{"id":212,"date":"2019-07-18T12:56:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T12:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/provincialenglish\/chapter\/hamlet-study-guide\/"},"modified":"2023-12-06T22:28:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T22:28:44","slug":"hamlet-study-guide","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/provincialenglish\/chapter\/hamlet-study-guide\/","title":{"raw":"Hamlet: Study Guide","rendered":"Hamlet: Study Guide"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n\r\nFirst, browse the award-winning website maintained by the University of Victoria. It is a very useful resource for the study of Shakespeare's plays.\r\n\r\nInternet Shakespeare Editions: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nIdeally, before beginning your study of Hamlet<\/em>, you should view the entire Hamlet <\/em>video, available in various versions at most public libraries and on the main video streaming sites.\r\n\r\nNow let\u2019s begin our study of Hamlet<\/em>.\r\n

Background<\/h1>\r\nNotice that, although the play is set in Denmark, the characters would dress in English costumes, just as they would have in a Roman play such as Julius Caesar<\/em>, with no togas, just English Elizabethan costumes.\r\n\r\nFirst, some necessary background. The following table shows major binaries in Hamlet<\/em>. The two columns, beginning with nature vs. grace are important for an understanding of the intellectual background to all Shakespeare's tragedies.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Mighty Opposites from Sonnets through Tragedies<\/caption>\r\n
Negative binary<\/th>\r\nPositive binary<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n
Nature<\/td>\r\nGrace<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Fallen world<\/td>\r\nRedeemed time<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Unweeded garden<\/td>\r\nEden<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Time<\/td>\r\nEternity<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
City, court<\/td>\r\nGreen world: Forest of Arden<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Money, sex, power<\/td>\r\nUnworldliness<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Goddess Fortuna<\/td>\r\nTranscendent (this binary links to service theme)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Illusion<\/td>\r\nTruth<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Cupidity<\/td>\r\nCharity<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Disorder<\/td>\r\nOrder<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Ambition<\/td>\r\nChain of being<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Shadow<\/td>\r\nSubstance<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Passive virtue<\/td>\r\nActive virtue<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Darkness<\/td>\r\nLight<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Intemperance<\/td>\r\nTemperance<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Euphemism<\/td>\r\nPlain language<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nShakespeare's was a Christian society, and educated people accepted the traditional way of looking at the universe: human history began as a direct result of Adam and Eve's sin of disobedience. Prior to that sin, they inhabited an eternal spring in Eden\u2014the changeless utopian realm of harmony. With their sin, nature fell with them. The result was that the realm of Nature was removed from Grace, and only through the intervention of Christ on behalf of fallen humanity could people hope to return to the state of grace. Earth became a battleground between those who try to uphold virtue<\/strong> vs. those who practice vice<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nThe terms on the left-hand (Nature) side of the table represent negative binaries: Denmark, like Eden, becomes an unweeded garden<\/strong>. You should try to find out what changed Hamlet\u2019s view of Denmark from a once-virtuous state into a place where something is rotten.\r\n\r\nTypically in Shakespeare, the country was deemed to be closer to virtue than the city, the seat of power and upward mobility. The king held his court in the city, and those wishing to rise had to adopt the values of court. So the Court is the realm of money, sex, power, whereas the country suggests unworldliness. A typical symbol of this virtuous, utopian (because it is non-materialistic) green world is presented in the comedy As You Like It<\/em> as the Forest of Arden.\r\n\r\nThe corrupt, fallen world pays allegiance to the Goddess Fortuna (a mythological figure, still current in our society. One thinks of the game show Wheel of Fortune<\/em>). Most of the characters in Hamlet<\/em> can be described as either those who serve Fortune<\/strong> (or time, hence time-servers) and those who opt to serve the Transcendent<\/strong> (God, eternal values such as love). In the fallen world, unlike in Eternity, perception is never simple, because those who are seeking worldly advancement tend to employ deception; for example, they often lie or pretend to be something they are not. Thus, the fog in Act 1 serves as a metaphor for the fallen world and the difficulty people have in penetrating through appearances to find the reality.\r\n\r\nAs the play starts, Hamlet is aware of a change from his late father's open ways to the often devious ways of his uncle, the usurper King Claudius, and of his chief adviser, Polonius.\r\n

Act Notes<\/h1>\r\nIn Hamlet<\/em>, the text invites us to structure the conflict as Hamlet vs. Claudius, \u201cmighty opposites.\u201d The play breaks into two opposed camps, with the Claudian group on the left outnumbering the Hamlet group on the right:\r\n