Nurul Izzah

202012500455
R3E

Summary of the analysis:

Hamlet is a tale of mourning, madness, and revenge. The play's title refers to the central character itself,
Prince Hamlet, and his murdered father, King Hamlet, whose death he will avenge. This drama texts is
written by William Shakespeare in 1599–1601. The genre is Tragedy or Revenge Tragedy. Hamlet is
written in objective third-person point of view. To give the audience better understanding of the
characters' inner thoughts, Shakespeare uses asides and soliloquies in which characters speak their
thoughts out loud.
The world of the play
Hamlet is one of the most famous tragedies ever written. Hamlet also belongs to the genre of Revenge
Tragedy because it features a main character that seeking to avenge a wrong against himself (especially
his father), but Shakespeare satirizes and modifies the genre in several ways. In traditional revenge
tragedies, the hero is an active, decisive figure who doggedly pursues a clear villain. Hamlet is not like
that. Instead he continues to struggle with himself in pursuit of Claudius. The obstacle is his own
indecision and doubt. He even lets a few opportunities to get his revenge pass by, like when he sees
Claudius praying and decides not to kill him. Besides, Hamlet only kills Claudius after his own death has
been confirmed, so any satisfaction he gets from the death of his nemesis is so short-lived. In this way
Shakespeare delivers a traditional, bloody, action-packed revenge tragedy with an even greater degree of
psychological complexity.
The whole play takes place inside Elsinore’s castle, except for Act Five scene 1, which takes place
possibly in the grounds of the castle. Elsinore itself is the English spelling of Helsingor, which is a real
town on the eastern coast of Denmark. Helsingor was an important military location, the stronghold from
which the King of Denmark controlled a narrow stretch of sea. The castle made Helsingor famous as a
cultural center, and Hamlet’s Elsinore is also a cultural center. There are many private spaces in Elsinore.
Therefore, Hamlet is often alone when he delivers his soliloquies. Ophelia also has a “closet” and so does
Gertrude. Even Claudius also prays in his own private chapel. These personal spaces reflect how people
behave when they are not with other people. On the other hand, the privacy of these characters is often
disturbed or spied on. Polonius was spying on Hamlet while he was talking to Ophelia. Hamlet storms
Ophelia's closet, and he also spies on Claudius as he prays. When Hamlet storms Gertrude's closet,
Polonius spies on them both. All of these spies contribute to the play's atmosphere of uncertainty and
mistrust.
The source of Hamlet is an earlier play dramatizing the same story, the Danish prince who must avenge
his father. Unfortunately, none of the printed text of this play has survived or perhaps this play was only
seen in the show and never printed. References from the late 1580s to mid 1590s attest to its popularity
and the presence of a ghost screaming for revenge. There is general scholarly agreement that the author of
this early version of Hamlet was Thomas Kyd, best known as the revenge playwright, The Spanish
Tragedy. This play did survive in print and was a huge theatrical hit in the late 1580s and 90s, delighting
the contemporary taste for intrigue, bloodshed and ghostly presences.
Style in Hamlet frequently functions as an extension of character: the way characters speak gives us
insight into how they think. This observation is especially true for Hamlet himself, who speaks more than
one-third of the play’s total lines, and whose linguistic style changes depending on context. For example,
whenever he’s alone, or thinks he’s alone, Hamlet speaks patiently and at length, and his words frequently
take on a philosophical quality. Just like at his most philosophical monologue that begins with his famous
question, “To be, or not to be?” (III.i.55). This monologue continues for nearly 35 lines, in which Hamlet
pontificates on the suffering inherent in existence and considers the pros and cons of committing suicide.
The gravity of his subject matter and the philosophical weight of his diction reveal the heavy burden of
sadness he carries from the very beginning of the play.
Like all of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Hamlet is written mostly in verse, but over 30% of the lines are in
prose, which is the highest percentage of any of the tragedies. One reason for the high amount of prose is
that Hamlet has more comic scenes than any of Shakespeare’s other tragedies, and one of the reason is
because Hamlet spends a large part of the play pretending to be crazy. In those scenes, Hamlet is
deliberately speaking in a disordered way, so he speaks in prose. Likewise, when Ophelia actually goes
mad, she too speaks in prose (when she’s not singing). Another function of prose is to mark the speech of
lower-status characters.
The Yorick’s skull is the most famous symbol in the play. It represents the mortality of mankind. When
Hamlet realizes that the skull in the churchyard is his old jester Yorick, he picks it up and contemplates it.
The skull symbolizes that no matter what you do or how much you accomplish, everyone ends up in the
graveyard. Throughout the play, Hamlet has insisted that his father's life had meaning beyond death but
now is faced with the truth that death comes to all.
Hamlet’s Themes
Revenge is a prominent theme in Hamlet and a catalyst to many events in the plot. Several characters
seek revenge:
- The ghost of Hamlet's father wants Hamlet to avenge his death.
- Laertes wants to avenge both Polonius's and Ophelia's deaths.
- Fortinbras wants revenge for his father's death and for military losses.
Death
Shakespeare uses mortality/ death as a central theme. We can see this from a number of scenes or ways:
the ghost of Hamlet's father, Hamlet's contemplation of suicide and Ophelia's suicide, Hamlet's tendency
for black dress (at least in the early scenes), the players' performance of The Murder of Gonzago, the
gravediggers, the grave, and the funeral as well as the skull in the graveyard scene and the numerous
deaths in the play's final scene. Primarily, Shakespeare explores this concept as part of the cycle of life,
looking at it from both religious and secular perspectives
The Impossibility of Certainty
This play poses many questions that other plays would simply take for granted. Can we have certain
knowledge about ghosts? Is the ghost what it appears to be, or is it really a misleading fiend? Does the
ghost have reliable knowledge about its own death, or is the ghost itself deluded? How can we know for
certain the facts about a crime that has no witnesses? Can Claudius (or the audience) know the state of
Hamlet’s mind by observing his behavior and listening to his speech? Can we know whether our actions
will have the consequences we want them to have? Can we know anything about the afterlife?
Many people have seen Hamlet as a play about indecisiveness, and thus about Hamlet’s failure to act
appropriately. It might be more interesting to consider that the play shows us how many uncertainties our
lives are built upon, and how many unknown quantities are taken for granted when people act or when
they evaluate one another’s actions.

