Key

• Nigel Alexander explores the idea that ‘The play does not offer any conclusions about what is the right response to the questions posed about human aggression, not because it is confused but because Hamlet is aware that more than one single set of answers exist’.
• ‘Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat In this distracted globe. Remember thee!’?


  -metaphor reflects Hamlet's determination to act at this stage in the play, but also alludes to his melancholy and troubled mind-set.

  -adjective 'distracted' highlights Hamlets melancholy and preempts his inability to achieve his task

  -The repetition of the exclamatory ‘remember thee’ suggests Hamlet is determined but it also subtly indicates Hamlet will struggle and is already needing to convince himself so early on in the discovery of his task.
• Claudius killed his brother primarily for power and perhaps why Gertrude proceeded to marry him.  Shakespeare's intent perhaps is to emphasise that society needs change through exploring the complexities of mankind and so the audience challenged their own perspective.
• In Act 1 scene 5 ‘with wings as swift As meditation… May sweep to my revenge’ Hamlet recognises he needs divine interventions mirrored by the religious imagery to the angels.
• Simile

  • Wings as swift as meditation
  • Sweep to my revenge