Hamlet

CHARACTER

1. What is Ophelia’s summation of Hamlet’s personality (III.i.163-168)?
2. What does Horatio’s relationship to Hamlet reveal about Hamlet’s nature?
3. What is Fortinbras’ summation of Hamlet’s personality (V.ii.441-446)?
4. What do the following passages reveal about Hamlet’s view of himself and of a man’s relationship to the circumstances and decisions of his life?
   • V.ii.6-12
   • V.ii.233-238

Reflectors

Henry James, the nineteenth-century American novelist, coined the term “reflectors” to explain his theory that writers use minor characters to reflect certain aspects of a major character’s persona.

1. If the two aspects of Hamlet’s character are thought and action (as Norman N. Holland suggests), who are the characters who serve as his reflectors?
2. How do these two characters “bracket” the entire play?
3. Two other characters also serve as minor reflectors; their roles as reflectors are linked to the death of Polonius. Who are they? How do their actions reflect Hamlet’s by antithesis?

Thought and action

Critic Norman N. Holland has asserted that in Hamlet action recoils on the man who thinks it up, and thought seems to inhibit action.

1. Identify characters whose thoughts (plans, schemes, aspirations) recoil on them. Explain how and why their thoughts recoil upon them.
2. Identify instances of attempted action inhibited by thought. Explain how and why mental action prevents physical action.