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AQA Hamlet Exam A2
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02mik_e
One question was about his dilemma, the other was about Hamlet being a fairytale 
Ah thanks very much. Yuck, wouldn't have wanted to do one on it being a fairytale. The dilemma one seems pretty straightforward, I'd probably just discuss the play within a play, soliloquies, moral codes, Hamlet being a parallel character compares to Laertes and Fortinbras etc.
Has anyone got any quote from CRITICS for each theme,so I can mention it in exams?I tried many time but couldnt find anything appropirate.It would be great if anyone sends me your summary quote from different critics for your revision etc. If you get what I meant, E.g AC Bradley on the character Hamlet etc
I've done an essay plan on Polonius and I thought I'd put it up here to get your guys opinions and see whether it helps anyone. :]
Polonius is nothing more than a self-serving, meddling fool whom the audience dislikes.
Polonius is a complex character who tries to balance his duties between being a loving father and loyal advisor to the King.
Evidence for the first assertion:
Act Two Scene One - ‘Meddling fool’ in the sense he gets Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris, implies a lack of trust and suspicion between their relationship.
‘Fool’ in the sense that he is a hypocrite, telling other characters in the play to ‘give every man thy ear, but not thy voice’ yet he himself speaks frequently to different characters telling them different versions of events.
Although he claims that ‘brevity is the soul of wit,’ he himself makes the comical prose statement about the ‘best actors being pastoral…comical.’ Shakespeare offers insight into his temperament to the audience here, Polonius is presented as a chameleon, always changing his persona in order to benefit his own needs.
There is no sympathy from Hamlet after he kills Polonius, referring to him as a ‘foolish, prating knave’, intensifying his persona as being a character who aggravates other characters, notably Hamlet. Additionally, Hamlet states he will ‘lug the guts into the neighbour room’. Lug is a harsh adjective, little care for what he has done, neighbour could be interpreted as a metaphor for Polonius never reaching the status he wants, always being lower in the hierarchy of the court compared to Claudius.
Evidence for the second assertion:
Act One Scene Three - ‘Caring father’ in advising Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet as his ‘vows’ are ‘brokers.’ Moreover, gives advice to Laertes when he does go to France, telling him to be careful with money and the people he socialises with. Therefore, there is some justification for why Reynaldo is sent to spy on him, due to Polonius being concerned rather than sinister.
Act Two Scene Two - ‘Loyal Advisor’ to King who constantly updates Claudius on the goings on in Elsinore and the court. Additionally, sympathy is given from the audience, and the simple ‘what do you think of me?’ to the king reflects he has his best interests at heart. Claudius responds to him by referring to him as a man ‘faithful’ and ‘honourable.’
Is able to see the ‘method’ in Hamlet’s ‘madness’, reflecting he is more shrewd than he first appears, uncharacteristic of being the ‘fool.’ Further supported via him seeing through Hamlet’s ’fishmonger’ comment, as he knows himself he uses Ophelia to better himself and a fishmonger was a pimp in Elizabethan era.
Personal Perspective on how Shakespeare presents Polonius:
Not naturally corrupt, just a mere reflection of the on-goings of the court.
Has his daughter’s best interests at heart, indeed, the whole family unit as a whole reflect how Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude will never be able to function normally. In this sense they act as a parallel family in the court of Elsinore. Numerous comparisons can be made between the two families, Hamlet is denied permission to go back to Wittenburg and study, whereas although Laertes is spied on in France, he has been granted the liberation to go there.
His death was undeserved, but in stating this, it is interesting he dies in the fashion he did, hiding and spying on characters in the court. Indeed, when Hamlet comments ‘A rat! A rat!’ it could be interpreted as a metaphor for his sly actions.
It is wrong to say the audience ‘dislike’ him, he provides humour in a play usually deemed as Shakespeare’s best revenge tragedy, his hypocritical comments and rambling speeches allow the audience to see he is actually, a rather spontaneous character who gives insightful comments into the dynamics of the play.
Polonius is nothing more than a self-serving, meddling fool whom the audience dislikes.
Polonius is a complex character who tries to balance his duties between being a loving father and loyal advisor to the King.
Evidence for the first assertion:
Act Two Scene One - ‘Meddling fool’ in the sense he gets Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris, implies a lack of trust and suspicion between their relationship.
‘Fool’ in the sense that he is a hypocrite, telling other characters in the play to ‘give every man thy ear, but not thy voice’ yet he himself speaks frequently to different characters telling them different versions of events.
Although he claims that ‘brevity is the soul of wit,’ he himself makes the comical prose statement about the ‘best actors being pastoral…comical.’ Shakespeare offers insight into his temperament to the audience here, Polonius is presented as a chameleon, always changing his persona in order to benefit his own needs.
There is no sympathy from Hamlet after he kills Polonius, referring to him as a ‘foolish, prating knave’, intensifying his persona as being a character who aggravates other characters, notably Hamlet. Additionally, Hamlet states he will ‘lug the guts into the neighbour room’. Lug is a harsh adjective, little care for what he has done, neighbour could be interpreted as a metaphor for Polonius never reaching the status he wants, always being lower in the hierarchy of the court compared to Claudius.
Evidence for the second assertion:
Act One Scene Three - ‘Caring father’ in advising Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet as his ‘vows’ are ‘brokers.’ Moreover, gives advice to Laertes when he does go to France, telling him to be careful with money and the people he socialises with. Therefore, there is some justification for why Reynaldo is sent to spy on him, due to Polonius being concerned rather than sinister.
Act Two Scene Two - ‘Loyal Advisor’ to King who constantly updates Claudius on the goings on in Elsinore and the court. Additionally, sympathy is given from the audience, and the simple ‘what do you think of me?’ to the king reflects he has his best interests at heart. Claudius responds to him by referring to him as a man ‘faithful’ and ‘honourable.’
Is able to see the ‘method’ in Hamlet’s ‘madness’, reflecting he is more shrewd than he first appears, uncharacteristic of being the ‘fool.’ Further supported via him seeing through Hamlet’s ’fishmonger’ comment, as he knows himself he uses Ophelia to better himself and a fishmonger was a pimp in Elizabethan era.
Personal Perspective on how Shakespeare presents Polonius:
Not naturally corrupt, just a mere reflection of the on-goings of the court.
Has his daughter’s best interests at heart, indeed, the whole family unit as a whole reflect how Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude will never be able to function normally. In this sense they act as a parallel family in the court of Elsinore. Numerous comparisons can be made between the two families, Hamlet is denied permission to go back to Wittenburg and study, whereas although Laertes is spied on in France, he has been granted the liberation to go there.
His death was undeserved, but in stating this, it is interesting he dies in the fashion he did, hiding and spying on characters in the court. Indeed, when Hamlet comments ‘A rat! A rat!’ it could be interpreted as a metaphor for his sly actions.
It is wrong to say the audience ‘dislike’ him, he provides humour in a play usually deemed as Shakespeare’s best revenge tragedy, his hypocritical comments and rambling speeches allow the audience to see he is actually, a rather spontaneous character who gives insightful comments into the dynamics of the play.
MCYan
Please! My teacher said its essential to mention critics,as it is one of the main components in getting high grade,I swear to God! My mock brought me down is only because I havent mentioned critics! Why do everyone else think this is less important.and btw im doing AQA
It really is not essential to use critics. They are given to you already in the paper and it's your job analyse both of them in depth.
I thought I'd answer my own question of past questions, so I may as well post them:
Jan 09 - Hamlet's Dilemma
Jan 09 - Play as a Fairytale
June 08 - Hamlet's Downfall
June 08 - Ending and the Audience
Jan 08 - Presentation of Polonius
Jan 08 - Shakespeare: Revenge Tragedy/Christian Morality
June 07 - Presentation of Gertrude
June 07 - Presentation of Hamlet
Jan 07 - Presentation of Claudius
Jan 07 - Presentation of Laertes
They seem to have moved from simple character questions to more complex/specific questions, especially on Hamlet. Hamlet has come up on last two papers, so unlikely to come up again? Some likely topics that have never been set, as I like to second guess, though it must be said I am always wrong!:
Ophelia
Presentation of Women
Death
Players/Reality
Oedipus Complex
Ghost
Horatio/R+G/Minor Characters
Opening and the Audience
Some of those are gifts, others... not so much! If you revise from those areas, as well as preparing all the past questions in your revision, then I think you'll be covered for pretty much anything!
Jan 09 - Hamlet's Dilemma
Jan 09 - Play as a Fairytale
June 08 - Hamlet's Downfall
June 08 - Ending and the Audience
Jan 08 - Presentation of Polonius
Jan 08 - Shakespeare: Revenge Tragedy/Christian Morality
June 07 - Presentation of Gertrude
June 07 - Presentation of Hamlet
Jan 07 - Presentation of Claudius
Jan 07 - Presentation of Laertes
They seem to have moved from simple character questions to more complex/specific questions, especially on Hamlet. Hamlet has come up on last two papers, so unlikely to come up again? Some likely topics that have never been set, as I like to second guess, though it must be said I am always wrong!:
Ophelia
Presentation of Women
Death
Players/Reality
Oedipus Complex
Ghost
Horatio/R+G/Minor Characters
Opening and the Audience
Some of those are gifts, others... not so much! If you revise from those areas, as well as preparing all the past questions in your revision, then I think you'll be covered for pretty much anything!
I think the opening might come up, which I could handle...just.
I'd like one on the Ghost though, he's been my highest mock result so far!
I'd like one on the Ghost though, he's been my highest mock result so far!
I'd really like the women question to come up (I love the character of Gertrude, but she's already come up alone). Or maybe something to do with corruption and hypocrisy? I wouldn't mind the opening, but I just don't think it has alot to say about the wider text and so might be a little difficult to get decent marks on...
MCYan
anyone knows good quotes from AC Bradley and John Dover WILSON?
I don't have the book with me, but I've written a few good ones downs by AC Bradley.
'...while Hamlet certainly cannot be called in the specific sense a 'religious drama,' there is in it nevertheless both a freer use of popular religious ideas, and a more decided, though always imaginative, intimation of a supreme power concerned in human evil and good, than can be found in any other of Shakespeare's tragedies.'
'It was not that Hamlet is Shakespeare's greatest tragedy or most perfect work of art; it was that Hamlet most brings home to us...the sense of the soul's infinity...'
He calls Hamlet a 'tragedy of thought' and says Hamlet's downfall 'is connected rather with [his] intellectual nature and reflective habit than with any yielding to passion'.
If you get the chance, Jan Kott's book Shakespeare Our Contemporary is a really good one to look at. He argues that it is a play which absorbs its times. Here are few of quotes I've picked up.
'Hamlet is a great scenario, in which every character has a more or less tragic and cruel part to play, and has magnificent things to say. Every character has an irrevocable task to fulfill, a task imposed by the author. The scenario is independent of the characters; it has been devised earlier. It defines the situations, as well as the mutual relations of the characters. But it does not say who the characters are. It is something external in relation to them. And that is why the scenario of Hamlet can by played by different sorts of characters. '
'The King, the Queen, Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern have been clearly defined by their situation. Character and situation are clearly connected. Claudius does not play the role of a murderer and a king; he is a murderer and a king. Polonius does not play a despotic father and a king's councilor; he is despotic father and a king's councilor.
It is different with Hamlet. The situation does not define Hamlet, or at any rate does not define him beyond doubt. The situation has been imposed upon him. Hamlet accepts it but at the same time revolts against it. He accepts the part, but is beyond and above it. '
I'm quite worried about the Hamlet exam (NTB5). I am unsure what people mean by "critics" and "themes". As in the exam our teacher said we get bullet points regarding:
-Context and Situation
-Phonology...
-Attitudes & Value
Something similar to that anyway. Focusing largely on rhetoric? We get two extracts in which we discuss the language present and mention a lot the effect on the audience?
Am i doing something different to everyone else?
-Context and Situation
-Phonology...
-Attitudes & Value
Something similar to that anyway. Focusing largely on rhetoric? We get two extracts in which we discuss the language present and mention a lot the effect on the audience?
Am i doing something different to everyone else?
I'm quite worried about the Hamlet exam (NTB5). I am unsure what people mean by "critics" and "themes". As in the exam our teacher said we get bullet points regarding:
-Context and Situation
-Phonology...
