Hamlet

Question 1

Painting, Ophelia, depicts the drowned Ophelia, emancipated by her own end- shows that the only agency Ophelia possesses in the agency over whether she lives or dies. The emancipation she achieves through her own demise is poignantly depicted, portraying a character whose death frees her from the turmoil of a life trapped in masculine oppression.

Answer 1

Millais 1851/52

Question 2

Hamlet of pyschological complexity, emphasising his indecision, melancholy, and existential crises. Often Hamlet is placed is solitary moments standing along the precipice of the castle and sea. Underscore Hamlets isolation and contemplative nature, highlighting the internal turmoil and emotional depth

Answer 2

Olivier 1948

Question 3

Omits the equidistant plot and minimises characters role. Amplifies this Oedipal interpretation, the physical proximity and intensity between Hamlet are heightened, the confrontation involves him physically overpowering her, pushing her onto the bed, shaking her, This shows Hamlets fury is as much about Gertrudes sexuality and his own repressed desires as it is about moral outrage.

Answer 3

Zeffirelli 1990

Question 4

Mirrors function as a leitmotif for Hamlets introspection, Ophelias madness is conveyed through her erratic behavior and poignant dialogue, epitomised through her plangent lament. The use of a straight jacket externally intensifies this moment of mental instability, visually capturing Ophelias fragmented state and emancipate her from a life of. hegemonic oppression

Answer 4

Branagh 1996

Question 5

Hamlets dislocation and rebellion, emphasis on the equidistant plot , in contrast to earlier interpretations choosing to omit or reduce. Ophelias lack of agency is poignantly encapsulated through the directorial decisions. Rather than offering flowers in her lucid ramblings. Ophelia instead gives locks of her hair, a symbolic representation of the destructive nature of her oppression. This choice highlights her profound sense of loss and the stripping away of her identity.Gertrude is shown to have agency in contrast to Zeffirelli. Hamlet is facing death and embracing it, ventriliquist for Polonius and he has a tattoo of King Hamlet on his chest

Answer 5

Simon Godwin 2016

Question 6

Narrated by a foetus who is Hamlet, focuses on Hamlets sense of entrapment and powerlessness, physically and symbolically. Hamlets sense of claustrophobia in the Danish Court is reincarnated by a foetus who experiences his mothers and uncles sin without the ability to intervene. This literal and symbolic lack of power nods to Shakespeares Hamlets own perceptions of his lack of agency in a feudal system of deception and sin.

Answer 6

Ian McEwan Nutshell 2016

Question 7

Presents an idiosyncratic Hamlet, who cannot move on from the death of his ‘Hyperion father’ . Extends Hamlet’s grief is shown through a surveillance state staging, offering audiences a chance to observe Hamlets active state of grief through the multimodal news reporting of his father’s funeral. This directorial choice emphasises the constant scrutiny Hamlet is under, adding a layer of public exposure to his private mourning that Shakespeare too points towards.The equidistant plot is shown through a newsreport showing that Fortinbras is coming

Answer 7

Robert Icke/Andrew Scott 2018

Question 8

Acts placing in the Aristotelian model

Answer 8

Act1 - Exposition
Act2- Rising Action
Act3- Climax
Act4- Falling Action
Act 5- Denouement

Question 9

Hamlet delivers his ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy in a video store sureounded by Action films(when he cannot take action) and there is a clear contradiction between what Hamlet says to Ophelia in the ‘Get thee to a nunnery’ speech and the initial affection in his actions. - Ophelia is also shown to be wearing a microphone in this version which Hamlet sees

Answer 9

Dir.Almereyda 2000

Question 10

Hamlet is emotional and speaks low and is almost agitated. Elsinore almost imprisons the characters as they can never escape observation. Modern setting with sparkling chandeliers and the floor- which is glossy back- reflects the action, as does footage from CCTV cameras. There is a huge floor length mirror at the back of the stage which shatters dramatically after Polonius is shot.Hamlet also cries to Horatio showing his fragility and their close relationship

Answer 10

Dir.Doran, 2009

Question 11

This production Hamlet is in clown makeup which feigns madness.

