HAMLET
ACT 1
Usurp: to take that which does not belong to one.
The younger son usurped the throne from his older brother.
Marcellus, Barnardo, Francisco: guards
Horatio: an intellectual, a scholar and Prince Hamlet’s best friend
Does Horatio believe the guards’ tale that a ghost – possibly the dead King’s ghost – is walking the earth?
Doth make the night joint laborer with the day? Visualize what that is saying. Imagine a guy (night) laboring (working) with another guy (day) working shoulder to shoulder. In other words, 24/7.
Thirty years ago Fortinbras challenged King Hamlet to a fight. A legal document was drawn up that who ever won the fray would secede the land to the winner. King Hamlet won.
Thirty years later young Fortinbras wants the land back.
Assignment: Page 19 draw three pictures illustrating Horatio’s and Marcellus’s lines.
Discuss on Monday the divine rights of kings. What happens when the king’s right to rule is usurped by one who was not chosen by God to rule? The tenantless graves lie open and ghosts gibber in the streets. The natural order of things has been destroyed by someone (the usurper) who has challenged God’s choice for King. During the Renaissance it was believed that everything was God’s will – including who got to rule. God chose the king and anyone who assassinated the king was challenging God’s rights.
In MACBETH when Duncan was killed, there were earthquakes, and chimneys fell and horses devoured each other. In JULIUS CAESAR when Caesar was assassinated, comets and stars dripped blood, and ghosts and strange animals walked the streets of Rome. The natural order had been destroyed.
Erring: wrong or erroneous
Hies: to rush to or run to
Confines: lair, home
No planets strike: comets strike the earth
No fairy takes: some parents believe that their sweet little baby has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, to be replaced by an unrecognizable spawn of satan. The baby replaced is called a changeling.
Act 1, Scene 2
Dirge: funeral march; music played at a funeral
Mirth: happiness
This is an example of irony.
Kin: relative – cousin, aunt, uncle.
Pun:
I am too much in the sun.
Hamlet is punning on the word “sun” which means that as the son of a slain father he is deeply troubled.
Filial: family
Perserver: to persist, to persevere, to not stop
Condolement: sorrow
Obstinate condolement: stubborn sorrow that refuses to be cheered
Impious: Sinful. Pious means religiously dutiful. The suffix means “not”.
That it us befitted is an example of inversion
That it befit us
Iambic pentameter: two syllables that are stressed and unstressed
Woe: sorrow, sadness, despair
Therefore, our sometimes sister, now our queen,
Th’ imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we,
as twere (as if) with a defeated joy (oxymoron)
prepositional phrase: With an auspicious (fortunate) and a dropping eye (mournful) eye,
another prepositional phrase: With mirth in funeral (irony and paradox) and with dirge (funeral music) in marriage (irony and paradox).
In equal scale weighing delight and dole (sadness) (thesis/antithesis)
Taken to wife.
One of the themes of HAMLET is thesis and antithesis: the offering of a proposition and the rebuttal or contradiction of that thesis. It is seen all throughout the play: “To be or not to be” is the most obvious example. The thesis/antithesis motif also echoes Hamlet’s hesitation or reluctance to take action throughout the play.
Hesitation is also embedded in the very fabric of the play. Notice how many clauses - adjective, adverbial, prepositional clauses - are used in the lines to separate the subject from the verb or action word, thus delaying the action of the line. This structure forces both the audience and the characters to wait until the end of the line to get to the action.
Take a look at lines 17 – 25:
Young Fortinbras,
Having a weak supposal of our worth
Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued (In league with, combined with) with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not failed to pester us with message (understatement or litotes)
Importing the surrender of those lands
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law,
To our most valiant brother – so much for him.
What is the main clause?
List the dependent clauses.
What was young Fortinbras intending to do?
Levies: taxes
What is in the letter Claudius is sending to Old Norway? (And who is Old Norway?)
Laertes is the son of Polonius, the chief counselor to the King.
Laertes is a student who studies in France.
Line 66: “…my cousin Hamlet….” Kinsman or relative
How is that the clouds still hang on you?
Why are you still depressed?
Hamlet’s punning reply,” Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun.”
Sun is a homonym of son and he may be saying that “being my father’s son, I am responding in an appropriate way to my father’s death. It may also imply that I see clearly what’s going on.
Gertrude: “…Thou knows’t ‘tis common; all that lives must die, / Passing through nature to eternity.”
Hamlet: “Ay, madam, it is common.” This is an insult leveled at Gertrude. The Queen means the word common in the sense of ordinary; Hamlet means common in the sense of vulgar, referring to her relationship with her brother-in-law, now her husband.
The reoccurrence of the word “seems” dovetails with the play’s theme (one of many themes) of reality versus appearance (how things “seem” as opposed to how they really are).
