Biography 

Journal

• How does the use of surveillance affect this adaptation? How does this relate to Hamlet, and the audience's, knowledge of the murder?
• Raffel argues in an essay (see below) that “there surely is something about Hamlet that simply does not get onto the stage, is never performed, and perhaps cannot be” (33-34). What do you think he means by that? 
• In the adaptation, Patrick Stewart plays both Claudius and the ghost of Hamlet's father. This is an interesting choice given that the play portrays the characters are being rather different. What do you think of that choice?

About

• Charles Lamb once argued that Hamlet should only be read because it is impossible to properly stage. 

Summary

Questions?

• Is Hamlet's love for Ophelia real? He certainly says it a lot, but is his final pronouncement of it at her graveside because of Laertes' speech beforehand?
• Do you think Hamlet and/or Ophelia really are insane? Is their insanity real or a product of the play's conflict? 
• Do we ever feel the loathing we feel for Iago for Claudius?  

Analysis

• A big issue here is where do Ophelia's loyalties lay in the play. Notice she is never on stage alone. 
• She is instinctively obedient to her father and uncle.  
• Ophelia is trying to please all the men in her life at all times with often contradictory actions
  
• Much like Desdemona, she cannot be in either "group" in the play. One could argue that being torn between them is a trigger for her breakdown.

• In I. iii. Ophelia asks her father "what I should think"
• She stands up to her father somewhat by saying that Hamlet has given speech to "almost all the holy vows of heaven"
• In II. i. she obeys her father's call for her to deny his letters and visits despite his crazed behavior
• Through III she is quietly defiant towards Hamlet, especially during the play
• In IV. iiiii. a "noble heart" is broken by the deprival of Hamlet, the man she loves, and the murder of her father 
• The weakness of her will is what kills her. Her will is poisoned by men and she cannot recover from the outcome.  

I. iv.

• Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

II. ii.

• Hamlet speaks in prose to college students (290) 
• Hecuba...What would he do / had he the motive and the cue for passion / that I have? (540)...no one has pride like Hamlet does (according to him) 

III. i.

• Around lines 45-55, Polonius and Claudius discuss faking devotion and start to feel guilty about their actions. Claudius leaves and...
• Polonius spys on Hamlet during his famous "to be" speech
• Dr. Tompkins argued to us that this speech is about suicide 
• Hamlet asking Ophelia if she is "fair" has a lot of meanings... (105)
• Hamlet argues that if Ophelia is beautiful, she cannot be honest (107) 
• Hamlet calls for Ophelia to be sent to a nunnery (whorehouse) and to not breed with him (120, 148) 
• Conversations between Ophelia and Macbeth/Claudius show her still being molded by and being obedient to men. 

Characters

Symbolism

Theme

• External peace, internal strife: Whiles Rank Corruption, Mining All Within / Infects Unseen (III. iv. 154)

Gender

Point of View

Irony

Ending

Adaptations

• The 1948 Oliver adaptation cuts a lot of the text including a good portion of Act IV and all of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's scenes. 
• Many adaptations on stage before the 20th century made similar cuts to highlight the character of Hamlet.  
• Hamlet in Performance in our book discusses the history of these cuts at great length 

Wordle

Video

Bibliography

• Raffel, Burton. “Hamlet and the Tradition of the Novel.” Explorations in Renaissance Culture 22 (1996): 31-50.
• Shakespeare, William, and Burton Raffel. "Introduction." Introduction. Hamlet. New Haven: Yale UP, 2003. XV-XXXI. Print. 

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