Hamlet Review for IOC: Theme, Motif, Character
THEME, IMAGERY, MOTIF
Where and how is the theme/imagery/motif shown? What do we learn about it? What role does it take with character and plot?
element / ideas & analysissuccession, usurpation, war / · Claudius ruled by usurpation: he killed his brother and married his brother’s wife to get power. This was the cause of all the conflict in the play. It led the Ghost (supposedly is Old King Hamlet) to tell Hamlet the story and encourage him to get revenge.
· Fortinbras shows determination and will to action in his war with Poland. This leads Hamlet to reflect and realize that he too needs to take action in his war with Claudius.
- Hamlet notices that Fortinbras’ war is worthless when the Captain describes, “We go to gain a little patch of ground/ That hath in it no profit but the name” (4.4.19). Hamlet also emphasizes the worthlessness of the Fortinbras’ by describing it with dismissive terms, “eggshell” (4.4.56), “straw” (4.4.58) and (4.4.27)
- But even so, Fortinbras’ is devoted to the idea and goes after it. This leaves Hamlet impressed and finds in Fortinbras a model for him. This leads Hamlet to want to take bloody action as well: “My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!”(4.5.69)
deception, seeming, spying, surveillance / The play revolves around a common theme of spying and surveillance. Nobody is capable of trusting anyone, and everyone in the play has had some role in spying. The theme of deception can best be linked to Hamlet, who deceives almost all in the court to think he is mad. The first case of deception though can be traced to Claudius who feigns that he cares and loves his brother, even though he murdered him. This feigned love is now switched to hamlet.
●The first record of spying occurs when Polonius sends Reynaldo to spy on his son Laertes. He sets him-self up as a spy and will end up dying for this sin. `”Before you visit him, to make inquire of his behavior...inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris.” (2.1-4)
●The spying and deception can be seen in Claudius. He both deceives men to think he cares, and he sends spy's to learn about Hamlet. Hamlet characterizes this deception best when he states, “O, villain, villain, smiling, damned villain.”(1.5-105)
●Hamlet both deceives and spy's as well. His point in this is to learn what truly happened to his father and to feign madness. The purpose behind his deception and spying comes from his wish to avenge his father. “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on.” (1.5-173)
●Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: they pose as friends to Hamlet while reporting to the King, "sponging" up information and rewards from the King "Ay sir, that soaks up the King's countenance, his rewards...When he needs what you have gleaned it is but squeezing you" (4.2.15-20)
●Also interesting to note that Polonius dies while spying on Hamlet. This is almost ironic; considering the character serves as a comic relief, it suits the purpose. His death also leads to Ophelia’s madness (and drowning) and Laertes’s pursuit of revenge (which leads to Hamlet’s death). Therefore shows the importance of spying in the play - leads to a series of resulting events.
●the motif of spying can be interpreted as the cause for Hamlet’s paranoia of not trusting anyone. All the spying, from Rosencrantz/Guildenstern, Claudius,... made Hamlet paranoid with trust, where he starts attacking everyone’s fakeness and loyalty. (ex. when he criticizes Rosencrantz in being a sponge)
●Even the audience is part of this spying to discover the truth. For example, in Hamlet’s play within the play the audience observes Claudius’ and Gertrude’s reaction to it.
●Deception is also seen as Hamlet is trying to see if Claudius was the one who murdered OKH as Hamlet observes him while he is watching The Muder of Gonzago, or The Mousetrap. Hamlet made Claudius believe that that was just a regular play, but he had other intentions as he watched Claudius during its performance. Hamlet also tells Horatio about his plan of deception: Give him a heedful note / For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, / And after we will both our judgments join / In censure of his seeming. (3.2.89-92)
the unspeakable, “undiscovered country” / Unspeakable suffering/crimes, the power of words
●When Hamlet meets his fathers ghost talks about his unspeakable suffering in purgatory (1.5.18-23) "I am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up they soul, freeze thy young blood". Great respect is given to the power of words. OKH had poison thrown in his ear, while the story of his death is poison in Hamlet's (Fields Essay)
●Purgatory is also another world, one of the "undiscovered countries" for which men are bound after their death which Hamlet mentions in the "To Be or not to Be" soliloquy (3.1.86-88).
●The concept of "unspeakable" also relates to the deception, subterfuge, double meanings in the play. Many things are not said directly, Hamlet's accusation of Claudius, for example, occurs during The Mousetrap
●Events in this world are controlled by the next one (undiscovered country), he refuses to kill Claudius while praying (3.3.79-93). Claudius' crime is particularly horrible because he killed OKH unshriven, and condemned him to damnation
●Hamlet claims that after death, people go to an “undiscovered country.” Ironically, Denmark is, in many ways, an undiscovered country, since appearances are deceiving and so much is unspoken. Few are who they really seem to be, and hidden plots and espionage are common (such as Hamlet’s revenge, Polonius’ plan to have Ophelia reject Hamlet , Laertes’ and C’s plan to murder Hamlet, etc.) Claudius’ murder of King Hamlet – the driving event in the play – is one thing that is almost undiscovered; only Hamlet discovers this, ironically, through an inhabitant of the “undiscovered country” (the Ghost).
