Peripeteia

Professor Emma Smith's seminar will take place in this forum in the spring. The discussion will be typed, like this, not a webinar. Only members of peripeteia will be able to contribute.

Hello everyone - looking forward to talking all matters Hamlet this evening

Thank you, Emma - I am hoping some of my A-level students will be joining for the first time tonight.

They might like to ask you about Claudius' praying speech and Hamlet's lack of action as they've been practising a close analysis A-level question on this moment from Act 3 scene 3

Hi Emma, hopefully my students will also be joining you. They are particularly interested in the tension between the past and the future in the play.

great!

Hello I am on!

There appear to be a few tech issues with the website, so keep with us. Anyone got any specific questions for Emma?

Hi! I am on too. Sorry for being a bit late.

Hi! I'm also here :)

Hello, I am on!

Hello, I am here

hi!

Hi everyone - I'm here to answer questions so fire away (not quite a quotation from the end of the play)

hi

Hi Emma, I have a question about the Claudius' character. Do you see him purely as a villian, or can you sympathise with him or see him as more complex character?

hi :)

Would you say that Hamlet's father being also called Hamlet and Fortinbras' father being also called Fortinbras is significant and if so, how?

Just as a heads up, there may be a bit of downtime while I'm fiddling with the parameters to fix the lag

Hi! What do you think is the importance of Gertrude?

Hi Mascha - thanks for kicking us off.
Lots: her relationships with Hamlet and Claudius are crucial to the plot, she's present in lots of scenes even when not speaking much so is an interesting challenge for an actor, raises questions about the role of women, perhaps is relevant to the mystery of why Hamlet does not succeed to the throne.

Do you think there is a specific reason why Hamlet delays his revenge, or could it be for a number of reasons?

What does Horatio and Hamlet's friendship reveal about Hamlet's character?

Hi Tilly - we could approach this via different methods
thinking about character, we might think Hamlet is ambivalent about whether or how to take revenge
thinking about plot, we might think that this is what gives the drama its shape - an immediate revenge has no structure, no tension, no drama
I think it's important not just to think about it as a psychological issue

Do you believe Gertrude deserves sympathy or criticism?

What do you think Tilly? Can you answer your own question?

Is Claudius a better ruler than Hamlet would have been?

I think it could be for a number of reasons involving Hamlet's character, such as his fear of failure and inability to commit to a decisive decision, perhaps because of the moral implications of committing regicide.

Which aspect of Hamlet do you find to be the most interesting?

Interesting q from Mitch ell about Gertrude

I don't know that it's very helpful to moralise about what she does. It doesn't seem to me that the play suggests she has very much room for manoeuvre - she's quite isolated in the drama. The question of how much she knows about the murder is not made clear, I think. But everyone in the play - and many outside it - tend to be quite down on the women in it, and women more generally!

I like the idea of the play as entertainment, rather than psychologically plausible - this could explain why Hamlet is suddenly so decisive in the closet scene, and why his own soliloquies draw so much attention to his indecision - more than the audience might have noticed

Going back to a question I missed about Claudius - I think the play is rather fascinated by him and he's much more than a villain.
If you've studied Macbeth maybe earlier in school, you might think that Macbeth is a more in depth exploration of Claudius's situation - he's murdered the king and has to live with the consequences - that for me suggests Sh is interested in this beyond simply condemning or demonising

Back to Lara's point - I think remembering this is entertainment - not therapy, not sermon, not AI - but entertainment - is really good advice!

How do you think did the first audience react to the vagueness of Gertrude's character?

Sorry - some of my posts seem to have been lost in the system. Re Hamlet son of Hamlet and Fortinbras son of Fortinbras - yes, these are choices by Shakespeare (not in his sources) - they suggest for me a nostalgia or retrospection as well as the way these men are haunted by the past

Hi Mascha, maybe in performance it seemed clearer? there's lots more to a play on the stage than the words, which makes modern performances really. good material to think about different possibilities

Despite Emma and Freddie's efforts, it seems the tech still needs refining to make these seminars flow more smoothly. Nevertheless can I say a BIG thanks to Emma and all of you for you time and patience. We will continue to work on the website!

Sorry this has been a bit technically difficult. Good luck with your work on Hamlet and look out for a rescheduled event when we can talk more. Thanks for logging on, Emma

Thank you!

thank you!

thank you

Thank you :)

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Sorry for the issues, I think i might know how to fix them now.