Hamlet Key Terms
Ineffable – Incapable of expressing something in words
Catharsis – Cleansing of emotions for the sake of the audience as they sympathise with Hamlet
Antic Disposition – Feigned madness by Hamlet
Nihilism – Hamlet appears to believe in nothing, and has no purpose
Hamartia – His tragic flaw: his inaction
Misogyny – A cultural attitude of hatred for females, simply because they are female
Machiavellian – Ruthless characters who are open to using deceit for their own benefit (Claudius)
Deus ex machina – When a person/something appears suddenly in a story that helps solve a
problem in the plot
Oedipal Complex – Unconscious sexual desire towards his mother
Nominative Determinism – People gravitating towards areas of work that fit their names
Synecdoche – When part of something is substituted for the whole
Sycophant – Someone who sucks up to the powerful for their own advantage (Polonius)
Foil – When two characters are oppositions of each other (Fortinbras and Hamlet)
Voyeurism – Watching other people in their private spaces
Bathos – Descent from a serious matter to something comical/trivial (anticlimax)
Nadir – Most unsuccessful point in a situation
Metatheatre – When there is a play within a play
Maimed Rights – Reduced funeral rights, when a person takes their own life (Ophelia)
Ineffable – Incapable of expressing something in words
Catharsis – Cleansing of emotions for the sake of the audience as they sympathise with Hamlet
Antic Disposition – Feigned madness by Hamlet
Nihilism – Hamlet appears to believe in nothing, and has no purpose
Hamartia – His tragic flaw: his inaction
Misogyny – A cultural attitude of hatred for females, simply because they are female
Machiavellian – Ruthless characters who are open to using deceit for their own benefit (Claudius)
Deus ex machina – When a person/something appears suddenly in a story that helps solve a
problem in the plot
Oedipal Complex – Unconscious sexual desire towards his mother
Nominative Determinism – People gravitating towards areas of work that fit their names
Synecdoche – When part of something is substituted for the whole
Sycophant – Someone who sucks up to the powerful for their own advantage (Polonius)
Foil – When two characters are oppositions of each other (Fortinbras and Hamlet)
Voyeurism – Watching other people in their private spaces
Bathos – Descent from a serious matter to something comical/trivial (anticlimax)
Nadir – Most unsuccessful point in a situation
Metatheatre – When there is a play within a play
Maimed Rights – Reduced funeral rights, when a person takes their own life (Ophelia)
