Hamlet

Antecedent Action:

• 30 years before the action of the play, the old king of Norway (Old Fortinbras) challenged the old king of Denmark, Old Hamlet, to do battle over disputed territory.

• Old Danish king, Old Hamlet, killed old Fortinbras and took land that had been in dispute.

• 30 years later Fortinbras' son, Young Fortinbras, plans to take back the land lost by his father.

 

• Fortinbras is prince of Norway because his father's kingdom fell to his uncle (Old Norway) when Fortinbras was a baby.  Fortinbras gathers an unauthorized army to invade Denmark without the knowledge of his bedridden uncle.

• One or two months before the action of the play, old Hamlet of Denmark died.  He had been sleeping in the orchard when he was bitten by a poisonous snake.  This statement is according to his brother, Claudius, who found him.

 

• Hamlet was away at the University of Wittenberg when his father died.  The crown was given to Claudius because Claudius married the Queen.

• Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, had been married to his father for over 30 years, but married Claudius soon after her husband's funeral.

 

• Hamlet doesn't approve because:       - suggestion of incest

                                               -he doesn't like Claudius
-he feels the marriage occurred too soon after                                                        his father's death.
-he feels the snake story is rather suspicious.

• Allusion to the Garden of Eden.

The Elizabethan World View

• Theocentric -- religion centred life governed by religion.
• The universe is highly ordered.  Within a fixed system of hierarchies (Great Chain of Being), there is a place for everything.
• For each order of entities in the universe, there is an individual entity that has primacy over the others.

 

 

Great Chain of Being

                                               Deities                       God
Christ
Holy Spirit

                                               Angels                       Archangels
Angels

                                               Humanity                 Kings
Nobles
Peasants

                                               Animals                    Lion
other animals

                                               Elements                  Fire
Air
Earth
Water

• Just as there is order, there are forces to destroy this order

 

• One angel challenged the primacy of God.
• Lucifer and a band of rebel angels attempt to organize in order to end the superiority of God in Heaven.
• God cast Lucifer and his followers into a lake of fire.  Lucifer decides to rule in Hell.
• Since he can't fight God directly, Lucifer decides to take revenge on God's vulnerable creations, humans.
• The way to create chaos in the universe is for individuals to attempt to rise in their position.
• The best way to achieve this is to entice one to try and get one to try to rise in his position. Eg.) Nobles who want to be King.  The removal of God's appointed King undermines the order of the universe, and the new king becomes answerable to Satan.
• At times of uncertainty and transition, Chaos is more easily brought into the world.

 

Ghosts:

• Roman Catholics believed that ghosts were the souls of dead individuals who could return from Purgatory if they had business to take care of. (atonement, etc.)

 

• Because Protestants did not believe in Purgatory, they believed that ghosts were the devil in disguise or demons whose jobs were to convince people to commit violent acts and disrupt the order of the universe.

• Shakespeare's audience would be divided on this matter.  The characters are frightened when they see a ghost.

 

• The most heinous crime of the time is regicide (to assassinate a king, a leader appointed by God.)

• In Hamlet's case, he has a dilemma.  His father comes to him as a ghost and tells him that he was killed by Claudius.  Hamlet cannot be sure if the ghost is truly his father, or if it is a demon in disguise.  By killing Claudius, would he be committing regicide, or would he merely be re-establishing order.

 

Reasons why Hamlet does not kill Claudius right away:

• He is a thinker rather than a man of action.

 

• Ideal man of the period (Renaissance man):

                                                                       -Scholar (Reason)
-Courtier (Passion)
-Soldier (Action)

• Ideally, REASON should govern the soul.  Otherwise, if the hierarchy within the man is not in that order, the soul is not in order.

 

• Hamlet questions his passion and ability for action in the play.  He holds up the ideal as a model to see how he measures up.

• Ideal Renaissance Woman:

                                                                       -Honesty (purity, loyalty)
-Beauty
-Passion

• the ideal woman has all of these ideals in perfect balance.  Hamlet questions whether or not any woman can measure up to this ideal.

• He suffers disillusionment because of his ideals.  He becomes bitter in his estimation of life.

 

• delays in his killing of Claudius because he is unable to follow the divine order that should lead him to action.

• he has a reason to hesitate based on the metaphysical stand-point.

 

According to Freud, Hamlet suffers from an unresolved Oedipal Conflict.

• Oedipus Complex:  At a certain stage, little boys want to replace their father in their mother's life.  As the boy grows up, he begins to identify with his father, and this is not a problem.  In a few cases, however, where there is no male model, the conflict may never be resolved, and he may feel resentment against other males.

 

Psychoanalyst Ernest Jones:

• Hamlet cannot kill Claudius right away because if he did so, he would be striking out at a part of himself that wants to take the place of his father in his mother's life.  Striking out at a relative so close to his mother would be striking himself.
• This interpretation is now emphasized in plays and film.  Such an interpretation has gained popularity because:

                        -People didn't understand the religious reasons for his hesitation.
-Throughout the 20th Century, Sigmund Freud's misguided interpretation of  Hamlet’s behaviour became popular.

 

Hamlet

ACT I

Scene 1

• While on guard, Bernardo and Francisco see ghost.
• They ask Horatio, a scholar, to stand with them because:

                        -it was believed that ghosts could speak and understand only Latin.
-Horatio is a sceptic. 

• The denial of the existence of ghosts on the stage helps to include the audience's theories about ghosts.

(eg) Sceptics, Protestants, Roman Catholics. 

• When the ghost does appear, its existence seems all the more reasonable.
• Horatio is seen as a rational individual.  The guards will be believed if Horatio  supports their story.

• Shakespeare implies that the world is upside down, insecure, and full of suspicion  when Barnardo, the guard coming on duty, asks Francisco, the guard on duty, "Who's there?"

 

• Horatio suggests that the King's ghost means to warn them of an imminent invasion of Denmark by Fortinbras.  He bases this theory on evidence of strange behaviour prior to the fall of Caesar.

• The crowing of the cock is the time when all ghosts are called back.

 

Poetic Elements:

 Personification:  "But look, the morn in russet mantle clad
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill:" (I, i, 166)

• There is a flexibility of pronunciation to make the poetry scan properly eg) o'er , cov'nant
• Blank verse is almost entirely Iambic Pentameter
• ordinary language of beginning of play is intended to advance the plot.

 

Scene II

• Claudius gives audience the official announcement of his marriage.
• he says he married her to keep the kingdom together -- indication of his way of controlling the court. 
• He is a man of action who is good at diplomacy and at manipulating the court. --He does    not live in fear, but has built up an army to defend Denmark.

 

• Scene ii  reveals Hamlet's character (bitterness)
• he calls the marriage incest.  He is disgusted.
• Hamlet is sarcastic in his replies to the king.  Plays on words are often used.

            eg) Claudius asks him: "How is it that the clouds still hang on you?"
Hamlet replies: "Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun."
(Claudius has called Hamlet his son and cousin, but Hamlet feels that there is far too much of kin in their relationship.) "a little more than kin, and less than kind" (17)

• Hamlet associates his mother the Queen with commoners,

                                    "Ay, madam, it is common." (74)
(that she would marry so soon after his father's death.)

• His mother accuses him of putting on appearances, but he is not acting.  He wears dark clothing and describes it as only the surface of his sorrow.  His speech reflects his bitterness and sorrow and reveals the theme of APPEARANCE V.S. REALITY.

 

• Hamlet turns the words of his mother and Claudius around to insult them.
• (line 109, 112) "You are the most immediate to our throne ... Do I impart to you."  It is safer for Claudius to declare Hamlet his heir so he may keep the peace.
• Hamlet's mother asks him to stay home and not return to university at Wittenberg.
• Hamlet says he will obey HER.

• There was a story from Danish Mythology about a prince named Amleth.

 

Hamlet's First Soliloquy.

Analysis of Style

Stylistic Techniques:

            Imagery and Figures of Speech:
-metaphors
-similes
-personification
-symbolism

            Allusions:
-classical
-biblical
-literary

                        -Repetition
-Hyperbole
-Comparison / Contrast
-Diction / Connotative meanings

Imagery, figures of speech, diction, etc. contribute to:
TONE -- poet's / speaker's attitude toward the subject.
THEME -- poet's message / meaning.

Shift in Tone (or, Mr. Clark's favourite:  "Shift happens")

• Tone may develop from one attitude or mood to another.
• Diction can convey meaning:

 

                        "Oh that this too too sullied flesh would melt" (I, ii, 129) 

• play on the word "flesh".  Argument as to whether the adjective should be sullied (tarnished, soiled) or solid.  Ambiguity of his word choice makes it a play on words that adds meaning.
• Hamlet wants to be released from the tainted world of the flesh.
• Is it possible to fight evil without being tainted by it? -- this theme is conveyed through many of Hamlet's soliloquies.
• Hamlet wants to be a spirit and wishes that God had not condemned suicide.

 

• Hamlet falls into a depression (absence of feeling) and becomes detached from the world.  The diction advances the tone:

                                    "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!" (I, ii, 134)

• There is a shift from wanting to get out of his uninteresting world.  He curses the world and becomes metaphoric:

                                    "Fie on't, ah fie!  'tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely." (I, ii, 135-137)

• he alludes to the Garden of Eden / overgrowth of diseased in the once perfect garden.
• a well ordered garden has no weeds in it. (indicative of a world upside down)

 

Hamlet finally focuses on what is troubling him.

• contrast between his father as Hyperion, the father of the sun; and uncle Claudius as a satyr, or a lusty 1/2 man 1/2 goat who chased after nymphs. (classical allusion)

                                   
"So excellent a king, that was to this
Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother" (I, ii, 139- 140)

• Hamlet wants purity in a world of corruption.  The theme of Hamlet as a disillusioned idealist emerges.
• -he says that his father protected Gertrude from all evils.
• tries not to think about it.  This struggle with himself makes Hamlet's character more human and more complex.

 

• Hamlet says that the more love she had from his father, the more his mother needed it.  Was it a false show of love?

                                              

• Generalization of shortcomings of mother to all women:

                                    "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (I, ii, 146)

• diction:  'frailty' - weakness in struggle against sin.  A weak person fails to resist the temptation of sin.
• Hamlet's mother was earlier a model to him, but once she is corrupted by lust...

• Hamlet's repetition reveals a fixation with the short time between his father's death and his mother's remarriage:

                                    "A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body"
(I, ii, 147-148)

• Was her grief false? (Simile and classical allusion)

                                    "Like Niobe, all tears" (I, ii, 149)

• Niobe boasted that because she had 14 children, she was greater than Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana.  Latona's children killed Niobe's children, and Zeus turned Niobe to stone.  Tears still flowed from the statue.
• IMPACT:  Hamlet's mother cried many tears, but perhaps her tears were false.  (APPEARANCE / REALITY THEME)
• Hamlet believes his mother is worse than an animal for marrying so soon 

                                   
"a beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourn'd longer" (I, ii, 150-151)

• Hamlet says that Claudius is no more like the old king, than Hamlet is to Hercules (Hamlet noted for brains, Hercules noted for strength)
• He dramatizes the extent of the difference (Classical mythology)

 

• HYPERBOLE:  Hamlet exaggerates for the sake of effect.  His mother's are still red from crying.  Hamlet's bitterness is summarized:  -Gertrude married too soon

                                                                - She married a relative.

• SIBILANCE: "s" sound (I, ii, 155) "Dexterity to incestuous sheets"  Shows bitterness, hissing.  Something evil is implied.
• he reveals his passionate disgust of his mother's marriage.  His bitterness is continued in his discussion with Horatio:

                                    "Thrift, thrift, Horatio; the funeral bak'd meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables." (I, ii, 180-181)

• shows mother's cold-heartedness.

• Hamlet tests authenticity of Horatio's story about his father's ghost.
• Doubt about ghosts is raised, but if it seems to be his father, Hamlet is willing to speak to it.:

                                    "If it assume my noble father's person,
I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape
and bid me hold my peace;" ( I, ii, 243 - 245)

• Suspects foul play if father appeared in arms.  He is already suspicious of Claudius:

                                   
"My father's spirit -- in arms?  all is not well;
I doubt some foul play; would the night were come!"

