Transcript Document

Hamlet
2015/7/20
1
Hamlet
Plot:
Old Hamlet, king of Denmark, is recently dead, and
his brother Claudius has assumed the throne and
married his widow Gertrude. Young Hamlet,
returning from university at Wittenberg, learns
from the ghost of his father that Claudius
murdered him by pouring poison into his ear, and is
commanded to avenge the murder without injuring
Gertrude.
2015/7/20
2
Hamlet
2015/7/20
3
Hamlet
Hamlet warns his friend
Horatio and the guards
Barnardo and Marcellus
(who have also seen the
apparition) that he
intends to feign
madness, and swears
them to secrecy.
2015/7/20
4
Hamlet
Immediately after his
famous speech of
deliberation beginning
“ To be, or not to be ”
(III. i) he repudiates
Ophelia, whom he has
loved, while spied on by
Claudius and by Ophelia's
father Polonius.
2015/7/20
5
Hamlet
2015/7/20
6
Hamlet
He welcomes a troupe of visiting players, and
arranges a performance of a play ( “ the Mousetrap ” ) about fratricide, which Claudius breaks off,
in apparently guilty and fearful fury, when the
player Lucianus appears to murder his uncle by
pouring poison into his ear. Hamlet refrains from
killing Claudius while he is at prayer, but stabs
through the arras in his mother's bedroom, killing
the old Counsellor Polonius, before reprimanding his
mother for her affection for Claudius.
2015/7/20
7
Hamlet
2015/7/20
8
Hamlet
2015/7/20
9
Hamlet
Claudius sends Hamlet
to England with sealed
orders that he should
be killed on arrival.
Hamlet outwits him,
however, returning to
Denmark, having
arranged the deaths of
his old friends
Rosencrantz and
Guildenstem, who were
his uncle's agents.
2015/7/20
10
Hamlet
During Hamlet's absence Ophelia has gone mad with
grief from Hamlet's rejection of her and her
father's death, and is found drowned.
2015/7/20
11
Hamlet
Her brother Laertes, having returned from France,
determines to avenge his sister's death. Hamlet and
Laertes meet in the graveyard where Ophelia is to
be buried, and fight in her grave. Claudius arranges a
fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes, giving
the latter a poisoned foil; an exchange of weapons
results in the deaths of both combatants, not before
Gertrude has drunk a poisoned cup intended for her
son, and the dying Hamlet has succeeded in killing
Claudius. Fortinbras, prince of Norway, whose
resolute military heroism has been alluded to
throughout the play, appears fresh from wars with
Poland and gives Hamlet a military funeral.
2015/7/20
12
Hamlet
2015/7/20
13
Hamlet
Theme:
Shakespeare, in this play, puts forward the
image of Hamlet as a humanist of the
Renaissance. He has an unbounded love for the
world, nature and man; he loves good, hates evil,
and is free from medieval prejudices and
superstitions; he shows a contempt for rank
and wealth; he is a man of genius, highly
accomplished and educated; he is a scholar,
soldier, and statesman. His image reflects the
versatility of the man of the Renaissance.
2015/7/20
14
Hamlet
His weakness is his melancholy, but in
spite of his melancholy and delay in
action, Hamlet still retains his active
energy. His learning, wisdom, noble
nature, limitation and tragedy are all
representative of the humanists at the
turn of the 16th and the 17th centuries.
2015/7/20
15
Hamlet
This play also exposes a
corrupted court.
Shakespeare condemns
the hypocrisy, treachery
and general corruption at
the royal court by
revealing the powerseeking, the hidden
motives, the courteous
superficialities that veil
lust and guilt.
2015/7/20
16
Hamlet
Play the video
(from ACT III Scene I A room in the castle)
To be, or not to be1: that is the
question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to
suffer
The slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of
troubles2,
And by opposing end them3. To
die, to sleep —
No more — and by a sleep to say
we end
The heartache, and the thousand
natural shocks
2015/7/20
Notes:
1. To be, or not to be: to live on in
this world or to die; to suffer or to take
action, which reveals the inner
contradiction of the hero
2. take arms against a sea of
troubles: to take up arms against
troubles that sweep upon us like a
sea
3. by opposing end them: end them
by opposing
17
Hamlet
That flesh is heir to4! 'Tis a
consummation5
Devoutly to be wished. To die,
to sleep —
To sleep — perchance6 to
dream: ay, there's the rub7,
For in that sleep of death
what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off
this mortal coil8,
Must give us pause9. There's
the respect10
That makes calamity of so
long life:
2015/7/20
4. heir to: certain to receive
5. consummation:
completion of one's life
6. perchance: perhaps
7. the rub: “ rub ” is the
technical term in the game of
bowls for any obstacle which
diverts the bowl from its
course. Here it refers to
obstacle or difficulty.
8. this mortal coil: the
turmoil of mortality
9. Must give us pause: Must
make us hesitate. The subject
is “ What dreams may come. ”
10. respect: consideration
18
Hamlet
For who would bear the whips
and scorns of time11,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the
proud man's contumely12,
The pangs of despised love,
the law's delay,
The insolence of office13, and
the spurns
That patient merit of th'
unworthy takes14,
When he himself might his
quietus15make
With a bare bodkin16? Who
would fardels17bear,
2015/7/20
11. the whips and scorns of time:
the suffering of the world
12. contumely: contempt
13. The insolence of office: the
contempt held by people of high
rank
14. the spurns/ That patient
merit of th' unworthy takes: That
patient merit takes the spurns of
the unworthy. People of the worth
endure at the hands of the
unworthy.
15. quietus: death
16. bare bodkin: mere dagger
17. fardels: burdens
19
Hamlet
To grunt and sweat under a
weary life,
But that the dread of something
after death,
The undiscovered country, from
whose bourn18
No traveler returns, puzzles the
will,
And makes us rather bear those
ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know
not of?
Thus conscience19does make
cowards of us all,
2015/7/20
18. bourn: boundary
19. conscience:
consciousness
20
Hamlet
And thus the native hue of
resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast
of thought20,
And enterprises of great pitch
and moment21,
With this regard their currents
turn awry22,
And lose the name of action —
Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! — Nymph, in
thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.
2015/7/20
20. thought: anxiety
21. pitch and moment:
significance and importance
22. their currents turn awry: The
subject of “ turn ” is
“ enterprises ” , and object is
“ currents ” . It means “ turn away
from their original purpose ” .
21