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\centerline{MONT 105Q -- Mathematical Journeys}
\centerline{Advice and Study Questions on {\it Hamlet}}
\centerline{April 14, 2016}
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{\it Advice}
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Because Shakespeare's language is the English of his time
(roughly 1580 - 1610 CE), and he was a master of creating picturesque effects with that
language,
the play contains many unusual and archaic words.  In addition, meanings of familiar-looking
words can be somewhat different from what you might expect.  
It can take some work even to decipher what Shakespeare means at some points.  And
when you do decipher the local meaning, it's unfortunately very 
easy to overlook very important aspects of the plot of  
this play since they are often treated very briefly.
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\item{a.}  The Folger Shakespeare Library edition we are using has scene-by-scene synopses, 
{\it excellent} 
notes on unfamiliar words, complicated sentences, etc. printed on alternate pages facing the 
text of the play.  {\it Be sure you are following along with those as you read!}  From 
time to time, those notes will refer to a section of longer notes printed after the 
text of the play as well.  Read those longer notes too.
\item{b.}  Along with Prof. Isser in our CHQ cluster faculty (who's directing the 
production of the play we'll see next week), I highly recommend that you use the 
{\it online summary and analysis of the play} given at 
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\centerline{\tt http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/}
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as you read, to supplement the notes in the Folger Shakespeare edition and 
to check your understanding.  
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{\it Some Questions to Think About}
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\item{0.}  Exactly who are Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes, Horatio, 
Fortinbras, Ophelia, Rosenkrantz, Guildenstern?  How are they related to Hamlet and
to each other?
Summarize what you can say about their characters in a few words or phrases.
\item{1.}  Non-trivial, but perhaps ``buried'' plot points:  
\itemitem{a.} Hamlet refers to Wittenberg several times.  What or who is he
referring to?  How does this relate to Hamlet's character and temperament?
\itemitem{b.} Exactly how many people does Hamlet kill or indirectly have
killed by the end of the play?  Who are they?  
\itemitem{c.} There's an important {\it journey} that is a part of the plot but
that is not directly shown at all on stage.  What is it?  Who was on this journey?  What
was supposed to happen?  What is the actual outcome?
\itemitem{d.} How are the situations of Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras
all similar?  
\itemitem{e.} Whose ghost appears several times in I?  Why is he a ghost?
What does he ask Hamlet for in I.v?  Does Hamlet understand why he is doing this?
\itemitem{f.} Shakespeare was probably the first playwright to use the device
of showing a play-within-a-play as part of the action.  Where is that device
used in {\it Hamlet}, what is the play, and what is the purpose of that in 
the action of this story?
\itemitem{g.} What's the exact sequence of events in the climactic scene V.ii?
\itemitem{h.} Is Ophelia still alive at the end of the play?  If not, exactly how
does she die?
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\item{2.}  Suicide is a recurrent theme in {\it Hamlet}. 
How does the play treat the idea of suicide morally and religiously?  Pay 
particular attention to the ``O, that this too too solid flesh would melt'' 
soliloquy (I.ii.129--158) and the ``To be, or not to be'' soliloquy (III.i.56--88). 
 Why does Hamlet believe that, although capable of suicide, most human beings 
choose to live despite the cruelty, pain, and injustice of the world?  (And 
what does Horatio say about this that presents a somewhat different view?)
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\item{3.} Does Hamlet have healthy relationships with the women in his world?
First think about his relationship with his mother Gertrude during the time of 
the play (see for instance I.ii.144--163).  Hamlet seems to be implying here
and elsewhere that he thinks his mother was actually having an affair with
Claudius, even before Claudius killed his father.  Where does he get this idea?
(look at I.v again!)  Do you ``read'' Gertrude that 
way?  Or is she just trying to preserve her status by latching onto Claudius
once he has become King?  
Then think about Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia. Does he love her during 
the main action of the play?  Does he stop loving her at some point?  Did he 
ever love her?  Look at the ``Get thee to a nunnery'' scene, III.i, for 
instance.  What do you make of that?
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\item{4.} For a long time in the history of critical writing on {\it Hamlet}, 
it was common to take a deterministic view of {\it Hamlet}'s plot, arguing that
the prince showed an inability to act and a tendency toward melancholy reflection
that amounted to a ``tragic flaw'' leading inevitably to his demise.  (Part of this
is based on ideas about the Greek tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, 
taken over into the analysis of Shakespeare's tragedies.)
Do you think that is an accurate way of understanding the play?  Why or why not? 
Given Hamlet’s character and situation, would another outcome of the play have 
been possible?
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\item{5.}  Throughout the play, Hamlet claims to be feigning madness, but his 
portrayal of a madman is so intense and so convincing that many readers believe 
that Hamlet actually slips into insanity at certain moments in the play. Do 
you think this is true, or is Hamlet merely play-acting insanity?  What evidence 
can you cite for either claim?
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\item{6.}  Look again at the gravediggers' speeches in V.i, and at the speeches of Polonius 
and Osric.  How are these episodes different from other sections of 
the play?  What is Shakespeare doing there?  What reaction are they supposed to produce?
Do these scenes merely relieve the tension of the overtly tragic events, or do they
serve a more serious thematic purpose as well?  (Incidentally, a certain tradition of 
thought actually {\it criticizes} Shakespeare for including these scenes.  According 
to ideas about tragedy inherited from Aristotle--tragedies were supposed to have unity 
of action, time, and place--some critics have argued that comedic elements should not 
appear in a tragedy.  The classic 17th century French tragedies of Racine and Corneille, 
for instance, have nothing like Shakespeare's use of comedic elements.)
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1. Shakespeare includes characters in Hamlet who are obvious foils for Hamlet, including, most obviously, Horatio, Fortinbras, Claudius, and Laertes. Compare and contrast Hamlet with each of these characters. How are they alike? How are they different? How does each respond to the crises with which he is faced?

