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Grade 12 English Hamlet Study Guide
English - Home Language - Mandatory (Best notes for high school - ZA)
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Hamlet
Study Guide by Course Hero
TENSE
What's Inside Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in the present tense.
ABOUT THE TITLE
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 Hamlet is a tale of mourning, madness, and revenge. The play's
title refers to its central character, Prince Hamlet of Denmark,
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 and to his murdered father, King Hamlet, whose death he must
avenge.
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2
h Characters ................................................................................................... 2
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 5 d In Context
c Scene Summaries .................................................................................. 10
Shakespeare's plays are timeless, with a universality to which
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 25 anyone can relate. Hamlet, for example, has a modern
militaristic feel to its set and costuming, while at the same time
l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 26 it maintains a very medieval sensibility. The same can be said
of Shakespeare's other plays: the stories, characters, and
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 27
conflicts all have 21st-century analogues.
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 28
Some of the timelessness of Shakespeare's work has to do
with the source material for his plays. The tragedy in Hamlet
may, in part, stem from the deaths of Shakespeare's son and
j Book Basics
father. In addition, however, the play is said to have come from
ancient stories that developed from some common ideas:
killing a brother for personal gain, committing adultery, and
AUTHOR faking madness as a method for hiding in plain sight. Stories
William Shakespeare based on the idea of fratricide—the killing of one's brother—for
personal gain easily bring to mind the biblical tale of Cain and
YEARS WRITTEN
Abel: these themes have been incorporated into tales for
1599–1601
thousands of years. Shakespeare, however, masterfully
GENRE captured these universal tales and put his unique spin on them.
Drama, Tragedy
Beyond the Cain and Abel story, the oldest-known source for
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR Hamlet is historian Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum
Hamlet is written in objective third-person point of view. To ("Deeds of the Danes"; translated into English as The Danish
give audiences some insight into characters' inner thoughts, History; c. 1185–1202). In this tale, Grammaticus documents
Shakespeare uses short speeches (asides) and longer long-standing oral legends. And though this is most likely the
speeches (soliloquies) in which characters speak their earliest written source material, scholars speculate that
thoughts aloud. Shakespeare may have relied on a more contemporary work,
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Hamlet Study Guide Author Biography 2
such as Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, dating from the By 1592 he had established himself in London and found
1580s or early 1590s. success as both actor and playwright with the company Lord
Strange's Men. During the plague outbreaks that shut down
In addition to the universality of his plays, Shakespeare often many public theaters, Shakespeare joined a new company,
draws audiences in and holds their attention through the use of Lord Chamberlain's Men (later called the King's Men). This
dramatic and situational irony. Dramatic irony happens when company was one of two well-known London companies. The
audience members are aware of a situation that the play's group performed primarily at the Globe Theater—often for
characters know nothing about. Situational irony involves a Queen Elizabeth I and later for King James I. Eventually,
situation whose outcome is different from what is expected. Shakespeare would own a share of the theater and would
remain with both the company and the theater for the rest of
his career.
a Author Biography
Shakespeare died in April 1616. Some sources list the date as
April 23, but others consider that date a guess, romanticized
William Shakespeare's birthday is traditionally celebrated on
by the idea that he was born and died on the same day. More
April 23, although there are no records of his birth. The closest
than four centuries later, his writing remains one of literature's
researchers have is a baptismal record from Holy Trinity
greatest influences—read, performed, referenced, and enjoyed
Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, dated April 26, 1564.
by people of all ages in countries all over the world.
His 38 plays were likely written between the late 1580s and
1613.
Marriage records show that 18-year-old William married 26- h Characters
year-old Anne Hathaway in November 1582. The following year,
Anne gave birth to the first of their children, Susanna. Twins
Judith and Hamnet were born in 1585. Tragically,
Hamnet—Shakespeare's only son—died in 1596 at age 11. Hamlet
Critics such as Edward Dowden and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Prince Hamlet is a gentle, deep-thinking, loving, and loyal man.
believed that events in Shakespeare's life influenced the He is not only intelligent but also quick-witted, appreciative of
writing of Hamlet. In particular, they point to the deaths of his his standing, and self-aware. He is a decent soul, well-liked by
father in 1601 and of his son, whose name some intimate is an those close to him. As an only child, he is consumed with grief
alternate spelling of Hamlet. after the death of his father, King Hamlet. Audiences get as
tangled in his thinking as he is, especially those who get stuck,
Whether Shakespeare's grief for his dead father and son found as Polonius does, in wondering whether the prince is mad.
an outlet in the writing of Hamlet, one pivotal piece of the
drama is very likely based on a historical incident. Claudius's
poisoning of King Hamlet by pouring a vial of "cursed hebona"
into his ear and Hamlet's rewrite of The Murder of Gonzago
Polonius
both echo the 1538 murder of Italy's Francesco Maria Della
Polonius is counselor to the king and father to Laertes and
Rovere, Duke of Urbino. Marquis Luigi Gonzaga, jealous of the
Ophelia, although his children seem to have more heart and
duke's social status, persuaded the duke's barber to kill his
more integrity. That he loves his children is a strength, but it
employer by dripping poison into his ear. The dramatic nature
also seems that he might sacrifice their best interests for what
of the crime helped the story spread throughout Europe and
is the most politically correct decision. And while Polonius is in
years later gave Shakespeare inspiration for Hamlet's plot.
a profession that may demand that type of submissiveness,
Much of Shakespeare's life was spent in either Stratford or one could argue that his tendency toward action without
London. His childhood, early married life, and later years were thought—a tendency that some audiences might say is in a
centered in Stratford, but his theatrical life was based in proportion inverse to that of Hamlet's—is a contributing factor
London. to both Ophelia's and his own demise.
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