Class Notes: November 15-26

Class Notes (November 15-26)

During these two weeks, we focused on the play Hamlet.

Background Information

·         Originated as a Norse legend

·         Hamlet’s original name = Amleth (displacement of H)

·         Was first printed in Paris in 1514, was translated to French in 1570, appeared in English text in 1608

·         In the end of the original, Hamlet lives and becomes the King of Denmark

Revenge Tragedy

·         Fall of someone whose character is good, believable, and consistent (Hamlet)

·         Fatal flaw (Hamlet’s hesitation/indecision)

·         Inspired by Seneca, but made popular during the Elizabethan era

·         Hero is hesitant (the entirety of the play involves around  Hamlet’s hesitation and reluctance to kill Claudius)

·         There usually is a question of the hero’s sanity (Hamlet sees a ghost; seeing ghosts is not normal)

·         Hero often contemplates suicide

·         Multiple levels of intrigue

·         There is an able, scheming villain (Claudius)

·         Abundance of soliloquies (Hamlet has more lines than any other character by far; he talks all the time)

·         Sensationalized idea of murder on stage or exhibition of dead bodies (everyone dies in the final scene)

For more detail: http://www.humx.org/vocabulary/revenge-tragedy

The View of Marriage (The View that Hamlet Adopts while at Wittenberg)

·         When a couple marries, they become one flesh, literally.  They are considered the same person.  Therefore, in Hamlet Jr.’s eyes, Hamlet Sr. and Gertrude are one flesh, or one person… even after Hamlet Sr.’s death.  As a result, when Gertrude marries Claudius, Hamlet Sr.’s brother, Hamlet Jr. interprets this as Gertrude marrying her brother

·         This is fundamentally different from the view that the rest of the characters in Hamlet adopt.  Everyone in Denmark sees Claudius’ and Gertrude’s marriage as normal, political, and not as incest

·         Why would Shakespeare bring this up?  Because one of his biggest patrons is Elizabeth I.  This move essentially reinforces Elizabeth’s right to the throne, because her father, Henry VIII accused his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, of consummating her marriage to his brother.  This is significant because Henry VIII and Katharine had a daughter, Mary (Queen Mary I, or Bloody Mary), who would be considered illegitimate if Henry VIII’s and Katharine’s marriage had been void.  Therefore, Mary would not have a claim to the throne, and Elizabeth (the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn) would be the rightful Queen of England