The Dramatic Structure on Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Introduction
The former king of Demark has died, and a group of soldiers tell his son, Prince Hamlet, that they believe
they saw his ghost. Hamlet later sees the ghost and it is indeed his father. Hamlet learns the king was
poisoned by Hamlet's uncle (the king's brother), who has since married the queen and is now the new
king. Hamlet feels that he must seek revenge on his father’s behalf. However, he struggles with the
authenticity of the “ghost” and is indecisive about his course of action.
Rising Action
Claudius hires two of Hamlet’s old friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on the prince. Polonius,
the chief counselor to Claudius, also spies on Hamlet. Polonius’s daughter, Ophelia, had been courted by
Hamlet, but he now seems to reject her, perhaps in an effort to convince Claudius he is mad. Throughout
the rising action, Hamlet tries to figure out if Claudius truly killed his father. When he hears a group of
actors is coming, he requests that they act out a play that depicts a king being poisoned in the ear. This
mimics the way the ghost claims he was killed. Hamlet thinks if Claudius reacts, it will prove his guilt.
Claudius leaves the play and goes to pray forgiveness for killing Hamlet's father. Hamlet overhears this
and wants to kill him. However, Hamlet passes up the opportunity because he thinks if he kills him while
he is praying, Claudius will go to heaven.
The Climax
Hamlet stabs Polonius through the arras in Act III, scene iv, he commits himself to overtly violent action
and brings himself into unavoidable conflict with the king. Another possible climax comes at the end of
Act IV, scene iv, when Hamlet resolves to commit himself fully to violent revenge.
Falling Action
Because Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius and he is banished to England. Claudius includes a letter to
the King of England that orders Hamlet’s execution. Hamlet escapes and comes back to Denmark.
Ophelia has drowned herself. Hamlet is challenged to a fencing match by Laertes who blames Hamlet for
the deaths of his sister and his father.
Denouement
At the match, Laertes poisons the tip of his sword. Claudius poisons a cup and tries to get Hamlet to drink
from it. Hamlet refuses and Queen Gertrude drinks from it instead. Laertes stabs Hamlet. They grapple,
and Laertes is stabbed by his own sword and also poisoned. Hamlet makes Claudius drink from the
poison cup and then stabs him with the poisoned sword. In the end, only Horatio is left to tell the story.
Fortinbras, King of Norway, arrives to find the royal family dead and claims Denmark.
The Central Character and the Characterization
Hamlet has fascinated audiences and readers for centuries. The first thing to point out about him is that he
is enigmatic. There is always more to him than the other characters in the play can figure out, that even
the most careful and clever readers come away with the sense that they don’t know everything there is to
know about this character. When he speaks, he sounds as if there’s something important he’s not saying,
maybe something even he is not aware of. The ability to write soliloquies and dialogues that create this
effect is one of Shakespeare’s most impressive achievements.
Hamlet is also extremely philosophical and contemplative. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered
his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle’s guilt before trying to act. He is also plagued
with questions about the afterlife, about the wisdom of suicide, about what happens to bodies after they
die and so on. But even though he is thoughtful, Hamlet also behaves rashly and impulsively. When he
does act, it is with surprising swiftness and little or no premeditation, as when he stabs Polonius through a
curtain without even checking to see who he is. He seems to step very easily into the role of a madman,
behaving erratically and upsetting the other characters with his wild speech and pointed innuendos.
It is also important to note that Hamlet is extremely melancholy and discontented with the state of affairs
in Denmark and in his own family or even in the whole world. He is extremely disappointed with his
mother for marrying his uncle so quickly, and he repudiates Ophelia, a woman he once claimed to love, in
the harshest terms. His words often indicate his disgust with and distrust of women in general. At a
number of points in the play, he contemplates his own death and even the option of suicide.

