Lit Hamlet Fishbowls!

Morality

- Hamlet and his morals - to kill or not to kill
- Seeking revenge - is it moral
- Negatively? - doesn't do it because has no proof
- [look at the soliloquies]
- Wanted to avenge his father - thought it was his duty
- Getting Claudius to confess was important
- His morals clashed - sense of duty vs. morals (church0
- ["Just Lather, That's All"]
- Hamlet's Christian morals: "thou shalt not kill" - how much do we know that he adheres to Christian morals (talks about Heaven, wants Claudius to go to Hell) "killed my father full of bread"
- Does Hamlet care about being a good person? ["what is a man if he just sleeps and eats" - paraphrase from Soliloquy 7]
- How does the play treat suicide [the clowns talk about this] - should Ophelia have a Christian burial
- Gertrude, Claudius' morality? [could focus on character]
- [narrow down a philosophical point]
- What about Ophelia possibly not being "chaste"?
- Hamlet and Ophelia possibly had premarital sex - pick and choose what's morality
- [compare with FORTINBRAS - he kills "20,000 men for a piece of straw"] - is it okay to kill in battle? For oneself? For the sake of others?
- [Could compare to Macbeth and his morals]
- Kills Polonius without a lot of thought
- Killing innocent people
- Hamlet thinks he has better morals than he does
- Thinking he's sacrificing his morality in order to avenge his father
- What are his morals?
- If Hamlet think killing is a sin, why does he send R&G to their death?
- [do people who are leaders have to be okay with killing? (even now?)
- Hamlet has already killed people by the time he sends R&G to their death - killing gets easier
- What about Gertrude and Claudius' marriage? Is it incest? Was it wrong for them to get married?
- [Claudius and Macbeth kill for the same reason - but the women are different]
- People marry for lust, wealth, power (not just love)
- Gertrude must have known something had happened [although the ghost does point out the "amazement" that sits upon her brow]
- Claudius and Gertrude are self-serving
- Hamlet feels like he's serving his father [what about FORTINBRAS? What about Laertes?]
- Do people with higher status have to follow the same morals as people with lower status? [look at today - do rich or famous people follow the same principles - compare Obama's morality with Trump's - if Obama had married three different women and had kids with each - would he have been elected?]

Reality vs. Illusion

- Ghost - is he a metaphor - moral illusion or sin illusion
- In the end - is the ghost from the devil?
- Did his father go to hell?
- [what about when Hamlet sees the ghost in his mother's "closet"?]
- The ghost mentions something about purgatory - also he was killed "full of bread"
- At the beginning everyone sees the ghost - in the end - only Hamlet sees the ghost - also work clothes vs. houseclothes
- Is Hamlet insane or not: "I am mad but north by northwest… I know a hawk from a handsaw" (II ii 381) - he admits that he controls it - says "antic disposition - not insane at the beginning - as he acts mad, he becomes mad
- Fake it until you make it - acting mad does seem to make Hamlet mad - we can see his acting with Polonius
- [is he actually mad when he talks to Ophelia? - look at III i, - he talks about "God hath given you one face and you make yourself another"]
- Is he actually mad when he goes dishevelled into Ophelia's "closet"
- Illusions about females: "frailty thy name is woman!"
- Objectification of women blurs - Hamlet takes this a step further - it's personal ("incestuous sheets", "get thee to a nunnery"
- Does anyone follow Polonius' advice? "to thine own self be true" I iii
- The spying - if you think of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - everyone seems to be overhearing everyone else
- Claudius uses deception with every person - seems to care about Polonius, but does not; seems concerned for Hamlet's safety, seems to care about Gertrude's feelings
- Gertrude's feelings about Hamlet? Genuine or not (Look at bedroom scene III iv) - very upset
- [Right after that she says that Hamlet is mad to Claudius (but then in V i, when talking to Laertes, she says that Claudius did not kill Polonius "but not by him)]
- Gertrude - passive character?
- "I know not seems" I ii 75
- Characters are always trying to figure out what the characters are thinking or what their motivations are [this ties into our lives - do we know how others perceive us?]
- [play within a play]
- Being conscious or not conscious
- People see or hear the things they want to [eg. Polonius thinks all of Hamlet's madness ties in with his daughter]
- [we all have filters we see things through]
- Claudius assumes that if he asks God to forgive him, it can happen [III iii, we know he has to truly ask for forgiveness; Hamlet's illusion is that Claudius is praying - misconceptions]
- Are morals an illusion?
- Putting your morals over someone else's life

-isn't it justified to kill because that person killed?

Honour

- Is Hamlet's honour in question (I v - "I was born to set it right")
- "revenge my foul and most unnatural murder" I v
- "Laertes, was your father dear to you?" (IV vii)
- Hamlet feels like he has to avenge for his emotion
- Manipulation - Claudius manipulates Laertes by using his honour
- FORTINBRAS - "20,000 men," "sharking up a list of lawless resolutes" (I i 98)
- Honour is often used as a scapegoat for political reasons - Laertes says he wants to kill Hamlet for his honour - but it's really because he's mad
- Honour is used as an excuse for actions (like revenge)
- [what about Gertrude, Claudius - are they honourable?]
- Is it honourable for Hamlet to go against his religion? (the Bible says not to kill, and Hamlet is Catholic)
- People justify killing [A Time to Kill - John Grisham book is about a father who kills men who rape and murder his 10 year old daughter]
- [who is honourable in this play? Horatio? Fortinbras? Laertes?]
- Stabs a curtain because he's angry - is this honourable? ("almost as bad as killing your husband and marrying your brother" III iv
- Seems like anyone with everyone seems to have died from a grudge Hamlet has: Claudius, Gertrude, R & G, Laertes, Polonius, Ophelia
- What if Hamlet seeks no vengeance at all - he believes the ghost is a figment of his imagination, or it's from Hell [there is such a thing called the "Do Nothing Principle" - most people don’t want to "do nothing" because it looks bad - studies have shown that soccer goalies during penalty kicks would save more goals by not diving and staying in the center, but this looks bad, so they choose a side and heroically dive]
- Ophelia's suicide
- I v 31-37 - Hamlet already wanted to avenge his father's death - then seemed to find it hard - because Claudius is the king, because he's related? Because Claudius is scary? Is it honourable to kill a king?
- It's honourable for Macbeth to kill on the battle field - but not honourable to kill Duncan
- Emotion gets in the way - personal issues with Claudius and his mother
- Seems logical to wait until Claudius does go to Hell - he feels like "I, his sole son send his soul to Heaven" III iii
- Mother holds him back from killing Claudius somewhat

Big advice: look at the soliloquies if your focus is on Hamlet

What are some interesting questions for the play itself? For example, what importance does Ophelia's virginity play (this could be morality, reality vs. illusion or honour!)