Hamlet (Collins Classroom Classics)

This Collins Classroom Classics edition includes an introduction, textual notes and a theme and character index to support students, written by an experienced teacher.

Hamlet William Shakespeare

Angels and ministers of grace defend us!

Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable, Thou com’st in such a questionable shape That I will speak to thee.

ISBN 978-0-00-840048-4

£3.00

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Hamlet 9 780008 400484

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Introduction Hamlet starts slowly. There is none of the drama of The Tempest, throwing the audience into a raging storm, or the shock of the fight that erupts at the start of Romeo and Juliet.

By contrast, the opening scene of Hamlet has been called ‘the most doubtful beginning of any of Shakespeare’s plays’, its first line a question: ‘Who’s there?’ 1 The title character is nowhere to be seen. Instead, we listen to a group of young men discussing the significance of a ghostly figure (which appears briefly in the scene before silently disappearing) and its relationship to the state of Denmark. In fact, we don’t hear of young Prince Hamlet until the final lines of this scene.

When he does appear on stage at the start of Scene 2, Hamlet does not speak for 65 lines. What is he doing during this time?

There are no stage directions to tell us, only Claudius’s reprimand for his ‘obstinate’ mourning (line 93). Does Hamlet posture while his loathed stepfather speaks? Skulk darkly behind his mother? Or is he so lost in grief for his late father that he is oblivious to all else? When he does finally speak, his first line is marked as an aside. Who is he addressing?

How an actor plays this silent presence can suggest the tone of the character for the whole play. But through this gradual unfolding of plot and character, Shakespeare himself sets the tone of the play, creating an atmosphere of foreboding.

As a result, towards the end of Act 1, when Marcellus makes his famous assertion that ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ (Act 1, Scene 4, line 90) and Hamlet ends it with the words ‘The time is out of joint’ (Act 1, Scene 5, line 188), we are already primed to agree – something isn’t right in either the time or the place.

Concerns in context

Elizabethan insecurities and Shakespeare’s Elsinore C.S. Lewis may have called late Elizabethan England a ‘Golden Age’, but for many of Shakespeare’s contemporaries – as for iv

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introduction

Hamlet – things would have felt ‘out of joint’.2 Religious and political volatility were still the norm across Europe. By the time Shakespeare began writing Hamlet in about 1599–1601, Protestantism had been around for almost a century. However, it was far from settled in English society.3 People may have outwardly conformed to the new religious rules, but it is likely that, in private, many of them found it hard to let go of deeply ingrained Roman Catholic beliefs and traditions.

Religious insecurity fed political anxiety. Hamlet was written and first performed within living memory of an attempted Catholic invasion (the Spanish Armada of 1588), and the childless queen’s lack of a direct heir gave those close to the royal court a sense of instability. The existence of a powerful spy network can’t have helped. Like late Elizabethan England, then, Elsinore is riddled with unease: at the looming external threat of Fortinbras’ invasion, and by the mistrust that many of the characters feel towards those around them.

The original ‘Amleth’ story appeared in a 12th-century pseudo-history, the Gesta Danorum, and most critics agree that a now-lost play, referred to as Ur-Hamlet, was circulating on the Elizabethan stage and that Shakespeare would have been familiar with it.4 There are some key differences between his version and the Gesta Danorum, not least that the heroic Amleth succeeds in avenging his father and regaining the Danish throne in the earlier source. Although we don’t know if Shakespeare or the author of Ur-Hamlet made these changes, replacing the pre-Christian setting with a contemporary Christian court certainly allowed the characters to grapple with concerns that would have spoken to an Elizabethan audience. However, they can have found little in Hamlet to alleviate their anxieties, with its spies and plots, its self-questioning soliloquies, and its bleak ending.

Revenge tragedy: a response to uncertainty?

Although some critics place Hamlet among the so-called ‘problem plays’, due to its moral ambiguity and lack of resolution, there are clear tragic elements to the story – notably the downfall of a young and promising hero owing to a fatal v

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HAMLET

character flaw and the workings of circumstance.5 Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Hamlet questions classical definitions of tragedy as a cathartic experience.6 The play leaves us with the deaths of two entire families: Hamlet, his mother and uncle; Polonius and his two children. There are no lessons learnt here, unlike the ending of Romeo and Juliet, where the tragic death of the young lovers offers a way out of the cycle of revenge between two families through shared grief and reconciliation. The only resolution Hamlet offers to the suffering of its main characters is death.

In this, we can see the influence of late Elizabethan revenge tragedy, which became popular with Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, written shortly before Hamlet. Shakespeare was probably influenced by Kyd’s play, with its themes of revenge and madness, a vengeful ghost, a play-within-a-play, plot devices of poison and substituted swords – and a lot of dead bodies. Revenge tragedy’s grim entertainment echoed the real bloodletting of the bear fights that took place next door to Elizabethan theatres, but they also offered moments of moral reflection. In Hamlet, Shakespeare presents the audience with not one, but three avenging sons – Fortinbras, Hamlet, and Laertes – all of whom act in different ways.

Laertes’ vengeful fury leads him to dishonourable actions.

Although Hamlet’s killing of Polonius is accidental (in that he hoped to kill Claudius), he shows little remorse and is slow to recognise that, if his father ‘deserves’ revenge, so does Laertes. Fortinbras is the most ‘successful’, channelling his revenge into reclamation of lost land, yet he is prepared to risk the lives of thousands in the pursuit of honour.

