Minor Characters in Hamlet

Expectation to Obey Men

• Father
• Husband
• King

Minor Characters in Hamlet

Heather, Jenna, Mel, Lela

As demonstrated by Ophelia, Polonius, Horatio, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, the minor people in an individual’s life, construct major impacts on their fate.

Appearance vs. Reality (I.iii.84-87, I.iii.109)

• “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell. My blessing season this in thee”

• "...you'll tender me a fool"

Influences on Ophelia (I.iii.131-135 )

Polonius

"I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

Have you so slander any moment leisure,

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.

Look to ’t, I charge you."

Exaggerates Hamlet's Madness (II.ii.94-95)

Causes his own death which causes chain of events (III.iv.1-7)

Universal sign of trust throughout the play

Friend of Hamlet

“O God, Horatio, what a wounded name,/Things standing thus unknown,shall I leave behind me./If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,/Absent thee from felicity awhile,/And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain to tell my story.” (V,II,337-341)

• Undeniable loyalty to Hamlet
• Supportive
• Hamlet trusts him with many significant thoughts
• Trusts Horatio to tell Denmark his story

“And let me speak to th’yet unknowing world/How these things came about.So shall you hear/Of carnal,bloody,and unnatural acts,/Of accidental judgements,casual slaughters,/And,in this upshot,purposes mistook/Fall’n on th’inventors’ heads.All this can I truly deliver.” (V,II,372-378)

Horatio

• Posses the majority of the trust
• Thought of as trustworthy in the eyes of the audience
• Only person trustworthy enough to know Hamlet's true thoughts
• Responsible for telling Hamlet's story after he passes

Fortinbras (left) and Horatio (right)

Icon for the ideal man

“Horatio says ‘tis but our fantasy,/And will not let belief take hold of him…”(I,I,26-27)

• Clear judgement
• Scholar
• Methodical
• Valued Opinion
• Admired by many

"I will be brief: your noble son is mad.

Mad call I it"

Horatio awaiting the ghost with the guards

Major Contributions

"He will come straight. Look you lay home to him.

Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,

And that your grace hath screened and stood between

Much heat and him. I’ll silence me even here.

Pray you, be round with him."

Major contributions:

Appearance Versus Reality

Causes Ophelia to separate herself from Hamlet

Exaggerates Hamlet's strange behaviour

• Icon for the ideal man
• Universal sign of trust throughout the play
• Friend of Hamlet

Gets killed because of his meddling - death results in Hamlet's being sent away

Comic Relief ;))))

Ophelia

"I shall obey my lord"

(I, III, 145).

Dramatizes Insanity

Use of "Madness" as an Escape from Conformity

No Control

• Body
• Relationships
• Choices

Patriarchal Feminism

She now is free to speak as she wishes, yet is still not taken seriously

"speaks things in doubt/ That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing" (IV, V, 6-7)

Major Contributions:

• Represents Feminism
• Dramatizes Insanity
• Illustrates Hamlet's controversial Character

"As one incapable of her own distress

or like a creature native and endued

Unto that element. But long it could not be

Till that her garments, heavy with their drink.

Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay

To muddy death" (IV, VII, 178-183)

"If thou dost marry, I'll give

thee this plague for thy/ dowry:

be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow

, thou/ shalt not escape calumny.

Get thee to a nunnery"

(III, I, 135-7)

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern

"Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer, I will do your mother’s commandment. If not, your pardon and my return shall be the end of my business."

Revealing hate toward Claudius

“A little more than kin and less than kind”

Illustrates Hamlet's Character

Hamlet's tendency to contradict himself

Hamlet uses her in his acts of revenge

Shows remorse and love at her grave

"I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love' Make up my sum" (V, i, 255-7).

Minor Characters of Major Importance

 "We will ourselves provide.

Most holy and religious fear it is

To keep those many, many bodies safe

That live and feed upon your majesty."

Major Contributions

"Ay, sir, that soaks up the king’s countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end."

-Follow the King's orders to report on all of Hamlet's doings.

-Agree to take Hamlet to his death

-They are seen as friends to Hamlet, but they turn into traitors.

-Hamlet described them as "half men" and "sponges"