Hamlet Writing Collection

1. discuss how Shakespeare's allusion to the Pyrrhus, Priam, Hecuba triangle is relevant to the first two acts of HAMLET. Be sure to use details from the play and the allusion to make your point. I suggest Wikipedia for a quick explanation of who these people are to each other and what their significance is. (1-2 pages, double-spaced, typed)
Shakespeare’s continuing theme of father/son revenge stories plays out once again in his use of the story of Pyrrhus, Priam, and Hecuba. The plots in each story mirror one another almost perfectly—two sons, driven by vengeance, seeking out the man they see as responsible for their own father’s death, and slaughtering him while his wife looks on helplessly.
For Pyrrhus, Priam is not the man who killed his father, Achilles, but he reigns as king of the Trojans who started the Trojan War, leading to his father’s death. Paris, son of Priam was the actual killer of Achilles and Pyrrhus will take whatever vengeance he can seize. Hecuba, wife of Priam, can only grieve as her husband is slain. Shakespeare introduces this story to Hamlet through Hamlet’s fondness of a monologue he heard once. Hamlet himself recites the opening lines, showing his identification and connection with the piece that others in the audience (like Polonius) find boring (2.2.523-526). Hamlet’s passion for the players further establishes his intelligence and artistic penchant, further adding ambiguity to his later descent into mental instability (2.2.445-455). Hamlet mirrors Pyrrhus, as he seeks revenge for Claudius’ murder of his father.
Hamlet’s connection with Pyrrhus also strengthens the parallel storyline of Fortinbras and Norway (also a son who seeks vengeance for his father’s death). In the background of Hamlet’s conflict, this occurs and foreshadows the doom Hamlet and Claudius
Within the actual monologue, Pyrrhus’ actions reflect the inner turmoil Hamlet suffers through. Although Pyrrhus strikes out viciously at Priam initially, when he misses and Priam falls, he hesitates for a moment, “neutral to his will and matter, did nothing,” before delivering the final blow. Pyrrhus’ hesitation symbolizes Hamlet’s hesitation to enact revenge on Claudius for the murder of Old Hamlet, his father. However, Claudius can also seem to represent Pyrrhus in certain aspects. Pyrrhus mercilessly plots to kill Priam and viciously hacks Priam into pieces, “with less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword,” like a bloodthirsty Claudius who kills his own brother for the throne and Queen Gertrude (2.2.516). Claudius mirrors Pyrrhus even further when he plots to kill Hamlet again. Hamlet’s response to the monologue reveals his true inner turmoil and hesitation. Hamlet calls Claudius a, “bloody, bawdy villain,” but himself does not enact revenge immediately (2.2.567). Upon realizing his inaction, Hamlet calls out shame on himself, saying he is, “prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,” but he, “must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words” (2.2.614). Though Hamlet acknowledges his inaction, he shows even more truthfully how he does not have his heart in the planned murder by still talking about it and not acting—leading to even more of a delay as he now decides to test Claudius’ guilt. Shakespeare’s allusion to an ancient story illustrates the overwhelming pervasiveness of the theme of revenge in life. Over centuries, people fight, kill, and do anything it takes to “justify” or even the score. The parallel plot of Fortinbras and the reference to the tale of Pyrrhus, Priam, and Hecuba shows the universality of Hamlet’s message and provides a foil to compare Hamlet’s actions to.

2. discuss how Shakespeare has characterized Gertrude in Acts 1-3. What kind of person do you think he’s created? How much do you think she does and does not know? What kind of mother is she? What kind of wife? Be sure to use specific examples from the first 3 acts to back up your contentions. In addition, be sure to discuss methods of characterization in your response. (1-2 pages, double-spaced, typed)
Like many of Hamlet’s elements, Shakespeare never completely develops Queen Gertrude’s character and motivations, leaving her covered with a mist of uncertainty, and causing readers to question her true involvement in the driving tragedy of Hamlet. Gertrude’s lines are never delivered with an obvious intention or emotion, making her motivations uncertain, but her outright lack of doing anything overtly malicious supports the fact the Gertrude is more likely a manipulated woman who has little choice in the path her future takes.
