Shakespeare’s Hamlet

English 12

Universal Appeal of Hamlet

“It is we who are Hamlet” (William Hazlitt, 1817).

Definition of a Tragedy

A play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character

(www.oxfordenglishdictionaries.com)

Elements of Shakespearean Tragedy

1. The tragic hero is a good or noble man

2. Hero acts against established laws/moral codes

3. Hero acts with noble, or well-intended, motives, but often makes a false moral choice

4. Hero makes his decision to act because of deception and/or excessive noble pride

5. Hero has a dramatic moment of choice

6. Disaster (tragedy) overtakes the hero because of this choice

Tragic Flaw

Literary term that refers to a personality trait of a main character that leads to his/her downfall

Hamartia – another term for tragic flaw

Formula of a Revenge Play

Hero, usually informed by a ghost of an injury or crime that needs to be avenged

Hero accepts the challenge of revenge and begins to plot it

Hero confronts the villain and overcomes the obstacles that stand in the way of revenge

Revenge is achieved in a bloody and horrifying way Include a play within a play Protagonist pretends to be mentally ill to enact his

revenge

Plot Structure

Act 1 – Introduction (Birth)

Act 2 – Rising Action (Growth)

Act 3 – Climax (Maturity)

Act 4 – Falling Action (Decline)

Act 5 – Denouement (Death)

Writing Style

Written in a poetic form called blank verse, which are unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter

Characters of noble birth usually speak in verse Exceptions: when Hamlet addresses commoners; when

letters or documents are read; during scenes of comic relief; during scenes of madness

Servants and members of lower classes speak in prose

Iambic Pentameter

Iambic pentameter – a line of verse that contains five iambs (ten syllables)

Iamb – one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable

da DA da DA da DA da DA da DA ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / A little more than kin, and less than kind

(1.2.66).

Hamlet

Ghost of King Hamlet

Gertrude

Claudius

Polonius

Laertes

Ophelia

Horatio

Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern