Write a 1-2 page analysis of Hamlet. Do not attempt to analyze the entire play, because that would be IMPOSSIBLE in 1 or 2 pages. Rather, analyze an aspect of the play. I think the best way to get started would be to select a passage or two from the Trojan War myth and ask yourself what it could suggest about the play. Take it from there. For example, you may choose to write all about Gertrude's role in the play and in the murder of King Hamlet. Maybe you'd like to write about "all the advice giving" in the play and what it shows. Or perhaps you find that Polonius knows more than we give him credit for. Even still, you might be interested in how Hamlet's language changes, based on who he is talking to. The point is to analyze deeply an aspect. DO NOT SUMMARIZE THE ACTION. I ALREADY KNOW THE PLAY!!!! Tell me something I don't have a definite answer to.
This assignment must be typed and submitted in class tomorrow. Handwritten assignments will only be accepted if you spoke to me in class today about it before you left the room.
For those of you who asked for this, here is a copy of the file I used for the stations in class today. The quotes are from the Trojan War myth. The thoughts/questions are my annotations.
“All that was left of Troy was a band of helpless captive women, whose husbands were dead, whose children had been taken from them. They were waiting for their masters to carry them overseas to slavery. Chief among the captives was the old Queen, Hecuba, and her daughter-in-law, Hector’s wife Andromache. For Hecuba, all was ended. Crouched on the ground, she saw the Greek ships getting ready as she watched the city burn. Troy is no longer, she told herself, and I— who am I? A slave men drive like cattle. An old gray woman that has no home” (286).
Is this how it’s all going to end for Gertrude? Are Gertrude and Ophelia these “captive women?” The “who am I without a husband” idea interests me. Do you think this is what motivates Gertrude? Has Gertrude been in on King Hamlet’s murder this whole time? Or do you think the “who am I without a husband” idea motivates her to keep her mouth shut after having figured it out? Or do you think she is completely in the dark?
“In the middle of the night the door in the horse opened. One by one the chieftains let themselves down. They stole to the gates and threw them wide, and into the sleeping town marched the Greek Army. What they had first to do could be carried out silently. Fires were started in buildings throughout the city. By the time the Trojans were awake, before they realized what had happened, while they were struggling into their armor, Troy was burning. They rushed out to the street one by one in confusion. Bands of soldiers were waiting there to strike each man down before he could join himself to others. It was not fighting, it was butchery. Very many died without ever a chance of dealing a blow in return” (286).
This makes me think about Hamlet’s plan to take Claudius by surprise. Is it fair fighting to take someone by surprise? Is it a cowardly act for Hamlet to try to take Claudius by surprise?
“They saw clearly by now that unless they could get their Army into the city and take the Trojans by surprise, they would never conquer. Almost ten years had passed since they had first laid siege to the town, and it seemed as strong as ever. The walls stood uninjured. They had never suffered real attack. The Greeks must find a secret way of entering the city, or accept defeat. The result of this new determination and new vision was the stratagem of the wooden horse. It was, as anyone would guess, the creation of Odysseus’ wily mind. […]Whatever happened they would be safe; they could sail home if anything went wrong” (283).
How is Hamlet’s “play within a play” scheme similar to Odysseus’ plan about the Trojan horse? Is trickery the only way to get want you want in Hamlet? Where do we see “trickery and the idea of “disguise” in Hamlet? Try to think of examples that are less than obvious. How does Hamlet’s plan allow him space to “sail home if anything went wrong”
“At nightfall he went to find them and he had reached their quarters when Athena struck him with madness. He thought the flocks and herds of the Greeks were the Army, and rushed to kill them, believing that he was slaying now this chieftain, now that. Finally he dragged to his tent a huge ram which to distracted mind was Odysseus, bound him to the tent-pole, and beat him savagely (278).”
… Hold your horses! Is it possible that maybe Hamlet really is “mad” (in the crazed sense)? Is it possible that his “feigned disposition” and “antic behavior” actually turned him antic? How does this happen to a person?!
“Then his frenzy left him. He regained his reason and saw that his disgrace in not winning the arms had been but a shadow as compared with the shame his own deeds had drawn down upon him. His rage, his folly, his madness, would be apparent to everyone (279).”
This makes me think of how Hamlet talks about Pyrrhus’s awakened fury. He says that “just as a raging thunderstorm is often interrupted by a moment’s silence,” Pyrrhus’s bloody sword “mercilessly falls on Priam.” Is Hamlet ready to act? Will he be ready to act if the play within the play scheme works?
“Olympus laughed pleasantly to himself when he saw god matched against god” (273).
Remember earlier when Hamlet said, “man in action is like an angel… in apprehension how like a god.” Are Hamlet and Claudius like gods opposed? Do they have hubris and behave as if they are gods? Are they apprehensive with each other? Why don’t they act against one another, if Hamlet seeks revenge, and Claudius seeks safety from revenge?
“He felt shame before them and he told them he saw his own exceeding folly in allowing the loss of a mere girl to make him forget everything else. But that was over; he was ready to lead them as before. Let them prepare at once for the battle” (273).
This got me thinking… It’s too late for Claudius to ask forgiveness from anyone. His brother is dead, so there’s no forgiveness there. Hamlet is enraged and wants revenge, and it’s unlikely that he would forgive Claudius. He’s in too deep with Gertrude; that is, if she didn’t know about the murder already. Shame will need an outlet for Gertrude. The outlet for his shame seems to be lying. Where do we see Claudius lying? To whom does he lie? Doesn’t he also lie to himself? I see him lying to himself when he trusts that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are going to report everything back to him that Hamlet does around them. I see him lying to himself when he just believes Voltemand, who says that Fortinbras’ uncle says that Fortinbras says he retreat from Denmark and stay away. It seems foolish to believe such hearsay—and this makes me think that Claudius doesn’t even believe the lies he tells himself.
“Grief took hold of Achilles, so black that those around him feared for his life. Down in the sea caves his mother knew his sorrow and came up to try to comfort him” (272).
This makes me think of the idea that grief has the power to take control of people’s lives. How has this happened in Hamlet? In what ways has his grief taken over? Talk about three or four ways his life and worldview is turned upside down.
“O Zeus, in after years may men say of this my son when he returns from battle, ‘Far greater is he than his father was’” (268).
This reminds me of when Hamlet says that Claudius is “no more like my father than I to Hercules,” which got me thinking that maybe Hamlet has an inferiority complex. He does NOT see himself like Hercules at all, because we know that he sees his real dad as superior than Claudius. Maybe we can look at this play as a coming of age for Hamlet, where a boy is just growing into a man and wants to outdo his father as part of the “growing up” experience.
“My dear lord,” she said, “you who are father and mother and brother unto me as well as husband, stay here with us. Do not make me a widow and your child an orphan” (268).
Maybe this idea is why so many directors cross that line with family loyalty and love. Perhaps the configuration of love should be understood as “life giving” and supportive. We know that Gertrude is “life-giving,” literally, as Hamlet’s mother. But is she supportive in any way? Is she loyal? Is she loving?
“He was of more than royal blood; his mother was Aphrodite herself, and when Diomedes wounded him she hastened down to the battlefield to save him. She lifted him in her soft arms, but Diomedes, knowing she was a coward goddess, not one of those who like Athena are masters where warriors fight, leaped toward her and wounded her hand. Crying out she let her son fall, and weeping for pain…”(266).
Is it me, or does this passage remind you of Gertrude? How does Hamlet see himself as “of more than royal blood”? Think about how he thought of his dad. And based on the way his dad treated Gertrude, we could say that she was treated like a goddess of beauty. Is Gertrude like this “coward goddess,” who could not fight “where warriors fight”? How does Gertrude symbolically “let her son fall”? What has he “fallen into”?
“But although his mother failed him Aeneas was not killed” (266).
Maybe Hamlet uses what he perceives as his mother’s weaknesses and fragility (remember, he says “frailty, thy name is woman”) to motivate him. Perhaps he’s thinking, “what doesn’t kill me will make me stronger.”