• Evil will show itself:

                                    "foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes."
(I, ii, 256-257)

 

Scene 3

 

• Laertes off to adventure in Paris.  He says goodbye to his little sister Ophelia, and warns her that Hamlet may like her, but that his marriage may not be his own choice.  He warns her of the possible ruin of her reputation and that she could be hurt.  She knows something of her brother Laertes' lifestyle, and is not entirely naive.

• Polonius likely listening in on conversation, or had heard from other sources that something was going on between Hamlet and Ophelia.  He wants to protect his daughter.

 

Polonius' speech to Son.

• is a mix of wisdom and small-minded nonsense jumbled together

            -don't act without thinking.
-be friendly but not vulgar
-if one's friendship has been tested, keep him close.  Metaphor of steel       that holds barrels together.
-don't think that a person who is taking advantage of you is your friend.
-don't get into quarrels easily.  If you are in a quarrel, fight to the best of     your ability.
-don't pass judgment, but accept criticism from others and improve              yourself with it.

Superficial part of his advice:
-buy nice clothing, but don't overdress.
-"The apparel oft proclaims the man." -be careful because the French are    good judges of fashion.
-don't borrow or lend money.  Could lose friend and money.  Borrowing      dulls thriftiness

Polonius then becomes philosophical.  This is out of place when mixed with etiquette:

"This above all, to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man." ( I, iii, 77-80)

Polonius' speech to Ophelia:

• shifts in tone as well.
• at first he scolds his daughter about seeing Hamlet too much.  It could bring shame on the family
• he wants to know the nature of the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia, and believes that Hamlet's 'tendered' affection toward Ophelia is as false as fake money given a baby.
• Ophelia defends Hamlet, and says that his love is sincere.  Polonius says that he only says that he loves her in order to trap her.  Can't trust young men, superficial vows are only to take advantage of her, presumption that Hamlet has no real affection towards his daughter.
• Moral double standard:

                                    "And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you ... Ophelia." (I, iii, 125-126)

• Polonius is worked up into a rage and decides that he won't let his daughter see Hamlet.
• Jealous old father who condemns the relationship out of his own suspicions.  He believes Ophelia to be naive and has been deceived.

 

• Romantic subplot begins:  Ophelia is forbidden from seeing Hamlet.

 

Scene IV  The Platform

• Trumpets and cannons fired.  The king is drinking.  Hamlet explains this observance, saying that in his father's reign the custom was:

                                   
"more honour'd in the breach than the observance" (I, iv, 16)

• He says that the observance makes a bad name for Denmark.  Even if the country had achieved something great, they were still reputed to be drunkards.
• Philosophy of Human Nature:  if one has a weakness of the fault of either Nature or Fortune, they are remembered for that weakness.

 

• When the ghost is seen, Hamlet asks for divine protection.  He is not sure if he trusts the ghost, but since it looks like his father, he is willing to speak to it:

                                   
"Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,
That I will speak to thee, I'll call thee Hamlet" (I, iv, 39 - 44)

• The ghost beckons for Hamlet to follow it.  The others try to hold Hamlet back.
• In his depression, Hamlet doesn't care if he dies:

                                   
"I do not set my life at a pin's fee,
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?" (I, iv, 65 - 67)

• They believe that if he is led to a remote place, he may be deprived of REASON by the ghost and will then be governed by PASSION.  (Metaphor:  could go ever edge of cliff.  Literal and figurative meanings)
• "SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK" (I, iv, 90)
• Horatio has faith in Heaven "Heaven will direct it." (I, iv, 91) [Augustinian View]

 

Scene V

• ghost had been in purgatory, but couldn't tell the secrets because they would make a mortal's hair stand on end.
• The ghost tells Hamlet of the murder and who murdered him:

 

                        "The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown." (I, v, 38-39)

• The image of the garden of Eden is completed.
• King's blood had been curdled by the poison, and his skin broke out like a leper's.
• REVENGE wanted
• On Gertrude:

                        "most seeming-virtuous queen" (I, v, 46) -- Theme of APPEARANCES

• Ghost angry because he didn't have time to gain forgiveness, last rites, etc.

 

• Hamlet's job is to remove sin from the royal bed of Denmark without tainting himself.

                        "But howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught" ( I, v, 84-86)

• The ghost expects Hamlet's revenge to be pure.  He can take no delight in killing Claudius because it has to be a pure act of justice and not an act of anger.  The act must be free of vengeance.  It is to be an act of God's will in restoring order to the world so that Hamlet's mind may remain pure.
• The ghost tells Hamlet to leave his mother alone and let Heaven and her conscience judge her.

•  
• Hamlet's disgust for his mother is as strong as his hatred for Claudius: "O most pernicious woman!" (I, v, 105)  She was seemingly virtuous.
• Claudius is nice to him, but is a villain:  "one may smile, and smile, and be a villain." (I, v, 108)

• Marcellus and Horatio promise not to tell anyone about the ghost
• Horatio is not fooled by Hamlet's evasion
• 'By Saint Patrick' -St. Patrick was the keeper of purgatory.
• since the ghost is a stranger, Hamlet tells his friends that they should give it welcome.
• "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (I, v, 165-166)

 

• Hamlet tells Horatio that however strangely he may act, not to give him away and not to think anything of it.
• Why would a crazy act pay off?

                        -perhaps if crazy and kills king, won't be responsible
-could get closer to king and get him to say things to incriminate                     himself.
-could say accusatory things if considered crazy

 

Act II

Scene I

• Polonius' house
• Laertes gone to Paris
• Polonius sends him money with a servant named Reynaldo.  Reynoldo is to check up on Laertes.
• reveals Polonius' deceitful character.  He wants Reynoldo to say that Laertes is a troublemaker to find out what the young Danes in Paris say.  He wants information to use against his son later.
• servant doesn't understand why he wants him to say bad things about Laertes.
• Polonius talks on and on, loses his place.
• 'bait of falsehood' to reel in the truth. "By indirections find directions out" (II, i, 65)
• we learn the deceptive element of Polonius' character.

