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Hamlet and Marx: Share Your Insights

  • Page ID
    186788
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    Hamlet and Marx

     


    Shakespeare.jpg

     

    marx.jpg

    Now that you've submitted your quotations, think back to our work in Unit 2 when we explored how social class theory could help us analyze literature. 

    Marxist theorists look very closely at economic factors including who has the money and power in any given situation and how that dynamic influences the action. 

    When you think about it, the action in Hamlet has a lot to say about social class.  There are representatives of the upper, middle, and lower classes who all interact together.  In this assignment, we’ll use that lens to explore Hamlet in a deeper way.

    Assignment: Use the literary analysis worksheet (Word or Google Doc link) attached below to identify characters and scenes that would be particularly interesting to a Marxist theorist and analyze them. 

    There are hints at differences in power in almost all of the scenes. If you're stuck, however, you may want to look at these scenes:

    Act 2 Scene 2:  Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Polonius -- all people with different levels of power

    Act 3 Scene 2:  Hamlet speaks to the players

    Act 5 Scene 1:  Graveyard scene

     

     Submit your worksheet to the dropbox for assignment 3.32.




    Hamlet and Marx: Share Your Insights is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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