Hamlet Summary & Analysis

Main info:

• Shakespeare
• Play
• Genre:  tragedy, drama

 Setting:

• Time: never says it outright, but assuming around... 1400? 1500?
• Kingdom of Denmark
• Set in the castle, area immediately surrounding it
• MAIN ACTION happens in the lobby
• Hamlet pacing, King, Queen, Polonius scheming, Ophelia goes mad, play takes place, Hamlet and Laertes' duel/final death scene
• Gertrude's bedroom
• Act , scene - Hamlet confront his 0mother while Polonius listens in (where Hamlet stabs/kills Polonius
• Castle battlements
• Act 1, scene 1 - where the ghost of Hamlet is first spotted
• Graveyard?
• Where Ophelia is buried/Hamlet and Laertes fight at her funeral
• The kingdom of Denmark
• Quick, nondescript scenes of Fortinbras planning to scheme/storm the castle
• Off-stage:
• Implied: Hamlet rushing into Ophelia's closet, Ophelia's death theme

• Stage/setting boundaries - for a classic, traditional portrayal of a Shakespeare play - fairly straightforward
• Action: actors observe confines of a castle, walk across, around, interact with other actors the stage normally (except in asides)
• Exception: off-stage implied scenes (see above)

• Social environment: 
• Power structure/struggles: 
• Polonius & Claudius - Polonius almost manipulates and plays Claudius (display of too much power = death, needs to watch himself) --> Polonius uses Hamlet & Ophelia's relationship as a way to assert power. Role of advisor?
• Claudius & Gertrude - love --> Claudius goes to Gertrude for advice about Hamlet, loyalties shift after Hamlet confronts Gertrude tells her what Caludius did, 
• Ophelia & Hamlet - in love, had sex, implied pregnancy (?), Hamlet seems infatuated with her (writes love letters, sends tokens) - mutual feelings; Polonius manipulates Ophelia/tells her to cut Hamlet off for power
• Polonius and his children - when Laertes leaves Polonius seems loving/gives sketchy, criptic advice. Manipulates children, very controlling - Ophelia & Hamlet, having his men check up on Laertes
• Laertes & Ophelia - very close. Give one another advice, warnings, joke around.
• Horatio & Hamlet - best friends, only one Hamlet trusts (another perspective: Horatio = Hamlet's "yes man", doesn't really show true friendship from Hamlet's side till the very end. --> referenced Shakespeare in Prison)
• Vulnerability: characters are vulnerable emotionally & physically
• Physically vulnerable: threat of death: Claudius --> Hamlet, Hamlet --> Claudius
• Emotionally vulnerable: Ophelia & Hamlet's feelings for one another make them vulnerable to manipulation (as shown when Polonius uses Ophelia to  "drive Hamlet mad with love")
• Vulnerable power structure/country:Denmark is in a state of civil war, the monarchy is unstable (people love Hamlet --> Claudius can't outright kill him, Laertes comes to confront the king --> practically has a mini army chanting for him to be king)

• Passage of time:
• There are some unclear parts --> passage of time while Hamlet is at sea, when Laertes returns, etc.
• Overall, I have the impression it took place over a few weeks/months

Plot: 

• Freytag's Pyramid: The Elements of Plot
• Status Quo: intro of characters, setting, & conflict at the beginning
• Introduce "something is amiss in Denmark" - King is dead, Hamlet wants revenge, ghost walking, Hamlet frets about killing Claudius, Laertes leaves for Paris, Polonius manipulates Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship
• Rising Action: events that complicate/intensify the conflict
• Hamlet & Ophelia have conflict, Claudius brings in R & G, they talk w/Hamlet, Hamlet acts crazy, Hamlet puts on a play, Hamlet leaves, Ophelia acts crazy, Ophelia dies, Laertes comes back, Claudius & Leartes team up, Hamlet comes back at Ophelia's funeral
• Climax: point of greatest tension
• The fight! - Hamlet & Leartes, Hamlet & Claudius...Gertrude dies
• Resolution: where conflict may/may not be resolved
• (Almost) everyone dies! ...and then Fortinbras comes in. The end.
•  What conflicts does it dramatize? 
• Finding yourself, morals, betrayal, insanity
•  Qualities of protagonist & antagonist:
• Protagonist (physical): Hamlet - passionate, philosophical, reflective/contemplative...blinded by goals
• Antagonist (physical): Claudius - ambitious, resourceful, manipulative...a murderer
• Antagonist (metaphorical): yourself. Hamlet has an internal struggle within himself, within his own mind for the majority of the play. It stands between him and his goal - revenge, and the ones he loves.
• External/Internal conflicts
• External: murder of Old Hamlet, civil unrest in the kingdom
• Internal: Hamlet's mind (I'm still not sure what parts of the play he was "sane" or "insane" in) - paranoia, grief

Significant Characters: 

• Hamlet - dynamic, depressed, "internal", holds people to certain ideals/standards - and is often unfair/cruel when they don't meet his preconceived ideas, focused, intelligent
• Claudius - static, Hamlet's uncle/Gertrude's old husband's brother, murderer, manipulative/resourceful
• Gertrude - ...both? mostly static then a little dynamic at the end, "Madonna vs. Whore", cares deeply for her son, a bit oblivious, compassionate
• Ophelia - dynamic. Gertrude's lady-in-waiting, Hamlet's love interest, subservient to her father, bows to pressures, "fragile" - Madonna vs. Whore (?), goes insane, commits suicide
• Polonius - static, stays manipulative throughout the whole play, controls/manipulates his children, power play w/them & Claudius, watches out for himself - likes to be on the winning side

Narrative voice/author's style:

• Point of view:
• A bit of Shakespeare's social commentary on the political changes of the day - changes in the throne
• Tone: (I'm a bit confused about this bit.)
• Nonsensical
• Dramatic...
• Layered meanings
• Imagery/Symbolism
• repeated images/symbols: birds/fight, the bible (God, 3, heaven & hell), time, nature/plants  flowers (Ophelia), death 

Quotes

•    "To be, or not to be: that is the question:
  Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
  The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
  Or to take arms against a sea of troubles"
• A really famous quote, tackles several different issues in the play - death, life, the afterlife, indecisiveness, truth. This quote is literally Hamlet talking/thinking it all through to himself

•  "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
•  Marcellus in Act 1, Scene 4. Talking about the appearance of the ghost, this could be referring to the civil unrest in the country of Denmark, or it could be referring to Old Hamlet's murder.