Hamlet

A small village; a little cluster of houses in the country.

Ophelia. She went crazy after Hamlet killed her father which led her to drown herself.

She feels very guilty and she tells Hamlet so. Hamlet asked her to not reveal that he is not really crazy. She then protects Hamlet for the murder of Polonius by telling the king that Hamlet has gone mad.

However, it is clear that Gertrude is not as guilty as you might think. She was not aware of the fact that Claudius had killed her first husband for her until Hamlet says "Almost as bad, dear mother, as to kill a king and marry with his brother." "To kill a king?" she asks. She had no idea. Nevertheless she was the motive, or part of the motive for the crime, and this makes her feel guilty.

All of the characters make poor decisions, but only two things are actually referred to as mad. Hamlet's madness is mostly feigned, but the things he does that the court sees as insane are to speak insultingly and cryptically, and to kill Polonius. Ophelia's madness is real, and consists of speaking cryptically and singing bawdy songs, handing out flowers, and either drowning herself or failing to save herself from being drowned. So the two overt types of madness are to be rude and inappropriate in public, and to show a reckless lack of regard for human life. Whether characters such as Hamlet and Claudius also display more subtle forms of madness is open to debate.

William Shakespeare's plays are commonly categorised as Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.

Hamlet is a Tragedy.

Fortinbras is heir to the throne of Norway. He is a parallel character to Hamlet. He wants to recover the lands that King Hamlet, Prince Hamlet's father, won away from Norway in combat on the day that Prince Hamlet was born. He asks for free passage across Denmark to attack Poland, but that may be a ruse to get his troops on Danish land to force his claim. [This is what has Claudius worried enough to add extra sentries at the start of the play.] At the end of the play, with all of the corpses littering the floor, Fortinbras assumes the throne of Denmark and orders the corpses to be carted away.

Act 1 Scene 2 Hamlet: "'tis an unweeded garden" Act 3 Scene 4 Hamlet: And do not spread the compost on the weeds to make them ranker Act 1 Scene 5 Ghost: And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That roots itself in ease on Lethe Wharf

One of many examples is, "Oh God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world."

Horatio is the only balanced and self-controlled character in the play because he is more logic than emotional and is unbiased and unmoved by other characters actions and tragedies

The main plot is the revenge plot. Hamlet learns his father was killed by his uncle; he pretends to be crazy to get close to Claudius and does eventually kill him. There is a subplot about Ophelia. There is another subplot about his relationship with his mother. There is yet another about his relationship with Rosecrantz and Guildenstern.

4 active in the book, 3 active in the movie. Author and Oz series originator Lyman Frank Baum [May 15, 1856-May 5, 1919] identified four main witches who are active in his story: Glinda the Good Witch of the South, the Good Witch of the North, and the Wicked Witches of the East and of the West. The original count was six or seven. For the world of Oz originally had four wicked witches. But Glinda and her colleague managed to take over the Quadling country of the South and the Munchkinland of the North, respectively, from the Wicked Witches who had been ruling in those two lands. In addition, Baum brings in the story of Gayelette, a beautiful princess and powerful sorceress of the North. Is she a seventh witch, in addition to the two previously Wicked Witches of the North and of the South; the two Wicked Witches of the East and of the West; and the two Good Witches of the North and of the South? Or is she the younger version of the older Good Witch of the North? In the 1902/1903 stage version of the book, Baum gives the Good Witch of the North the name Locasta. But there are inconsistencies between the play and the book versions even though Baum authored both! In the 1939 film version, there are only three witches: Glinda has become the Good Witch of the North, there's no Good Witch of the South, and there are the two Wicked Witches of the East and of the West.

Horatio is the only person who stays true to Hamlet through the entirety of the play. He always remains Hamlet's true friend throughout the story.

Hamlet's mother is Gertrude. She is the queen of Denmark and is married to Claudius. She was originally married to Old Hamlet before he was murdered by Claudius. Gertrude is a weak woman that needs a man around her (ie. her quick marriage to Claudius). Gertrude loves Hamlet dearly, but also watches as Hamlet is sent away to his death.