-Attitudes & Value
Something similar to that anyway. Focusing largely on rhetoric? We get two extracts in which we discuss the language present and mention a lot the effect on the audience?
Am i doing something different to everyone else?
-Context and Situation
-Phonology...
-Attitudes & Value
Something similar to that anyway. Focusing largely on rhetoric? We get two extracts in which we discuss the language present and mention a lot the effect on the audience?
Am i doing something different to everyone else?
Fleurvert
I don't have the book with me, but I've written a few good ones downs by AC Bradley.
'...while Hamlet certainly cannot be called in the specific sense a 'religious drama,' there is in it nevertheless both a freer use of popular religious ideas, and a more decided, though always imaginative, intimation of a supreme power concerned in human evil and good, than can be found in any other of Shakespeare's tragedies.'
'It was not that Hamlet is Shakespeare's greatest tragedy or most perfect work of art; it was that Hamlet most brings home to us...the sense of the soul's infinity...'
He calls Hamlet a 'tragedy of thought' and says Hamlet's downfall 'is connected rather with [his] intellectual nature and reflective habit than with any yielding to passion'.
If you get the chance, Jan Kott's book Shakespeare Our Contemporary is a really good one to look at. He argues that it is a play which absorbs its times. Here are few of quotes I've picked up.
'Hamlet is a great scenario, in which every character has a more or less tragic and cruel part to play, and has magnificent things to say. Every character has an irrevocable task to fulfill, a task imposed by the author. The scenario is independent of the characters; it has been devised earlier. It defines the situations, as well as the mutual relations of the characters. But it does not say who the characters are. It is something external in relation to them. And that is why the scenario of Hamlet can by played by different sorts of characters. '
'The King, the Queen, Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern have been clearly defined by their situation. Character and situation are clearly connected. Claudius does not play the role of a murderer and a king; he is a murderer and a king. Polonius does not play a despotic father and a king's councilor; he is despotic father and a king's councilor.
It is different with Hamlet. The situation does not define Hamlet, or at any rate does not define him beyond doubt. The situation has been imposed upon him. Hamlet accepts it but at the same time revolts against it. He accepts the part, but is beyond and above it. '
'...while Hamlet certainly cannot be called in the specific sense a 'religious drama,' there is in it nevertheless both a freer use of popular religious ideas, and a more decided, though always imaginative, intimation of a supreme power concerned in human evil and good, than can be found in any other of Shakespeare's tragedies.'
'It was not that Hamlet is Shakespeare's greatest tragedy or most perfect work of art; it was that Hamlet most brings home to us...the sense of the soul's infinity...'
He calls Hamlet a 'tragedy of thought' and says Hamlet's downfall 'is connected rather with [his] intellectual nature and reflective habit than with any yielding to passion'.
If you get the chance, Jan Kott's book Shakespeare Our Contemporary is a really good one to look at. He argues that it is a play which absorbs its times. Here are few of quotes I've picked up.
'Hamlet is a great scenario, in which every character has a more or less tragic and cruel part to play, and has magnificent things to say. Every character has an irrevocable task to fulfill, a task imposed by the author. The scenario is independent of the characters; it has been devised earlier. It defines the situations, as well as the mutual relations of the characters. But it does not say who the characters are. It is something external in relation to them. And that is why the scenario of Hamlet can by played by different sorts of characters. '
'The King, the Queen, Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern have been clearly defined by their situation. Character and situation are clearly connected. Claudius does not play the role of a murderer and a king; he is a murderer and a king. Polonius does not play a despotic father and a king's councilor; he is despotic father and a king's councilor.
It is different with Hamlet. The situation does not define Hamlet, or at any rate does not define him beyond doubt. The situation has been imposed upon him. Hamlet accepts it but at the same time revolts against it. He accepts the part, but is beyond and above it. '
thank you, you are a star!!
pink_ivy
yeh so basics Im PRAYING to my non existent god that ophelia or women in general will come up!
Totaly agree, and think it's quite plausible that it might be one or the other.
I'd love a question on the women in the play. There are quite a few scenes you could discuss.
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