Character summary

Hamlet : Polonius :

- Protagonist - Lord Chamberlin of Claudius

- Prince of Denmark counsellor
- Son of Gertrude and Hamlet - Father of Laertes and Ophelia
- Thirty years old - Pompous and deceitful
- Bitter and melancholic - Full of double standard
- Scholar at the University of
Wittenberg Horatio :
- Logical and intelligent
- Distrusts women because of his - Hamlets best friend
mother’s perceived immorality - Loyal
- Detests all forms of deception - Helps hamlet every step of the way
- Only one alive at the end
Ophelia ;
The ghost :
- Hamlets love interest
- Daughter of Polonius - Former king
- Sister of Laertes - Dead apparition
- Relies on men to make decisions until of hamlets father
father dies
- Foil to Hamlet
- Represents innocent femineity Gertrude :

- Hother of hamlet
Claudius : - Married to Claudius
- Queen of Denmark
- King of Denmark - Shallow, weak and compassionate
- Hamlet’s uncle - Represents sexual, power-hungry
- Married to Gertrude femineity
- Main antagonist - Loves her son but fails to
- Calculating, ambitious understand his disgust at the hasty
- and deceitful marriage to Claudius.

Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern :

Laertes :
- Hamlets friends
- Son of Polonius - Spies on hamlet by command of
- Passionate and impulsive Claudius
- Intelligent - Scholars at the University of
- Opposite of Hamlet Wittenberg with Hamlet
 Themes
Action VS inaction :
Hamlet fits into a literary tradition called the revenge play in which a man must take
revenge against those who have wronged him, but Hamlet cannot bring himself to
take revenge. Suggestion that his indecisiveness leads to his downfall but ultimately,
death prevails for characters who act decisively as well.

Appearance VS reality :
The difference between "seems" and "is" is crucial in Hamlet. The characters try to
figure each other out by using deception of their own, such as spying and plotting.
Hamlet pretends to be insane to determine the truth behind his father’s death;
Claudius pretends to be a concerned uncle-father while plotting to assassinate
Hamlet; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear to be Hamlet’s friends while spying on
him; Ophelia spies on Hamlet under her father’s instructions; Polonius spies on Hamlet
whilst hiding behind the arras; Laertes hides his intention to kill Hamlet by using the
poisoned sword.

Insanity and reasoning :

Hamlet’s ’antic disposition’ and procrastination; Ophelia’s insanity.

Revenge :
Hamlets desire for revenge is driven by his love for his father and belief in his duty
to avenge his death. However as the play unfolds, hamlet questions the morality and
consequences of seeking revenge. The struggle with revenge leads to the
exploration of justice, morality and human action.

Corruption and disease :

Moral corruption
Constant reference to power struggles, ambition, scheming and decay, the usurping
of the throne, the manipulation of others and the moral decay in Denmark. In the
medieval times people believed that the health of the nation was connected to the
legitimacy of its king. In hamlet, Denmark is often described as poisoned, diseased or
corrupt under Claudius’s illegitimate leadership. It is as the poison Claudius poured
into old Hamlet’s ear has spread through Denmark itself. Hamlet also speaks in terms
of rot and corruption, describing the world as an "unweeded garden" and constantly
referring to the decomposing bodies. But Hamlet does not limit himself to Denmark.
He talks about all of life in these disgusting images. His mother sexuality , women
wearing makeup to hide their age, worms feeing on a corpse and people lying to get
their way all of these contribute to the sense of decay in Hamlet’s world.
Role of women :
Women are subservient and have no real ’voice’. Gertrude and Ophelia are biddable
pawns in the political game between the males in a world dominated by males.
Hamlet’s misogyny: degrades both Ophelia and Gertrude. Both women die when they
rebel against their patriarchal bonds. Gertrude’s quick marriage to Claudius, though
immoral, is also her only way to maintain her status Ophelia has even fewer options.
As a woman, can’t act all she can do is wait for Laertes to return and take his
revenge. Ophelia’s predicament is symbolic of women’s position in general in Hamlet:
they are completely dependent on men.

Death and morality :

Death by murder and suicide, and reflection on mortality. King Hamlet’s murder and
demise of other characters. Hamlet only seems comfortable with things that are
dead: he idolises his father, claims to love Ophelia- once she’s dead- and handles
Yorick’s skull with tender care. By the end of the play, Hamlet argues that death is
the one true reality, and he seems to view all of life as "appearance" doing
everything it can from seeking power to lying, to committing murder, to engaging in
passionate and illegitimate sex to hide from that reality.