The Language and Rhetoric of Hamlet

In Hamlet, Shakespeare employs language as a means of characterization, defining and hiding identity,
misleading and manipulating others, and revealing character morality and self-assertion. Furthermore,
Shakespeare distinguishes characters by providing each of them with distinct types of linguistic register.
He gives each character a different type of diction, images, and figurative language that differentiates the
speech of every character from those of the others. Among the language devices that are applied in this
play are:
Metaphor

“But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,

Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill.” (I.i.165–166)
In this metaphor, Horatio compares the sunrise to a person in a reddish cloak approaching from a distant
hilltop.

“Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden

That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.” (I.ii.135–137)
In this metaphor, Hamlet compares the world to a garden in which weeds have taken over and begun to
multiply.

“Think yourself a baby

That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling.” (I.iii.105–107)
In this double metaphor, Polonius calls Ophelia a baby, suggesting that she is naïve for believing that
Hamlet’s affections (“tenders”) for her are true when in fact they are like counterfeit silver coins.
Simile
“And then it started like a guilty thing
Upon a fearful summons.” (I.i.147–148)
When the Ghost disappears at the sound of a crowing rooster, Horatio uses this simile to compare the
Ghost’s reaction to that of a guilty person who panics when caught in the act.

“Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as

snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.” (III.i.137–138)
Speaking to Ophelia, Hamlet uses a simile to compare chastity to ice and snow, suggesting that it is both
pure and cold, or lacking in passion.

“It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages

with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with
your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent
music. Look you, these are the stops.” (III.ii.322–325)
In this simile, Hamlet sarcastically tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that playing a pipe is as easy as
lying (which they have been doing to him). He means, ironically, that their lies sound as ridiculous as a
person trying to play a musical instrument without knowing how.

Allusions
Act 1, scene 1
“And the moist star
Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.” (1.1.117–119)
This is an allusion to Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.

Act 1, scene 2
“So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr.” (1.2.139–140)
This is an allusion to Hyperion, one of the Titans—a superhuman race in Greek mythology that ruled the
world before the Olympian gods.

“Like Niobe, all tears.” (1.2.149)

This is an allusion to Niobe, a grieving woman in a Greek myth.

