Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Hamlet
Introduction
This study guide is designed to help you respond to this play, which you should have seen in performance
on stage or on film. Perhaps the most accessible treatment is Franco Zeffirelli's 1991 feature film version,
with Mel Gibson in the title role. This uses an edited and shortened form of the text, with some scenes and
details omitted. The film is shot on location, mainly in Denmark at the real castle of Elsinore, and does not
attempt to show the play as it would be on stage. The cast includes many well-known star actors. You may
compare this version with Laurence Olivier's 1948 film or Kenneth Branagh's 1996 version, which makes no
cuts to the text.
To get a copy of the play as a text file, go to the e-text library of Project Gutenberg.
Although there are many beautiful and interesting speeches, Shakespeare was just as interested in
narrative; that is, telling a story in words and actions. Modern editions of the plays, for use in schools, have
extensive notes to explain the meaning of odd terms or unfamiliar ideas. If you use these for your own
reading and acting, you may begin to enjoy the plays. You should also try to see video or feature film
versions, or listen to radio productions, but a good performance in the theatre should be better than all of
these.
This guide is intended to support study of the play by an examination class. A range of activities will be
described, from which students should make their own choice, or a selection negotiated with the teacher.
UK exam boards may allow you to present some of your work for assessment in reading, as a spoken
activity - rather than submit a written essay, you may present a spoken essay, or record a radio or TV type
broadcast on audio or video tape.
Story-telling
In Shakespeare's day there were no novels, films or television drama. If you wanted to tell a story, you either
wrote a long poem (a very few highly-educated people would read it) or made it into a play. Until the 16th
century most plays in England were rather crude acted versions of Bible stories. These were performed by
tradesmen who might be very good at their craft, but were not professional actors. When Shakespeare
started acting (first) and (later) directing and writing, the English theatre was as new a medium as television
is today, and just as fashionable. In London, theatres were built where people could see the plays.
Occasionally travelling companies, as today, would take plays to other towns, or to the houses of rich
noblemen for private performances.
All of Shakespeare's plays tell stories, and tell them in entertaining ways, with conflict, humour, love,
violence, a mixture of language and very good plotting. Most of these stories had to be told in a single
performance, so the story would be fitted into a two to four hour telling. Only with stories from history did
Shakespeare split the drama into parts (though each of these made a perfectly good play in its own right).
A good approach to Hamlet is to take a part (not all) of the narrative and tell it in other ways. To practise your
writing you could do any of the following: a character might keep a diary or journal in which he or she would
record a day's events, with comments on his or her view of these. In this way you could tell one character's
part of the story with suitable comment. This would work for Ophelia, Gertrude, or Rosencrantz and
Guildernstern. A more sympathetic view could come from Horatio.
You could also try to modernise and or shorten the play to produce a script which tells the story in a
simplified form.
Old Hamlet, the King of Denmark has died, and has been succeeded by his brother, Claudius who has
married Hamlet's widow, Gertrude. The heir to the throne is Prince Hamlet who has been recalled from
university in Wittenberg (Germany) for his father's funeral. Hamlet is told by his friend Horatio of a ghost,
resembling his father, which walks on the battlements of the royal castle, at Elsinore. Hamlet meets the
ghost: it is that of his father, who tells him that he was murdered - Claudius has told people that Old Hamlet
died of a snakebite, but in reality Claudius poured poison into his ear as he slept in his orchard.
Hamlet intends revenge, but is fearful of discovery, so feigns madness. He behaves strangely towards
Ophelia whom he courted previously. Her father, Polonius a foolish old counsellor, believes she is the cause
of Hamlet's madness. Claudius, already wary of Hamlet, employs the prince's old schoolfellows,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on him.
A troupe of travelling players comes to Elsinore, and, on Hamlet's instructions, perform a version of an old
play, The Murder of Gonzago, adapted so that the victim is killed as described by the ghost: Claudius's
reaction confirms his guilt. He plans at once to have Hamlet sent to England, and to his death, then kneels
in prayer; Hamlet sees him praying, but declines the opportunity (he is alone) of revenge, as he wishes to
ensure Claudius's damnation. He confronts his mother with her treachery to his father, her first husband.
She has been speaking to Polonius, who hides behind an arras (a curtain or wall-hanging) at Hamlet's
approach, to eavesdrop. As Hamlet threatens his mother violently, Polonius cries out, and is stabbed,
fatally, through the arras by the prince, who now sees and hears again the ghost, which is invisible to and
unheard by his mother.
