Ham Notes - Jan. 5

Reality vs. Illusion

 

-"antic disposition" - is Hamlet being insane?  When? Goes throughout the play

• Queen at first makes a comment about Hamlet being depressed (as he would be)
• What's the turning point between Ham's madness?
• Masks - "all the world's a stage" idea
• Claudius - people may think he's a good king - but look at his soliloquy
• Polonius loves spying - what do other people see?

* device by author (like One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) illusion/madness exposes reality

• Ham gets to say what he wants
• FORTINBRAS has a powerful army, Claudius is eloquent, Ham has power through understanding people

• Each character is inauthentic towards Ham (R&G spying on Ham - sending him to get killed)

• When is reality apparent?  Death (look to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead)
• Ophelia took everything literally at first (she corrects Ham for saying he's been dead 2 hours) - later is overcome by illusion

 

Ghost - interesting - other people see him

-similar to witches in Macbeth - (compare to second appearance of the witches to Macbeth where Macbeth orchestrates it)

• Gertrude doesn't see the ghost - why?
• Ghost doesn't appear to Claudius, Gertrude or Polonius (people who don't care and aren't mourning him)

 

-when Claudius is confessing (not repenting) - illusion that he's absolved of his sin - what he's actually doing vs. what he's really doing

-Claudius lets Gertrude die at the end (cares about his image/power) more than wife

"May Ione be pardon'd but retain the offence?" (III ii 57)

 

Play within the play within the play within the play - more if you can't R&G are Dead - theatricality

-Ham takes what actually happened and plays Claudius

-"the lady doth protest too much" - good play btwn. Reality and illusion

"is there no offence in it?" - III ii

 

-R&G cannot be faithful to both Claudius and Hamlet

 

-is the ghost from the devil?

 

• *ghost in Elizabethan times would come from the trap door, which would represent Hell

 

-"Denmark's a prison, for there's nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

 

Perspective

 

• Ham doesn't reveal how much he loved Ophelia until after she dies "forty thousand brothers could not have loved her as much" (V i)

• *if we interpret why he's so mad at Ophelia, it's easy to see he's hurt from being spurned

 

 

Vengeance vs. Loyalty

 

• Is Ham loyal to his father?   He set up the play to see if he could trust him

• But Ham being "true to himself" - loyal to random apparition to kill a person- who just happens to be the king (next to God) of his country

• Whom is Gertrude loyal to?
• Gertrude "but not by him"  - keep power?  Loyal to herself
• As soon as Ham leaves - Laertes (IV v) - she defends Claudius - just before that she tells Claudius that Ham is "as mad as the sea and wind" supporting Ham's "antic disposition"
• Ham won't give Gertrude any power (she'll become the queen mum)

 

Remember to reveal what Shakespeare reveals about human nature generally - how do these topics relate to our world?  To whom are we loyal?  What does it mean to us?  How far will we go?

 

Claudius - let's Gertrude drink poison wine

-how much does he care about Polonius?

-symbiotic relationship - Gertrude and Claudius benefit from their relationship

 

-can think about other loyalties: religion; Laertes, Ophelia and Polonius; FORTINBRAS

 

• Laertes is loyal to his father and his sister

 

Ophelia - split loyalties - wants to listen to her father and brother; but also loyal to her boyfriend

-Polonius sees her as an innocent daughter; Ham sees her as a lover

Othello has a line about every daughter having to leave her father: "And so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father" (I iii 187)

 

-picking the wrong side - Gertrude w Claudius = poison wine

-Ophelia picks Polonius = crazy & dead

-Ham picks ghost = dead

 

-"to thine own self be true" (Polonius I iii)

 

-Horatio does not have split loyalties

-Laertes is manipulated by Claudius

-loyalty can be good, but in this play causes a lot of damage

 

-Gertrude is loyal to her family? Doesn't really need to marry Claudius  - she was already the queen (could have been manipulated by Claudius)

-Deuteronomy

 

Action vs. Inaction

• Also known as paralysis

 

Hamlet - stabs Polonius very soon after not killing Claudius - suddenly springs into action - as soon as he kills Polonius he orders R&G's deaths

 

Look at Hamlet's soliloquies

how much does religion inspire or limit Ham?

-rationalization? Justification?

-could relate to "Just Lather That's All" - is Ham a hero or a coward

-anti-hero

 

• FORTINBRAS - taking Poland's "straw" and killing 20,000 men whereas Ham can't kill one person even though that person kills his father
• Ham tries to find out the truth first
• Ham seems pretty smart - but overthinks things ("nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so"/"conscience doth make cowards of us all") III i
• FORTINBRAS and Laertes represent their time; Hamlet is a modern hero

 

Morality - prevents Ham from acting

 

What prevents Ham from acting?

 

• Is it better to be cold hearted and just kill people?  (like FORTINBRAS)

• Compare Macbeth to Hamlet - Mac acts without conscience -after killing the king (remember when he kills Macduff's whole household?)

• Taking risks - Claudius took a risk - but this also could cause worse things to happen

• Is Ham being cautious or being stupid?

• Should he have killed Claudius "full of bread"

• When should he have killed Claudius?  What's the timeline?
• How much Hamlet obsesses (like a teenager)
• But it is murder

 

-ghost's role?  In III iv - like his conscience

• Ham acts around women "frailty, thy name is women" -betrayed - also feels like he has something to prove
• Women can't act - drowns (almost seems like the opposite of action - it's said that water kills you - defense against suicide) - passive

• Using women (raped Ophelia?)
• (Lady Macbeth dies - "of her own hands" Romeo's mother dies of grief)