Foreshadow
Hamlet’s madness
Horatio warns Hamlet that the Ghost “might deprive your sovereignty of reason/And draw you into
madness” (I.iv.). The Ghost itself instructs Hamlet: “Taint not thy mind” (I.v.). These warnings
foreshadow Hamlet’s descent into madness. However, as always in Hamlet, we see a further layer of
complexity to the question of Hamlet’s madness. After his encounter with the Ghost, Hamlet tells Horatio
that he may “put an antic disposition on” (I.v.), that is, pretend to be mad. The play, therefore, sets up two
different ways to understand Hamlet’s increasingly erratic behavior: as the real madness predicted by the
Ghost and Horatio, or as the “antic disposition” mentioned by Hamlet. This uncertainty makes Hamlet’s
character ultimately mysterious.
Symbols
The skull in Hamlet belongs to Yorick, the court jester. This skull is a symbol of death, decay and
uselessness of a person after his death. These are the physical remains of the dead that are a harbinger of
what he may have to face in his next life. The skull makes Hamlet think about his own destiny and his
own life after his death. This implies how humans eventually return to the dust. The skull reminds Hamlet
that even great kings can die and eventually rot. Death leaves no one intact or alive.
Interpretation of Hamlet
The Interpretation of Hamlet is about revenge. It is so obvious since Hamlet is also a revenge play.
Hamlet's entire plot is about seeking revenge from Claudius for killing his father. Laertes is also
motivated to avenge the deaths of his father and sister. The arrival of Fortinbras is also part of revenge, as
it is revealed that Claudius once attacked his country during his father's reign. Meanwhile, Hamlet's
overall message is that revenge itself is deadly. Hamlet has caused his own downfall with his obsession
for revenge. By plotting Claudius' death, Hamlet awakens Claudius' natural reaction to protect himself. In
the end, revenge kills Hamlet.
Summary of the story:
After his father dies, Hamlet becomes obsessed with the thought of death, and thinks of it as the ultimate
answer for his problems. In mourning for his father’s death, he is confronted by his mother, Gertrude, and
Claudius, who tell him to move on. Hamlet replies that he would try to be happy but his father had only
been dead for such a short time. He also refuses to take of the clothes, indicates that he is still in
mourning, and he remains melancholy throughout the play. Hamlet cries out ‘O, that this too solid flesh
would melt,” expressing his desire to leave the dire situation he has found himself struggling through. He
begins to think about ending his life through suicide. He realizes that he can do little to fix what has
occurred, and that he knows too little to do anything. And then in the next part, we see Hamlet encounter
the ghost of his dead father.
When Hamlet interacts with the ghost, he is told that his uncle Claudius, who married his mother, is the
one who killed his father, and that he must take revenge for it. In his unstable state, Hamlet begins to plan
his strategy for revenge, however, when he meets Claudius in the chapel, it turns out that he is simply
unable to kill him.
Realizing the madness of Hamlet that trying to kill him, Claudius, now fearing for his own safety, so he
orders Hamlet to be sent to England. However, Claudius's plan for Hamlet includes more than
banishment, as he has given sealed orders for the King of England, demanding that Hamlet be put to
death for his crime of killing Polonius.
After the death of her father Polonius, Ophelia, Hamlet's girlfriend, became mad with grief and drowned
herself in a river. Laertes, her older brother, returned to Denmark in anger. Claudius then convinces him
that Hamlet is to blame for the deaths of his father and sister.
Claudius then devises a plan to take advantage of Laertes' desire for revenge to secure Hamlet's death.
Laertes will fence with Hamlet, but Claudius will poison Laertes' sword, so that if he draws blood,
Hamlet will die. As a backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give Hamlet to drink
if Hamlet scores a hit in the match.
Hamlet then returns to the vicinity of Elsinore during Ophelia's funeral. Meeting there, he fights with
Laertes and states that he has always loved Ophelia. Arriving at the castle, he told Horatio, his best friend,
that he believes one should be prepared to die, because death can come at any time.
At Claudius' orders, the deadly fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes is finally held. The sword
fight begins. Hamlet scores the first hit, but refuses to drink from the goblet the king proffers. Instead,
Gertrude, the queen, took the drink and then killed by the poison instantly. Laertes then manages to injure
Hamlet, but Hamlet doesn't die immediately. However, Laertes is also cut by the blade of his own sword.
At the end of his life, he reveals to Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the queen's death, and after
that he dies. Hearing that, Hamlet then stabs Claudius with Laertes' poisoned sword and forces him to
drink the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet also dies soon after achieving his revenge.
Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s last request, tells a Norwegian prince Fortinbras about Hamlet’s tragic story.
Fortinbras is so stunned by the sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the floor dead. In the
end, he moves to take power of the king. He also orders that Hamlet should be carried away in a manner
befitting a fallen soldier.
The Conclusion:
“Hamlet" is a tragedy with a great deal of death in the conclusion. The queen is dead from poison that was
meant for Hamlet. The king is dead of his own poisoned sword and poison wine that was forced down his
throat by Hamlet in revenge for the death of his father and his mother. Hamlet is also dead after
successfully carrying out his revenge.
Death is present throughout the whole play, leaving a dominant presence in the drama. In the play,
Hamlet's character is revealed through death. His reaction to his encounters of death revealed his views.
His indecisiveness is evident in his view of death. His unstable state also contributes to the two dominant
themes of death in this play, which are suicide and revenge. Life doesn't seem important to Hamlet
anymore, so he continues to search for answers to afterlife and wonders about what mysteries are to
come. Death is a frightening unknown to Hamlet, and the thought of dying by his own hand makes
Hamlet uneasy because he does not know what death entails. At the end of his "To be or not to be"
soliloquy, Hamlet concludes that fear of the unknown is what prevents people from committing suicide.
The play also begins with the presence of the ghost of the king, the figure of a king who is dead but has a
living soul. It symbolizes the lingering spirit of death that is present in the setting. There's also Yorick's
skull as a symbol of the physical consequences of death.
In the conclusion, Shakespeare presents death as an inescapable act of life, noting that all living things
must come to an end. Since "Hamlet" became a Shakespearean tragedy, the theme of death recurs
throughout the play. In addition, we can see Shakespeare using revenge as the main motive of the
character's murder, which makes "Hamlet" a revenge tragedy. In this drama, many characters have died
due to murder or suicide. These constant deaths proved successful in increasing the tension, increasing the
audience's sense of anticipation throughout the whole play.