Hamlet Summary/Analysis

Author: Shakespeare. (Enough said.)

Setting: Elsinore Castle in Denmark, with references to Wittenberg, England, and a pirate ship.

Plot:

Act 1

• The guards talk about having witnessed the ghost of Old King Hamlet
• Horatio sees the Ghost and attempts to talk to it, but it does not cooperate
• Everyone attends the wedding of Claudius and Gertrude
• Laertes is given permission to go to France, with permission of Polonius and Claudius 
• Hamlet is not given permission to go back to Wittenberg, and is bothered by having to be around the "incestual" relationship.
• Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost and they plan to confront it 
• Laertes (leaving for France) warns Ophelia not to fall for Hamlet and not to trust him.
• Polonius says the same thing and orders her not to see Hamlet.
• Hamlet and co. see the ghost but it beckons for Hamlet to join it privately. 
• The Ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius and wants Hamlet to avenge his murder.
• Hamlet makes his friends swear to secrecy.
•  
• Act 2
• Polonius does not trust Laertes in France and sends someone there to watch him
• Ophelia was visited by a crazed Hamlet after avoiding him for a while.
• Polonius thinks that Hamlet is crazy because Ophelia will not see him.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to spy on Hamlet by Gertrude and Claudius.
• Polonius tells Claudius that Hamlet is crazy with love for Ophelia. They set up a test of his feelings for Ophelia.
• Hamlet knows that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are spying for Claudius.
• Hamlet decides to prove his uncle’s guilt by staging a play, The Murder of Gonzago.
•  
• Act 3
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern cannot figure out what Hamlet's problem is. 
• Hamlet considers suicide with "To be/Not to be" speech
• He sees Ophelia and is nice, but becomes angry and insulting when he realizes it's a test, announcing that he doesn't love her.
• Claudius determines love is not the cause of Hamlet's behavior
• Polonius suggest Claudius let Hamlet talk to his mom before he's sent away to England.
• The play occurs. Hamlet and Horatio watch for a reaction from Claudius.
• The Player King is killed by having poison poured in his ear.
• Claudius gets upset and leaves.
• Hamlet is asked to go see Gertrude, and Polonius hides to spy on the meeting.
• Claudius starts to pray and Hamlet wants to kill him there, but cannot because then Claudius would go to Heaven.
• Polonius hides behind a tapestry in Gertrude’s room.
• Hamlet enters and scares Gertrude, who calls for help. Polonius then calls for help.
• Hamlet, thinking that Polonius is Claudius, stabs the tapestry.
• Hamlet argues with Gertrude for marrying Claudius, when the Ghost appears and he is the only one who see it. Gertrude thinks he is mad.
•  
• Act 4
• Gertrude tells Claudius that Polonius is dead. Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find Hamlet, and they can not find the body.  
• Claudius orders Hamlet to leave immediately for England. Claudius tells the audience he plans to have Hamlet killed there.
• Hamlet sees Fortinbras and his army.

•  
• Act 5
• Two clowns (gravediggers) dig up Yorick’s bones to make room for Ophelia, even though she killed herself.
• Hamlet has his “fall of the sparrow” speech.
• No longer fearing death, he goes to duel with Laertes
• Gertrude drinks the poison wine intended for Hamlet, who gets mortally wounded by Laertes' poison-tipped sword. Hamlet is able to stab Laertes with the poison, too.
• Gertrude dies and Hamlet kills Claudius before he and Laertes die. Horatio lives and watches as Fortinbras storms the castle and takes over (without a fight).

Characters:

Hamlet: prince of Denmark, main protagonist, very emotional and confused.

Claudius: Hamlet's uncle/step father, murdered Old Hamlet, constantly spying/plotting

Gertrude: Hamlet' mom, not a great example of a wife or mother really, but she shows selflessness at the end with her death.

Horatio: has bromance with Hamlet, a good-natured guy

Ophelia: Hamlet's girlfriend who sides with her father and betrays Hamlet

Laertes: Ophelia's brother, he does not like Hamlet and conspires with Claudius to kill him.

Polonius: father of Ophelia and Laertes, assistant to the King, more clever than he seems.