Suspiration: breathing or sighing.
Dejected: melancholic
Havior: behavior
Visage: face
He is saying that the sighing, the dark visage, the tears are just the trappings of grief, but within, unseen, lies his real grief.
Claudius gives good advice to Hamlet – that death is a natural fact of life (which will later be revealed to be ironic considering who is saying that death is natural). He is also saying that grieving excessively is an insult to Heaven which implies that Hamlet is questioning God’s wisdom in taking his father’s life.
Jocund: merry; happy
Jocular: (adjective) happy, joking
Denmark drinks today: personification and also metonomy
Metonymy: some thing that is closely related to another object.
The White House released a statement today regarding the death of the diplomat Richard Holbrooke.
The Palace issued a comment today regarding the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton.
Bruit: noise, report as in a cannon’s report
In order to make an announcement the king’s cannons are fired which makes a huge report or noise (bruit) or rouse to the heavens.
As you read, think in images! Pay attention to the personifications, the metaphors, the similes, the imagery for they will reveal the inner meaning and heart and soul of Shakespeare’s words.
Page 27; King Claudius’ speech
Persever: persevere; to continue doggedly on; to persist
Impious: not pious; not religious, not observant of religious rules
Peevish: petty; small minded
Corse: corpse; an archaic form of the word corpse which is a dead human body.
Retrograde: going backwards; regressive, opposite, contrary
Hamlet’s speech (page 29)
This is a soliloquy, the first of many that Hamlet speaks. A soliloquy is a speech spoken by a character who is alone on stage and is speaking her/his inner most thoughts. Here Hamlet is musing aloud (and alone) about his anguish over his father’s death and his mother’s o’er hasty marriage to Claudius who is like a satyr (a nasty half man, half goat character in Greek mythology) compared to his father, who is like the sun god, Hyperion, in comparison. This is also an example of allusion for it contains references to Greek mythology.
O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!
What is he speaking about here?
Sullied means dirtied
What is he wishing for?
Who or what is the Everlasting?
Canon: is a law
Self-slaughter means what?
Ere: (pronounced air) before
Incestuous: highly inappropriate sexual relations between close family members.
Why she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on.
She hung on him as if by feeding or eating her appetite would not be satisfied but would only grow.
Hyperion: the sun god
Satyr: a lascivious nymph who is half man and half goat.
Distilled: frozen
Draw a picture illustrating these lines:
O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.
Draw a picture illustrating these lines:
Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.
What is the unweeded garden?
Thaw: to melt
Dew: wetness found on the grass in the morning; it is condensation formed from the moisture in the night air.
Denmark; his life; human nature
Lines: 144 - 146
So loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly.
Wants: in Shakespeare it means lacking
A beast lacking in intelligence and reason would have cried longer for the death of its mate.
Look for these themes (motifs) in HAMLET:
Disease and decay
Spying
Betrayal
Appearance (seeming) vs. Reality
Men vs. Women
Age vs. Youth
The role of women
Hesitation and delay as a theme in HAMLET
Act 1, Scene 3:
Laertes and Ophelia are saying farewell to each other before he departs for France to continue his studies.
He counsels Ophelia to be careful with Hamlet and do not ruin her reputation for Hamlet cannot – even if he wanted to – marry her. Hamlet may really mean it when he says he loves Ophelia but he can only act in so far as the demands of being heir apparent will allow.
Temple: body
Wax: to grow large
Thewes and bulk: strength and size
Soil: grounds; reasons
Cautel: deceit; lies
Besmirch: to dirty; to defile
Circumscribed: limited
Apparel: clothes
LIBERTINES: Someone who overindulges in sensual delights; a hedonist.
Page 45
Polonius’ speech to Ophelia:
Notice the difference in how Polonius speaks to Laertes and how he speaks to Ophelia:
Notice and jot down all the references to sex and virginity and money and financial transactions. Through the use of double entendres (puns) of such words or phrases as: "tenders", "sterling", "true pay", "higher rate", "brokers", "investments", etc., Polonius is tying the delicate, refined nature of love to the crass vulgarity of a base business/financial transaction. The marriage of two disparate spheres - love/marriage to lust/money transaction - is ironic and reveals the coarseness of Polonius' views on women and marriage. He has distilled the most tender of human emotion to a financial deal and has reduced Ophelia to a commodity whose market value will be damaged if Hamlet has sex with her - or worse, gets her pregnant (you'll "tender" me a fool").
Ophelia: “He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.”
Tenders: something that has the legal value of commerce. Check your dollar bill. It has “Legal Tender” on it which means that it has currency backing it and can be used to buy things.
