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Incest: He marries his former sister in-law. This serves as additional motivation for Hamlet to avenge his father's death.
Shakespeare pits Claudius and Hamlet against each other, with Hamlet as the one seeking justice and Claudius as the lecherous murderer.
Ears: He poisons the former king's ear. Also, he manipulates the other characters with his dishonesty.
murderer vs. revenger
corruption vs. innocence
Claudius is responsible for the deaths of King Hamlet, the Queen, and Hamlet. Besides personally murdering King Hamlet, he can be considered innocent of both the Queen and Hamlet's death because they were not killed by him but by his scheming.
Poison: He poisons King Hamlet, the wine at the duel, and the sword.
Claudius kills his brother. He recognizes his own evil and acknowledges his doomed status. He demonstrates his regret and guilt when praying for forgiveness.
criminal vs. contrite
Hamlet Act 1
Hamlet Act 5
Hamlet Acts 2-4
Structuralist criticism is the view of finding words and phrases in a piece of
literature that channel the meaning of the work. In particular, it focuses on the
juxtaposition of these words and phrases, also known as binary opposition. These
oppositions are important to examine because they may allude what the author was
trying to convey.
Through the contrast of opposing thoughts and feelings in a characters stream of consciousness, Shakespeare conveys that juxtaposed elements are not only revealed in speech, but are revealed in character action as well.
-"So much for him./Now for ourself and for this time of meeting:" (1.2.28-29)
King Claudius explains the death of the late King Hamlet, and his marriage to Gertrude swiftly without real consent as we know.He then Quickly jumps to his role as King without looking back on his brothers death. He doesn't want anyone to question him so he quickly moves on.
-"To give these mourning duties to your father." (1.2.92)
vs.
-"'Tis unmanly grief." (1.2.98)
King Claudius seems to be consulting Hamlet in his grievances, yet goes back and insults him telling him it is "unmanly". This shows the opposites of how Shakespeare structures his plays.
Peter Sinclair. Structuralism: Critical Method Toward Literature #2. What A Piece Of Work. Web. Oct. 19 2012. http://whatapieceofwork.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/structuralism-critical-method-toward-literature-2/
John Webster. So What’s all this Stuff About Structuralism and its Effects on Literary Theory?. Faculty at University of Washington. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. http://faculty.washington.edu/cicero/index.htm.
SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Hamlet. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/.
Dr. Kristi Siegel. Introduction to Modern Literary Theory. Kristi Siegel Professor of English Homepage. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm.