Hamlet Study Guide(Hint: You may want to tab your copy by act for easier reference.)
A.Notating for the entire play
1.Label each scene in each act as indoors or outdoors and public or private. Also classify each scene by kind of action (ghost scene, court scene, mad scene, etc. – I’ve provided 3 examples and would like you to come up with at least 3 more “kind of action” scenes)
2.Highlight and label all props that would be needed to stage the play. (e.g., Hamlet’s father’s signet ring in V.ii)
3.Mark significant words spoken by the major characters for in class discussion.
4. Mark motifs: spying, eavesdropping, questioning, interrogation, madness, “acting,” playing,” ears/hearing, drunkenness, the celestial, alliances formed, alliances broken, seeing/not seeing, flattery, plans/conspiracies, baiting
5.Mark character foils for the following:
Claudius, King of Denmark
Hamlet, nephew to the king
Polonius, counselor to the king
Horatio, friend to Hamlet
Laertes, son to Polonius
Rosencrantz, courtier
Guildenstern, courtier
Fortinbras, Prince of Norway
Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, mother to Hamlet
Ophelia, daughter to Polonius
Ghost of Hamlet’s father
6. Mark organization and syntax, such as antithesis, parallel structure, rhetorical question
7.Mark specific language uses: pun, personification, aphorism, metaphor, simile, allusion, stichomythia, malapropism, oxymoron, hyperbole, apostrophe, universal symbols, contextual symbols, imagery of contamination, other imagery.
8. Mark poetic language: blank verse, iambic pentameter, couplets, inversion, assonance, alliteration, ellipsis, epigram, end rhyme.
9.Mark notable dramatic devices: act, scene, lines, asides, soliloquy, exit, exeunt
10.Mark notable dramatic techniques: tragic hero, tragic flaw, tragic dilemma, hamartia, catharsis, angnorisis, pathos,
perpeteia, stock characters, raisonneur, subplot, static character, dynamic character, character foil (see above), exposition, rising action, falling action, denouement, dramatic irony, revenge tragedy elements, classic tragedy elements.
B.Notating by act and scene.
I.iHighlight and label the “dramatic world” created through dialogue. Include geography, history, location,background, and mythology of this world. Also note themes introduced here and pay attention to characterization of Horatio.
I“unstable”events at the beginning of the play
IIcharacter traits of Claudius revealed in his speech to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
IIIEvidence of characterization of Claudius as a formidable, intelligent antagonist.
Evidence of both sympathetic and unsympathetic characterization of Hamlet.
Evidence of both sympathetic and unsympathetic characterization of Gertrude.
Characterization of Horatio
IV. vdramatic function of Ophelia’s second entrance
IV. vidramatic function of Hamlet’s speech to Horatio
IV. viidramatic function of the announcement of Ophelia’s suicide
Viattitudes toward human existence expressed by Hamlet and the gravediggers