1. Respond to one of the following quotations by a Shakespearean Scholar:
   a. “Part of Hamlet’s mystery is why the audience and readership, rather like the common people
   of Denmark in the play, should love him. Until Act V, Hamlet loves the dead father (or rather
   his image) but does not persuade us that he loves (or ever loved) anyone else. The prince has
   no remorse for his vicious badgering of Ophelia into madness and suicide, or for his gratuitous
   dispatch of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their undeserved deaths… There is indeed a
   considerable ‘case against Hamlet’ [suggesting he] is a hero-villain” (Harold Bloom). How does
   Hamlet inspire such love in people?
   b. “Doubting is strenuous business; in the case of Hamlet it is heroic. His spiritual heroism is
   ironically contrasted throughout the play with the physical heroism of Fortinbras who blindly
   carries through his own revenge action without questioning its morality. Hamlet may torment
   himself with his inability to redeem his family honour by mass slaughter, indeed must torment
   himself, but the way he has chosen though painful and dangerous is the right way” (Germaine
   Greer). Why does Hamlet delay? Is he right to do so?
   c. “In tragedy, the typical effect on the audience is traditionally assumed to be a catharsis, a word
   that has something to do with purification, whatever else it means. Hamlet seems to be a
   tragedy without a catharsis, a tragedy in which everything noble and heroic is smothered
   under ferocious revenge codes, treachery, spying and the consequences of weak actions by
   broken wills” (Northrop Frye). Is Hamlet a satisfying tragedy?
2. If you are struggling with the idea of writing an essay in response to literary criticism provided by
   a Shakespearean scholar you also have the option of formulating your own question based on one
   of the topics listed below.
   a. Revenge
   b. Madness
   c. Death/Decay
   d. The Role Language Plays in Shaping Reality
   e. Gender Roles

Sample Solution