The extreme violence of revenge tragedy ultimately offers no moral, and recent readings have emphasised the possibility that these plays deliberately challenged beliefs and underlying attitudes to both human revenge and Providential justice. Hamlet does not offer the resolution of either. Perhaps Elizabethan audiences left theatres to round off their evening with a bear fight, but they would have had plenty to discuss en route. vi

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LIST OF CHARACTERS Claudius

King of Denmark

Hamlet

son to the former and nephew to the present King

Polonius

Lord Chamberlain

Horatio

friend to Hamlet

Laertes

son to Polonius

Voltemand

A Gentleman,

Cornelius

A Gentleman

Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Osric,

Courtiers

A Priest Marcellus, Bernardo officers Francisco

a soldier

Reynaldo

servant to Polonius

Players Two Clowns grave-diggers Fortinbras

Prince of Norway

A Norwegian Captain English Ambassadors Gertrude

Queen of Denmark, and mother of Hamlet

Ophelia

daughter to Polonius

Ghost of Hamlet’s Father Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and Attendants.

The Scene: Denmark

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ACT 1 SCENE 1 The play opens on the castle battlements. Sentries are on duty, watching for an attack they expect from the Norwegian Fortinbras, who has been amassing an army. The scene gives us the background to the story, as well as introducing the character of Horatio, Hamlet’s faithful friend, and the ghost of the previous king (also called Hamlet), whose mysterious walking sets an ominous tone.

1. It’s a curious opening line, doubly so as Bernardo is not the character on sentry duty – Francisco is. Why might Shakespeare start in this way? What atmosphere does he create?

6. You … hour You are right on time for your sentry duty.

9. sick at heart Francisco does not explain why he feels like this, nor does Bernardo ask. We never find out why, as the character does not appear again in the play, but the Ghost’s appearance may explain it.

13. the rivals of my watch my fellow sentries.

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ACT 1 SCENE 1

ACT 1 Scene 1 Elsinore. The guard-platform of the Castle. [ FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO .]

Bernardo Who’s there?

Francisco Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.

Bernardo Long live the King!

Francisco Bernardo?

Bernardo 5 He. 5 Francisco You come most carefully upon your hour.

Bernardo ’Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

Francisco For this relief much thanks. ’Tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart.

Bernardo Have you had quiet guard?

10 Francisco Not a mouse stirring. 10 Bernardo Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. [ Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS .]

Francisco I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who is there?

Horatio Friends to this ground.

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15. liegemen to the Dane sworn men of the Danish king (i.e. Claudius).

17. relie’d relieved.

19. a piece of him Horatio may be offering his hand here, or he may be implying he is ‘shrunken’ by the cold.

21. this thing This refers to the Ghost, but we are not told what it is here, adding to the sense of unease.

23–9. Horatio … to it Horatio is clearly unwilling to believe what the others have seen, so Marcellus has asked him to come so they can prove it to him.

Shakespeare introduces Horatio as a rational and careful character; we can understand why Hamlet is drawn to and values his friendship.

30. Tush, tush an expression of disdain or ridicule.

31. assail your ears tell you the story (note how Bernardo uses military or siege imagery here, fortified, line 32).

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ACT 1 SCENE 1 william shakespear

william shakespeare Marcellus 15

Marcellus

And liegemen to the Dane.

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Francisco Give you good night.

Marcellus O, farewell, honest soldier!

Who hath relie’d you?

Francisco Bernardo hath my place.

Give you good night.

Francisco Give you g Marcellus

Who hath Francisco Give you

[Exit.]

Marcellus Bernardo

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Marcellus

Holla, Bernado!

Bernardo

Say –

What, is Horatio there?

Horatio A piece of him.

Bernardo Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus.

Horatio What, has this thing appear’d again to-night?

Bernardo I have seen nothing.

Marcellus Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy, And will not let belief take hold of him Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us; Therefore I have entreated him along With us to watch the minutes of this night.

That, if again this apparition come, He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

Horatio Tush, tush, ’twill not appear.

Bernardo Sit down awhile.

And let us once again assail your ears.

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What, is H Horatio

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Bernardo Welcome, Horatio What, has Bernardo I have seen Marcellus Horatio say And will n Touching t Therefore I With us to That, if ag He may ap Horatio Tush, tush Bernardo

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And let us

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HAMLET

36. the pole the pole-star or northern star, a bright star near the North Pole, used for navigation in Shakespeare’s day.

39. The Ghost may have entered through a trapdoor in the stage in Shakespeare’s Globe. See Introduction p.xix.

41. the King that’s dead old Hamlet.

42. Thou art a scholar Horatio is a student, like Hamlet. Marcellus suggests this will make him better suited to address the Ghost.

44. harrows A harrow is an agricultural tool used to break up soil, so a ‘harrowing’ sight is one that disturbs one’s calm or peace.

45. It would be spoke to Bernardo’s words reflect the contemporary belief that ghosts could not speak unless first spoken to.

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ACT 1 SCENE 1 hamlet

That are so fortified against our story, What we have two nights seen.

Horatio Well, sit we down, And let us hear Bernardo speak of this.

Bernardo Last night of all, 35 When yond same star that’s westward from the pole Had made his course t’illume that part of heaven Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, The bell then beating one – [Enter GHOST .]

Marcellus Peace, break thee off; look where it comes again.

Bernardo In the same figure, like the King that’s dead.

Marcellus Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio.

Bernardo Looks ’a not like the King? Mark it, Horatio.

Horatio Most like. It harrows me with fear and wonder.

Bernardo It would be spoke to.

Marcellus Question it, Horatio.

Horatio What art thou that usurp’st this time of night Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee, speak!

Marcellus It is offended.

Bernardo See, it stalks away.

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