Hamlet’s own opinion of his mother far from recommends her, and he sees her as a huge part of the mess his life has digressed into. Hamlet spend much of his time obsessed with his mother’s sexuality and relationships, and her fickleness (in his eyes) leads him to reject all women’s character, crying out, "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (1.2.6). Hamlet’s negative opinion of women comes from much of how he views his mother’s actions, but her actions don’t actually tell the reader much about her character because as a woman, the reader cannot know how much influence she had in the course her life took. Gertrude was probably a mild-mannered woman, threatened into submission because she cared more to survive than defend her son, country, and husband. Shakespeare does suggest that Gertrude may have been innocent within Claudius’ plot, with the Ghost’s command for Hamlet to, “Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive, against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven” (1.5.9). The ghost only seeks revenge on Claudius, suggesting that though Hamlet blames Gertrude for more than her share of his troubles, it is not justly deserved. Gertrude’s shock at Hamlet’s accusation of, “kill[ing] a king and marry[ing] with his brother" pointedly frame her as someone innocent to the machinations behind the (3.4.10). Shakespeare also limits the depth of Gertrude’s character by never allowing her the chance to speak out her mind freely and limiting her interactions with other characters. Act 3 is the first time Gertrude appears without Claudius and though she speaks with Hamlet and her surprise at his accusations suggests her innocence, the men in her life once again over-power her, as Hamlet’s crazy rant takes control and ends with her backed in a corner and victimized.
While Gertrude is most definitely not innocent in all of schemes surrounding Hamlet’s life, her knowledge of how deep and sinister the plots go seems unlikely. Hamlet claims that Gertrude was sick with love for Old Hamlet so it seems unlikely that killing Old Hamlet and marrying Claudius brings any benefit to her (1.2.147). Gertrude’s position and power have stayed the same…she is queen no matter what, and if Hamlet had taken his rightful place as king upon his father’s death instead of Claudius, she would have even lost power in becoming a non-reigning monarch. However, even more importantly, as a woman in Renaissance times, she would have been left out of the proceedings pretty much entirely because of the prejudice her sex brought upon her. Most likely, Gertrude faced a choice when her husband died—marry Claudius or become the dowager queen and live out her days alone and possibly in a convent. Her decision to marry Claudius might have been forced by Claudius or other factors. Her behavior generally corresponds to Claudius’ almost exactly, showing that Gertrude is meek, mild, and most likely living under Claudius’ control (1.2.119-123). While Gertrude’s choices may leave something to be desired, they are also a product of her circumstances and manipulation.
While Hamlet’s view of his mother is unnecessarily harsh, Gertrude was probably willing to turn a blind eye to some of her suspicions towards Claudius’ intentions because of her precarious position as a defenseless and powerless woman.

3. discuss how Shakespeare has characterized Ophelia in Acts 1-4. What kind of person do you think he’s created? What do you think is the truth of her relationship with Hamlet? What theme(s) does she most seem to support? Be sure to use specific examples from the first 4 acts to back up your contentions. In addition, be sure to discuss methods of characterization in your response. (1-2 pages, double-spaced, typed)
Ophelia seems flighty, naive, young, and impressionable. Prince Hamlet turned her head and now her life revolves around him. While Ophelia could possibly be anywhere from a young teen (13-14ish) to a 30 year old (as a contemporary of an older Hamlet), her behavior and outlook on life signify a much less mature mind than a 30 year old. Ophelia shows little concern for her future or making Hamlet marry her--if she was in her twenties or older, Ophelia would be a spinster and dragging Hamlet to the altar as fast as she could. The need for Laertes and her father to address her about her conduct and behavior with Hamlet show that Ophelia has little concern for her reputation and the consequences of her flirtations (1.3.29-38). However, Ophelia does prove herself to be a “good girl” per say, when she obeys her father’s creed to stop meeting Hamlet (1.4.10).
