Hamlet Critics

Created by: Nicole Kearsley
Created on: 09-03-20 18:01

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Hamlet Criticisms
- Women
  - "Of all the pivotal characters in Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static" -Mabillard
    - Ophelia represents feminist views and suffers for the liberation of women
  - "Ophelia is deprived of thought, sexuality and language" - Showalter
    - Degraded, complete contrast to Gertrude to show either type of woman will face resentment from men
  - "Ophelia is stifled by the authority of a male world" - Dusinberre
    - Patriarchal views of contemporary audience - Link to Robin Lakoff
- Revenge
  - "Hamlet never promises to revenge, only remember" - Kerrigan
    - Hamlet concerns himself with his revenge and allows himself to die looking for vengeance
  - "Hamlet seems incapable of deliberate action" - Hazlitt
    - Reiterates weak and madness of Hamlet's character- Link to state of Denmark
  - "The ghost condemns Hamlet to an endless yearning for a lost figure" - Kerrigan
    - Hamlet is not a vengeful character, yet his sentiment drives him to seek justice for his father
- Family
  - "Polonius seems to love his children...His means of action, however, are totally corrupt" - Smith
  - "Pleasing men is Gertrude's main interest" - Smith
    - Describes Hamlets issues with love, because his mother never showed him any
    - Role reversal of male and female
  - "His deep melancholy which grew from his mother" - Vic
    - Madness as a cause of Gertrudes treatment, not Claudius
- Power
  - "Claudius is a good and gentle king" - Knight
    - Claudius as a 'modern ruler'. However, his crime suggests otherwise
  - "They fail to see Gertrude as the strong-minded, intelligent woman she is" - Helibrun
    - Views of women in power, link to Lady Macbeth
  - "(Gertrude is a) vain, self-satisfied woman of strong sexual appetite" - Doran
    - Again implies role reversal of male and females. Represents renaissance era of questioning society

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Hamlet Critics

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