Ophelia means “tenders” as in sweet things Hamlet has said to her, but it also has another meaning relating to money - it can be used as currency in trade. Polonius quickly goes to the financial meaning of the word "tenders" and retorts that the "tenders" Hamlet has offered her has no currency/legitimacy and cannot/will not be used as trade - in other words, he may seduce her into giving herself up to him with his sweet tender words, but he will not marry her.
Until the 20th Century, love and marriage did not automatically go together. For many women, it was a vital business transaction one went into in order to survive. In many parts of the world today, marriage as a means of women's survival still holds true. In some parts of the middle east and India, it is not uncommon for young girls and women to be married against their will to pay off the family's debt or to lighten the family's financial burden.
Polonius, well aware of the plight of an unmarried woman, is lecturing Ophelia on the harsh realities of sexual politics ("...And with a larger tether may he walk / Than may be given you....").
Polonius:
Think yourself a baby
That you have ta’en (taken) these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling.
Sterling: silver; also used for money and to back currency.
Polonius:
Tender yourself more dearly.
Value yourself more. (This is an example of a pun or play on words.)
Polonius:
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parle.
Entreatments: Negotiations as in diplomacy
Rate: price
Command to parle: Military command to meet in conference (to talk from the French parler which means to talk.)
Tether: leash or rope to tie up or restrain an animal.
Polonius:
Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers
Broker: a go-between or middleman who negotiates business dealings between a buyer and a seller. There are stock brokers, real estate brokers, etc.
Polonius:
Not of that dye which their investments show,
(His words are dressed up as holy, like priests in their white collars, but it’s just for show – the clothes are fake and not really of the proper cloth or dye.)
But mere implorators of unholy suits
Implorators: someone who urges others onto an action
Unholy suits: impious, bawdy, licentious, lascivious actions
Polonius:
Breathing like sanctified and pious (bawds)
The better to beguile.
Sanctified: blessed, made holy
Pious: Religious, observant of religious rules
Bawds: Licentious, lascivious, hedonistic people who engage in vulgar sensual activities.
Figurative Language:
Pious bawds: (oxymoron) vulgar people who pretend to be pious.
Beguile: to charm through deception or trickery.
Lethe: river in Greek mythology that flowed in Hades, the Underworld. If the dead drank from the waters of Lethe they would forget their past lives and wander eternity in forgetfulness.
So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused.
Whole ear of Denmark refers to what or whom?
What type of figurative language is “the whole ear of Denmark?
What is the verb?
What does “forged process of my death” mean?
What does “Rankly abused” mean?
What is the prepositional phrase in the above excerpt?
How would you change the order around for the above to make sense?
Serpent refers to whom?
Is the reference to a serpent an allusion? What kind if it is? Notice the crime scene takes place in a garden and involves two brothers and an incestuous relationship.
Seeming virtuous Queen: again notice appearance versus reality.
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in the shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed
And prey on garbage.
What type of figurative language are the words virtue, lewdness and lust?
Court: to woo, to flirt, to give gifts and sweet words to entice a woman to marry you.
What does the word “it” in the second line refer to?
What does the phrase “in the shape of heaven” mean?
Though: even though, although
What does “though to a radiant angel linked”
Sate (from the word to satiate): gorge on; overeat or engage in a sensual act (like sex) until sickened with the excess.
Celestial: heavenly
In the following speech by the ghost, what is the subject? Identify the adjective clause(s). Identify the verbs. What is the direct object of the sentence?
The leprous distilment, whose effects
Holds such an enmity with blood of man (enmity means ill will, bad feelings, etc)
That swift as quick silver it course through (simile and imagery) (What is the "it"?)
The natural gates and alleys of the body, (metaphors)
And with a sudden vigor it doth posset (clot)
And curd, like eager droppings into milk (curd: verb, to curdles) simile
The thin and wholesome blood.
Gates and alleys: orifices, arteries and veins
Dispatched: to kill or to quickly and peremptorily dismiss
Unhouseled, unaneled: without last rites
What does the king instruct Hamlet to do regarding his mother, the Queen?
What is so upsetting about the way the king died?
What effect did the poison have on the king’s body?
Matin: morning (from the French)
Glow worm: fire fly
And ‘gins to pale his ineffectual fire
The dawn’s light is beginning to make the glow worm’s light seem pale and ineffectual
Adieu: good bye
Whiles memory holds a seat (personification)
Distracted globe: confused and dazed mind of Hamlet’s
Antic disposition: crazy or bizarre behavior
What does Hamlet ask his men to do – or not do?
Brief anecdote:
Shakespeare was an actor and played Hamlet the King in the original production. The Globe Theatre had a raised stage with a trap door so that actors could crawl under the stage and make entrances through it. When Hamlet says, " Well said, old mole! Canst thou work the earth so fast?" he is referring to the pounding sounds that Shakespeare was making moving under and across the stage floor from below.
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