Answer 11

Dir Holmes and While,2018

Question 12

‘We can imagine Hamlets story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet

Answer 12

Edwards

Question 13

Clauduus shares Hamlets conception of Gertrudes as an object

Answer 13

Smith

Question 14

For the only way he can resolve his internal conflicts is to seek revenge and die in a state of pride and victory

Answer 14

Cameron

Question 15

Laertes is not a whiff of fresh air. He is a hurricane

Answer 15

Prosser

Question 16

Claudius is not a master, he is morally weak

Answer 16

Mabillard

Question 17

Trained his daughter to be obedient and chaste and is able to use her as a piece of bait for spying

Answer 17

Smith

Question 18

We are Horatio, Hamlets perpetual audience

Answer 18

Bloom

Question 19

To consider the ghost as a hallucination is a mistake

Answer 19

Bradley

Question 20

The Ghost is a spirit of war, and the symbol of the devil

Answer 20

Goddard

Question 21

hamlets situation is mainly not of his own manufacture

Answer 21

Mack

Question 22

The key comic element of the play is madness

Answer 22

Beerbohm tree

Question 23

Hamlet is a mona lisa of literature

Answer 23

Elliott

Question 24

Hamlet is a merge of the tragic hero and the clown figure

Answer 24

Josipovici

Question 25

He loved Gertrude deeply and genuinely- Claudius

Answer 25

Dawson

Question 26

Hamlet develops a deep seeded hatred for women from seeing his mother’s hasty marriage

Answer 26

Pragati

Question 27

Not allowed to love and unable to be false, Ophelia breaks

Answer 27

Leverenze

Question 28

Polonius seems to love his children but he seems to have the welfare of the kingdom in mind

Answer 28

Smith

Question 29

Revenge is a kind of wild justice

Answer 29

Bacon

Question 30

The dysfunctional families are essentially the cause of Hamlets tragic nature

Answer 30

Beltramini

Question 31

The play within a play tends to dissolve the normal barriers between the fictive and the real

Answer 31

Mack

Question 32

Part a introduction

Answer 32

Within the ——(aristototelian) of Act - Shakespeares Hamlet continues to expose the corruption rooted in the ‘unweeded garden of Denmark. In this—-( commanding exchange, monologue, soliloquy) the audience are witness to —-(what happens) through ——-(Big ideas)

Question 33

Part B introduction

Answer 33

In the words of Elliott, Hamlet is a ‘Mona Lisa of Literature’ and a tragedy which evokes complicated emotions from its audience. Indeed, this is mirrored through —-(steer) in ——-(big ideas)

Question 34

Section 2 introduction

Answer 34

As iconoclasts, both Milton and Ibsen sought to challenge the entrenched beliefs and institutions at times when challenging the status quo was seen as a perilous adventure, best avoided. Yet their dogmatic insistence on a new truth earned both poet and playwright honorary positions in a canon of great disturbers. Defined —-(steer) can be linked to both Miltons epic ‘Paradise Lost’ and Ibsens naturalist drama ‘A Dolls house’ where reader and audience alike observe —-(steer) through ——(big ideas). This is expressed through male and female figures struggling to find their place in a fluctuating hierarchy of power.

Question 35

O that this too solid flesh would melt

Answer 35

Hamlets first soliloquy- considers suicide, wont because its against Gods law

Question 36

Hyperion to a satyr Fratility, thy name is women Incestous sheets O most wicked speed Denmarks a prison The plays the thing, where in ill catch the conscience of the king To be or not to be that is the question

Answer 36

Hamlet

Question 37

-Revenege his foul and most unnatural murder -that incestuous, that adulterate beast

Answer 37

The Ghost

Question 38

Get thee to a nunnery God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another He hath killed my king and whored my mother 'I loved you not'

Answer 38

Hamlet

Question 39

The lady doth protest too much methinks This is the very coinage of your brain O mu dear Hamlet. I am poisoned.

Answer 39

Gertrude

Question 40

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below

Answer 40

Claudius soliloquy, confession not known beyond God

Question 41

Revenge should have no bounds

Answer 41

Claudius

Question 42

My revenge will come

Answer 42

Laertes

Question 43

Good night sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest

Answer 43

Horatio

Question 44

Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage

Answer 44

Fortinbras to Horatio

Question 45

AO2

Answer 45

-Juxtaposition -Foreshadowing -Metaphor -Catachresis-opposites -Hyperbaton -Anaphora -Aposiopesis -Anidiplosis -Synecdoche -Allusion -Metonymy -Chiasmus -Pathos Quasi voyeurism

