Hamlet, Part 6: Applying Literary Criticism

Question 1

Read the dialogue from Act III of Hamlet.Hamlet: Now, mother, what’s the matter?Gertrude: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.

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Queen Gertrude is caught between her new husband and her son.

Question 2

Read the excerpt from Hamlet, Act III, scene iv.Gertrude: Why, how now, Hamlet!Hamlet: What’s the matter now?Gertrude: Have you forgot me?Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so: You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife; And,—would it were not so!—you are my mother.

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Hamlet defines Gertrude only by her relationship to men.

Question 3

Patriarchy is the name for a

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society dominated by men.

Question 4

Formalist criticism focuses upon a text’s

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structure.

Question 5

most

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It was written during a time when kings and queens had absolute power.

Question 6

Read the excerpt from Act III of Hamlet.And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame When the compulsive ardour gives the charge, Since frost itself as actively doth burn, And reason panders will.

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The repeated use of “hot” and “cold” words supports the theme “Passion is a powerful force.”

Question 7

Repeated references to ears and hearing in Hamlet are an example of a literary

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motif.

Question 8

Both historical and feminist criticisms

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connect literature to the society it was written in.

Question 9

[BLANK]

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power dynamics

Question 10

A student makes an observation about Hamlet.The focus on succession to the throne in Hamlet would have been interesting to an Elizabethan audience because their own queen had no heir.

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historical

Hamlet, Part 6: Applying Literary Criticism Answers

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