Apr 25, 2005 22:39
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
1) (charachters) Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (protagonist) Claudius, King of Denmark (antagonist, Hamlet’s uncle), Queen Gertrude (female lead, Hamlet’s birth mother) Ophelia (Hamlet’s love) Polonius (King Claudius’s advisor) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum) Laertes (son of Polonius, foil character to Hamlet)
2) (setting) Midevil Denmark,
3) (plot outline) Hamlet, prince of Denmark, is upset because his father has died, and his uncle has taken over as king, marrying the queen. When confronted by the ghost of his dead father, he takes on a guise of madness in order to make his uncle feel safe, so he can kill him.
4) (symbols) ~Rotting motif~ Repeated over and over in various places and times, this idea of the state of Denmark, and the royal family and the lies are all rotten. There is nothing that is flowering for growing, just things dying and going bad.
~Rosencrantz and Guildenstern~ two childhood friends of Hamlet’s, they are the symbol for the inescapable destiny that Hamlet and Claudius and everyone else faces. Unable to tell the king they won’t spy on Hamlet, they are forced to spy on their friend, and are forced to try and lead him to his death, resulting in their own demises.
5) (key passage)
Polonius: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” Easily related to any character in the play, or any literature character really, everyone is mad, going mad, angry, killing others, dancing around before committing suicide, ect, and there is a method to all the scheming madness and spying.