●The idea that people fear the “undiscovered country” after death is emphasized by the theme of espionage, which reveals the human desire to discover.
acting, theater, playing a role / ●“‘Seems,’ madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems.’” (1.2.79) is Hamlet’s answer to his mother’s question about mourning his father. Even from this early on in the play there’s this opposition between “seeming” (or feigning) grief and truly feeling it.
●“How strange or odd some’er I bear myself (...) that you, at such times seeing me, never shall, with arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase” (1.5.190) Hamlet warns his friends he will act very strangely, and no matter what, that they remember him by how he truly is.
●“Take you, as ‘twere, some distant knowledge of him” (2.1.15) Polonius asks Reynaldo to play the role of an acquaintance of Laertes in order to spy on him. Hamlet tells Guildenstern about his attempt to act as his friend when he is really being paid for by the queen: “You would play upon me, young would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery...” (3.2.394)
●At the beginning of his fake madness, Hamlet speaks in prose, acting to break his characteristic way of speaking in order to “show” the loss of his mind: “For if the Sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion - Have you a daughter?” (2.2.197)
●ROS: “(...) if you delight not in man, what Lenten entertainment the players shall receive from you.” HAM: “He that plays the king shall be welcome...” continues until “What players are they?” (2.2.339) “You are welcome, masters; welcome all. - I am glad to see thee well. - Welcome, good friends.” (2.2.445) These passages shows Hamlet’s passion and excitement for acting and theater
●“For my uncle is King of Denmark, and those that would make mouths at him while my father lived give twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture in little.” (2.2.387) Mentions how people act differently around his uncle now that he has become King
●“The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited.” (2.2.420) This speech by Polonius becomes humorous, and it concerns the different genres found in theater
●“Follow him, friends. We’ll have a play tomorrow. (...) Can you play ‘The Murder of Gonzago? (...) You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down and insert in ‘t, could you not?” (2.2.563) Hamlet uses theater and his talent in poetry in order to send a more direct message to his mother and uncle: “The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” (2.2.633)
●References to theater world: HAM:”What did you enact?” POL: “I did enact Julius Caesar” (3.2.109)
●Hamlet affects his mother and uncle using the play: HAM: “Madam, how like you this play?” QUEEN: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” (3.2.253) “He poisons him i’th’garden for his estate. (...) You shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago’s wife.” (3.2.287) [
●Hamlet mocks those who believe the acting of his disease: “My wit’s diseased.” (3.2.349)
●Ophelia is “directed” by Claudius to pretend she no longer loves Hamlet.
●Hamlet tells his mother that if she does not have virtue she should at least pretend to "But go not to my uncle's bed. Assume a virtue if you have it not" (3.4.181-182)
uncertainty, guilt, forgiveness / The best example of uncertainty is Hamlet's famous, "To be or not to be"speech. It expresses the fundamental uncertainty of existence: why are we here? The answer, according to Hamlet, is that we remain alive because we are afraid of death, of the "undiscovered country" that awaits those who meet this fate.
Hamlet himself is a character filled with uncertainty. He is uncertain about pursuing his newly set goal of revenge due to his methodical nature. "I do not know why yet I live to say 'this thing's to do'" His scholarly nature is also seen with the uncertainty he expresses as to the ghost's origin and intentions.
Of guilt, Claudius is a paramount example. Shakespeare humanises him despite his horrifying actions. He expresses guilt in that, despite being remorseful, he is still in full possession of the perks that his crime has provided him. "But O, what form of prayer can serve my turn? 'forgive me my foul murder'? That cannot be, since I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder: my crown, mine own ambition, and my queen" He also recognizes the foulness of his action, which separates him from a simple role of villain, and creates a more flawed, complex character that has a moral compass yet acts despite his knowledge of what is right and wrong. "O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven: it hath the primal eldest curse upon't, a brother's murde."He even makes reference to the Biblical Cain and Abel, which displays great remorse and comprehension of his sin.
Claudius prays for forgiveness as well, for that heavenly intervention that is so often referred to in throughout the play (leitmotif of heaven and earth). "What if this cursed hand were thicker than itself with brother's blood? Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens to wash it white as snow?"
