H A M L E T

1. A T T I T U D E

1.1. "sterile promontory"

1.1.1. earth is a

1.2. "foul and pestilent congregation of vapours"

1.2.1. air is a

1.3. "quintessence of dust"

1.3.1. man is no more than

2. D E S T I N Y

2.1. initially embraces task at hand

2.1.1. "with wings as swift as meditation or thought of love"

2.2. mind immediately turns to Gertrude

2.2.1. "o most pernicious woman"

2.3. cannot erase her sin from his mind

2.4. paralysed by scrupulous reflective nature that repulses him from cold-blooded revenge

2.5. moral qualms conflict him

3. 2 S O L I L O Q U Y

3.1. antic disposition only confuses those around him & brings him to centre of attention

3.2. player's speech moves him to self-dust

3.3. doubts his resolve & questions his courage

3.4. "am I a coward? "pigeon liver'd" "lack gall"

3.5. "may be the devil"

3.5.1. fears Ghost

4. G H O S T

4.1. devastated & enraged

4.2. "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder"

4.3. lost life, crown, queen

5. P R A Y E R S C E N E

5.1. presented with perfect opportunity to avenge

5.2. "is about some act that has no relish of salvation in it"

5.2.1. allows chance to pass until

5.3. his mind is not equal to the task of cold vengeance

5.4. act of thought prevents act of revenge

6. R E S O L V E

6.1. trusts in fate

6.2. discovery of king's treacherous letter hardens his resolve

6.3. "the readiness is all"

6.3.1. calmness displays that

6.4. "divinity that shapes our ends"

7. I M P R E S S I O N

7.1. cynical & negative

7.2. lost all mirth

7.3. bluntly rejects Claudius's paternal overtures

7.3.1. "a little more than kin and less than kind"

7.4. rebukes Gertrude's claim that his grief

7.4.1. "seems so particular"

8. 1 S O L I L O Q U Y

8.1. deeply pessimistic & world-weary

8.2. lost father who was

8.2.1. "so excellent a king"

8.3. Gertrude remarries in indecent taste

8.3.1. "a beat that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer"

8.3.2. "most wicked speed"

8.4. digust & loathing

8.4.1. "frailty thy name is woman"

8.5. mother's sin becomes universal act of corruption & his world stands condemned

8.6. left reeling in turmoil as his world crumbles

9. P L A Y

9.1. "catch the conscience of the king"

9.2. if Claudius reacts guiltily there need not be further inducement

9.3. plan breaks paralysis of inaction & calms frustration

9.4. "now I could drink hot blood"

9.5. mood is violent & bloody but decides to face mother and

9.5.1. "speak daggers to her but use none"

9.6. still paralysed by self-doubt, moral conscientiousness & indecision

10. 3 S O L I L O Q U Y

10.1. reveals reflective nature

10.2. longs to escape life with unbearable task ahead

10.3. fears eternal damnation

10.3.1. "the dread of something after death"

10.4. "this conscience does make cowards of us all"

11. 4 S O L I L O Q U Y

11.1. full of self-revulsion

11.2. Fortinbras's army fighting for sake of honour reminds him of his own lack of resolution

11.3. wirh "a father kill'd, a mother stain'd"

11.3.1. he cannot find it within himself to settle score

11.4. deduces that he is left paralysed by

11.4.1. "craven scruple of thinking too precisely upon the event"

11.5. inert & indecisive

11.6. "my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth"

12. Q U E S T I O N S

12.1. "The fascination of the character, Hamlet, lies in the fact that he ranges from subtle reflections on morality and life to violent and cynical action and back again"

12.2. "Horror and disgust at his mother's behaviour, and a spreading and deepening of that horror and disgust to include all life, dominates the soul of Hamlet"

12.3. "A cynical view of the world, a scrupulous mind and extreme self-doubt are reasons for Hamlet's procrastination in seeking revenge for his father's death"