Piero Cavallari                                           cl. 4 A                                            A.S. 2011/2012

APPUNTI DELLE LEZIONI DEL 17/11 E DEL 18/11

To learn about LIFE,EXISTANCE, MAN'S WEAKNESSES

à final goals of tragedy

Hamlet = one of the great tragedies BY William Shakespeare

Hamlet = the protagonist of the tragedy, who is very similar to anybody à HEROES IN TRAGEDY ARE PARTICOULARLY HUMAN.

Dramatis personae: has the function to provide the reader WITH  the characters' names of the tragedy.

The tragedy is developed into 5 acts; each act consists OF a series of scenes.

ACT I, scenes 1-5         

ACT II, scenes 1-2

ACT III, scenes 1-4

ACT IV, scenes 1-7

ACT V, scenes 1-2

Each act has a function and a different purpose in the economy of the tragedy which develops a story line.

Story line: events and situations told.                   Plot: the way in which events are told.

A tragedy is organized into four parts:

• PROTASIS: the setting up of the situation.
• EPITASIS: the complication of the events.
• CATASTASIS: the main body of the storyline.
• CATASTROPHE: the tragic conclusion or unwinding.

A tragedy deals WITH a hero who has to fall down. The downfall in tragedy is due to a flaw of the character. The hero's flaw nature leads him to his fatal death.

Flaws                                              Shakespeare's characters

Ambition                                         Macbeth

Jealousy                                           Othello

Procrastination                                Hamlet

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: the full title highlights somebody who belongs to aristocracy, a noble person who manages government à political power.

In a tragedy who is in a position of power makes harsh decisions and fatal mistakes which have tragic consequences on the others' destiny.

The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Dramatis Personae:

Claudius, King of Denmark

Hamlet, son to the late, and nephew to the present king

Polonius, Lord Chamberlain

Horatio, friend to Hamlet

Laertes, son to Polonius

Voltimand, Cornelius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Osric, A Gentleman, courtiers

A Priest

Marcellus, Barnardo, officers

Francisco, a soldier

Reynaldo, servant to Polonius

Players

Two Clowns, grave-diggers

Fortinbras, Prince of Norway

A Captain

English Ambassadors

Gertrude, Queen of Denmark and mother to Hamlet

Ophelia, daughter to Polonius

Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants

Ghost of Hamlet's father

Hamlet's epitasis: Hamlet's father, the dead king, appears in a shape of a ghost to him to reveal his murderer and asks for revenge. à revenge tragedy.

Most of Shakespeare ideas for his tragedies drew inspiration from medieval sources which were common and well known among the humble people.

What's a stage direction? It's a direction (suggerimento, indicazione) suitable for the performances on the stage. Here there are some examples:

Flourish.                 

Enter the Queen

GHOST cries under the stage.

Exit Hamlet lugging in Polonius.

Finally we just take a quick look at the first act, first scene.

 The scene is set in a frozen night around the wall of the castle (in Elsinore, Denmark), during a changing of the guard. The guardians are talking about some last apparitions of something in the shape of a ghost in the dark. It's created a gothic atmosphere.

Immediately the curiosity and attention of the audience are erased to create an interaction between the spectators and what happens on the stage, because they are feeling the same curiosity the watchmen feel among this apparition mystery.

Horatio is more rational and  concrete and affirms those things are made only by fantasy,  while Barnardo is more subject to impressions. It's underlined the tied contrast between appearance and reality.

What's more, in a more deep and psychological analysis, the dialogue between Hamlet and his father's ghost has to be interpreted as a literary rendering of Hamlet's most intimate fears and thoughts.

It is significant the tragedy starts with the interrogative pronoun Who: indeed all the first act deals with the ghost's real identity and in all the develop of the tragedy is focused on Hamlet's trying to get/ research an authentic identity.