Religion :
"Garden of Eden" Imagery, Hamlets religious beliefs resulting in his inaction,
references to heaven, hell, purgatory and judgement.
 Act 1
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
Scene 1 :
Elsinore battlements, midnight, change of guard, dark and cold.
- Francisco and Bernando (the guards) are nervous. Bernado wants Horatio and
Marcellus to relieve him. Horatio is sceptical, he asks if ’this thing’ (the ghost) had
appeared again.
- The ghost appears dresses in armour, carrying a truncheon (baton) in the same
figure as the king that’s dead looks like the recently deceased king hamlet.
- ’Thou art a scholar; speak to it’ Horatio understands Latin can exorcise ghosts if
evil. The ghost disappears and reappears without saying anything. Horatio explains.
- Horatio explains why Denmark is preparing for war against an attack from young
Fortinbras of Norway to retrieve lost Danish territory and avenge his father’s
death.

Scene 2 :
Elsinore. Claudius addresses his subjects.
- Informs audience of his recent marriage to Gertrude, his brother’s widow claims it
is possible to balance "woe" and "joy."
- Discusses looming war with Norway and sends Cornelius and Voltemand with a
message to Fortinbras’ elderly uncle, the King of Norway.
- Addresses Laertes who asks to be allowed to return to his studies in France.
Claudius agrees. Finally, addresses Hamlet: ’my cousin Hamlet, and my son’ note the
order in which he acknowledges Hamlet. Hamlet is disgusted by this association.
Claudius berates Hamlet for excessive grief.
- Gertrude implores Hamlet to stop grieving ’cast they knighted colour off’ black
clothes sign of deep mourning. Asks Hamlet not to return to Wittenberg. Gertrude
agrees with request. Hamlet accedes: ’I shall in all my best obey you, madam’.
- Claudius realises that Hamlet poses a potential political threat; needs to keep an
eye on him.

Scene 3 :
A room in Polonius’ house
- Laertes warns Ophelia not to take Hamlet’s attentions seriously. As a prince, this is
just a ’trifling’ and short-lived, for his amusement. Implies she is not worthy of
being a royal wife. She warns her brother to follow his own advice.
- Polonius gives him rambling advice about how to behave with decorum in Paris.
Interrogates Ophelia on the conversation she had with Laertes. Polonius tells her
that Hamlet is pretending to love her in order to sleep with her ’Do not believe his
vows...mere imploratory of unholy suits…The better to beguile’
Scene 4 :
Platform on the battlements of Elsinore
- Sounds of celebration Claudius’ coronation.
- Ghost appears; beckons Hamlet to follow. Horatio and Marcellus hold him back:
ghost may be a demon laying a trap for him.
- Marcellus, "something is rotten in the state of Denmark"

Scene 5 :

Another part of the platform on the battlements…

- The ghost instructs Hamlet to ’Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder’.
Official version of the king being stung by a serpent while asleep in his orchard, is
false; he was killed by Claudius who’d poured poison into his ear. Sent to Purgatory
not given chance to confess his sins before he died. Implores Hamlet not to harm
his mother.
- Swears guards and Horatio to secrecy
 Hamlet’s plot diagram
Hamlet kills Polonius rather than
Claudius exhausting the king’s
patience. From here on Hamlet is
just trying to react and
manipulate a circumstance
where he can kill Claudius
Climax

Exposition Conclusion
The ghost appears. Hamlet is Hamlet knowingly seems to enter the rigged duel
melancholy over his mother’s and is dead set on killing Claudius but ends up killing
nasty remarriage and the king everyone indirectly by choosing to kill Claudius in
and queen try to lift him out of such a manner. Denmark’s throne is left to
his depressed state Fortinbras
 Hamlet essay
INTRODUCTION = TAKO

T = Title

A = Author

K = Key words
0 = Outline

3 x Body = Peel

P = Point

E = Explain

E = Example

L = Link

Conclusion = late

L = Link

A= Authors purpose
T = Theme or topic
E = End well final statement

Tips when writing a hamlet essay :

- Formal language , no contractions

- Write in present tense
- Place points into chronological order or divide into paragraphs of characters
- Use words like "furthermore", "as well as" "in addition to", "in opposition"
- Make use of quotes
 Act 2
’O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!’ Hamlet’s transformation
Scene 1 :
A room in the house of Polonius
- Two months have since passed. Polonius instructs Reynaldo to travel to Paris to
give Laertes money and letter; also to spy on him.
- Ophelia enters, upset. Hamlet burst into her room and held her wrists, studying her
face, leaving without saying a word. His appearance is dishevelled unbecoming that
of a prince to observers it is an indication of his fractured mind.

