Hamlet: Genre craft
15 lenses on genre craft for Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 G11 G12 G13 G14 G15
G1. Genre and subgenre, and how well the book fits. AI
This is a tragedy and revenge play. It fits the genre perfectly, featuring a noble protagonist driven to revenge, moral corruption, and the deaths of nearly all main characters. The play explores the cost of revenge and the impossibility of perfect justice.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 5, Scene 20
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The time is out of joint. O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right. (Ch 5, para 67)
G2. The genre's must have scenes: present or missing? AI
The genre's must have scenes are all present. The ghost's revelation of murder (chapter 5) is the inciting incident. The play within the play (chapter 9) confirms guilt. The duel and mass deaths (chapter 20) provide the climax and resolution.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 9, Scene 20
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The Mousetrap. Marry, how? Tropically. This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna. (Ch 9, para 87)
G3. The genre's conventions: which are used? AI
The play uses revenge tragedy conventions: a murdered father, a son sworn to avenge, a villain who schemes to prevent justice, and a final duel that kills the avenger and the villain. Madness, both feigned and real, is a key convention present throughout.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 9, Scene 11, Scene 16, Scene 20
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. (Ch 7, para 136)
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts. (Ch 16, para 73)
G4. Mystery: clue list, red herrings, fair play test. AI
6 clues. See the full lens on the book page.
G5. Thriller: clocks, chases and set pieces. AI
The play uses a clock of sorts: the ghost must return before dawn in chapter 1, creating urgency. Claudius's order for Hamlet's death in chapter 12 sets a deadline. The duel in chapter 20 is the final set piece where all tensions converge.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 12, Scene 20
Do it, England; For like the hectic in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me. Till I know ’tis done, Howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun. (Ch 14, para 35)
G6. Romance: the meeting, the barriers, the grand gesture. AI
Not a feature of this book. While Hamlet and Ophelia have a relationship, it is not a romance. Ophelia is used as a pawn and goes mad. The play is not structured around romantic barriers or a grand gesture.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 3, Scene 6, Scene 8
Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? (Ch 8, para 40)
G7. Horror and gothic: how dread builds, when the monster is seen. AI
Gothic dread builds through the ghost's appearances in chapters 1, 4, and 5. The ghost is seen but speaks only to Hamlet, creating mystery. Madness and death accumulate in chapters 16 and 19, with Ophelia's drowning and the gravedigger scene intensifying the sense of decay.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 16, Scene 19
And then it started, like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. (Ch 1, para 67)
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts. (Ch 16, para 73)
Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! (Ch 19, para 83)
G8. Science fiction: the new idea and its rules. AI
Not a feature of this book. The play is grounded in a realistic medieval Danish court. The ghost is supernatural but treated as a real apparition, not a science fiction element.
G9. Fantasy: moments of wonder, and the cost of magic. AI
Not a feature of this book. The play contains no magic or fantasy elements. The ghost is a supernatural being but operates within a realistic world without magical rules or costs.
G10. Adventure: stages of the journey and physical trials. AI
Not a feature of this book. The play is not structured as an adventure with physical trials or a journey. Hamlet's quest is internal and psychological, not a physical adventure across landscapes.
G11. Literary: inner life and the moment of insight. AI
The play is deeply literary, exploring Hamlet's inner life through soliloquies in chapters 8, 10, and 15. The moment of insight comes in chapter 15 when Hamlet resolves to act with bloody thoughts. The play examines mortality, madness, and the nature of action.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 8, Scene 10, Scene 15
How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge. What is a man If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. (Ch 15, para 23)
My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth. (Ch 15, para 23)
G12. Children's: age of the lead, level of peril, humour. AI
Not a feature of this book. Hamlet is a young adult prince, not a child. The play contains adult themes of murder, madness, and suicide. It is written for mature audiences, not children.
G13. Plays: entrances, exits and stage time per character. Count
Hamlet has the most stage talk, 40% of all spoken words.
| Character | Speeches | Words | Share | Scenes | First scene |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamlet | 358 | 10882 | 40% | 13 | 2 |
| King | 102 | 3196 | 12% | 11 | 2 |
| Polonius | 86 | 2482 | 9% | 8 | 2 |
| Horatio | 107 | 1865 | 7% | 8 | 1 |
| Laertes | 62 | 1353 | 5% | 6 | 2 |
| Ophelia | 58 | 1096 | 4% | 5 | 3 |
| Queen | 69 | 1016 | 4% | 10 | 2 |
| First Clown | 33 | 710 | 3% | 1 | 19 |
| Rosencrantz | 45 | 696 | 3% | 7 | 7 |
| Ghost | 14 | 687 | 3% | 2 | 5 |
| Marcellus | 31 | 416 | 2% | 4 | 1 |
| First Player | 8 | 363 | 1% | 2 | 7 |
| Osric | 25 | 358 | 1% | 1 | 20 |
| Player King | 4 | 338 | 1% | 1 | 9 |
G14. Where the book bends or breaks its genre's rules. AI
The play bends revenge tragedy convention by making the avenger hesitate and reflect rather than act swiftly. Hamlet delays his revenge, questioning its morality. The ending kills the avenger along with the villain, subverting the typical triumph of justice.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 8, Scene 10, Scene 15, Scene 20
That would be scann’d: A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. (Ch 10, para 15)
How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge. What is a man If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. (Ch 15, para 23)
My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth. (Ch 15, para 23)
G15. Tropes present, with where they appear. AI
Key tropes include the ghost demanding revenge (chapter 5), the play within the play to catch guilt (chapter 9), feigned madness as a cover (chapters 6 to 8), the poisoned sword and cup (chapter 18), and the final duel that kills all (chapter 20). These are central to revenge tragedy.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 9, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 18
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (Ch 5, para 13)
The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King. (Ch 7, para 186)
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. (Ch 7, para 136)
Ask Hamlet a question about its craft (free beta)
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