 

• Ophelia comes in and is afraid because Hamlet had entered her room and acted strangely.
• Ophelia afraid.
• Hamlet came into her room not properly dressed -- whole life seemingly fallen      apart.  Lovesickness?  "Mad for thy love?" (II, i, 84)
• stereotype of man unable to take care of himself because of unrequited love.
• so stereotypical that Hamlet decides to act like a man in that condition.
• crazy act seems to be lovesickness
• Polonius can give Claudius the answer to what is wrong with Hamlet.
• No one knows the real secret.

 

• Polonius changes his mind about the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia because he feels that if Hamlet truly loves Ophelia and is sick without her, he will be allowed to marry her.  Polonius will move up in the world.

• signs of man in love seen in other Shakespearean plays eg) As You Like it. Orlando is told he is not in love because he is not in a wretched condition.

 

• is the purpose of the crazy act to distract the king?

Scene 2

• king sends for more people to spy on Hamlet:  Old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  Claudius wants to find out what the matter with Hamlet is.
• Queen is not bothered by the sneakiness, since she wants to find out what the trouble with her son is so she can help him.
• Claudius wants to know if he wants to get rid of him if he is a threat.  Hamlet's mourning gets on Claudius' nerves.  He is unpredictable and a possible danger to Claudius.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are false friends who will do anything for a reward from the king.  Irony is that they are found out right away by Hamlet.

 

• Hamlet has grown up, but Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have not.

            -all they know is what they are told in the play.  They are not told much.
-promised award for information, but are not told what to look for.

• Polonius tells importance of brevity in speech, but continues in flowery speech when telling king and queen about Hamlet and his daughter.  He is told by the queen to get to the point.
• found cause of Hamlet's distress, wants to make a big speech of it.  -- self importance.
• lies to king and queen about his advice to Ophelia.  Devious.  He says he told her that Hamlet is too far above her, but really said that he would try to take advantage of her.

 

• ambassadors from Norway led in.  Voltimand's speech advances Fortinbras subplot.
• Old Norway arrested Young Fortinbras, found plan out, told couldn't go and invade Denmark, but would probably be successful in an invasion of Poland.  Norway gives Fortinbras an army and money to invade Poland.

• Polonius makes his flowery speech.  He wants to make a big deal of it.
• play on words for madness of Hamlet.
• Gertrude tells him: "more matter, with less art" ( II, ii, 95) (get to the point)
• Polonius takes this as a compliment, then gets mixed up in trying to make figures of speech.
• proves Hamlet's love for Ophelia through Hamlet's love letter and poem
• Poem consists of hyperbolic statements.  It is an exaggerated statement of love.
• Body as a machine of the soul

 

• Gertrude is impatient with Polonius, but Claudius finds him useful to gain information
• Polonius willing to let Hamlet have his daughter.
• Claudius wants to prove that this is the reason
• Polonius suggests that they let Hamlet see Ophelia so they may hide and listen.

• In false madness, Hamlet is able to insult Polonius by talking in riddles.
• calls him a pander -- would sacrifice Ophelia for his own gain.
• calls him a fishmonger -- rotten ways, cheating.

 

• even sunlight can end up breeding maggots in meat left in the sun:

                        "Let her not walk i' the sun: conception is a
Blessing; but not as your daughter may conceive, --" (II, ii, 184-185)

• if pure sunlight may bring out corruption in the flesh...
• commenting on rotten nature of the world  Ophelia's flesh is corruptible
• reference to himself -- she'll end up sinning if let out into the world to him.  She may bring  more sinners into the world.
• this notion is picked up in the nunnery scene.
• Hamlet has a fixation with marriage and raising children.
• pure flesh may become corrupted in seemingly pure elements.
• ambiguous, riddling element.  He is trying to act crazy.

• humour at expense of Polonius.  He takes Hamlet literally and believes him to be mad (Fishmonger -- he does not recognize me.  He must be pretty far gone.)
• remembers when he was young and lovesick too.
• Hamlet has a chance to insult Polonius.  He describes Polonius from his book as an old man. 
• Polonius says: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." (II, ii, 206 - 207)  Though Hamlet appears mad, his responses somehow make sense. "How pregnant sometimes his replies are!" (II, ii, 209 -210) -full of meaning, but not enough to tell him that Hamlet is only making fun of him.
• Polonius says he must part.  Hamlet says he will most willingly give up his company.
• At the beginning and end of his crazy act, Hamlet repeats things three times.  This is a clue that he is about to begin his crazy speech.
• When Polonius leaves, Hamlet recovers and says:  "These tedious old fools!" (II. ii. 220)

 

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are mixed up by people.  They are a couple of fools.
• crazy act is reserved for Polonius.
• Hamlet turns Fortune into a dirty joke.  This is R + G's type of humour.
• Shift in tone (236) -Fortune not an honest figure to Hamlet.

            2 forces:  Nature and Fortune.  They are often opposing. 

• Human beings are often influenced by these two forces, but they may work against each other.  One naturally deserving of reward may be acted against by fortune.
• Fortune is not an honest woman fair in rewards she gives.  Unjust in assigning lots.
• lady spinning wheel where chance reveals the evil and punishes the good.

           

• Denmark is a prison.  PRISONERS OF THE FLESH -- NOT PURE SPIRITS

            -murderer runs Denmark just as other murders rule prisons.
-in backwards world where evil governs.

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not consider Denmark a prison.
• SUBJECTIVE NATURE OF REALITY -- however we see things is our own truth.
• R + G want to find out what's the matter with Hamlet, but G tries to find out right away.
• wants to think that it is Hamlet's ambition to be king that is bothering him -- that he is angry with Claudius.

 

• "bad dreams" -leads them to believe that they're wrong.  Something other than mere ambition is bothering him.

• beggars are greater than kings because of ambition, kings worse than beggars because of ambition.  That which is substantial to an ambitious man is really not substantial.

 

•  

• R+ G say they will wait on Hamlet.  Hamlet chooses a different interpretation of this statement and says that they are above his servants.  Insulting to them because they are put with servants.
• Hamlet feels he is dreadfully attended.
• gives them more thanks than they deserve: "my thanks are too dear a halfpenny." (II, ii, 274-275)
• Hamlet turns on them directly and accuses them of being spies.  They are embarrassed and forced to admit that they were sent for.  sarcastic "ever-preserv'd love"(II, ii, 287)
• G+R become useless as spies.