He prays for forgiveness but he doesn’t really repent (since he says he still wants all the things that he gained with the murder of OKH, I think you should mention this aspect.
\Gertrude’s character itself is very uncertain. Her character actually portrays all three of these aspects. She’s uncertain about how to care for Hamlet now that he’s gone mad. Even though she’s his mother, she follow Claudius’ idea of spying on Hamlet. (Her subjection to Claudius can be seen in 2.2 when he says “Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern” and Gertrude simply repeats what he said.)
Gertrude can also be analyzed as a character who feels guilt towards the end of the play. This is seen when Hamlet is talking to her in act 3 scene 4, where he starts attacking her in every form for her to be able to see that her actions (of marrying he ex husband’s brother) were wrong. “O Hamlet, speak no more! Thou turn´st my eyes into my (very) soul,” Here we can see how she feels guilty, since she tells her son to speak no more and later on even says her soul has turned into “black and grained spots” showing that she sees that her actions were wrong.
disease, sickness, decay, body, corruption / Shakespeare develops the motif of deterioration and decay as a means of metaphorically illustrating the current condition of Denmark, which is corrupted by lies, and of Hamlet, who is subjected to questionable mental health. His mental health isn’t questionable, he feigns decay, external decay
--- The concept of sickness is introduced before any of the story’s protagonists, when Francisco claims, “I am sick at heart” (1.1.9), and is quickly followed by Horatio’s remark, “and the moist star... was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse” (1.1.129-31). Both of these quotes foreshadow the tense ambiance to be revealed in Denmark. Francisco’s illness, which is actually anxiety and fear that ensued after the discovery of the ghost, may be paralleled with the illnesses destined to rampage characters and relationships later in the play. Horatio’s observation about the moon is also metaphorically prophetic, wherein a celestial body that was previously pure (associated to color white) has been corrupted and beholds a “doomsday”. Not only is this illustrated situation remarkably similar to the situation in Denmark by the end of Act 5, it also prepares us for Shakespeare’s cynical perception of both corruption and its consequences.
--- The famous line spoken by Marcellus, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (1.4.100), equates physical decay to intangible corruption inside “the state of Denmark”. This is a recurring idea throughout the play in which Denmark is associated to its king, Claudius, and a contagious infection represents the corruption sweeping within. This exploitation of metonymy is reiterated when the ghost say OKH’s death was “most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust/ All my smooth body” (1.5.79-80). The graphic description relates the deterioration of OKH’s body, who had poison poured into his ear, to the corruption spreading across Denmark, which is poisoned by the lies told by Claudius.
---- In Hamlet’s first soliloquy he says, “O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,/ Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew” (1.2.133-4), contemplating death. The diction he employs emanates the idea of decay, suggesting that he has been affected by the far-reaching corruption spread by Claudius. Maybe he is not corrupted by Claudius, but by the consequences that Claudius’ corruption brings upon those around him. He proceeds to compare the world to “an unweeded garden/ That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature/ Possess it merely” (1.2.139-41), suggesting that the world itself is subject to decadence and humans merely accelerate its dissemination. Therefore, evil and sins are contagious and they are bound to subjugate humanity.
--- Disease and decay are also associated to female sexuality and are thereby vehicles for the motif of misogyny. Their are multiple references to Gertrude’s incestuous relationship with Claudius by Hamlet, which leads to the deterioration of their relationship and her ultimate death in Act 5. In fact, Hamlet pleads Gertrude not to engage in sexual activity with Claudius as a means of preserving her “virtue” in Act 3 scene 4. Laertes advises Ophelia to do the same when he says, “The canker galls the infants of the spring... Contagious blastments are most imminents” (1.3.43-6). The metaphor he wields to urge Ophelia to remain a virgin disposes of diction related to decay, namely the decay of flowers, thereby associating corruption to sexuality. I see the association of decay with Ophelia, but not with Gertrude. Her act is less physically wrong but much more immoral, perhaps she suffers spiritual decay: “Such an act/That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,/Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose/From the fair forehead of an innocent love/And sets a blister there, (...) O, such a deed/As from the body of contraction plucks/The very soul” (3.4.49)
--- Hamlet’s decision to feign madness as a means to attain revenge on Claudius is also symbolic. Whether he actually develops a disease or not is debatable, but his demonstrations of insanity suggest that he too has been infected by the contagious disease set loose in Denmark. Therefore, the question of Hamlet’s sanity serves Shakespeare’s thematic purpose: to demonstrate the inevitability of corruption once it’s unrestrained and to acknowledge it’s overwhelming power of resolution. This idea is later reinforced in Hamlet’s quote, “the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog” (2.2.197), wherein the sun, an image of divine power and omnipotence, is the origin of decadence like king Claudius in Denmark.