Characterization

As an author develops their characters, they use different techniques. Shakespeare reveals his characters in four
ways:

 Through what the characters says to other characters (indirect characterization)

 Through what the characters reveal about their thoughts through soliloquies (indirect characterization)
 Through what other characters say about them (direct characterization)
 Through what they do, how they behave (indirect characterization)

After you’ve read the play, examine the scenes provided for each character and fill in the chart with your own
observations.
Hamlet

Scene
Act I, scene ii
Claudius and Gertrude’s attempts
to address Hamlet’s
melancholy/sullen behavior
Act I, scene ii
Hamlet’s soliloquy (“O that this
too too solid flesh would melt…”)
What the character says or does What this reveals about the
or what other characters say character
Gertrude says “cast thy nighted Hamlet is wearing black b/c he
colour off” mourns his father’s death. He
might be playing it up a little
because his mom has married her
brother-in-law.

Act I, scene ii
Horatio and the others tell Hamlet
about the ghost

Act I, scene iv
The revelry of the court in the
castle below the basement
Act I, scene iv
The ghost appears

Act I, scene v
The ghost speaks to Hamlet

Gertrude

Scene What the character says or does What this reveals about the
or what other characters say character
Act I, scene ii
Claudius and Gertrude attempts
to address Hamlet’s melancholy
behavior
Act I, scene ii
Hamlet’s soliloquy (“O that this
too too solid flesh would melt…”)
Claudius

Scene What the character says or does What this reveals about the
or what other characters say character
Act I, scene ii
Claudius and Gertrude attempts
to address Hamlet’s melancholy
behavior
Act I, scene ii
Claudius’ statement about the
death of King Hamlet and the
remarriage of Queen Gertrude
Horatio

Scene What the character says or does What this reveals about the
or what other characters say character
Act I, scene i
Bernardo, Marcellus, and
Francisco tell Horatio they’ve
seen a ghost
Act I, scene i
Horatio and the other see the
ghost
Act I, scene ii
Horatio and the others tell Hamlet
about the ghost
Act I, scene iv
The ghost appears

Act I, scene v
Hamlet tells Horatio and the
others about the ghost

Laertes

Scene What the character says or does What this reveals about the
or what other characters say character
Act I, scene ii
Laertes’ request to return to Paris

Act I, scene iii

Laertes’ advice about Hamlet’s
wooing of Ophelia

Act I, Scene iii

His father’s advice before leaving
Ophelia

Scene What the character says or does What this reveals about the
or what other characters say character
Act I, scene iii
Laertes’ advice about Hamlet’s
wooing of Ophelia

Act I, scene iii

Polonius’ response to Hamlet’s
wooing of Ophelia

Themes

There are many themes in Hamlet. Two of the most prominent in Act I are listed below. Read through, then look
at the quotes provided and see if you can identify which quotes support which theme. Then, as a group,
brainstorm other examples from the play that support/develop that theme (this will be a short answer question on
your quiz).

Appearance and Reality

-the contradiction to how things appear externally/surface and how they really are or are internally
-trying to hide how you feel or the truth
-masks and dress
-this theme is reinforced by puns (I am too much in the sun) and plays on words that reveal the reality without
stating it

Corruption/Decay

-this could be an external or internal corruption/decay (moral implications)

-this could be a metaphorical corruption/decay (look for earth-bound, natural decay in)
-images of death, disease, and/or poison

Quotes
Fransisco: “And I am sick at heart” (I.i.9)
Hamlet: “Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems’” (I.ii.76)
Hamlet: “ ‘tis an unweeded garden,/That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature/Possess it merely” (I.ii.135-37)
Hamlet: “foul deeds will rise,/Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.” (I.ii.256-57)
Marcellus: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.iv.90)
Hamlet: “Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,/How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself,/As I perchance hereafters shall
think meet/To put an antic disposition on.” (I.v.169-172)