 

• Humanity is the perfection of Nature, but to Hamlet, life is not worth living.

 

Travelling players arrive:

• Public fashion has changed, the common stages of the city are taken over by children's choirs, old drama companies have had to leave to make a living.
• Public tastes fickle
• Hercules:  allusion to globe theatre.  Hercules acted like he was Atlas for a moment.

Players enter:

• "Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore" ( II, ii, 369) Addresses G + R.  shakes hands with them so they won't feel so badly about his enthusiastic greeting of the players.
• mentions uncle-father, aunt-mother.

• "I am but mad north-north-west:  when the wind

                       is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw" ( II, ii, 377 - 378)

• may know difference between hunter and hunted.  Knows who is the killer and who is the victim.  Indication that he is not as crazy as one might think.  THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM.

• calls G+ R to him to make fun of Polonius.  Pretends that he is engaged in conversation so that Polonius will have to interrupt him.  Mocks him.
• Polonius goes into long speech.  Ridiculous (395)
• calls him Jephthah --sacrificed his daughter.  Not entirely crazy allusion of a man who would sacrifice his daughter for personal gain.  Applied to Polonius.
• "still on my daughter" (II, ii, 408) fixation with love-sickness.

 

• Welcome extended by Hamlet towards players a contrast to welcome of G+R.
• Hamlet asks an actor to do speech about killing of great king (Priam, king of Troy) by  Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. (Parallel to Hamlet's situation).  It wasn't an act of war.  Queen Hecuba is forced to watch as her husband is chopped to pieces.  Drama associated with killing of own father with mother standing by and watching / marrying Claudius.  Connection thematically.

• Said play had been good, wants to hear retelling of Aeneas talk to Dido, especially where concerned with Priam's daughter.
• Hamlet makes a mistake in his recitation of beginning lines of this play.  This makes him more human and convincing as a person. (450)
• Pyrrhus covered in blood, goes to kill old, defenceless Priam, who can't even lift a sword any more.
• city burst into flames.
• Pyrrhus pauses "calm before storm"
• storm hits, old man hammered down by Pyrrhus' sword.

 

• Appeal to Gods in speech:  power of fortune should be taken away and her wheel broken.  Hub of wheel should be sent down to the devil.  Anyone seeing slaughter of Priam would denounce fortune.

• Polonius bored with story.  "This is too long." (II, ii, 497)
• Actor is overcome with the tragedy of the play and cannot go on.
• Hamlet catches actor and asks him if they could play the Murder of Gonzanzo the next night.  Hamlet plans to change it a little bit.

 

• As a renaissance prince and Courtier, his interest is in theatre.

 

Hamlet's Second Soliloquy:

line 549

• Hamlet compares himself negatively to the old actor who was in a passion over the tale.
• thinks of himself as a failure as a man of passion.
• wonders what the actor would do if he had the motive for action that Hamlet does.
• feels that something is missing ins his soul -- regrets inability to move to action.
• questions extent to which he is a proper man possessed of REASON, PASSION, ACTION.  He is successful as a scholar, but does not feel he has proper emotional reaction or deep heartfelt passion.  There is something lacking in him.  He has no aggressive tendency.

 

• social order upside down -- the lowest "slave" (Claudius) is king.

• Hamlet attempts to take his own advice, and summons passion.  He goes into a hysterical frenzy.
• His frenzy is followed by more analysis.  He realized that his hysterics were only a show of passion and action, but not the real action. 
• He can't take the third step.  He is unable to take action because:

                                               -unsure of ghost's intentions
-has to think before he follows through with action.
-questions his manhood.  His ranting "is most brave"
(II. ii. 584).  He compares it to a low woman who shouts                                                 and curses with emotion without taking action.

• he wants to see a drama of a king being murdered, and decides to invite the king in order to see his reaction.  A guilty person would break down
• The truth will come out, the murder will be revealed:

            "The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." (II. ii. 606 - 607)

• Hamlet questions the ghost's true intentions.  He doesn't want to be manipulated into murdering an innocent man.  He wants proof on more relevant grounds than the word of a ghost.
• the play works as a mirror.  The purpose of theatre is to hold up a mirror.  Claudius will see a reflection of himself.
• Hamlet doesn't trust his own judgement in observing Claudius' reaction.  He later asks Horatio to tell him if Claudius looks guilty.  Horatio's opinion sought as that of a wise, fair man.
• wants to test the king's conscience and the ghost's story and find other evidence on which to base his judgement before he can move to action.
• Important turning point.  Will find out once and for all conclusively.  Shows Hamlet's intelligence.

 

 

Act III

Scene 1

• Claudius confesses to the audience that he puts a show on on the outside, admits that he has a great burden that is carried on the inside.  DRAMATIC IRONY.

 

• R+G tell the king that Hamlet is very interested in the players.  The queen is very happy to hear that her son is interested in something.  DRAMATIC IRONY -- the king and queen are happy to be invited to the play because it means that Hamlet is interested in something and has gotten his mind off of his troubles.  The king would not be pleased if he realized how closely the play mirrored life and problems.

 

• Polonius and Claudius hide behind tapestry while Hamlet talking to Ophelia.

• Polonius' speech of Ophelia's appearance of innocence is related by Claudius to himself in an aside:

            "How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!" (III. i. 50)

• He confesses to the audience his guilt.  Claudius is aware of the nature of FALSE APPEARANCES.  He puts a face to the world of being honest and cheerful to cover up his sin.

 

Hamlet's Third Soliloquy

• complex
• phrase from Aristotle:  "To be, or not to be." (III. i. 57)

 

• The universe is divided between essence and matter.

                                               TO BE
Essence                                            Matter
-reason, immaterial, eternal                  -passions
-ideal and perfect                                     -material body
-the soul -- intelligence
-the spirit -- God                                                  

• on one level, the question of being or not being reflects Hamlet's contemplation of suicide, but on a second level, it is a scholastic question in which he contemplates the division of the universe between essence and matter philosophically.
• natural objects of the world are a combination of essence and matter, especially humanity.
• to 'be' in life is to follow reason and the soul.
• distinction between soul and body, reason and passion. (the duality of humankind)

 

• do we suffer fortune or oppose it?  "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (III. i. 58).
• Does our spirit take control of the material world and shape the world to God's will?
• Hamlet wonders if he should kill Claudius and fight the troubles of the world so the world can return to goodness and order.

