Hamlet: Summary/ Analysis

Author: William Shakespeare was brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. When he was 18 he married Anne Hathaway and had three children. Between  1585 and 1592, he was an actor, writer, and a part owner of a playing company named Lord Chamberlain's Men. He produced most of his work during the years 1589 and 1613.
Setting: Hamlet takes place in Denmark, the year is unknown, but is said to be the early 1600s.
Plot: The play begins with Bernardo, Francisco, and Horatio on watch. While on watch, they find the ghost of the old King Hamlet. They try to get it to talk, but are unable to do so. Meanwhile, Hamlet is with his uncle, King Claudius, and his mother, Queen Gertrude. Hamlet clearly doesn't like his new "father" and is mad at his mother for choosing to marry him. Laertes also asks the king for permission to return to France for school. Afterwards, we find Laertes and his sister, Ophelia, having a normal conversation. He tells her not to fall in love with Hamlet. Their father, Polonius, gives Laertes some advice before he leaves. He also tells Ophelia not to get too attached to Hamlet. Polonius is also an advisor to the king. Later that day, Hamlet is brought to go see the ghost of his dead father. He gets it to speak and finds that it was his uncle that killed his father, and is told that he must kill his uncle to avenge his father's death. He also chooses that he will act crazy in order to help carry out his goal. Next, Ophelia runs to her father and tells him that Hamlet had stormed into her closet (which is a private place) and was acting weird. Polonius tells her not to go see him anymore. Polonius also tells a man to go spy on Laertes in France. Later, the king and queen go tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to go spy on Hamlet. Hamlet then finds out that there are going to be players coming into the castle and decide to go set up a play that would see if the King really was guilty by his reaction to the play. Before the play, Ophelia goes to return  Hamlet's belongings that he gave her. He feels hurt by her betrayal, and becomes angry. Hamlet's plan to test the king's guilt with the play is successful, but his mother, surprised about the play, wishes to speak to him. While in his mothers room, Hamlet begins to yell at her about her betrayal to him and his father, and in the process kills Polonius (who was spying on them). During this the ghost appears again, but the queen is unable to see it. Feeling threatened, the king sends Hamlet with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to England to go have Hamlet killed. While Hamlet is away, Ophelia appears insane and beings to sing songs that actually have truth behind them. This is when Laertes returns from France and swears that he will avenge his father's death and well as Ophelia. Afterwards, the King finds out that Hamlet is actually on his way back from England and is confused as to how he escaped. The king then plans to have Hamlet and Laertes fight, poisoning Hamlet in the process. They then find out that Ophelia had drowned, and they are not sure if it was a suicide or not. During her funeral, Hamlet appears and Laertes attacks him,  but both are separated. Later on, Osric talks to Hamlet and convices him to fight with Laertes. Finally, the fight begins. The king poisons wine that he intends to give to Hamlet, but instead actually kills the queen. Hamlet then is hit and is poisoned  by Laertes' blade. Realizing what is going on, he hits Laertes with the sword, and stabs the king (as well as forces him to drink the poisoned wine). Laertes then dies, who is then followed by Hamlet. The prince of Norway, Fortinbras, then shows up, and gives Hamlet a burial.
Characters:
Claudius: Hamlet's uncle, who killed Old Hamlet. Married Hamlet's mother two months after Old Hamlet's death. He's plotting and very manipulative. Hamlet wants to kill him to avenge his father.
Hamlet: A very intelligent man, son to Old Hamlet and Claudius' nephew. Wants to the kill the king, since he killed his father. Is in love with Ophelia and best friends with Horatio (used to be with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). His sanity is questionable.
Polonius: Advisor to the king as well as Ophelia and Laertes' father. Acts dumb, but is actually quite smart
Horatio: One of Hamlet's friends, seems to be the most loyal
Laertes: Polonius' son and Ophelia's brother. Disliked Hamlet because he killed his father. Apparently is an excellent swordsman.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Hamlet's childhood friends. Sent by the king to go spy on Hamlet, betraying him while doing so.
Gertrude: Hamlet's mother. Hamlet seems to be very unhappy with her during the play. Her knowledge about the murder is unknown.
Ophelia: Polonius' daughter. Is in love with Hamlet, but he betrays him because of what her father tells her to do. Her innocence is questionable. She may or may not be pregnant with Hamlet's child.
Author's Style: Since this is a Shakespearean play, the way it is written is different than modern texts. He tends to leave some details out to allow for different interpretations. He also uses the double meaning of words to add more to what his characters are saying.
Tone: The tones throughout the play were actually quite hard for me to determine. I believe that many lines in the play can be said in different tones to allow for different interpretations.
Symbols: There actually wasn't very many objects in the play that had any other meanings. One I can think of is the flowers that Ophelia was handing out to everyone while she was insane. Rue means regret, Rosemary and Pansies mean remembrance and love, and daisies mean faithlessness.
Quotes: 
"To be, or not to be: that is the question" (Act 3, Scene 1)
Hamlet states this when contemplating suicide. This ties in to the theme of the mystery of death. Hamlet is constantly wondering about what happens after death and why we must die. Hamlet is surrounded by so much death and pain that he really seems to find interest in the idea of death.
"...the hellish Pyrrhus/ Old gransire Priam seeks" (Act 2, Scene 2)
Hamlet is speaking about the Greek story about the fall of Troy. Pyrrhus wanted to kill his father's killer, but since he's already dead, he kills his killer's father. This quote clearly shows the motif of revenge that is very evident within the play. Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras all want to avenge their father's within the play.
"Denmark's a prison" (Act 2, Scene 2)
The idea of Denmark as a prison shows how Hamlet see the corruption in the people of the country. He sees the infidelity in his two friends, Ophelia, and his mother, and feels like his trapped, being the only one that stays loyal to all the right people.
Theme: One's fate and the mystery of death. Both are questioned throughout the play and the events in the play, in one way or another, deal with one or both ideas. Hamlet wonders about what happens after death, which is evident when he talks to his father's ghost. He thinks about his father's sins had affected him in the afterlife. Hamlet also wonders about his fate, if he was fated to end up killing his father's killer and if he was fated to die in the process.

