Content:
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, contains issues that were deeply relevant to the late 1500’s. As Hamlet was written in Elizabethan times, the Monarchy was very strong and had an obvious influence on Shakespeare’s play. The play subtly pursues a number of problems that existed at the time but Shakespeare would not dare to directly insult the Monarchy for fear of his life. There are a number of themes evident in the play including destiny, power, illusion versus reality, the search for one’s self, revenge, and the nature of humanity, action versus inaction and art versus life. Hamlet is quite a philosopher and it must be understood that many of the questions he poses to himself and to those around him relating to destiny have been long debated. Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s soliloquies to make comment on destiny, the afterlife and our morality. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet curses that he has been chosen to avenge his father’s death as part of his destiny but later comes to accept his fate. Part of destiny is death, which Hamlet questions in his “to be or not to be” speech, but when he finds Yorrick’s skull Hamlet realises that everyone will come to a similar end.
Revenge is quite a prevalent theme in Hamlet and places question upon the fate that will arise if revenge is undertaken and offend the moral law. Revenge in Hamlet is quite complicated as it is not just seeking retribution but revenge is critical if order is to be restored and for Hamlet is a social duty. Revenge is also reflected in the play’s subplots, focusing on Laertes and Fortenbras, with Laertes seeking to kill Hamlet after the death of his father Polonius and his sister Ophelia. By the end of the play, anyone who has committed a crime is dead, meaning that divine law has been achieved.
Another theme throughout the play is the questioning on the nature of humanity. Shakespeare uses the play to explore the various faces of humanity and Hamlet’s nobility lies in his quest to define his own humanity. The quote “we are creatures crawling between Earth and Heaven” represents how the characters believe that no one is neither born evil nor good, but we are separated from the beasts because we have the ability articulate thought. The play also raises many questions about the influence that power has on a person’s nobility and what chances a person will take to obtain power, ultimately this is represented by Claudius killing his own brother for his own gain.
Construction:
There is a linear plot to the Play Hamlet, The King is dead-the ghost of King Hamlet returns to tell his son of the treachery that has happened - the son (Hamlet) vows revenge - plot to seek revenge begins - Hamlet is unhappy with his mother’s quick marriage to his uncle (Claudius) - plan to show Claudius’ guilt is put into place - Hamlets lover (Ophelia) dies after her father is killed by Hamlet -Hamlet exposes Claudius’ guilt-Duel between Hamlet and Laertes as part of Claudius’ plot to kill Hamlet - Laertes dies in the duel - Hamlet Kills Claudius after his mother is poisoned - Hamlet dies after being poisoned in the duel. Shakespeare has split Hamlet into 5 acts, each of which displays various techniques integral to the play’s plot. The linear story line and structure of the Acts allow the reader to easily follow the plot of the play as well as to anticipate where it might be heading. Each of the Acts can be characterised by a single word.
Act 1 is exposition, the set up of what is to come.
Act 2 is Conflict or the clashing of heads between Hamlet, Claudius and his mother.
Act 3 is the crisis, this is the act where Hamlet speaks his “to be or not to be” soliloquy and questions his life.
Act 4 can be described by counterstroke or a returned blow, in this act, Hamlet kills Polonius and Ophelia kills herself.
Act 5 the last act is the catastrophe, where all the main characters end up dying in an almost melodramatic way.
There are a number of techniques used in the play that add further depth. Techniques such as juxtaposition, humour, soliloquies, imagery and puns are all clearly represented throughout the play. Shakespeare tends to use witty techniques, such a puns for Hamlet’s character creating a sense that Hamlet has a warped sense of humour and is debatably insane. Soliloquies are used in Hamlet to create dramatic irony and offer philosophical deliberations which make the play rank above other revenge tragedies of the time. The construction of Hamlet allows techniques such as imagery to be used liberally. The main use of imagery includes that of goodness and of corruption as well as various aspects of religion. For example, when Hamlet says “foul spirits will rise”, the imagery exists in the foul spirits coming out of the depths of Hell, this is also an example of sensory imagery as the word foul is used, initialising the sense of smell. William Shakespeare adopts a humorous style of writing to the play, which lightens the mood a little in such a dark and tragic time. An example of this is in Hamlet’s general conversations, “I am too much in the sun” cleverly depicts in a more comical way of saying that Hamlet is insane, considering that Gertrude states beforehand that Hamlet needs to go out and get some air and sun, this makes an ironic statement which is created because of the way that the play is constructed.
Language:
William Shakespeare chose to write Hamlet in a typical way, using various techniques to his advantage but also using his work to suggest problems that have arisen in the community or the world. The language of Hamlet is mainly blank verse poetry which is written in a form known as iambic pentameters which is using five stressed syllables in each line and almost always without the use of rhyme. Techniques that Shakespeare used include; imagery, puns, Metatheatrical Conventions and incongruity.
Quotes and examples of these themes:
“fair and warlike”, is an example of incongruity and imagery, it is imagery because warlike would mean that he would appear to be dressed in uniform ready for battle, but this quote is also ironic as fair is justice but now days war is justice.
“this bodes some strange eruption to our state”, the imagery of eruption suggests that there will be a very dramatic change to the way the country is run, the quote also sports emotive language in the word “strange”, the whole quote sums up the suspenseful mood that is set early in the play
“some say... wherein our saviours birth is celebrate... no planets strike, no fairy takes”, this links to the religious motif prevalent throughout the play, the word “saviour” suggests that there may be redemption and this could also be Shakespeare relating the play to his Catholic upbringing. In simple terms this quote means that if everyone was doing the right thing then nothing bad would happen.
During one of Claudius’ public announcements he states “freely gone with this affair all along”, with this he is attempting to seek redemption and at the same time inviting people to go against his word so they can be imprisoned for going against the king. This is also a power play as it means that no one tried to stop them from getting married. This means that Claudius still relies on the old medieval system of divine right.
“A little more than kin, a little less than kind” is evident of Hamlet’s witty persona, adopting the use of sarcasm to show the attitude that Hamlet has towards his uncle Claudius. The stage directions given place him on the edge of the stage, depicting how Hamlet is on the edge of maturity, his ways of thinking, and the ability for him to become king.
In Hamlet’s first soliloquy he states “the everlasting had not fixt, his canon ‘gainst self slaughter”, this is where Hamlet decides that suicide is not an option for him (possibly because he is to noble), it also alludes to the religious motif, with everlasting=God. This quote also utilises imagery with “canon” but only if it was spelt with two “N’s”, it would mean that suicide would be destroyed as an option. But because canon is spelt with one “N” it could mean it is a body of work or a religious scripter.
A particular quote in the play that alludes to Hamlet’s dislike of women and their sexuality is when the says “wicked speed... a beast that wants...”, with word choice such as wicked it is assumed that Hamlet truly means what he is saying, by using the word wants, it means that Gertrude lacks, and combined with beast, means that even an animal would have mourned for a longer period of time than she did.