• line 60 Hamlet contemplates suicide, equating death with sleep.  If death is a big sleep, it should be looked forward to as a release from the material world where destructive things are brought forth by Fortune.
• if death is like sleep, then perhaps there would be dreams.  Eternal nightmare or good dreams?  This is the reason why people put up with the misfortune of the world.  They don't know what to expect, so the fear of the unknown keeps them alive.

 

• Hamlet believes thinking too much is an illness that clouds everything so that resolution to action is dulled while one thinks of the consequences of action.

• The name of 'nymph' applied to Ophelia shows the satyr within him.  This fits into the nunnery scene.

 

THE NUNNERY SCENE

• she is sitting with her prayer book.  Hamlet tells her that if she wants to be so innocent, she should go to a nunnery.          
• he asks her to pray for his sins (metaphor of prayer -- she responds in terms of prayer.)
• Hamlet begins his crazy act.
• Ophelia returns the gifts that Hamlet had given her.

 

• Hamlet asks her, "Are you honest? ... Are you fair?" (III, I, 103, 105)  This relates back to the renaissance picture of an ideal woman (honesty, beauty, passion)
• He tells her not to let honesty relate to beauty, because beauty will corrupt purity and turn it into a bawd.
• Ophelia thinks that the two should be related in the ideal.
• Perfection had earlier been attainable in Hamlet's mind, but,

            "the power of beauty will sooner
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd ...
the time gives it proof.  I did love you once." (III. i. 111 - 115)

• Hamlet loved her when she was the ideal and Gertrude was a respectable woman.
• He mocks her over her belief in his love -- he tells her that he only tricked her.

• Hamlet tells her to go to a nunnery because:

                                    -he wishes he could preserve purity.
-in a nunnery, fairness is hidden away.
-passion is directed towards Christ.
-all beauty is that derived from purity.

• He discovers that everyone is sinful.  He was greatly idealistic of women, and is now disappointed.
• better if there is no more breeding of sinners.

• Hamlet says            "I am very

                                    proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences
at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in,
imagination to give them shape, or time to act
them in."

• Claudius is listening.  This would be threatening to him.

 

• Hamlet tells Ophelia never to believe a man, as they are all deceitful.
• Question:  "Where's your father?"  She has to lie.
• he insults Polonius
• Nothing that Hamlet has said makes sense.  It seems as though he has lost his sovereignty of reason, allowing passion to take over.
• Ophelia wants to restore order to his soul and prays for his reason.

• Hamlet says that even if Ophelia is pure, she will not escape slander.
• Only wise men know what fools they are made by their wives who cuckold them -- generalization that women are immoral and disloyal to their husbands.

 

• Hamlet -- makeup metaphor -- "God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another" (III. i. 145) -- addition to beauty corrupts honesty.  (false face?  two-faced?)
• Hamlet has an aversion to falseness, affectation, and exaggeration throughout the play.
• he feels Ophelia is wanton; accuses everything she does as adding up to seduction, but she pretends she is innocent of it.

• Hamlet goes on at length about the sinfulness of women, then says, "It hath made me mad." (III. i. 148).  Perhaps he realizes that it is no longer a crazy act, but that he has become mad.
• Fixation on purity, innocence, truth, has made him mad.

 

• Generalization of his dislike of marriage: 

                        "I say we will have no more marriage;
those that are married already, all but one shall live,
the rest shall keep as they are."

• This is an indirect threat to the king.

• Ophelia continues to lament his madness. 

                        "O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue,
sword" (III. i. 152-153)

• everything is out of order.  She speaks directly of those elements of the soul
• Hamlet used to be an idol -- everyone watched and looked up to him as a proper prince.
• Reason is compared to the harmonic music of the universe now in disorder.  Discord emerges when the soul is out of order.
• Young man in full bloom blasted with ecstasy (insanity)

 

• Polonius tries to prove that his madness is love
• King says it is not love, and he is not crazy -- metaphor of Hamlet as a chicken brooding over eggs -- something dangerous will hatch.
• decides to send Hamlet to England to collect a tribute owed Denmark.  Perhaps Hamlet will get out of his fixation if he travels to another country
• Polonius maintains love bothers Hamlet.
• Plan:  After play, they will let the Queen talk to Hamlet.  Polonius will spy.  He expects that Hamlet will confess the trouble to his mother.
• "Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go" (III, i, 190) -- Claudius

Scene 2

• Hamlet gives the purpose of theatre: "to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." (III. Ii. 23-26)
• theatre should reflect truth and show what the world and human natures are like.

 

• Speech to Horatio:

            -Horatio has good judgment.  His passion and judgement are always kept    under control by Reason.
-Metaphor of pipe:  Fortune cannot play upon Horatio -- he is possessed of             reason under all circumstances.
-Horatio is exceptional in his complete handle on reason.  Most people are             slaves to passion.  Horatio is TO BE.  His spirit and reason govern over           what is NOT TO BE -- that which consists of matter and passion.

• Hamlet does not trust his own judgement in determining whether Claudius looks guilty.  He does not know Claudius' reaction will be so unmistakable.

 

• Hamlet must have told Horatio about his father's murder behind the scenes.
• Impact of Claudius' reaction:

                        "Observe my uncle; if his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan's stithy."

• if there is no reaction, the ghost is evil and Hamlet has a wicked imagination.

• Mocking tone in greeting king "Eating the air, promise-cramm'd" (96) -he is hoping to find the truth, hope of catching king.
• mocking of Polonius shows his good mood.

 

• He plays into Polonius' idea of unrequited love

                        -mother tells him to sit with her
-Hamlet goes to sit with Ophelia: "here's metal more attractive."                                                                                                                              (111)
-mocks Ophelia, vulgar speech.

• Hamlet has written women off as vulgar (believing all women to be like his mother), and is treating Ophelia as though she were a low woman.

 

• -4 months since father's death -- sarcasm -- not forgotten yet, maybe memory of 6 mos.