Open Prompt #1 (Revision) -Jan. 20-

1995 Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.

Within the novel A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Huxley places one of his characters in a society completely different from his own. John, known as "the savage", is the character that exposes the values of future London in the novel. His values and his world are completely different compared to people of London. His differences are what cause him to be alienated. . By placing John in the futuristic London, Huxley reveals the odd morals and assumptions of his "utopia".

The people of London had been conditioned when they were children to believe certain things that we would think to be completely bizarre. For example, when Lenina, a girl who grew up in London, tries to show her affection for John, she attempts to sleep with him. John refuses her and screams profanities as he walks out the door, scaring Lenina and a few other Londoners. Lenina’s actions show that the society of London assume that everyone wants to have sex on the first date. John’s reaction, though, further shows the contrast between him and the rest of London, and so he appears even more foreign. 

Another instance is when John is visiting his dying mother. Once she passes, nurses bring a group of children to his mother to try to show them that death is a happy thing. John, who is angered by their lack of emotion towards his mother's death, begins to attack the children and throws the nurse's soma (the drug used by the people to "forget their worries") out the window. The nurses begin to riot over their lost soma and police's solution to calm the riot is to fill the room with soma. John, who believes that death is a dark, sad event clearly expresses his pain and anger, especially when attacking the children. The fear that is sparked within the people comes from his rage, which further alienates him. His further alienation shows the people’s fear of the “different”. They clearly do not accept him because of his small attempts to change their values, which is clearly seen when he throws the soma out. Their fear of the different is also clear through John’s nickname, “the Savage”. They clearly believe that John’s outsider status is dirty and wild, and only a select few want to be associated with him.

John's actions and reactions alienated him within the world of London, but they also exposed the underlying societal norms, as well as emphasized the obvious ones. He shows the Londoner’s unwillingness to accept the new and their dependence on sex and drugs. Huxley clearly put John in London for a good reason, to show the audience the true utopian London. 

Response to Course Material #5 -Jan.13-

Hamlet. So much Hamlet. I find the play to be an interesting one, and is probably the play I had the most fun annotating. I enjoyed watching the first two movies, and I look forward to watching the one we started on Friday. Each movie has it's similarities and differences which show how there are many interpretations to certain parts of Hamlet. Which brings me to Ophelia and her innocence. I believe Ophelia's innocence is based off of how one interprets the play. Was she pregnant? How much does she know? Why was she so willing to lie to Hamlet?, the answers vary, but they're what determine Ophelia's innocence. I also wonder if Gertrude cheated on Old Hamlet with Claudius. From my understanding and interpretation of the play, I believe that she didn't and thinks that she married Claudius for the people of Denmark. I think that maybe Claudius not only wanted the throne, but also wanted Gertrude. Back on the topic of the movies, I find the most modern movie to be very interesting (the one we just started). Hamlet's attitude towards his mother is very different compared to the Hamlets in the other movies. He seems to be colder in this version. Between the first two that we watched, I think the second movie was my favorite. As said in our discussion after watching that movie, it's more "viewer friendly". The sets were a lot more elaborate, and the scenes were a lot more intense, and so overall appealed more even though the lines were the same in both movies. Lately, we've been doing atmosphere/mood exercises. I actually find those to be a bit fun, and it teaches how to write with a certain mood in mind.