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Analyzing Hamlet: Key Elements to Consider
Analyzing Characters: Hamlet | Claudius | Ophelia | Gertrude | Polonius | Laertes | Horatio
Analyzing Other Aspects of the Play: Opening Scene | Setting | Foils | Comic Relief
| Analyzing Characters--Key Questions: |
| What techniques does Shakespeare use to present/portray this character? |
| What preoccupations does this character have and how are they revealed? |
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Key techniques used to develop Hamlet's character: |
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soliloquies |
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character foils (Laertes, Fortinbras) |
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word play/sarcasm (feigned madness) |
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tragic hero/tragic flaw |
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question/answer structure to soliloquies and more |
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inner play: "The Mousetrap" & Pyrrhus and Hecuba |
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Key preoccupations: |
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thought versus action |
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death & suicide |
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incest/Oedipal complex |
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honesty/truth |
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corruption |
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deception/"seeming" |
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Key techniques used to develop Claudius's character: |
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juxtaposition (i.e., in opening speech, in Hamlet's descriptions of him: "smiling villain") |
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word play/disguises & reveals self through words |
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soliloquies (esp. long one when he's attempting to pray) |
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asides |
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poison motif |
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manipulates others (esp. Laertes)/Machiavelli |
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Key preoccupations: |
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ambition & power |
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self-preservation |
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Key techniques used to develop Ophelia's character: |
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songs/herb & flower giving (this also reveals the reality of what's going on in the play in terms of other characters) |
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other people's advice to her (Laertes, Polonius, Hamlet) |
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used character/pawn |
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Gertrude's speech about her death: ambiguity between suicide/accident |
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key quote: "I do not know, my lord, what I should think." |
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Key preoccupations: (particularly revealed through her songs) |
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her relationship with Hamlet |
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the death of her father |