Ghost: only really interacts with Hamlet. It is unknown if he's even really the spirit of Old Hamlet, but it is suggested that he comes from Hell.


Symbolism:
Yorick's skull = the inevitability of death, equal for every person
Ophelia's flowers = the life and vibrancy that has been lost at the castle


Quotes:
"Frailty, thy name is woman!" (Act I, Scene II)
     This quote can be used to show generalizations about women, or Hamlet's immaturity. Hamlet says this when referring to his mother's new marriage/apparent lack of morals

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
     Corruption and evil abound at Elsinore. This implies that it's fate causing the evils.


Theme:
Shakespeare's Hamlet illustrates how self doubting and losing touch with one's values can inhibit moral judgment. This leads to a degradation of society.

When the ghost confronts Hamlet, it makes him doubt himself. Before that meeting, Hamlet knew what he wanted--to be a student at Wittenberg. Now he isn't sure what his priorities are. He doubts himself and his values/morals slip away. This causes him to do things like stab Polonius out of impulse and have Ros/Guil killed. The affect of these actions is a breakdown of society. Ophelia goes mad and kills herself, Claudius has to try to keep Hamlet from ruining everything which leads to Gertrude's death, and everything gets turned upside down.

January Course Material

In this tiny fraction of a school month we wrapped up Hamlet and worked on a collaborative review as one big team!!

Oh, Hamlet. I'm still not 100% satisfied with my hour's theme statement. I don't think the other hours had it quite right, either. I plan to spend some time re-thinking it independently after finals and before the summary/analysis blog is due. The loss of identity part seems solid, but it's what that causes that I don't know yet. My hour kept wanting to say it's an opposition to providence, which just doesn't seem right to me. Its more big picture than that, and providence is so religion-specific. It's more like Hamlet doubted himself, and so lost his direction and ultimately his conscience. I'm not sure... Any opinions are welcomed!

Personally I think an AP Lit chat roulette review collaboration would be pretty great, so we wouldn't miss seeing each other as we studied together from the comfort of our own homes. How exciting!

Surprisingly, the collab review was super productive. I was impressed by how organized it turned out! With that many students working on it, it should have been more scattered. The thing is, though, that it's so lengthy and wordy. It has tons of great info, but I'd prefer it simplified into a study format. For example, when studying comp physics I saw that my notes read "Johannes Kepler, German, used Tycho Brahe's data and found that planets move in elliptical orbits, not circular." But that' too wordy so on my hand-made study guide I wrote "Kepler = elliptical orbits." I kind of wish our lit study guide was simplified that way. We already learned the material in-depth. The review should be simply memory-jogging and solidifying relationships between topics. Because studying from it is going to take so long...

Dreading finals more than usual this year...
What about you guys?

Open Prompt pt II

In the novel A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, the massive tree for which the book is named serves as a crucial symbol for the story. In many ways, it directly symbolizes the main protagonist herself. The tree illustrates the life of Francie Nolan, and is able to highlight her struggle to break out of the disadvantaged life she was born in to. The tree gives us insight into her character and also the central theme of the novel.

Early in the story, the reader is told of a sapling that is growing in a crack in the sidewalk of a Brooklyn street. The people who pass by scoff at it, remarking that it's impossible for the tree to grow; surely it will die before long. Later in the story, one realize that the sapling did survive, and in fact grew into the massive and beautiful tree that creates a curtain of foliage over Francie's balcony. It represent her life. She was born in a poor family in a hard, urban life. Just like the tree, nobody expects her to blossom into anything, due to the disadvantaged way her life began. Despite all odds, Francie works hard and eventually is able to attend the University of Michigan and make something of her life.

The central theme of the novel is that the struggle the impoverished must face to survive is what makes them such strong people. The symbol of the tree illustrates this theme, as the tree's long struggle and "determination" yielded not only a healthy plant, but a thick and formidable piece of nature in the middle of the merciless urban landscape. It symbolizes the hope for those willing to work hard, like the Nolan family. Francie and her brother even discuss how their friend who hails from a wealthy family is actually unfortunate, because the lack of hardships will leave her a weaker person.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn depends upon the central symbol, the Heaven Tree, to convey Smith's message of hope, and provide a visual representation of the struggle and accomplishments of a young girl trying to flourish against all odds.