelia’s ironically) skull the skull itself a emblem for mortality, that time delivers all both the kings and pawns to the same end.
thousand times, and now how abhorr'd in my imagination it is!
My gorge rises at it.” (Act. 5, Scene 1, Line 179) Another famous passage, the symbolism here is palpable as Hamlet speaks to “Yorick’s” (Ophelia’s ironically) skull the skull itself a emblem for mortality, that time delivers all both the kings and pawns to the same end.
·
Simile: “Like an
angel...a god” (Act. 2, Scene 2, Line 30) Even Shakespeare made use of the
rhetorical strategy basics, here likening Ophelia as a kind and caring, nearly
substitute mother figure to Hamlet as mothers often times are both angels, and
god in the eyes of children, unable to do any wrong.
·
Motif: “I am thy
father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder!” (Act. 1, Scene 5, Line 5) the motif of revenge is by and far the most prominent theme in the play. Hamlet’s quest for revenge is actuated here as his phantasmal father asks, no, commands the prince to seek for revenge against the uncle king Claudius. Thus the play goes on.
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder!” (Act. 1, Scene 5, Line 5) the motif of revenge is by and far the most prominent theme in the play. Hamlet’s quest for revenge is actuated here as his phantasmal father asks, no, commands the prince to seek for revenge against the uncle king Claudius. Thus the play goes on.
___________________________________________
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of
direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and
to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a
result)?
2. Does the author's syntax
and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How?
Example(s)?
3. Is the protagonist static
or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
4. After reading the book did
you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates
your reaction.
___________________________________________
1.
DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
· “...She married. O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!”
· “To give these mourning duties to your father; But you must know, your father lost a father; That father lost his, and the survivor bound in filial obligation for some term to do obsequious sorrow.”
INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
·
"Yea, from
the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial, fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter."
I'll wipe away all trivial, fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter."
·
“Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.”
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.”
Shakespeare was a pioneer of
characterization as he is for most rhetorical strategies. Like all contemporary
authors that followed his example, the playwright employed both direct and
indirect to flesh out his players. Direct quote 1 directly characterizes Queen
Gertrude’s lack of modesty/ ultimate empathy towards Hamlets feelings as the
matriarch hastily married Claudius, while Direct quote 2 textualizes Hamlet as
an emotional introspect as Claudius comments on his apparently melodramatic
demeanor, disposition after his father’s death. Indirect quote one serves as a
connotation of Hamlet’s erasure of his memories, he foregoing all past pleasantries
of Claudius, friends, family, his own mother in order to fulfill his revenge
quest, quote 2 indirectly characterizes king Claudius as a conniving silver
tongue worthy of a politician as he knows what to say, when to say it, and how
to deliver the news of his brothers passing in an un-self-implicating false
sympathizing light. Indeed Shakespeare is a paragon of authorial
characterization utilizing both direct and in to serve his needs.
2. No, in my opinion, due to
the works native medium as a play, it is incredibly difficult to perceive any
difference drastic or subtle from the structure of characterization to that of
normal conversations in the play. The audience ultimately forms there own
opinions not from one idea or example but substantiated sequences of such
committed by the various characters over the narrative. Thus Shakespeare’s
skill is evidenced moreso, the job of a writer is to immerse the
audience/reader so much that they forget their observing a work in the first
place, id say he was successful.
3. Though Shakespeare does succeed in his
realization of characters as authentic people to their time periods, from my
own reading I personally believe nearly all of the characters are static.
Hamlet never changes merely broods and pouts about himself and his revenge
quest (until he achieves it), Claudius actually shows signs of dynamic
rotundity when he prays for forgiveness but ultimately remains a conniving
snake, top that off with Polonius who remains a suspicious, self-righteous
advisor and it is easy to superficially see most if not all of the plays
characters as static. Not that this is bad. In fact it was necessary to use
tropes and static characters in works like that of a play. Not only did
Shakespeare have a limited amount of time to convey the story, he also had to
convey it to less than educated commonwealths. Subtle characterization is key in all works
and I do believe this is where all of the dynamic features and nuances of Hamlet’s
characters are realized, thru connotative layers. So no and yes is my answer to
my question…do you understand? J
4.
·
“To be, or not to
be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
Entrenched in subtleties, by
the end of the play I observed nuance and realism in the characters of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet that is leaps and bounds above some modern works churned
out by Hollywood factories, urban fantasy
novels. Though I have a few gripes about some of the characters (most of them
are the founders of the archetypes we see today with a broody prince,
conniving, power-hungry king, mournful/self guiltying queen etc.) you have to
give credit where credit is due. Shakespeare basically created the novelty of
these characters before they became the archetypes that contemporaries today
endeavor to mirror some of his brilliance. To be or not to be, to me, is a
prime example of my personal perspicacity on the nuance of Hamlet’s own
character, if not a person, as the prince genuinely reflects, mired in self-existentialistic
thought that none of us can deny have similarly introspectively contemplated
before in our own head. Subsequently Shakespeare and his characters like those
within Hamlet may be static archetypical characters (seemingly inhuman
cardboard cut outs of real people) now but they are the molds from which all
contemporary copycats follow, hipsters if you want to be hip, establishing the
stereotypical trends before they became mainstream.
Again I think us “real” people give ourselves to much credit in our static or
dynamic originality….
No comments:
Post a Comment