Scene 2 :
An audience chamber in the castle
- Claudius and Gertrude greet Hamlet’s old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
summoned to Elsinore to unravel why Hamlet’s ’transformation’ his behaviour, has
changed so drastically… Resembles that it was’ sycophantic nature of both
characters no loyalty to childhood friend Hamlet; incapable of functioning
independently; almost like one character.
- Polonius informs the king that he knows the root cause of Hamlet’s insanity.
- Polonius gives rambling speech; reads love letters Hamlet sent to Ophelia invasion
of privacy; no respect for his daughter’s feelings. Polonius proposes that they
stage a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia and spy on it to test his theory.
- Polonius speaks to Hamlet who responds with statements about pregnancy, death,
and rot that, on the surface seem nonsensical, are a reference to the general
state of the country. Maligns Polonius’ character. Polonius realises there is some
truth in Hamlet’s comments.
- Hamlet greets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern warmly; tells them Denmark is a
prison. They disagree. He becomes suspicious and bombards them with questions
demanding the reason for the visit. They lack the intelligence to circumvent
Hamlet’s interrogation and admit that they’d been called to court by the king and
queen.
- Hamlet is excited about the arrival of the troupe of actors. Asks First player to
recite a speech based on Greek mythology about the Trojan queen Hecuba’s grief
who witnesses her husband Priam, being killed by Pyrrhus son of [Link]
viciously kills Priam to avenge his father’s death.
- Hamlet privately asks the First Player to perform The Murder of Gonzago on the
following night, with some ’dozen or sixteen lines’ of dialogue Hamlet has inserted.
- PLAN: He’ll have the players show a scene similar to Claudius’s murder of his
father. Hesitates no real proof of Claudius’ guilt. Unsure whether the ghost’s
intention is honourable or evil. If Claudius shows any sign of guilt evidence of
regicide and fratricide.
 Act 3
"The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King"
Scene 1 :
Elsinore, lobby of an audience chamber.
- Claudius and Gertrude enquire about the progress made by R and G in eliciting
information from Hamlet.
- King and Queen are pleased about Hamlet’s excitement about the travelling actors.
- Claudius instructs Gertrude to remove herself as Hamlet has been sent for so that
Hamlet will ’twere by accident, may here Affront Ophelia’ Polonius tells Ophelia to
walk in the courtyard as if reading a book.
- He muses that people often use appearances to "sugar o’er the devil" dramatic
irony Claudius admits the heavy burden of his guilt. Theme of appearance and
reality or deception
- Ophelia tries to return the gifts of jewels Hamlet gave her. He denies having ever
given them.
- Ophelia is distraught and loses her composure the audience gets a sense that her
feelings for Hamlet run far deeper than what her father implies.
- He toys with her affections claiming he ’loved’ her ’once’ and then disclaiming it.
- Perhaps his words tinged by bitterness? Hamlet viciously attacks Ophelia’s
character implying that she is a whore.
- The word ’nunnery’ is a pun community of nun’s vow of chastity or a brothel. Both
meanings suggesting that she is far too promiscuous and her presence will taint
society, so her lust needs to be incarcerated.
- Ophelia lies about her father’s whereabouts her chance to be truthful to Hamlet is
lost which inflames Hamlet who hates deceit and dishonesty.

Scene 2 :
The hall of the castle, seats arrange to view the play
- Hamlet reveals his plan: the play will mirror the Ghosts’ description of Claudius’s
murder of Old Hamlet. If Claudius looks guilty while watching it, then he is. He asks
Horatio to observe Claudius closely.
- Hamlet is in a lighter mood and flirts with Ophelia using a barrage of sexual puns.
Makes bitter sarcastic remarks about Gertrude
- Gertrude and Claudius become uncomfortable as play The Mouse-trap progresses.
Hamlet mocks them, while continuing to launch sexual puns at Ophelia.
- Hamlet viciously attacks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for betraying him. He uses a
recorder as a metaphor of his body. He instructs Guildenstern to play music on it
he refuses stating that he lacks the skill to do so. This further inflames Hamlet he
gives them a stern warning not to toy with him.
- Hamlet is enraged and ready to commit murder. He recalls his promise to the
ghost to spare his mother: ’let not the soul of Nero, A Roman emperor who killed
his mother enter this firm bosom.
Scene 3 :
An audience chamber
- Claudius admits that Hamlet poses a danger to him, and he informs R and G that
they have to accompany Hamlet to England as quickly as possible.
- Hamlet sees Claudius kneeling and withdraws his sword sees the opportunity to
avenge his father’s death. But he once again reflects losing impetus: If he kills
Claudius during prayer, he will go to heaven irony he sends the ’same villain ’ who
’took my father grossly ...With all his crimes broad blown’ to heaven while his
father did not have a chance to repent his sins.

