Hamlet Case

Act 1

Poses many important questions> A few will be answered, but most will remain open to interpretation. Is the ghost genuinely the spirit of Hamlet's father or an evil spirit sent to trap him? Is it telling the truth in claiming Claudius is a murderer? Does Hamlet love Ophelia? Will Fortinbras invade? Just what is rotten in the state of Denmark?

The acts neds with Hamlet seemingly convinved that the ghost is in truth his father's spirit, even though it has offered him no comfort. Hamlet accepts the ghosts orders to take revenge on Claudius, but, Act One has already revealed Hamlet's questioning mind, that he seeks the truth behind appearances. The uncertainties that he feels, particularly the suspicion that the ghost may be false, will resurface to hamper his speedy vengeneance.

That theme of deceptive appearance recurs throughout the act, and is expressed in the sentence Hamlet writes about Claudius in his notebook: 'That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain'. But in Sc2, Hamlet's own preference for reality over appearance ('I know not seems') stands in ironic contrasts to his intentions in Sc5 'To put an antic disposition on': to pretend to be mad.

Act 1 poses a more generla critical question: how much will this play be about personal relationships or about social and political issues? Valid critical interpretations can be offered from each of these perspectives and others. For example, a personal approach would be to analyse a character and family relationships, showing Hamlet as a depressed and resentful stepson, full of powerful emotions towards his mother, agonised by her second marriage.

A social and political approach would focus on issues of power and control. On King Hamlt's death, the throne and its power passed to Claudius, not Hamlet, the King's son. Now Denmark is threatened by the army of young Fortinbras of Norway. Under Claudius' regime, hostility between states is settled by negotiation, not be personal combat as in the chivalric world of Old Hamlet. But power is still gender-related. Ophelia and Gertrude are subject to male domination, and Gertrude, as seen though the eyes of Hamlet and the ghost, is the object of male disgust.