In Hamlet, other characters most often define Ophelia by her sexuality. Both Laertes and Polonius give speeches to Ophelia about her chastity and protecting it at all costs, and especially guarding herself with Hamlet (1.3.130-129). In Elizabethan times, a “deflowered” woman was worthless and ruined for the rest of her life. No man wants damaged goods, and Polonius and Laertes are forceful in reminding Ophelia of this repeatedly. Hamlet accuses Ophelia of promiscuity and calls her future husband a “cuckold” for Ophelia would be sure to cheat on him because of her loose morals (3.1.10). Even in her death, Ophelia is likened to a mermaid, a sensual image of the time as mermaids would use their beauty to lure sailors to their death.
Similar to Shakespeare’s portrayal of Gertrude, Ophelia has little control over the decisions in her life and is relegated to a life determined by her father and brother. However, though Ophelia believes love and marriage an escape from her bondage, marriage would only switch the control to her husband instead of her father. But, unlike Gertrude, Shakespeare weaves a thread of sympathy throughout Ophelia’s story. Much like a young Juliet Capulet, she is motivated by love, but manipulated by fear and circumstances. When the reader learns of Ophelia’s death through Gertrude's haunting monologue, the beauty of the scene highlights the tragedy this is and the emotional turmoil Ophelia was experiencing. Hamlet, Laertes, and Polonius have been constantly degrading her and expecting her to conform to their wishes, and Ophelia finally cracks. The likely possibility that Ophelia has engaged in sexual acts with Hamlet is proven by her last words of a little song about a girl who loses her virginity because of a false promise of marriage--something that could have most definitely happened to Ophelia as Hamlet used to regale her with, "words of so sweet breath" but could not really promise her marriage as he was likely destined for a political marriage (3.1.4). Gertrude and Ophelia both resort to passiveness to survive, but while Shakespeare never gives Gertrude a chance to respond to the events and emotions swirling around her, he allows Ophelia to express her devastation and regret about her interactions with Hamlet after he casts her aside (3.1.13). Unlike Gertrude, who has no response of true feelings that we know of (she never has a scene without Hamlet, Claudius, or Polonius listening), Ophelia lets us in on the pain she feels and the desperation and confusion she feels, making her descent into true madness even more probable and pitiable.
Ophelia’s sheer helplessness in making decisions and lack of control over her own life invite sympathy from the reader and cultivate an image of fragility and weakness in Ophelia. Everyone feels bad for the girl who gets her heart broken and Shakespeare plays on that cliche to create a foil to Hamlet. Shakespeare characterizes Ophelia as weak and heartbroken to address the way women of the time were treated and the literal helplessness they faced in their lives when it came to making decisions because of the dominance and control of men in their lives.

“her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch” (4.7.2).

4. compare and contrast Sophocles’ illustration of the revenge ethic in Electra with Shakespeare’s in Hamlet. Be sure to make an arguable, significant point (you might even want to reference Bacon…). (1-2 pages, double-spaced, typed) Electra and Hamlet both delve into the theme of revenge, but Sophocles and Shakespeare address he issue with completely different viewpoints, resulting in two very different tragic heroes. Sophocles’ point is to reinforce the cultural ideal of ancient Greece, and because of that, he uses Electra’s story to support the need for revenge to restore her and her family’s honor. Shakespeare explores the morality of revenge and the destruction it brings through Hamlet. Sophocles presents a much more positive view of the revenge ethic as Electra faces a somewhat happier ending than Hamlet, while Shakespeare focuses only on the negative aspects of revenge.
