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Summary Hamlet Themes, Quotes, Context and Critics
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Contents: - Quotes, analysis, context and critics organised by theme (madness, gender, revenge, inaction, appearance vs reality, religion, death, the supernatural, corruption / decay / poison / disease) - Some quotes for more specific sub-themes and motifs - A bank of all of the theme-specific c...

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  • July 8, 2024
  • 32
  • 2023/2024
  • Summary

Subjects

  • themes
  • motifs
  • quotes
  • context
  • critics
  • ao1
  • ao2
  • ao3
  • ao5
  • knowledge organiser
  • critical commentary
  • analysis
  • vocab
  • madness
  • gender
  • corruption
  • appearance vs reality
  • death
  • religion
  • alternative interpretations
  • s

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Madness
Context
★ Women were believed to have a ‘phlegmatic humoral constitution’ that was
good for fertility but bad for intellect
★ Madness was considered a spectacle, with the psychiatric hospital ‘Bedlam’
(officially named ‘Saint Mary of Bethlehem’) being treated as a form of
entertainment
★ Madness was believed to be caused by an imbalance in the four humours
(Hamlet is described as displaying symptoms of ‘melancholy’, which was an
excess of black bile). However, the Elizabethans believed that madness could
also be caused by devils / astronomical events, or that it could be a sign of
wisdom
★ Hysteria (excessive and out of control emotion) was believed to be an
exclusively feminine affliction, as was later noted by Freud. Was also referred
to as ‘frenzy of the womb’ and most often believed to be attributable to sexual
repression or an excess of sexual desire


Hamlet's madness
Summary
Uses madness to express his true thoughts and emotions – his madness is neither
fake nor real, but an amplification of reality used as both an outlet of his feelings and,
possibly, a tool to justify his behaviour


Quotes and analysis
★ ‘O what a rogue and peasant slave’ soliloquy
○ implies he views fake emotions as equally real as real emotions, losing
touch with reality?
★ ‘I am but mad north-north west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk
from a handsaw’ (II.2)
○ perhaps mirrored by Hamlet's observation 'The wind is northerly' in
V.2, ie. he is not as sane as he once was
★ ‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t’ (II.2)

, ★ ‘put an antic disposition on’ (I.5)
○ implies that his madness is feigned
★ 'O, what a noble mind is here o'erhthrown!' (Ophelia, III.1)
○ implies that Hamlet's madness is an external force acting upon him,
against his will
★ 'If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away, / And when he's not himself does
wrong Laertes, / Then Hamlet does it not. Hamlet denies it. / Who does it,
then? His madness.' (H, V.2)


Critics
★ Freud: compared Hamlet faking his madness in order to conceal his
intentions to dreams ‘concealing the true circumstances under a cloak of wit
and unintelligibility’
★ Freud: believed Hamlet’s madness was caused by repressed feelings for his
mother
★ Freud: Hamlet’s outbreaks directed towards his mother and Ophelia can be
explained by ‘displacement’, the defence mechanism in which a person’s
hatred for something or someone is directed towards someone else
★ Jungian lens: the ghost is neither an apparition nor hallucination, but a
shadow self of Hamlet that confirms his unconscious suspicions of Claudius
and justifies his desire to kill him
★ A.C. Bradley: ‘[Hamlet’s] melancholy is very different to insanity’

★ Harry Levin: ‘[Hamlet is] neurotic rather than psychotic’

★ Harold Bloom: ‘the fundamental fact about Hamlet is not that he thinks too
much, but that he thinks much too well’
★ Maynard Mack: ‘Hamlet can be privileged in madness to say things [...]
about the corruption of human nature.’
★ T.S Eliot: Hamlet's mental state is 'less than madness and more than feigned'


Ophelia's madness
Summary
Through her madness, Ophelia rebels against the ideal of the quiet, submissive
Elizabethan woman (uses her voice through singing, is literally deflowered) –

,through her death, Shakespeare seems to indicate that there was no place in society
for women that did not adhere to these expectations


Quotes and analysis
★ 'I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.'
(Ophelia, IV.5)
○ violets symbolise modesty, alludes to a loss of humility caused by her
father's death.
★ 'There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And
there is pansies, that's for thought' (Ophelia, IV.5)
○ Ophelia literally deflowers herself, symbolises her loss of innocence and
defiance of societal norms.
○ The motif of flowers surrounding Ophelia's madness (also present in
Gertrude's description of her death) creates a sense of beauty - through
a feminist lens, this may be criticised as Shakespeare allows Hamlet's
madness to be gritty and ugly, while Ophelia's madness must be
feminine and beautiful
★ ''HORATIO: Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew / Dangerous
conjectures in ill-breeding minds / GERTRUDE: [...] Each toy seems prologue
to some great amiss' (IV.5)
○ Although Ophelia's madness is arguably just as threatening to the
monarchy as Hamlet's, Gertrude is indifferent – this may expose the
double standard in perceptions of madness
★ 'Her clothes spread wide, / And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up'
(Gertrude, IV.7)
○ even in her madness, Ophelia is required to be beautiful / reduced to
her beauty


Critics
★ Feminist lens: Ophelia's madness, particularly the motif of flowers, may be
criticised as Shakespeare allows Hamlet's madness to be gritty and ugly, while
Ophelia madness must be feminine and beautiful
★ Elaine Showalter: Ophelia's madness highlights the double standards of the
Elizabethan era as madmen were considered 'melancholic' (caused by an

, intellectual mind) while madwomen were 'hysteric' (caused by disturbances of
the womb, reduced ability to bear children)
★ Linda Bamber: argues that Ophelia's character isn't fully developed, and
that she is simply an artistic device used to indicate Hamlet's psychological
state
○ through this lens, it could be argued that the dramaturgical purpose of
Ophelia's madness is to establish her as a foil of Hamlet, ie. through her
suicide she is able to do what Hamlet never could bring himself to do
★ Jeremy Collier: denounced the play for allowing Ophelia to become
'immodest' in her madness




Gender
Summary
Shakespeare presents the women of Hamlet as seemingly powerless, although it is
unclear if this is purely a facade as both characters demonstrate power at various
points in the play.


Context
★ Until 1661, it was illegal for a woman to act on stage professionally - thus
female characters were portrayed by men, and only the concept of women was
explored through theatre
○ Theatre was often criticised by Puritan Christians due to its
manipulation of gender
○ Even after acting was legalised for women, it carried a stigma
★ Shakespeare’s female characters are generally bold and outspoken, defying
social conventions of the time (eg. Juliet in Romeo & Juliet, Hermia in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream)
★ 17th century medicine saw women as ‘unfinished men’, and therefore more
vulnerable to psychological and physical ailment
★ Hysteria (excessive and out of control emotion) was believed to be an
exclusively feminine affliction, as was later noted by Freud. Was also referred

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