Detailed essay plans covering AO1 and AO5 with complex analysis that achieved full marks at OCR A-Level. Appearances, Revenge and Madness are 3 very likely topics for the 2024 exams as they are yet to come up. These plans are comprehensive and will prepare you well. Created by a student who got an ...
🢒 This is the tragedy of a court so steeped in artifice and falsities that loyalty, friendship and trust are a danger
- a tragedy of corruption not of revenge
🢒 Obsessed with performance - performance as a paradoxical vehicle for the truth - ironic that truth is only
expressed in plays and in madness/antic disposition or spoken posthumously when it is too late
🢒 Sense that the ending is fated - the real tragedy of this play is that ‘no one knows or understands anyone
else’ (Charles) - court cannot be restored
🢒 Is duplicity a necessary means of survival in the court of elsinore or is this the root of tragedy?
AO1 AO5
P1 - Hamlet’s ‘Antic disposition’ - artifice as a means of Alexander “how does one deal with such a man without
survival in an inauthentic world? becoming like him”
🢒 1.2 (“nay it is I know not seems” “niobe” echo Woods “cannot escape the human impulse to perform”
later in 2.2) - Hamlet seems to be the character Johnson
most preoccupied/openly distressed by Cumberbatch performance - entirely sane
inauthenticity - suggests antic disposition is a
Relevant to both modern and contemporary audiences
means to an end - no choice
- a ‘human impulse’ = innate
🢒 1.5 (“Smiling damned villain … that one may
smile and be a villain”” “Perchance hereafter
think meet to put and antic disposition on”) -
contradictory - he becomes what he criticises =
no choice
🢒 2.2 (““You’re a fishmonger” “Though this be
madness yet there is method in’t”)
P2 - Claudius false appearances with a political (not Schofield - “morally empty”
personal) motive - guilty conscience Knight - “a strong monarch … enmeshed by a chain of
🢒 1.2 (“chiefest courtier cousin and our son” “Our causality linking him with his crime”
dear brother’s death the memory be green”) - Altick - “the dunning of claudius’ evil has corrupted the
figurehead of corruption - inauthenticity stems whole kingdom of denmark”
from Claudius - we cannot sympathise nor see Godwin 2016 - unconvincing interpretation of
hi as a ‘lawful espial’ as he is the cause and also self-disgust
this is political not personal (even is he frames it
as obligation ‘madness in great ones must never
unwatched go”)
🢒 3.3 (“Pray can I not” “My words fly up, my
thoughts remain below, words without thoughts
never to heaven go”) - change in speech = the
real claudius is far from the adept manipulative
usurping king of 1.2 - we can’t even sympathise
with the real him
🢒 (4.5 “So full of artless jealousy is guilt, it spills
itself in fearing to be spilt” G = summative -
appearance + reality cannot be kept separate
forever)
, P3 - Gertrude = real tragedy lies in the liminality of Bradby - “a character of ambiguous morality whom we
authenticity and pretence can never fully know”
🢒 3.4 and 4.1 juxtaposition - simultaneously loyal Lewes - “terrible adulterous queen”
and disloyal to both - true loyalty cannot exist in Charles - “no one in this play knows or understands
this court - her ambiguous morality is a anyone else”
symptom of the ambiguous boundaries of truth Graves - Hamlet is 'in an endlessly ambiguous play
and lies - wider links to political loyalty of P, R&G
Wide variations in performance - overt sexuality Doran
- all lead to death
2008 vs loyalty to Hamlet Holmes 2022 - no one can
🢒 True tragedy of this play is that the line has
settle on one interpretation = defined by her ambiguity
become unclear - full of paradoxes eg. truth
through performance (Murder of Gonzago) -
Gertrude too is a paradox as both loyal and
disloyal- she embodies both authenticity and
inauthenticity at once)
🢒 Tragic that this line only becomes clear in earth -
characters speak words of truth posthumously
eg. over the body of Ophelia
Summary
Issue of appearance vs reality transcends contemporary modern divide being relevant to all audiences
- The tragedy of Hamlet lies in its ambiguity - authenticity and pretence become so closely intertwined that
the only chance of reconciliation is through death and expurgation of corruption
- Explores the extent to which we can sympathise with duplicity and deceit - political vs. personal motives
- The tragedy of a court devolved so far that genuine human connection has become impossible
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller hazel3. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £8.16. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
