Hamlet Structure
Hamlet Structure
Hamlet Structure
Structure
Revenge drama
A wrong received
˅
Struggle to achieve revenge
˅
Satisfaction/revenge
Main structural features
• Delays/procrastinations
• Symmetry and symmetrical plot elements
Troilus and Cressida (I.iii.)
The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre
Observe degree, priority, and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order;
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
Amidst the other ....
....O! when degree is shak’d,
Which is the ladder to all high designs,
The enterprise is sick. How could communities,
Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities,
Peaceful commerce from dividable shores,
The primogenitive and due of birth,
Prerogative of age, crowns sceptres laurels,
But by degree stand in authentic place?
Five acts – five soliloquies (or six?)
Twenty scenes
I: I: I: I: I: II: II: III: III: III: III: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: V: V:
i ii iii iv v i ii i ii iii iv i ii iii iv v vi vii i ii
Symmetry
I: I: I: I: I: II: II: III: III: III: III: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: V: V:
i ii iii iv v i ii i ii iii iv i ii iii iv v vi vii i ii
I: I: I: I: I: II: II: III: III: III: III: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: V: V:
i ii iii iv v i ii i ii iii iv i ii iii iv v vi vii i ii
I: I: I: I: I: II: II: III: III: III: III: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: V: V:
i ii iii iv v i ii i ii iii iv i ii iii iv v vi vii i ii
I: I: I: I: I: II: II: III: III: III: III: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: V: V:
i ii iii iv v i ii i ii iii iv i ii iii iv v vi vii i ii
Hamlet?
‘There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be
now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it
be not now, yet it will come – the readiness is all’ (V, ii).
Frames/framing
• Playing/acting
• Silence
• Humour
Humour/comic relief
I: I: I: I: I: II: II: III: III: III: III: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: IV: V: V:
i ii iii iv v i ii i ii iii iv i ii iii iv v vi vii i ii
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