Ophelia has a brother, Laertes, who returns to France, having come home for Claudius's coronation and
wedding, at the start of the play. Learning of his father's death he now returns, to find that Ophelia has gone
mad, his grief completed when he hears, a little later, from Gertrude, that his beloved sister has drowned.
Claudius persuades him that Hamlet is to blame for all his troubles, and agrees to a plot to kill him. The two
men meet at Ophelia's funeral, where they quarrel. Claudius arranges a fencing match, having bet on
Hamlet's superior skill. But he gives Laertes a sword with a poisoned tip. As a precaution, Claudius also
has poisoned the wine provided to refresh Hamlet during the contest.
When Hamlet evades his enemy's sword repeatedly, while scoring various hits, Claudius forces the issue,
putting a pearl into the cup, which Hamlet can secure by drinking its contents. Gertrude takes the cup and
drinks from it before Claudius can stop her. At last Laertes wounds Hamlet, in a scuffle, at the end of which
they change swords, and Laertes is also wounded. As Gertrude falls dying, Laertes confesses his treachery
to Hamlet, who kills Claudius, makes his peace with the dying Laertes, and bids farewell to Horatio, before
he, too, dies.
Old Hamlet had a rival, Fortinbras of Norway, whom he killed in battle, the Norwegian throne passing
to Fortinbras's brother. The son and nephew, respectively, of these two is Young Fortinbras. He has
mobilised the Norwegian forces, and gained permission to pass over Danish territory to fight a Polish
army. Fortinbras now returns to pay his respects, just as the dying Hamlet has foretold and
approved his accession to the Danish throne. This sub-plot is entirely omitted from the Zeffirelli
version.
The other sequel is the arrival of the English ambassador with news that Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are dead. Of those on stage, only Horatio shares the audience's understanding of the
significance of this information.
Hamlet on film
Zeffirelli's is one of several notable versions of Hamlet. Perhaps the best known is Sir Laurence Olivier's
1948 film, in which he plays the prince. Kenneth Branagh has directed a 1996 feature film version, and a
full-length broadcast radio production for BBC Radio 4, in the early 1990s. In order to discuss it as a film, you
should look at a number of different things.
First of all, how clear is the story? (Are there things in the summary above that you had not
noticed?)
What parts of it seem to you to work best?
How has the director chosen to play particular episodes?
Shakespeare sets the action at Elsinore and goes out of his way to create a sense of atmosphere, especially
when the ghost appears at the start of the play.
Is anything gained by being able to show this very spectacular old castle, surrounded by the sea, as
Zeffirelli does? (Shakespeare would not have seen it and may well have had no idea what it really
looked like! Kenneth Branagh's version is set at a stately home, with no sea anywhere near.)
What is your opinion of the way the director presents the ghost? Is this something which works well
on film?
The final scene of the play is one in which action is very important: what do you think of the way this
is handled?
This play is dominated by Hamlet, and to a less degree by his arch-enemy, Claudius: we see each scheming
against the other, who is more or less aware of what is going on.
Gertrude
Between the two comes Gertrude, whose sympathies move during the play from Claudius to Hamlet. How
does she appear in the versions you have seen?
Consider how other characters (Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) position
themselves, or are manipulated, in relation to this power struggle.
Theatrical techniques
You may wish to consider technical details such as costume, props or lighting. In Zeffirelli's version,
although the costume is very basic, black or white garments are often used symbolically to indicate good or
evil: this is most obvious in the play's last scene. In order to contrast Hamlet's virtue with Claudius's
corruption Zeffirelli uses effects of colour: the camera moves from the drunken revellers in the hall below, in
brightly coloured garments (red or orange) and lighted by flaring torches, to the cold grey stones of the
castle, and the drab clothes of Hamlet and his friends.
A personal response
In conclusion, you are asked to say how far you liked the versions of the play you have seen, and why.
In order to write about this, you should consider the causes of Hamlet's desire for revenge, and the manner
in which he pursues it. Some things that influence the course of Hamlet's revenge would be:
We are helped to understand his actions and motivation by his soliloquies (speeches made when he is alone
on stage) and some things which he tells Horatio. What follows is some explanation of each of these. You
can gain fuller information by studying the text or the play in performance, or both. It is quite acceptable to
refer to differences between the play as written and how it is performed in stage or film versions.