With Hamlet, Shakespeare challenges whether or not it is right even though his culture supports the shame base for the most part. Hamlet is unwilling to accept the automatic reaction of revenge to his father’s death and spends much of the play trying to justify his planned vengeance. Before he can even think to plan of taking revenge on Claudius, Hamlet must prove Claudius’s absolute guilt because of his need for justification (Shakespeare 2.2.563-569). Hamlet spends even more time contemplating the consequences revenge could incur and the likely death that it will bring to him. Every opportunity Hamlet has to kill Claudius is wasted because of excuses until the denouement where Hamlet must kill Claudius before he himself dies from the poison (Shakespeare 3.3.77-83). Hamlet cannot bring himself to do it until he is forced to because internally he cannot truly justify killing to his enlightened mind, reflecting Shakespeare’s negative opinion of vengeance.
While Hamlet is reluctant to enact revenge because of the implications and the internal reluctance he struggles with, Electra is desperate and hungry for revenge to the point of her life fixating on it and stagnating as a person. Electra spends her time waiting and fuming and hating until Orestes shows up to enact the revenge. Electra is helpless in this scenario as a woman, and Sophocles proves his point through the fact that though Electra has, "come to the ending,"of her cause, she is, “the seed of Atreus,” and has lost everything in her obsession (Sophocles 11). If Electra had moved on with her life and waited quietly for Orestes to come back, she would have lived a much more fulfilling life and not abandoned her moral scruples. Electra, who “studieth revenge keeps [her] own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well,” stopping her from ever living a healthy life (Bacon).
Sophocles paints the revenge ethic in a much more negative light because of his intention to reinforce the Grecian shame-based society and focus on honor. Though Electra achieves revenge and still lives, she has lost what she holds dear. Shakespeare portrays the revenge ethic in a negative light, so the ending finds Hamlet dead and everyone who became embroiled in Hamlet’s scheme dead also. Sophocles only lightly touches on the negative aspects of consequences from revenge, but Shakespeare explores them with the effects on his characters and ends it all in death to emphasize the tragedy revenge brings.

5. using Aristotle’s definition (which you have in your notes), compare and contrast Euripides’ character Electra with Shakespeare’s character Hamlet to determine which tragic hero has the most impact on a modern audience. (1-2 pages, double-spaced, typed) Electra and Hamlet both represent two of the most famous characters in history, but today, their impact is limited by the audience that receives the work. With a radical change in culture since both stories took place, audiences have indentified more strongly with Hamlet because of the more realistic (to current standards) plot that accompanies him. Hamlet affects a modern audience more deeply because of the similarities he shares with them and the action he represents.
Hamlet presents himself as a much more likeable character because of his hamartia. Hamlet proves himself morally and emotionally more mature compared to Electra as his hamartia is the subconscious rejection of the morality of revenge, while Electra’s hamartia is the inability to let her desire for vengeance go, even at the cost of everything positive in her life. When Hamlet falls to death because of the complications his reluctance towards revenge incur, the audience pities him, but Electra is merely banished to a life with her husband, who though poor, respects and loves her. Both characters achieve a moment of anagnorisis, but Hamlet’s moment of understanding the need to, “let it be” and cry for Horatio to “tell [his] story” is much more emotionally stirring than Electra’s ‘oops, shouldn’t have done that!’ (Shakespeare 5.2.370-383, Euripides 16)Hamlet also read a lot younger than Electra does. Electra acts and talks like a bitter shrew while Hamlet’s much younger teenagery attitude makes him relatable to the usual modern audience--students. Most audiences want to read about a young hero facing his demons rather than a washed-up and bitter woman. The time periods Electra and Hamlet live in also determine the impact they make on a modern audience. Hamlet’s Elizabethan setting reads more modernly than Electra’s ancient Greece setting, even though both are antiquated compared to today. The vernacular Hamlet is in reads much more easily and clearly than Electra’s Grecian prose, filled with references to a culture a modern audience does not understand or identify with. Hamlet’s culture is different from today’s, but it aligns itself much closer in values and religion to modern culture than Electra’s pantheistic, shame-based culture does.
