hamlet dramatic effects

Question 1

soliloquies

Answer 1

reveal hamlets inner thoughts and conflicts especially - we see hamlet being suicidal, as an audience who can’t speak back to him but only listen we see an emotional side to him that he doesn’t want to share. it shows that the people (the audience) whom he is trusting with these thoughts can’t even talk back and help - showing his hopelessness
- helping the audience understand hamlets psychological struggle

Question 2

use of ghosts and supernatural

Answer 2

the appearance of old hamlet ghosts creates suspense, drives the plot and raises questions about morality and the after life especially typing in with ophelia’s ‘suicide’ and the gravediggers (“if this had been a gentlewomen she would have been buried out of christian burial”/ priests (“her death was doubtful… shards, flings and pebbles should be thrown on her”) comments

Question 3

dramatic irony

Answer 3

the audience often knows more than the characters like Hamlets knowledge of Claudius guilt which creates tension
e.g. in act 2 scene 2 hamlet tells the audience about the murder of gunzago play before he does horatio and all the audience know his plan - no one in the court or his family does

Question 4

play within in a play

Answer 4

the mousetrap mirrors the main plot and serves as a clever, intellectual way of exposing claudius, increasing the drama and suspense
- this was clever of hamlet as if he hadn’t thought to do this he would possibly have killed the wrong the person (one of the few times his intellect has not stunted his action)

Question 5

contrasts with foils

Answer 5

characters like Laertes and Fortinbras serve as fouls to Hamlet highlighting his indecision and complexity
e.g. as soon as Laertes hears of his fathers dead he storms the castle (4:5) armed (“give me my father”)
Hamlet waits until act 5 scene 2 to finally kill Claudius (he found out abt his father in 1:5) and even then he wasn’t planning on doing so

Question 6

violence and death

Answer 6

sudden and tragic deaths (Polonius 3:4, Ophelia 4:7, Gertrude 5:1) create shock and emphasise themes of mortality and fate and also emphasises the murder of innocent people due to Hamlets inaction

Question 7

language and wordplay

Answer 7

hamlets wit, puns and rhetorical questions add layers of meaning to keep the audience engaged

Question 8

use of madness (real and feigned)

Answer 8

hamlets madness (real or acted) and Ophelia’s descent into genuine madness provoke emotional response and explore mental instability - and what they can lead to

Question 9

poetry

Answer 9

uses rhythm, figurative language and heightened expression
most poetry written in verse

e.g. “to be or not to be” (3:1)
uses metaphor, rhythm and explores deep philosophical meanings

Question 10

prose

Answer 10

ordinary spoken language
shakespeare uses prose for lower status characters, madness or comic relief

e.g. polonius speaking to reynaldo
“before you visit him, to make inquire Of his behaviour”

when hamlet pretends to be mad he often speaks in prose - break from blank verse signals a shift

Question 11

verse

Answer 11

structured usually iambic pentameter
can be rhymed or unrhymed

rhymed verse e.g.
“the time is out of joint: I cursed spite
that ever i was born to set it right!”

Question 12

blank verse

Answer 12

unrhymed iambic pentameter
shakespeare’s most common form of speech for noble characters
e.g. hamlet, claudius and gertrude to reflect their social rank and intellect
switching between blank verse and prose marks changes in mood, mental state or status

Question 13

rhetorical device

Answer 13

repetition or parallelism and how they covert key thematic ideas