The Madman
- Feigns insanity to distract from his true intentions of exposing his uncle for the murder of his father
- Seems to step very easily into the role of a madman
- To Gertrude:
"I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft."
- "Mad" behavior starts out as an "antic disposition" but his mental state deteriorates -> he ends up legitimately insane
- Is madness is a form of theatricality?
- Is he driven mad by his own portrayal of madness?
David Tennant as Hamlet
The Revenger
The Wordsmith
- From the moment Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost he devotes himself to avenging his father's death
- Gives up all hope of a future: nothing left in his life but revenge, gives up all relationships, respect, his image
- Although he fails to act on this desire for revenge until the end of the play, it is constantly present in his thoughts and take over his life
- Method in his revenge and madness: plans but does not act
- His love for Ophelia is overshadowed by his appetite for revenge
Introduction
Conclusion
- Hamlet is a thinker, not a doer; he is a wordsmith rather than a swordsmith
- He is skilled at using his words to trick people and mock them --> Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Polonius
- There is always logic in his words; Polonius :
'Though this be madness yet there is method in't'.
- Are words his gift or his downfall? Hamlet's in depth analysis of every situation causes his indecisiveness
Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet
The Tragic Hero
- Hamlet is enigmatic - we get the sense that we don't know everything there is to know about his character
- He is a man of radical contradictions
- e.g : he uses Ophelia in his plan to feign madness yet is oblivious to the fact that he plays a part in her downfall
The Man of Action
- Hamlet as the 'every man'
- Hamlet is our hero - he asks himself endless, unanswerable questions that come from being human
- He feels grief and is indecisive
- Unlike some of Shakespeare's protagonists, he has character traits that we can relate to
- "half a dozen characters rolled into one"?
- A very three-dimensional character
- We see many sides to him: he takes on each role
- Some aspects of his personality are consistent: revenger, wordsmith, philosopher
- Complex emotions, conflicting motives
- A vivid character: passionate and ambitious
- The quintessential tragic hero
- Noble motivations (to punish his father’s murderer)
- Situation by the end of the play = dire, ends in death
- Does not survive to see the full outcome of his actions
- Possesses a tragic flaw
- Hamlet’s possible tragic flaws:
- His madness/that he believes he is pretending to be mad
- Words: bases his perceptions of reality on his interpretation of words, becomes overwrought with creating meaning
- Hubris (he thinks he can decide who should live and who should die)
- Even though he is thoughtful to the point of obsession, Hamlet also behaves rashly and impulsively. When he does act it is spontaneous and with little or no premeditation.
- e.g. stabbing Polonius through a curtain without checking who it was
- e.g. in the duel scene he kills Claudius by stabbing him and forcing him to drink from the poison cup
Defying the Stereotype
A Tragic Hero?
Playing a Part
- Aristotle: the tragic hero
- must be noble/occupy a high-status position
- should have a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall (error of judgement and/or character flaw)
- must inspire pity and fear in the audience
- Shakespeare modified Aristotle's definition for his own age -> a tragic hero who can appeal to a larger, more enduring part of the population
- In several ways Hamlet is the exception to the definition of a typical Shakespearean tragic hero:
- He is royal yet has the common touch (irony, perceptive, intelligent)
- The original hamartia was not his but Claudius’: dies because of an accident of fate
- Can hardly be said to fall from high to low: starts off melancholy, burdened and disillusioned by the world in general
- Each time he appears in the play, he shows a different side to himself/plays a different role
- He seems to take on these roles so completely and give himself entirely over the mind-set and thoughts typical of each ‘character’
- We could say he not only displays these traits but becomes the different characters
- This uncertainty of character reflects the uncertain behaviour that Hamlet has when it comes to acting and making a decision.
The Philosopher
- Hamlet draws himself to philosophical questions that are difficult to answer, particularly concerning suicide and the afterlife
- He takes a rationalist approach to his plan of revenge on Claudius
- Is it nobler to live miserably or end one's sorrows? --> 'The dread of something after death'
- Decisive Hamlet - after Act V, Hamlet returns from exile in acceptance of the act of revenge that he must commit
Simon Keenlyside as Hamlet
The Misogynist
- Hamlet’ misogynistic behaviour is defined and demonstrated through his attitude towards Gertrude and Ophelia
- He is disgusted and angry with Gertrude for marrying Claudius. His attitude towards women is influenced greatly by his relationship with his mother: from her behaviour he concludes that a women’s love is fickle.
- Although Hamlet may appear to love Ophelia at the beginning, he turns against her: he verbally abuses her using sexual innuendo and derision, and her encourages her to get to a nunnery. This behaviour shows his lack of respect towards women.
- His words often indicate his disgust with and distrust of women in general.
The Griever
- Our first impression of Hamlet = grieving
- Has completely given himself over to mourning his father
- Gertrude notices his outward appearance of mourning, but Hamlet makes it clear that this does not convey his internal sorrow
"For they are the actions that a man might play,
But I have that within which passes show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe."
- Cannot forget his father, even when all those around him have resumed their lives (Gertrude, Claudius)
- Intense grief over Ophelia's death
- Echoes the theme of death in the play
Edwin Booth as Hamlet
The Many Faces of Hamlet