Hamlet, Part 6: Applying Literary Criticism Answers

Which fact about Hamlet would be most important to a student analyzing the play through a historical lens?

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.

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.

Patriarchy is the name for a

Read the excerpt from Act IV of Hamlet.Rosencrantz: Take you me for a sponge, my lord?Hamlet: Ay, sir, that soaks up the king’s countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again.

Which question is most likely to be asked by a reader studying a text with a feminist perspective?

Both historical and feminist criticisms

Which line would most likely be written by a reader analyzing Hamlet through a formalist lens?

Which factors are to be considered when using historical criticism to analyze a text? Select 3 options.

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.