Scene 4 :
Gertrude’s closet room
- Polonius advises her to be tough with Hamlet. Hides behind an arras to eavesdrop
pointless act.
- Note Hamlet’s sarcastic tone when he calls to his mother. His intention is to get
Gertrude to admit her guilt and atone for it.
- Note the word play and Hamlet’s quick responses to his mother’s accusations.
- He physically grabs her, and she calls for help Polonius calls out from behind the
arras and Hamlet thinking it is Claudius stabs him ’wretched, rash, intruding fool’.
- Hamlet acts violently and decisively ironic
- Hamlet shows Gertrude images of Claudius and his father.
- Note his reverence or idolisation of his father sees him as God-like: Hyperion, a
sun god, Mars a Roman god of war, Mercury and Jove.
- Compares his father to a ’fair mountain’; Claudius to a ’moor’ barren wilderness
Further refers to Claudius as a ’murderer’, ’villain’, ’slave’, ’cutpurse’ thief; a king
of shreds and patches.’
- Hamlet is overcome with anger and the ghost appears to remind of his oath.
- He implores Gertrude to ’Confess yourself to heaven, repent what’s past, avoid
what it to come’ ; refrain from sleeping with Claudius.
- Exits dragging Polonius’ body behind him.
- Hamlet reminds his mother of his exile to England.
- He reflects on the ’sealed letters’ in the possession of R and G.
- Hamlet shows another side to his character: he is more resolute and brutal.
- He warns that they will suffer the consequences of betraying him. There is also a
keen sense of Hamlet’s destruction that is inevitable.
 Soliloquy’s
Act 1 Scene 2 :
Hamlet is suicidally depressed by his father’s death and his mother’s remarriage. He is
disillusioned with life, love and women. Whether ’sullied’ or ’solid’ flesh, the reference
is to man’s fallen state. This is the fault of the woman, because of Eve’s sin, and
because the misogynistic medieval church had decreed that the father supplied the
spirit and the mother the physical element of their offspring. B oth words apply
equally well, linking with the theme of corruption or the imagery of heaviness, but
’solid’ is more subtle and fits better with the sustained metaphor of ’melting’, ’dew’
and ’moist’, and the overarching framework of the four hierarchical elemental levels
in the play: fire, air, water and earth. Melancholy was associated with a congealing of
the blood, which also supports the ’solid’ reading. In all likelihood, it is a deliberate pun
on both words by the dramatist and Hamlet. Other imagery concerns a barren earth,
weed-infested and gone to seed, making the soliloquy an elegy for a world and
father lost. Hamlet condemns his mother for lack of delay and is concerned about her
having fallen ’to incestuous sheets’. His attitude toward his dead father, his mother
and his new father are all made clear to the audience here, but we may suspect that
he has a habit of exaggeration and strong passion, confirmed by his use of three
names of mythological characters. His reference to the sixth commandment thou
shalt not kill and application of it to suicide as well as murder introduces the first of
many Christian precepts in the play and shows Hamlet to be concerned about his
spiritual state and the afterlife. Many of the play’s images and themes are introduced
here, in some cases with their paired opposites: Hyperion versus satyr; heart versus
tongue; heaven versus earth; ’things rank and gross in nature’; memory; reason.

Act 1 Scene 5 :
Having heard the Ghost’s testimony, Hamlet becomes distressed and impassioned. He
is horrified by the behaviour of Claudius and Gertrude and is convinced he must
avenge his father’s murder. This speech is duplicative, contains much tautology, and is
fragmented and confused. To reveal his state of shock he uses rhetorical questions,
short phrases, dashes and exclamations, and jumps from subject to subject. God is
invoked three times. The dichotomy between head and heart is mentioned again.

Act 2 scene 2 :

Hamlet’s mood shifts from self-loathing to a determination to subdue passion and

follow reason, applying this to the testing of the Ghost and his uncle with the play.
The first part of the speech mirrors the style of the First Player describing Pyrrhus,
with its short phrasing, incomplete lines, melodramatic diction and irregular metre.
This is a highly rhetorical speech up to line 585, full of lists, insults and repetitions of
vocabulary, especially the word ’villain’; this suggests he is channelling his rage and
unpacking his heart with words in this long soliloquy, railing impotently against himself
as well as Claudius. He then settles into the gentler and more regular rhythm of
thought rather than emotion. The irony being conveyed is that cues for passion do
not necessarily produce it in reality in the same way that they do in fiction, and that
paradoxically, deep and traumatic feeling can take the form of an apparent lack of,
or even inappropriate, manifestation.

