Study Tools
How to study Hamlet
How can these Notes help you?, Reading the play, Interpreting or critiquing the play, References and sources, Revising for and responding to an assessed task or exam questionHamlet in context
Shakespeare's life and times, Hamlet: artistry and popularity, Study focus: Hamlet's soliloquies, Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, Study focus: Key issues in Hamlet, Characters in HamletPlot & Action
Characters & Themes
Hamlet
Who is Hamlet?, A complex Revenge Hero, The starting point, Melancholy dramatised, Study focus: A voice from beyond the grave, Betrayal, The mission modified, Key quotations: HamletClaudius
Who is Claudius?, A discontented younger brother, First impressions, Painted words, A troubled conscience, Study focus: Spinning out of control, Fatal crisis management, Key quotations: ClaudiusGertrude
Who is Gertrude?, A shadowy presence, The fallen woman, Turning the tables, Study focus: The closet scene, A qualified love, Key quotations: GertrudePolonius
Who is Polonius?, Claudius's right-hand man, 'Dotage encroaching upon wisdom', Study focus: Polonius as a comic figure, Garrulous Shakespeare?, Key quotations: PoloniusLaertes
Who is Laertes?, Study focus: Hamlet's foil, Boundless revenge, The revenger's creed, Study focus: A wounded name, Key quotations: LaertesOphelia
Who is Ophelia?, Passive Ophelia, Duplicitous Ophelia, Study focus: A new Ophelia, A document in madnessHoratio
Who is Horatio?, A moral touchstone, Study focus: Horatio and the Ghost, The scrupulous sceptic, Laconic Horatio, Key quotations: HoratioStructure, Form & Language
Contexts & Critical Debates
Historical background
The universal playwright, A mirror of its times, Nasty, brutish and short, The status of women, Shifting powerLiterary background
Hamlet and Elizabethan drama, Hamlet: a new kind of tragedy, The source of Hamlet, The texts of HamletCritical debates
Where to begin?, Early criticism, Nineteenth-century Romanticism, Later criticism, Anti-Romanticism, Hamlet psychoanalysed, The imagery of Hamlet, Recent developments in Hamlet criticism, Structuralism and post-structuralism, Feminist criticism, Political criticism, Performance criticismGrade Booster
Assessment focus
What are you being asked to focus on?, What do these AOs actually mean?, What does this mean for your study or revision?Targeting a high grade
Understanding grade progression, Typical C grade features, Typical features of an A or A* responseQuestions with statements, quotations or viewpoints
Responding to a critical interpretation, Key skills required, Answering a ‘viewpoint’ questionUsing critical interpretations and perspectives
The 'meaning' of a text, Writing about critical perspectives