The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

• Jump in time: 1300 Dante’s start of the Inferno

• Hamlet composed around 1600 or 1601

• From Medieval to High Renaissance in one leap

Hamlet as Renaissance Man

• Medieval supernaturalism: faith; afterlife; uniform view (more or less); suppressed the ego and individual

• Renaissance humanism: movement toward secularism; appreciation of worldly pleasures; individual experience rather than shadowy afterlife; reliance upon faith and God weakened

• Renaissance man suspended between faith and reason (scientific attitude came later)

Elizabethan Agereigned 1558-1603

• Renaissance English Literature 1485-1603

• Became queen when she was 25; nation bankrupt; not believed legitimate heir of throne by most

• Educated as well as any prince; pragmatic--never passionate about religion

• Quest for prosperity-stability guiding force of her reign

Struggles between Church of England and Catholics

• Despite her desire to prevaricate or play both sides, tensions mounted

• She was considered Protestant leader

• To be activist Catholic was to be a traitor to England

Themes in Hamlet

• Revenge: Can personal revenge ever be justified? What effects does seeking revenge have on the avenger?

• Friendship-betrayal: Who is loyal in this “rotten state” of Denmark?

Hero Journey

• More psychological, though it has some spiritual components

• Play of questions & mystery—more questions than answers

• Struggle to take action of revenge

• He has inherited his situation

Sanity vs Insanity

• Hamlet feigns madness as a ploy

• Seems on the edge of insanity

• Ophelia struggles to keep her sanity

Appearance vs Reality

• Nature of reality-truth (Myth of the Cave)

• Phony or feigned appearances (deception)

• Appear or seems• Four interpretive

possibilities of the Ghost, for example

Family RelationsFriendship-Love-Loyalty

• Father-son (King Hamlet and Prince Hamlet; Polonius and Laertes; Old Fortinbras and Fortinbras

• Mother-son (Gertrude-Hamlet; Ophelia as motherless)

• Brother-sister (Ophelia-Laertes)

• Brother-brother (King Hamlet and Claudius; Cain and Abel connection)

• Polonius-Laertes-Ophelia subplot

Prominent Imagery Patterns

• Disease-poison-infection

• Animal imagery

• Music-painting imagery

• Garden imagery

• Drama (show-act-play)

• Allusions to Greek and Roman myths