At the start of the play, Hamlet's father has died, and his mother has married Claudius, brother to the late
king, and uncle to Prince Hamlet.
What has Claudius given as the official cause of old Hamlet's death?
How does the prince feel about what has happened, especially his mother's remarriage?
Why does Hamlet say: Frailty, thy name is woman?
The arrival, at Elsinore, of a group of travelling players (actors), enables Hamlet to verify (check) what the
ghost has told him.
Almost at once, Hamlet has a chance of revenge, finding Claudius (praying) alone and vulnerable. Why
does he not take this opportunity?
As he is not ready to kill Claudius yet, Hamlet goes to his mother, to urge her to keep from sexual relations
with Claudius.
Hamlet is also in some danger, as Claudius sees that Hamlet knows of his crime. Of course, Claudius cannot
say anything without admitting to his evil deed.
Why is Hamlet not likely to be taken in by Rosencrantz and Guildernstern, as they make a show of
renewed friendship towards him?
The death of Polonius means that Claudius can persuade Hamlet, apparently for his own good, to leave
Denmark temporarily.
How does this help Claudius devise a plot to kill the prince?
Hamlet tells Horatio, partly in a letter, mainly in conversation, how he survives this plot through a mixture of
luck and his own wits.
Ophelia is an innocent victim of others' schemes. Hamlet likes her, but is too troubled by his father's death to
think of her as a lover would.
Why are her father and Gertrude (for different reasons) eager for Hamlet to fall in love with her?
Why does Hamlet pretend to be driven to madness by love for her?
Why is his pretended madness not convincing to the audience?
When her father is killed and Hamlet, for whom she cares, goes away, Ophelia really goes mad, and later
drowns herself.
Laertes, Polonius's son, returns to Denmark for his father's funeral, only to attend that of his sister.
In the last act of the play, things seem to be going the way of Claudius.
How has he tried to ensure that Hamlet will be killed in the fencing-match?
In case this fails (if Laertes does not score any hits) Claudius has a back-up plan: what is this?
When it looks as if Laertes cannot strike Hamlet, what does Claudius do?
Originally published on www.universalteacher.org.uk, Andrew Moores teaching resource site. Page 7 of 12
This free PDF version is available from www.teachit.co.uk. Andrew Moore, 1999-2005.
AM
How does he try to tempt Hamlet to drink, even though he feels no need to do so?
What is the result of his request, and why is he unable to intervene?
Because Laertes, angry with Hamlet, strikes him during a pause in the match (very unsporting) there is a
scuffle, in which both men drop their swords. When they pick them up, the weapons are swapped, so
Laertes is also fatally wounded.
How does Laertes' awareness that he is dying alter his attitude to Hamlet?
Can you explain his refusal, before the fight, to be reconciled to Hamlet, and his now asking for
pardon?
How does Hamlet respond to his request?
Why is it more appropriate, in a revenge-tragedy, for Claudius to be killed now, rather than when
Hamlet has his earlier opportunity?
What does he ask of him, and why, in your opinion does he ask for this?
The play does not quite end with the prince's death.
Why should Shakespeare wish to finish the play with the arrival of Fortinbras (heir to the throne of
Norway, and nominated by Hamlet to succeed him in Denmark) and
the news that Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are dead?
By studying, closely, the soliloquies and Hamlet's conversation with Horatio, you may be able to explain
better his own ideas about himself and his motives. Some of this, of course, may distract you from the
simpler idea of revenge. If you do this, you should quote short passages of dialogue with explanation and
comment, as you feel appropriate.
In Act 1, scene 1 we learn much of the political background; of Hamlet only that Horatio will alert him to the
appearance of the ghost.
In Act 1, scene 2 Claudius at first dominates the dialogue: he deals eloquently, and with appropriate
ceremony and dignity, with affairs of state. We have no reason to dislike him though we note, as he justifies
it, the haste of Gertrude's re-marriage, and the apparent strain between him and Hamlet, which he seeks to
remove by courting Hamlet's favour. Save to remark on the distinction between the common outward display
of grief and the inward reality, Hamlet has said nothing of substance.
Thus, Hamlet first reveals certain things to the audience, making it clear that even his friends will not,
necessarily, be privy to these.
Note also that Hamlet denounces Claudius before his father's ghost has told the prince of the murder.