In addition, Hamlet’s motivation is much more easily understood by readers. Many members of a modern audience would have experienced a parent remarrying and the dislike that can be directed at a step-parent because of that like Hamlet (although he does have the issue of Claudius killing his father to deal with also), but few have experienced the emotions that come along with being forced to kill one parent for revenge because they had the other parent killed. A modern audience could sympathize with Electra, but they can truly empathize with Hamlet because they have shared similar experiences. Modern audiences also identify better with Hamlet as he provides a welcome contrast to Electra’s whining. Neither are particularly impulsive in their revenge schemes, but Hamlet does pull it together in act five to at least take action while Electra just waits for Orestes to do all the work in killing Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. Hamlet also actually does something for most of the play. Hamlet goes places, plans things, puts on a play, talks to other people--and Electra mostly just sits there and complains and only interacts with others to she’s complaining to someone else. Hamlet’s life is much more similar to a modern audience’s--he is constantly interacting with people and changing his opinions based on those interactions--just like today, where because of technology, there is the constant flux of information and interactions causing a constant change in perspective. In contrast, Electra remains stagnant in her ideals and passion, leaving very little depth for the audience to explore within her character.

6. compare and contrast structure in Sophocles’ Electra with structure in Hamlet. Be sure to focus on aspects of structure that are significant to a larger argument (for instance, choral function, episodic structure, plot development, etc.). Don’t just list. (1-2 pages, double-spaced, typed) Shakespeare created the modern idea of a tragedy, but he also drew elements from the original Greek tragedies like Sophocles’ Electra. Key elements of Greek tragedy are included in his plays, such as hamartia and anagnorisis, and Shakespeare also employs elements of structure found in Greek tragedies, such as the prologue, stasimon, episodic structure, and choral responses. Sophocles strictly follows the pattern of Greek tragedy, but Shakespeare creates a new form of tragedy that interposes the elements of the old with a more modern and fluid approach.
In Greek tragedy, the prologue serves a the exposition, educating the audience on any background information and setting the scene for the story. Sophocles sticks to this definition and uses the prologue to instruct the audience on Electra’s plight and set the scene in ancient Greece. Shakespeare also creates a sort of prologue with his first act in Hamlet, by setting up the basic elements of the story--the ghost, explaining the death of Old Hamlet and the ensuing events, Hamlet’s quest for revenge.
Hamlet’s soliloquies serve as a sort of stasimon, responding to the events in the play, without any further plot being developed, similar to Sophocles’ use of the chorus to respond to the events that has transpired. Hamlet’s soliloquies often are triggered by one event that relates back to multiple events in Hamlet’s life, allowing for Hamlet to bring the threads of each together thematically and address larger issues that pertain throughout the play, like existence, death, and his motivation towards revenge. Sophocles uses the chorus to generalize Electra’s comments and points so that they provide a commentary on how her struggles apply to society and use their lines to teach and caution the audience.
The chorus features prominently in Greek tragedy, and though Shakespeare does not have a specified chorus like Sophocles does in Electra, he uses minor characters to interject social commentary. Sophocles's chorus of peasant women interacts with Electra , which Shakespeare also does by using minor characters who are a part of Hamlet machinations and everyday life. Polonius’ overly solicitous advice to Laertes show the common opinion of the time towards comportment and behavior, just like Sophocles’ chorus comments on Electra’s inappropriate behavior. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also provide social commentary with their wry observation that as lower ranking nobles, they must put the king’s, “dread pleasures more into command” (2.2.29). However, Shakespeare uses choral aspects to address social issues more, while Sophocles mostly uses them to address Electra’s tragic flaw.
Sophocles and Shakespeare both use elements of Greek tragedy’s structure, but Shakespeare employs them in a more organic way than Sophocles’ formulaic and rigid adherence to Greek standards. Shakespeare’s deviation allows Hamlet to read more fluidly compared to Electra as the characters respond more naturally than the ordered responses in Electra.