France; keep thoughts to himself ,restrain himself

Hamlet is essentially a very unmotivated person. He is apathetic, and prefers to think rather than to act. However, the thing that drives his resolve (to kill Claudius, which becomes his goal in the play) is i) the resentment that his mother got over his father so fast and married his uncle, and ii) that his father's ghost appeared to him. It's not exactly certain what relationship Hamlet had with his father, but Shakespeare makes it seem as though perhaps that was one relationship that Hamlet was actually committed. The appearance of his father's ghost was the thing that motivated Hamlet early on in 'Hamlet'.

Act 1, scene 5

Ghost: "I find the apt;

And duller shoulst thou be than the fat weed

That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,

Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:

'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,

A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark

Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abused; but know, thou noble youth,

The serpent that did sting thy father's life

Now wears his crown."

Hamlet: "O my prophetic soul!

My uncle?"

This is meaning that Claudius is the "serpent" who murdered King Hamlet. Ironic isn't it, Claudius is King Hamlet's brother.

Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream both were written by Shakespeare.

There is an odd parallelism between the two plays, which were written at about the same time and have many similarities in style, especially a lot of rhymed couplets.

In one sense, Dream is like a mirror of R&J. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, Dream is a comedy. The main plot of R&J is very like the plot of Pyramus and Thisbe, which is turned into a ridiculous farce by Quince and crew. Juliet's predicament of being ordered to marry a man when she loves another is also Hermia's. Juliet's solution is the tragic one; Hermia's is comic. Shakespeare doesn't often talk about fairies, but they are a big part of Dream and, son of a gun, there they are in a big long speech by Mercutio.

Day and night symbolism is most important in both plays. The key word in Dream is "moon" and in R&J it is "stars", both features of the night sky, but wholly contrasting ones. In Dream, reality is like the moon, the inconstant moon that nightly changes. Whatever is real, even the love of lovers for each other, can be changed by the fairies. A figurative jackass can become a literal one. But in R&J, reality is as constant as the northern star. The lovers are star-crossed, and those stars are not going to change, nor is there anything that they can do to change what is and what will be. The love of the lovers, far from being as fickle as the moon, will last forever, even into death.

Mostly it's not so much of a discussion as Hamlet berating her. She thinks that she is going to give him heck for disturbing Claudius, but it soon becomes apparent that the shoe is on the other foot. He goes off into a long rant in which he abuses Claudius to her, and blames her for having anything to do with him. But she does not get angry with him, probably because she is digesting his remark "Almost as bad, dear mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother." At first she demands to know what he is talking about, but from his abuse of Claudius, she figures it out, and makes the connection with the Mousetrap play. She begins to suspect that Hamlet may be right about Claudius murdering Hamlet Senior.

Then the ghost of his father appears to Hamlet, and Hamlet's rant is interrupted. Thereafter it is more like a discussion than a dressing down. The following topics are discussed:

1. Whether Hamlet is crazy.

2. Whether Gertrude should suspend conjugal relations with Claudius.

3. Hamlet's imminent trip to England.

4. What Hamlet is going to do with the corpse of Polonius.

They want him to stop. They are thinking about how happy their marital bliss will be and he is going all Gothic. Gertrude tries to gently persuade him to cheer up, as does Claudius, although his argument is a little more forceful. But basically they both tell him to get over it. People die; that is their nature. You have to just accept that and move on.

Act 2 of Hamlet tells us that Hamlet is acting crazy like he said he would, that his old school chums Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been sent for to spy on him to see if he's crazy, some actors have shown up and Hamlet thinks about using them to test whether the Ghost was telling him the truth. Also, if we went straight from Act 1 to Act 3 someone would think we couldn't count.

He dies shortly thereafter. But before dying, he prevents Horatio from attempting to commit suicide just to show support.

re-read it betch

to spy on Hamlet and send Hamlet to England, also ordered them to give the notes to the king of England and ask the king of England to kill Hamlet immediately

They are off to fight and possibly die in a totally pointless war against Poland.