• Mirror of play reflects back the truth to both Claudius and Gertrude
• Dumb show of murder -- Claudius can't miss it.
• some of this play is aimed at the Queen to make her uncomfortable.  Mother seems not to connect the play to life.
• short prologue to play.  Ophelia:  "Tis brief, my lord."   Hamlet:  "As woman's love."(III. ii.151-152) -- directed towards Queen, limited loyalty.

            (176-177) -Player Queen tells Player King that she will not marry after his    death.  Only one who had participated in the murder would marry -- Hamlet watches his mother.

• Hamlet asks his mother how she likes the play.  Gertrude:  "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" (III. ii. 228).

• Claudius asks what the play is called.  Hamlet responds:  "The Mouse-trap.  Marry, how?  Tropically." (symbolically)  (III. Ii. 235).

 

Play within a play scene:

• King jumps up and appears guilty.  Hamlet mocks him:  "What, frighted with false fire?" (III. Ii. 263).
• Queen shows no emotional reaction.  Claudius is very excited and cancels the play.
• Hamlet is excited.  Part of the revenge is showing him what he did.
• Claudius had identified the nephew of the king, Lucianus, with Hamlet.  The play could be showing the next assassination of the king.
• also:  "You shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife" (III, ii, 260)
• it is at that point that Claudius jumps up.

 

Discussion with Horatio:

• replacement of father as a godlike figure with a vain, lecherous peacock.
• Hamlet decides to take the ghost's word as truth.

• Guildenstern enters and tells Hamlet his mother wants to see him (Polonius' plan to find out)
• Claudius knows the truth, but he can't really stop Polonius from spying, though it is pointless as far as the king's interests are concerned.
• Pipe scene -- metaphoric conversation:  playing a recorder is as easy as lying if you're a spy. Am I more easily played on than a pipe?  "You can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me." (365)

 

• Cloud discussion with Polonius:  Polonius' tendency to agree to anything Hamlet or other Royals say makes a fool of him.

• Hamlet knows that something is up from the behaviour of R+G and Polonius.

 

Line 381 Soliloquy:

• disjointed
• figurative language:

            -churchyards yawn
-Hell breathes out evil and contagion

• knows king is guilty, is fired up and ready to kill ("Drink hot blood")
• Historical allusion:  "Nero" was responsible for the murder of his own mother
• this reveals his intentions toward his mother.  Sharp words are "daggers"
• part of him is enraged enough to kill her, but he can't. 
• she is to be put to shame with words.  He won't act on his words. 
• He is going to tell her the truth.  Polonius expects a confession of love for Ophelia.

 

Scene 3

• Claudius can't do anything against Hamlet because Gertrude would never forgive him.
• Why does Hamlet hesitate?
• He wants to send Claudius to Hell.
• Claudius had taken Old Hamlet without allowing him time for penitence. 
• If Hamlet kills Claudius while Claudius is praying, he will be fit and prepared for his passage.
• He wants to kill Claudius while he is doing something immoral so he can go to Hell.
• Not real revenge if Hamlet sends Claudius to Heaven, since Old Hamlet had to go to purgatory.

 

King's Prayer:

• What prayer can absolve him from sin?
• He does not repent and give back anything that he had gained through Old Hamlet's murder.

 

Queen's Closet Scene Act 3 Scene 4

• turns all her words around on her
• breaks out of all poetry
• "would it were not so! -- you are my mother" (III. iv. 16)
• he tells her that she will not go until he holds a mirror and shows the inmost part of her.  (He draws his sword to reflect)
• she is so caught up in the material body that she thinks he is drawing his sword to show the inmost part of her by cutting her open.  He means his sword as a mirror.
• she calls for help, Polonius, behind a curtain calls for help too.  He does not defend her.
• Hamlet had thought Polonius to be the king.  "I took thee for thy better." (III, iv, 32)
• as bloody a deed "As kill a king and marry with his brother." (III, iv, 28)
• Hamlet compares father with uncle
• mother does not want to hear.
• Ghost enters.  Gertrude cannot see it.
• Mother thinks Hamlet is crazy.  Since he is crazy, she feels she does not have to believe what he is saying.
• He doesn't let her:  disease imagery and weed imagery:  if she chooses to believe the words to be insanity, the sickness will still eat away at her.  He calls upon her to repent.
• she tells him he has cut her heart in two.  He replies that she will live more purely once the evil half is gone. 
• she is told to stay away from Claudius and not tell him what he has said to her.

 

• Hamlet knows he will be punished for Polonius' murder, but feels he is doing God's work of cleansing the world.  He is chosen to set the state right.
• in a fit of passion, he moves to action after waiting so long. When he kills Polonius, he is not sure if it is the king or not.  He gets the wrong person.

 

• Hamlet trusts R+G as much as serpents in the service of Claudius.
• he knows that there is a plan against him, and plans to make it blow up in Claudius' face

Thematic Problem of Play:
How does one fight evil without becoming evil himself?  Hamlet does unto others as they would do to him.

• changes letter to king of England in which he suspects there to be a message asking for Hamlet to be killed.  He plans to change it so that R+ G are killed instead.
• The ghost had told him not to taint his mind or take delight in the murder, but Hamlet's tone takes on an almost Fiendish quality: "O, 'tis most sweet" (III. Iv. 209).
• King puts pawns in front of him to protect himself from Hamlet. eg) R+G, Polonius.

Act IV

Scene 1

• Queen tells king that Hamlet killed Polonius.  King knows it was meant for him.  He sends R+G to find the body.

 

Scene 2

• Hamlet has hidden body.
• calls R. a sponge.  R. takes him literally.  (Information gained for King, then squeezed dry.)
• Treasonous statement:  "The king is a thing." (IV.ii. 29) Kingship of Claudius is based on nothing.  He is an improper king.
• Hamlet acts as though it is a game of hide and go seek.

Scene 3

• Hamlet brought to king, asked where body is.  Riddles about dead Polonius
• insult to the king:  "Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar." (IV. iii. 30-31)
• where is Polonius?  "In heaven; send thither to see; if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself"
• Black humour may be a way of dealing with his action.  Hamlet continues his crazy act, and now it is more important than ever, since he killed someone.
• Claudius tells him that he must send Hamlet to England for his own safety.
• Hamlet tells Claudius that he thinks it is a good thing to be sent to England.  Claudius:

            "So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes" (IV. iii. 49).

