What are the relationships we have in the play (the most significant ones): Hamlet and Gertrude, Hamlet and Claudius, Hamlet and Ophelia, Hamlet and Laertes, Hamlet and Horatio, Hamlet and the ghost, Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet and Polonius. What are the major soliloquies in the play: Hamlet x , Claudius x . Where do these soliloquies occur: Hamlet, Act 1, 2 (ll. 133- 164); (unfinished)
Empathy for the characters and within the play empathy by characters for other characters? How does Hamlet elicit our empathy (or any of the other characters) and is there any empathy between characters? Empathy within the play does not exist; all relationships are transactional even those of Hamlet toward his friend Horatio. Is there empathy between Hamlet and Gertrude? Did Anne have a feeling of empathy with and for Hamlet (or for any of the other characters such as Gertrude or Ophelia) seeing in this play her own situation? Did she find in Hamlet a narrative of free will pointing to the mystery of existence? And is Anne concerned with the mystery of existence which would explain her focus on death in her sonnets, across her comedies and histories and certainly in her tragedies where we find death of both the male and female characters central to the narrative story of the play. And the way to portray this was through her form of the tragic; not relying on an Aristotelian view of tragedy as inducing pity and fear in the audience for the plight of the hero but more so through inducing empathy for the tragic hero through character, not man’s (sic) conflict with the gods who exact their punishment for disobeying their prescripts for how to live (paying homage to the gods for all they receive). Death comes through a conflict between characters and from suicide and both need explaining.
Given my analysis is based on three aspects (i) place of free will and other beliefs (ii) empathy and (iii) conflict between characters because of their differences in beliefs as the guiding belief for their existence. How does the confluence of these three aspects of existence come to be tragic? It is not that these in themselves are tragic; it is rather that how they make a person react and think in situations becomes tragic (effect on others and on themselves and on the wider social environment). That is, how they think of these beliefs will depend on their actions and the responses from others (and from the social institutions). Are the tragic heroes proactive or reactive to their thoughts, others and the social strictures? Depending on which beliefs are dominant and how they perceive of them in directing their actions will depend whether proactive or reactive. And depend on how others react to their thoughts and actions (how the story unfolds, actions leading to other actions but also to how they think about what is happening which then plays into their response which furthers the action). Is Hamlet’s misunderstanding of free will a “tragic flaw”? It cannot be only this “flaw” that creates the tragedy because there are many instances in anyone’s life of misunderstanding or failing to use their free will to make decisions (such as abrogating their responsibility to someone else or just ignoring a moment where they would be expected to use their free will to make a decision). In Hamlet’s case, his misunderstanding of how to use his free will becomes tragic as he struggles to understand what taking moral responsibility for his actions means. For instance, not understanding his part in the death of Ophelia.
What is my reaction to the play? Is it one of empathy for Hamlet and what is it about his situation that induces this empathy where empathy is considered that state of emotional awareness of actively sharing in what Hamlet (or any of the other heroes) are feeling, doing and thinking. If I am actively sharing Hamlet’s feelings and thoughts about suicide and/or death/ Love, ethical and moral dilemma he is in (and what would these be?), or some other psychological state (if it is melancholy how is this expressed and why is he suffering from melancholy)? Is his melancholy aroused through his failure to understand and apply free will? And how would either of these (or a combination) induce empathy and lead to tragedy?