11/02/14

English Notes

Hamlet is one of the most represented plays of all times.

The events in a play are told in a poetical way.

Hamlet is in line with the culture in Shakespeare’s time and it’s the idea of a play as a revenge tragedy. Why so? Life was conceived in terms of hell and heaven, so if you do something wrong you’d end in hell. We have the play and the interplay between good and bad. Good: Hamlet’s father (natural king of the reign). Evil: Hamlet’s Uncle (he usurped Hamlet’s father’s throne).

Therefore according to the mentality of the time he was asked to revenge his father. The mentality was deeply affected by the Christian mentality. Hamlet was often sad and thought of death. His mind was in pain and in distress, and didn’t know how to cope with the world around him.

Hamlet comes back from university because he must attend his father’s funeral and he is very sad. Why is the father figure so important for a man? (Today and in the past) Fathers are figures that represent our limits: what is allowed and what is not permitted, they embody the social rules. They are the reference point in the family and this is because he has to look after, support and assure a living for the family. As in the case of Hamlet’s father, he was also a reference point for the country: he must keep everything together. Therefore if the country loses its king, that country loses stability. It floats on water and has no rules so it subjected to any danger. So when Hamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father, he sees Claudius as the evil. He’d like to react, but from that moment his doubts went on and everything seemed wrong and nothing seemed to fit in the right place. He starts to show a bad behavior. No one seems to understand him because of his reaction. Doubts come out in our mind (setting) and this is exactly what Shakespeare did through the play: he offers the perfect embodiment of the Renaissance. A human being with his weaknesses, fears, doubts and uncertainties become the care of the text. In Shakespeare’s play it is always the consequence of a flow in a character. Hamlet’s flow is his inability to make a decision. If I can’t decide I can’t take the decision that can make me act one way or another. Hamlet’s mind becomes the setting of the scene and we are asked as readers to read his mind, analyze what crosses through it and therefore feel empathy for him because we recognize ourselves in him (partial identification).

Now we should wonder how could Shakespeare recreate Hamlet’s mind on stage? If you want to represent a mind (a dramatic one) you have to find the means to tell this: soliloquio, tecnica narrative per far vedere allo spettatore ciò che c’è nella mente di Amleto.

Hamlet’s mother has a key position in the play because Hamlet thinks she accomplished to the crime and this explains why Hamlet’s language towards her is very strong to the point of violence.

Vocabulary:

-          To make matters worse =a peggiorare le cose;

-          Upon hearing = nel momento in cui sente;

-          Erratically =  1. Having no fixed or regular course; wandering; 2. Lacking consistency, regularity, or uniformity: an erratic heartbeat; 3. Deviating from the customary course in conduct or opinion; eccentric: erratic behavior.