Hamlet's comments refer to Claudius's general ignobility. Hamlet may suspect foul play though he does not
speak of it here - his comment to the ghost (Act 1, scene 5, lines 40-41: O my prophetic soul! My uncle)
shows this. The disclosure of the murder bears out Hamlet's general aversion: the action, though extreme, is
suited to the actor, Claudius.
Hamlet's thoughts are presented in a naturalistic sequence - he allows his disgust to flow freely and one
thing leads to another but the outline of his meditation is as follows:
Why does Hamlet seek death? Why can he not kill himself?
Comment on the comparison of the two kings, as like that of Hyperion to a satyr? Is Hamlet merely
saying in an eloquent way that his father was much better than Claudius?
What attitude is revealed to Gertrude and her behaviour?
Is It is not nor it cannot come to good a description, a prophecy or a wish? Why?
How does Shakespeare make the speech resemble a natural train of thought? (Look at use of
ejaculations and interruption.)
The ghost has told Hamlet of the murder. He inclines to believe this, but must be sure. He thinks of the
play, prompted by the arrival of the itinerant actors, as a device to confirm Claudius's treachery - as he later
explains to Horatio (Act 3, scene 2, lines 71-83). Hamlet has studied at the Protestant University of
Wittenberg, which explains his suspicion that the apparent ghost may be a lying demon, sent to undo him.
Protestant theology teaches that the souls of the dead go straight to heaven or hell - so what appears to be a
ghost must be an evil and deceitful spirit.
One could argue that this is not a soliloquy as Ophelia, Claudius and Polonius are all on-stage. But, clearly, it
is, as Hamlet is unaware of this and speaks as if to himself (soliloquy means speaking alone).
The context is similar to that of the previous speech: Claudius and Polonius, alarmed by the prince's
distraction decide to plant Ophelia in his way and spy on his reaction. The first part of what follows is
unexpected, as Hamlet takes some time to notice Ophelia, at which point his soliloquy gives way to the
expected conversation (of unexpected character). There is irony in the position of this episode: Hamlet has
just devised a ruse, which involves spying (and he, too, will have a confidant, Horatio) on Claudius; now
Claudius and Polonius attempt to gain the advantage of him by spying: their device leads to less satisfactory
results.
The content is close to that of the opening of the first soliloquy but more fully expressed. Because there is no
certainty that death will bring relief from oppression, we fear to exchange the known evil for a possibly
greater torment - thus Hamlet appears to believe that there is, or can be, no escape. Out of context the
universality and beauty of the speech explain its celebrity.
How would one answer a critic who said this in just a very pompous and long-winded way of saying
that death is to be avoided because we fear what may come after it?
Does this soliloquy move the play forward in any way (e.g. give us a new insight into the prince's
thinking)?
What problems are created for the actor/director by the extreme familiarity of these lines?
How can these be overcome, if at all?
A short speech. For once Hamlet believes he can act but he moves for Gertrude, to confront her and,
perhaps, correct her.
The Mouse Trap has succeeded beyond Hamlet's expectations. Claudius considers how, with the aid of his
compliant henchmen, he can eliminate the danger to himself: he knows that Hamlet knows - knows too much
for the safety of both. Hamlet declines the opportunity to kill Claudius at prayer, reproaches his mother, kills
Polonius and is sent to England where he will be safe, but not in the sense usually intended by this word.
(The safety Claudius seeks is his own.) Before embarkation (presumably on the way to his vessel) Hamlet
watches the Norwegian army crossing Danish territory en route to do battle with the Polish forces.
The readiness of Norwegian and Pole to fight for a worthless prize (like the player's ability to conjure passion
for a fiction) is seen by Hamlet as a rebuke to his sloth. The speech falls into two parts:
What argument does Hamlet produce to show that man should make decisions and act on them?
How does Hamlet view Fortinbras? Is he wholly fair to himself in the comparison he makes here?
How is action affected by questions of honour, in Hamlet's opinion?
Why, after so much stalling by Hamlet, should the audience believe that the final couplet will lead to
corresponding deeds?
How does Shakespeare exploit the repeated use and cumulative effect of these speeches to sway
the audience's sympathy?
There is one other long soliloquy in the play - Claudius's at Act 3, scene 3, lines 36 -72 (and 97 and
98). What does Shakespeare achieve by this device?