A very brief summary of what the critics have to say
Remember, you do not have to provide a detailed critical reading. Rather, it is important to show that you have considered what others have had to say about the text while formulating your own personal response to Hamlet.
HAMLET'S TRAGIC FLAW: Is Hamlet's distress understandable? Why does he fail to act until too late? Some of the most important interpretations of Hamlet's tragic flaw are:
Goethe: The great German poet argued that Hamlet is not brave enough. He lacks the "right stuff." The dramatic situation is like an acorn (the problem) planted in a cracked vase (Hamlet). As the problem grows, Hamlet becomes less sound.
A.C. Bradley: This famous Shakespeare scholar said that Hamlet suffers from melancholia or is merely mentally deranged.
Ernest Jones: The Freudian interpretation--Oedipus complex. He still has a childish sexual fixation on Gertrude. Thus, his attitude toward Claudius is ambivalent; he is grateful to Claudius for removing his "rival" for his mother's affections (King Hamlet) but must also resent him as his new father-figure.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Hamlet's delay is caused by "the effect of a superfluous activity of thought." He thinks too much because he is too elevated for this world, has too fine a character.
A more general interpretation is that Hamlet does not have a flaw. He is merely waiting for the ghost to be proven honest or not. In this he may be seen as a twentieth century existentialist hero. He is faced with a problem whose answer may lie beyond the limits of human reason--or in fact may not have an answer. It is this limitation, and the uncertainty it produces, that makes Hamlet "unstable."
Helen Gardner: Hamlet is a true revenge play: In a typical revenge play the protagonist must kill the slayer of his relative or friend in the most terrible way possible.
a. The hero faces a predicament not of his own making.
b. The villain provides the means for the vengeance (Claudius suggests the duel).
c. The avenger conceives a plot and puts it into action.
d. Usually the hero descends to the moral level of the man being punished (a mild irony) with a terrible revenge scheme (Hamlet may not do this).
e. The denouement of Hamlet shows a "profound" irony: Claudius plans Hamlet's death, but both he and his queen die. The tragedy here does not lie in the unfitness of the hero for his task. He, according to Gardner, has no flaw. The flaw is in the task itself (is it beyond any man?) or in the nature of the world (is perfect justice impossible in the world?). The task itself is one only a hero would feel called upon to undertake--like charging the machine gun nest to save your buddies, raising children, teaching English.
Productions of the play generally use one or more of the above interpretations to present Hamlet’s character. (Both the Laurence Olivier and the Mel Gibson Hamlets are products of Ernest Jones’ argument that Hamlet suffers an Oedipus Complex.) Scenes ranging from the opening scene to the poison-duel resolution could be chosen for contrast, but one of the more obvious ones is Act 3, Scene 4, where Hamlet kills Polonius and the ghost appears. This scene is the play’s climax and involves whatever interpretation of the tragic flaw the actor chooses. A scene that could be chosen just to show contrasts in staging is Act 3, Scene 3, where Claudius is attempting to pray.
HAMLET'S TRAGIC FLAW: Is Hamlet's distress understandable? Why does he fail to act until too late? Some of the most important interpretations of Hamlet's tragic flaw are:
Goethe: The great German poet argued that Hamlet is not brave enough. He lacks the "right stuff." The dramatic situation is like an acorn (the problem) planted in a cracked vase (Hamlet). As the problem grows, Hamlet becomes less sound.
A.C. Bradley: This famous Shakespeare scholar said that Hamlet suffers from melancholia or is merely mentally deranged.
Ernest Jones: The Freudian interpretation--Oedipus complex. He still has a childish sexual fixation on Gertrude. Thus, his attitude toward Claudius is ambivalent; he is grateful to Claudius for removing his "rival" for his mother's affections (King Hamlet) but must also resent him as his new father-figure.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Hamlet's delay is caused by "the effect of a superfluous activity of thought." He thinks too much because he is too elevated for this world, has too fine a character.
A more general interpretation is that Hamlet does not have a flaw. He is merely waiting for the ghost to be proven honest or not. In this he may be seen as a twentieth century existentialist hero. He is faced with a problem whose answer may lie beyond the limits of human reason--or in fact may not have an answer. It is this limitation, and the uncertainty it produces, that makes Hamlet "unstable."
Helen Gardner: Hamlet is a true revenge play: In a typical revenge play the protagonist must kill the slayer of his relative or friend in the most terrible way possible.
a. The hero faces a predicament not of his own making.
b. The villain provides the means for the vengeance (Claudius suggests the duel).
c. The avenger conceives a plot and puts it into action.
d. Usually the hero descends to the moral level of the man being punished (a mild irony) with a terrible revenge scheme (Hamlet may not do this).
e. The denouement of Hamlet shows a "profound" irony: Claudius plans Hamlet's death, but both he and his queen die. The tragedy here does not lie in the unfitness of the hero for his task. He, according to Gardner, has no flaw. The flaw is in the task itself (is it beyond any man?) or in the nature of the world (is perfect justice impossible in the world?). The task itself is one only a hero would feel called upon to undertake--like charging the machine gun nest to save your buddies, raising children, teaching English.
Productions of the play generally use one or more of the above interpretations to present Hamlet’s character. (Both the Laurence Olivier and the Mel Gibson Hamlets are products of Ernest Jones’ argument that Hamlet suffers an Oedipus Complex.) Scenes ranging from the opening scene to the poison-duel resolution could be chosen for contrast, but one of the more obvious ones is Act 3, Scene 4, where Hamlet kills Polonius and the ghost appears. This scene is the play’s climax and involves whatever interpretation of the tragic flaw the actor chooses. A scene that could be chosen just to show contrasts in staging is Act 3, Scene 3, where Claudius is attempting to pray.