Hamlet

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Hamlet
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Things you should know about Hamlet.

• The plot is packed with
• dysfunctional families,
• devious connivers
• warring nations

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So, whats the attraction

• A young man returns home from college to find
  that his dad is dead
• His loving mother is now remarried to the man
  that commandeered the throne
• Suspicions of murder and treason
• Spies
• Some questioning lovers
• A ghost, and lets not forget.

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Hamlet

• An army that is intent on seizing your land
• Lets just say that Hamlet has issues!

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Ingredients of Revenge

• A wrong must be righted total payback!
• A villain
• A complex plot (a little confusion keeps the
  reader on his/her toes)
• Murders
• A play within a play
• Ghost

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Ingredients of Revenge

• Suffering Heroine - Ophelia
• Madness
• People going crazy
• People acting crazy
• How do we know when madness is real or fake???

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Themes of Yesteryear and Today

• Murder
• Betrayal/Deception
• Friendship
• Destroyed/Lost Love
• Revenge
• Mental Illness
• Dysfunctional family family pressures

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Lets not forget these themes

• Ambition
• Sin and Corruption
• Isolation and loneliness
• Disillusion (what we thought of someone turns out
  to be completely different)
• And everyone can relate to
• PRO-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N

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Background

• Shakespeare may have used the story of Hamlet to
  reflect the concerns of his own time. (Cultural
  Capitol)
• During the Elizabethan Era social order was very
  important.

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Background continue

• Hamlet depicts a conflict over what to do when an
  orderly state is actually corrupt from the inside
  and there seems to be no civilized answer on how
  to right a wrong.
• KEEP THIS IN MIND WHILE YOU ARE READING

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So how do I read the Bard and not go Nuts????

1. Read the Introduction
2. Look at the footnotes to gain a better
   understanding
3. Look up words you dont know
4. Keep a list of characters
5. Write a nightly summary

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Rule of Thumb

• If you cant understand a particular passage,
  its probably about sex.
• You are reading a play which was intended to be
  spoken, NOT READ SILENTLY. Remember, 90 of
  Shakespeares audience was illiterate.