• Hamlet threatens right back  "I see a cherub that sees them."
• The King reveals his plan for Hamlet.  He gives a letter that is to be given to the king of England so that Hamlet may be killed.
• disease imagery in reference to Hamlet -- Hamlet is the infection according the king.
• The king does not put Hamlet on trial because he does not want to offend Gertrude.

Scene 4

• Hamlet is about to board his ship.  Fortinbras' ships from Norway land
• Hamlet muses that the soldiers are willing to die for land  that is worthless and only a matter of honour.  He wonders why they would die for something worth so little.
• he compares himself unfavourably to the soldiers and thinks himself less of a man for his want of action.

             "What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep      and feed?  A beast, no more!" (IV. iv. 32-35)

• God didn't give him reason so he could simply waste away.
• he wonders if his lack of action is caused by cowardice as a result of thinking too much.
• the soldiers are excited even though far from battle.  A great man doesn't fight over little things, but when a matter of honour is at stake, he is willing to die for it.
• Hamlet has all one needs for action (reason, passion)

 

Self-analysis of cowardice:

• comparison to Fortinbras:  I lack action
• earlier comparison to Actor:  I lack passion.

• contrast throughout-- to Fortinbras and soldiers -- description of what they're willing to die for.

 

Consequences of Closet Scene:

• killing Polonius:  bad effect on Laertes and Ophelia. 
• Laertes acts as a FOIL to Hamlet. (Character in a similar situation to main character, but who acts badly.)  Hamlet understands Laertes.

Scene 5

• Ophelia is truly mad.  She has lost her nature and sings dirty songs.
• The Queen feels responsible:  "So full of artless jealousy is guilt,

                                               It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.” (IV. v. 19-20).

• Messenger enters, Laertes enters, his sword drawn.
• Laertes has stirred up trouble.  The people want Laertes to be king.  He thinks that Claudius was involved in Polonius' death.
• Claudius believes that God will protect him.  He has justified his kingship to himself.
• Laertes knows Ophelia is crazy as soon as he sees her.
• King tells Laertes that he is going to take care of the revenge against Hamlet, but that he can't speak of it in front of Gertrude.

Scene 6

• Hamlet was on the way to England.  He changed the letters to say that R+G were to be killed.
• pirates attacked ship.  Hamlet defended the ship, attacked the pirates.
• ships separated, Hamlet promises to reward pirates if they take him back to Denmark.

 

Scene 7

• Laertes is told the truth by Claudius.  Hamlet was not put on trial because:

                        -the king wanted to keep the Queen
-Hamlet's popularity with the people could cause them to turn on                  the king.

• He tells Laertes that Hamlet is taken care of.
• a messenger with a letter from Hamlet arrives.  Mock praise of King in letter:  "kingly eyes", "High and Mighty".
• Laertes is almost glad Hamlet is back.  He can confront and kill him for killing his father and making Ophelia crazy.

• New plan:  Laertes an expert swordsman.  Claudius will set up fencing match.
• Laertes' sword to be sharpened, plan to poison tip.
• Claudius betting on Hamlet to make the murder less suspicious.
• will provide him with a poisonous drink.
• If Hamlet refuses to fence, there will be a trial and he will be executed.

 

• Gertrude enters to say that Ophelia is drowned without fear of death.
• according to Laertes, everything is Hamlet's fault.

Act V

Scene 1

• Clowns debating in rational terms whether or not Ophelia should be given a Christian burial.  Their wisdom is a little mixed up, and there is humour in the scholarly debate of fools.
• she killed herself.  How could it be a Christian burial if she didn't kill herself in self-defence?
• "se offendendo" should be "se defendendo"
• Hamlet enters with Horatio, sees fool digging up a grave and singing.  He digs up a skull and throws it away.
• Picks up Yorick's skull
• Hamlet reflects on death.  No permanence to life.  Even the great end up as bones.
• Funeral for Ophelia comes in.
• Laertes wants a funeral service for his sister, but the priest feels that a proper burial was too much because of her possible suicide.
• Laertes in a theatrical outburst jumps into the grave, takes her in his arms, and tells them to bury him alive with her.
• Hamlet, hating exaggeration and false display, comes forward and mirrors the exaggerated emotion back to Laertes by increased exaggeration and mockery.  Hamlet longs for sincerity.  They start fighting by the grave.

Scene 2

• Hamlet tells Horatio that he sent R+G to their deaths showing a change in character: he can be resolute and make firm decisions without second guessing himself.
• Osric – King’s new messenger, invites Hamlet to fencing match.  Hamlet mocks his excessive display of manners and flowery language.  Hamlet reveals an aversion toward affectation in Osric’s behaviour.  Line 125, Hamlet’s speech uses inflated language to mirror the inflated language of Osric.
• Hamlet anticipates his own death, but accepts it with courage, leaving it in the hands of God as shown when he says “There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. It it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all” (V.ii. 233-37).

 

Hamlet regains his self-respect/nobility/dignity at the end of the final scene:

• Hamlet offers condolences to Laertes and apologizes for accidentally killing Polonius.
• Hamlet is cut by Laertes in a “cheap shot” between rounds. The Queen drinks from poisoned cup intended for Hamlet. The King fails to prevent her from drinking the poison.
• Hamlet takes the sharp sword, attacks and wounds Laertes.
• mother faints, then dies, but first says to Hamlet that she has been poisoned.
• Laertes tells Hamlet that they are both dying and that “the king is to blame”. He then asks “noble Hamlet” to exchange forgiveness with him and Hamlet forgives him. Hamlet kills Claudius with both the poisoned sword and the poisoned cup.
• Horatio tries to drink from the cup, but Hamlet does not allow it.
• Hamlet urges Horatio to live on if only to save Hamlet’s reputation by telling his story after Hamlet is dead.
• Hamlet names Fortinbras as the new King of Denmark, then dies.
• Horatio says: “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest” (V.ii.397-98).
• The English Ambassador arrives to say that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
• Horatio asks Fortinbras to take charge right away.
• The new king, Fortinbras, orders a military funeral for Hamlet.