3.1.1

Hamlet's Speech & Mind

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Hamlet's Speech & Mind

Of all of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes, Hamlet has the most lines to speak. This contributes to us thinking we somehow know Hamlet more than any other character in Shakespearean drama.

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Role of Hamlet's soliloquies

  • Shakespeare’s extensive use of soliloquies in Hamlet also allow us to penetrate the inner workings of Hamlet’s mind at different moments of crisis within the play.
  • We share Hamlet’s thought processes as he grapples with the mysteries of life and death and agonises about the course of action he should take.
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Psychological case study

  • The access we have to Hamlet’s innermost thoughts and feelings has led many critics, readers and playgoers to think of Hamlet as a psychological case study.
  • This was especially popular in the early decade of the 20th century in the works of influential critics, such as AC Bradley, and in the works of the founder of psychoanalysis himself, Sigmund Freud.
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Hamlet as a dramatic construct

  • But we should remember that Hamlet is not a ‘real’ person but a dramatic construct instead.
  • Shakespeare’s version of the Prince builds on the Hamlet created by other writers in several previous different versions of the story.
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Revisions of Hamlet's character

  • Moreover, the Hamlet we know is derived from three different text versions of the play, all published in the first three decades of the 17th century and which seem to show Shakespeare revising and adapting his story and characters.
  • As a result, there is no agreement over a single, definitive explanation of who Prince Hamlet is and critics have argued over the play and its hero for over four centuries.

Jump to other topics

1Introduction

2Plot Summary

3Character Profiles

4Key Themes

5Writing Techniques

6Context

7Critical Debates

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