Horatio’s steadfastness and loyalty contrasts with Hamlet’s variability and excitability, though both share a love of learning, reason, and thought. Claudius’s willingness to disregard all moral law and act decisively to fulfill his appetites and lust for power contrasts powerfully with Hamlet’s concern for morality and indecisive inability to act. Fortinbras’s willingness to go to great lengths to avenge his father’s death, even to the point of waging war, contrasts sharply with Hamlet’s inactivity, even though both of them are concerned with avenging their fathers. Laertes’ single-minded, furious desire to avenge Polonius stands in stark opposition to Hamlet’s inactivity with regard to his own father’s death. Finally, Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras are all in a position to seek revenge for the murders of their fathers, and their situations are deeply intertwined. Hamlet’s father killed Fortinbras’s father, and Hamlet killed Laertes’ father, meaning that Hamlet occupies the same role for Laertes as Claudius does for Hamlet.

2. Many critics take a deterministic view of Hamlet’s plot, arguing that the prince’s inability to act and tendency toward melancholy reflection is a “tragic flaw” that leads inevitably to his demise. Is this an accurate way of understanding the play? Why or why not? Given Hamlet’s character and situation, would another outcome of the play have been possible?

The idea of the “tragic flaw” is a problematic one in Hamlet. It is true that Hamlet possesses definable characteristics that, by shaping his behavior, contribute to his tragic fate. But to argue that his tragedy is inevitable because he possesses these characteristics is difficult to prove. Given a scenario and a description of the characters involved, it is highly unlikely that anyone who had not read or seen Hamlet would be able to predict its ending based solely on the character of its hero. In fact, the play’s chaotic train of events suggests that human beings are forced to make choices whose consequences are unforeseeable as well as unavoidable. To argue that the play’s outcome is intended to appear inevitable seems incompatible with the thematic claims made by the play itself.

3. Throughout the play, Hamlet claims to be feigning madness, but his portrayal of a madman is so intense and so convincing that many readers believe that Hamlet actually slips into insanity at certain moments in the play. Do you think this is true, or is Hamlet merely play-acting insanity? What evidence can you cite for either claim?

At any given moment during the play, the most accurate assessment of Hamlet’s state of mind probably lies somewhere between sanity and insanity. Hamlet certainly displays a high degree of mania and instability throughout much of the play, but his “madness” is perhaps too purposeful and pointed for us to conclude that he actually loses his mind. His language is erratic and wild, but beneath his mad-sounding words often lie acute observations that show the sane mind working bitterly beneath the surface. Most likely, Hamlet’s decision to feign madness is a sane one, taken to confuse his enemies and hide his intentions.

On the other hand, Hamlet finds himself in a unique and traumatic situation, one which calls into question the basic truths and ideals of his life. He can no longer believe in religion, which has failed his father and doomed him to life amid miserable experience. He can no longer trust society, which is full of hypocrisy and violence, nor love, which has been poisoned by his mother’s betrayal of his father’s memory. And, finally, he cannot turn to philosophy, which cannot explain ghosts or answer his moral questions and lead him to action.

With this much discord in his mind, and already under the extraordinary pressure of grief from his father’s death, his mother’s marriage, and the responsibility bequeathed to him by the ghost, Hamlet is understandably distraught. He may not be mad, but he likely is close to the edge of sanity during many of the most intense moments in the play, such as during the performance of the play-within-a-play (III.ii), his confrontation with Ophelia (III.i), and his long confrontation with his mother (III.iv).
Suggested Essay Topics

1.	Think about Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia. Does he love her? Does he stop loving her? Did he ever love her? What evidence can you find in the play to support your opinion?

2. Consider Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s role in the play. Why might Shakespeare have created characters like this? Are they there for comic relief, or do they serve a more serious purpose? Why does the news of their deaths come only after the deaths of the royal family in Act V, as if this news were not anticlimactic? Is it acceptable for Hamlet to treat them as he does? Why or why not?

3. Analyze the use of descriptions and images in Hamlet. How does Shakespeare use descriptive language to enhance the visual possibilities of a stage production? How does he use imagery to create a mood of tension, suspense, fear, and despair?

4. Analyze the use of comedy in Hamlet, paying particular attention to the gravediggers, Osric, and Polonius. Does comedy serve merely to relieve the tension of the tragedy, or do the comic scenes serve a more serious thematic purpose as well?

5. Suicide is an important theme in Hamlet. Discuss how the play treats the idea of suicide morally, religiously, and aesthetically, with particular attention to Hamlet’s two important statements about suicide: the “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy (I.ii.129–158) and the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy (III.i.56–88). Why does Hamlet believe that, although capable of suicide, most human beings choose to live, despite the cruelty, pain, and injustice of the world?