Question 46

Chiasmus

Answer 46

sentence or phrase is followed by a sentence or phrase that reverses the structure and order of the first one 'suit the action to the word, the word to the action'

Question 47

Pathos

Answer 47

represents an appeal to the emotions of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them

Question 48

Quasi Voyeurism

Answer 48

something that might possibly be interpreted as a gaining of some sort of sexual gratification 'incestuous sheets'

Question 49

Double etendre

Answer 49

A word or expression capable of 2 interpretations with one usually risque

Question 50

Catachreisis

Answer 50

writers use mixed metaphors in an innapropriate way to create rhetotrical effect 'war and ocean'

Question 51

Anadiplosis

Answer 51

repetion of a word or words in successive clauses 'When I give, I give myself'

Question 52

Synechdoche

Answer 52

using a part of something to stand for the whole thing 'whole ear of Denmark'

Question 53

Aposiopesis-

Answer 53

suddenly breaking off into speech

Question 54

Hyperbaton

Answer 54

inversion of the normal order of words 'this I must see'

Question 55

Anaphora

Answer 55

repetition if the first part of the sentence O LORD, for i am weak OH LORD, heal me

Question 56

Metonymy

Answer 56

the subsitution of the name of an attribute eg- suit for business executive or the turf for horse racing

Question 57

Knight

Answer 57

The theme of Hamlet is death

Question 58

Bradley

Answer 58

'Hamlets whole mind is poisoned by the presence of his mother in his uncles bed

Question 59

Bushnell

Answer 59

Elsinoire is a world of political deceit where surveillance replaces trust

Question 60

Nihilism as a big idea

Answer 60

believing in nothing, having no loyalties and no other purpose than to perhaps an impulse to destroy

Question 61

Horatio quotes

Answer 61

'Such was the very armour he had on when the ambitious Norway combated... This bodes some strange eruption to our state 'The grave stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead. Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets- foreshadows the revenge that Hamlet will embark upon 'Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest' 'I am more Antique Roman than Dane'

Question 62

R + G quotes

Answer 62

'But we both obey/And here give up ourselves in the full bent 'To lay our services freely at your feet' 'Might be the sovereign power you have of us' 'My lord, we were sent for'

Question 63

AC bRADLEY

Answer 63

r+g - 'creatures of the king'

Question 64

IMportance of Fortinbras

Answer 64

emphasises the equidistant plot- he is the foil of Hamlet and a parallel of his situation. He and Hamlet both lost their fathers and swore to avenge their deaths. However, Fortinbras is more descisive and active rather than Hamlet, who is indescisive and passive. Fortinbras is also crucial to the plays ending and to bring a remedy to the corruption that has plagued Denmark. He becomes the new king of Denmark after Hamlets death

Question 65

Euphemism

Answer 65

used to avoid directly addressing subjects that might be deemed negative or embarassing

Question 66

Espionage

Answer 66

spying/secrecy

Question 67

Polonius quotes

Answer 67

'You speak like a green girl' 'think yourself a baby' 'This is the very ecstacy of love' 'At such a time I'll lose my daughter to him' 'Your noble son is mad'

Question 68

Ernest Jones

Answer 68

'sinister figures whose friendship has been corrupted by court politics'

Question 69

Samuel Johnson

Answer 69

Horatio is not only the friend of Hamlet, but the friend of truth'

Question 70

Significance of the gravediggers scene

Answer 70

Comic relief, takes place in the most suspenseful moment of the play- lighten the tragic stress of Ophelias death- develop a theme that the laws of religion and the state are not same for all- Hamlet obsession with the theme of mortality evident in his preoccupation with Yoricks skull- pause between the rapidly rising action of the last few tragic scenes and the upcoming final tragedy- allows the audience to see Hamlet in his normal disposition 'Here us the water-good here stands the man good'

Question 71

Importance of Osric

Answer 71

- Sent by the kingm to invite Hamlet to a duel with Hamlets- comedic characters- conspirators for Hamlets death 'I thank your lordship it is very hot' - 'It is indifferent cold,my lord, indeed' -Carries out diplomatic actions for the King- messanger and courtier Symbolism of maniuplation in politics and courtly life.

Question 72

Symbolism of flowers - Ophelias death

Answer 72

Pansies- thoughts and contemplation Fennel- flattery and deceit Daisies- innocence Violets- faithfulness and modesty Columbines- affection Nettles-pain and suffering