Drama: Hamlet context and themes Flashcards
(11 cards)
Themes: power and revenge
Power and revenge is shown through Hamlet’s persual of Claudius for the majority of the play, and Claudius abusing his power by trying to get Hamlet executed in England.
Themes: theatre
Theatre is shown in the play by the idea of a ‘play within a play’, such as the player’s monologue to Hamlet and him instructing the players to perform a play to catch Claudius in his guilty conscience.
Themes: identity
Identity is explored throughout the play through Hamlet, as he deals with a lot of emtions and feelings about who he is and what he should be doing. Also, characters such as Gertrude are questioned over their actions. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also are a good example of this as they are interchangeable characters, and go against Hamlet.
Themes: religion
Religion is a key theme explored in the play through Claudius’ monologue in Act 3 Scene 3, as well as Hamlet’s ideas on suicide. Additionally, the appearance of the Ghost challenges a lot of the ideas on religion at the time of the play.
Themes: morality
Morality is explored through Claudius’ murder of his brother and fast-declining premiership. We also see Hamlet’s morlaity exploited when he chooses the ‘play God’, and through scenes such as the “Get thee to a nunnery” scene with Ophelia.
Themes: surveillance
Surveillance is used in the play as a way of the characters talking to and about each other, as well as creating an atmosphere of secrecy. For example, Polonius spies on Hamlet and Gertrude, which gets him killed, which Shakespeare uses to show the negative impacts of surveillance.
Context: Revenge tragedy
Is the genre of the play, and was first appearing in England around the time Shakespeare was writing Hamlet. It’s key characteristics are:
-A murder has been committed, crying out for revenge.
-Person, or persons, take up the vengeful mission as a sacred duty.
-Ghost of murdered person provides further stimulus for retribution
-Machiavellian villain who, acting on his own behalf or for other causes facilitates a pandemic of blood shed whilst introducing new fangled tortures and horrors.
-Objects of revenge are often better than the avengers.
-Some characters grow mad or feign madness.
-Play within a play that often mimics the core of the main action.
-Use of imagery and language befitting the violence of the events.
Contect: religious landscape
-England was still in a fragile religious state following The Reformation. After Henry VIII intially began the reformation in 1529, England became a Protestant country until 1553, where there was a brief return to Catholicism until 1558, on the ascension of Queen Elizabeth I. This shows how there was a struggle between the two forms of Christianity and that England was a delicate state.
Context: royal court, spies, and nationhood
The royal court of Elizabeth I was infamously known for having royal spies amongst the members of their court and on the public. This was to prevent any bad-mouthing of the Queen. Nationhood is also similarly shown in the strong position of Elizabeth I representing England for 44 years. Additionally the term ‘Body politic’ is defined as the people of a nation, state, or society considered collectively as an organized group of citizens, with the head normally seen as the monarch, who, when Shakespeare was writing Hamlet, was dying.
Context: society and patriarchy
Elizabethan society was strongly ordered, and despite a female monarch, still enforced patriarchal rules. Elizabeth’s absence of a husband was a key talking point throughout her reign, showing them attributing her to a man. Not much is known on average women, which imply they were often married and childbearing, due to the high marriage rates.
Context: Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism is the name of a personality trait construct characterized by manipulativeness, indifference to morality, lack of empathy, and a calculated focus on self-interest. Those who score high on test for being a machiavellian are more likely to have a high level of deceitfulness, exploitativeness and a cold, unemotional temperament. It is considered one of the dark triad traits, along with the subclinical versions of narcissism and psychopathy.
Claudius is clearly displayed by Shakespeare as a consummate politician - he shows a Machiavellian style of leadership, manipulating for public effect.