Act 3 scene 1
Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be," often considered a soliloquy,
technically is not, as Ophelia is present, and Claudius and Polonius are within earshot.
In some productions, Hamlet even addresses Ophelia directly. The soliloquy tackles a
common philosophical question of the time: whether it is better to endure life’s
hardships or to end them, akin to a modern debate motion.
Hamlet transitions from the specific to the universal, questioning why people tolerate
suffering when they could escape it with a simple "bare bodkin" (a dagger). He
debates whether it is better to act or remain passive, using Horatio’s stoicism as a
contrast. The phrase "take up arms against a sea of troubles" sparks critical debate,
with some, like Rossiter, arguing it suggests self-destruction rather than overcoming
one’s troubles.
Although humans can choose death, they cannot control what comes after, deterring
Hamlet from embracing death due to the fear of the unknown. Despite finding death
desirable for its promise of peace, its mystery makes it terrifying, leading him to
adhere to the known. Strangely, Hamlet does not consider the Ghost as a "traveler"
from the afterlife, which could inform his fears.
Hamlet previously decided against suicide, citing divine prohibition ("the
Everlasting...fixed/His canon ’gainst self-slaughter"), indicating his stance remains
unchanged. C. S. Lewis suggests Hamlet fears not dying but being dead, the unknown
state. However, Hamlet later realizes colluding with fate can alleviate this fear.
The "conscience" making cowards of us all likely refers to conscience in its modern
sense, as seen in "catch the conscience of the King", but it also means "thought,"
encapsulating human condition: reason leads to self-judgment and fear of divine
punishment. Aside from Claudius and a schooled Gertrude, other characters lack self-
critical conscience.
The soliloquy features a slower pace than previous ones, with more adjectives,
metaphors, rhythmic repetitions, and regular iambics. Hamlet’s melancholy and doubt
are evident through the use of hendiadys, stress on disease, burdens, pain, and
weapons, and a generally bleak worldview. The "rub" in line 65, referring to an
obstacle in bowls, symbolizes life’s unpredictable challenges.
What is the question Hamlet is asking in his fourth soliloquy? Here are the following
interpretations:
- He is comparing the advantages and disadvantages of being alive and only
tangentially recognising that man has the power to escape a painful existence by
committing suicide.
- The ’question’ concerns the abstract choice between life and death and focuses
on suicide throughout but as a concept only.
- Hamlet is debating whether to end his own life.
- The question is whether or not Hamlet should kill Claudius.
- Hamlet is persuading himself that he wishes to proceed with revenge and that he
must not let thought interfere.
- The speech is asking whether one should act or not act as a general principle and
practice.

Act 3 scene 2 :

Now Hamlet feels ready to proceed against the guilty Claudius. He is using the
stereotypical avenger language and tone in what the Arden edition calls ’the
traditional night-piece apt to preclude a deed of blood’ He is aping the previous
speaker’s mode as so often, trying to motivate himself to become a stage villain, by
identifying with Lucianus, the nephew to the king. This is the least convincing of his
soliloquies because of the crudity of the clichéd utterance, and one suspects it is a
leftover from an earlier version of the revenge play. The emphasis at the end,
however, is on avoiding violence and showing concern for his own and his mother’s
souls; his great fear is of being ’unnatural’, behaving as a monster like Claudius. He is,
however, impressionable to theatrical performance, as we saw from his reaction to
the Pyrrhus/Hecuba speeches earlier, and this carries him through to the slaying of
Polonius before it wears off and, if we can believe it, ’’A weeps for what is done’.
This soliloquy creates tension for the audience, who are unsure of how his first
private meeting with his mother will turn out and how they will speak to each other.
He mentions his ’heart’ and ’soul’ again.

Act 3 scene 3 :

Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius while he is praying, claiming that this would send
him to heaven, which would not be a fitting punishment for a man who killed his
father unprepared for death and sent him to purgatory. For Hamlet revenge must
involve justice. It begins with a hypothetical ’might’, as if he has already decided to
take no action, confirmed by the single categorical word ’No’ in line 87, the most
decisive utterance in the play. The usual diction is present: ’heaven’ , ’hell’, ’black’,
’villain’ , ’sickly’, ’soul’ , ’heavy’, ’thought’, ’act’.