Hamlet or The Crucible?

Next term we will be studying a drama text and I am opening this up to a vote for those of you who use the blog.

We have a choice between "Hamlet" and "The Crucible". Below is a short plot synopsis for each one. Post a comment up suggesting which of the two you would prefer to study and the one with the most comments will win. You have until Friday 6th October to make a choice and explain why!!


"Hamlet" -

The play concerns the revenge of Prince Hamlet, whose father, the late King of Denmark, victor over the Polish army, died suddenly while Hamlet was away from home at Wittenberg University, supposedly bitten by a poisonous snake. Prior to the opening of the play, the King's brother Claudius has been proclaimed king, and cemented his claim to the throne by marrying Hamlet's mother Gertrude, the widowed Queen.
The play opens on the battlements of Elsinore Castle, seat of the Danish monarchy, where a group of sentries are visited by the ghost of the recently deceased King Hamlet. Hamlet's friend Horatio joins the soldiers on their watch and when the ghost appears, bids it to speak. They suspect it has some message to deliver, but it vanishes without speaking.
The next day, the Danish court meets to celebrate the wedding of Claudius and Gertrude. The new King urges Hamlet not to persist in his grief. When he is alone, Hamlet expresses his anger at the accession of his uncle Claudius to the throne and his mother's hasty remarriage. Horatio and the guards come to the scene and tell him of the appearance of the ghost of his father. Hamlet is determined to investigate this.
Joining Horatio on the watch on the battlements that night, the ghost appears again. It beckons him to come along with him and then reveals a fearful secret: his father was murdered. He was poisoned through the ear by Claudius, and the Ghost commands Hamlet to avenge him. Shocked by this discovery, Hamlet returns to Horatio and the sentries, making them swear an oath not to reveal details of the night's events to anyone.
"But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown."
[Act 1, Scene 5]
Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost he has seen is really his father, and suspects that it might be the Devil taking his father's appearance in order to take his soul to hell. He therefore sets out to test the king's conscience through putting on an "antic disposition" (feigning madness), in the hope that his behaviour might reveal the truth, or otherwise provide an opportunity to kill Claudius.
Hamlet feigns insanity in order to convict Claudius of murder and treason, and takes particular delight in making a fool of Polonius, the king's chief councillor. Polonius, convinced of Hamlet's madness, is certain that it stems from his unrequited love for his daughter Ophelia, whom both he and Laertes forbade to continue her relationship with Hamlet. Polonius fears for his status at court and offers his services to the King in this matter in an attempt to redeem himself before the King of any guilt. He suggests arranging a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia during which Polonius and Claudius will spy upon them both. Claudius, perhaps suspecting Hamlet's ruse, also asks Hamlet's schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to monitor him, but Hamlet does not let his guard down and sees the intention behind his schoolmates' sudden visit. He enlists a company of travelling performers to stage an existing play, The Murder of Gonzago, which he has modified to re-enact the circumstances of his father's murder.
"The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."
[Act II, scene II]
Shortly after the play begins, Claudius, who cannot bear to watch, rises calling for lights. The king's anguished reaction to the performance (which Horatio also notices) convinces Hamlet of his guilt. Shortly afterwards, Claudius arranges for Hamlet to be deported to the Danish territories of England along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, where he is to be killed upon arrival. Alone, Claudius privately expresses his disgust at what he has done, and offers a prayer of repentance. Hamlet discovers Claudius at prayer and prepares to kill him, but then stops, reasoning that he does not want his revenge to have the result of sending the repentant Claudius to Heaven. Ironically, after Hamlet slips away, Claudius concludes that he is unable to repent in his current state of mind; thus, if Hamlet had not attempted to arrogate to himself the destiny of Claudius's soul, rather than just his life, he would have achieved the ultimate justice he sought. By trying to go beyond the ghost's orders, he has doomed his efforts to failure.
Hamlet confronts his mother about the murder of his father and her sexual relations with her new husband. During their conversation, he stabs Polonius, who has been hiding behind a tapestry and eavesdropping on their conversation. Initially suspecting his victim was Claudius, he appears unrepentant and unconcerned when Polonius is revealed, continuing to admonish his mother. King Hamlet's ghost makes a reappearance to rebuke Hamlet. Hamlet's mother cannot see the ghost, but sees him conversing with it, convinced that her son has really gone mad.
Claudius, who has finally understood Hamlet's real motivation, sends Hamlet to England, supposedly for his safety, but accompanied by a sealed letter to the English ordering his death. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent along to ensure the orders are carried out. When later he returns to Denmark, Hamlet describes how his ship was attacked by pirates, who took him prisoner but then returned him to Denmark.
During Hamlet's absence, Ophelia, gravely disturbed by Hamlet's rejection and the death of Polonius, goes insane. She sings a number of rustic melodies that Shakespeare may have borrowed from the English folk tradition. Meanwhile, Laertes, her brother, leads a mob to Elsinore when he hears of his father's death. He also discovers his precious sister's madness, and is even more inclined to avenge his family. Claudius turns Laertes's anger on Hamlet, and they plan to have Laertes fence with Hamlet in a fixed fencing match. Laertes will be using an unbated and poisoned foil. In addition, Claudius prepares some poisoned wine for Hamlet to drink as a toast, in case Laertes is unable to hit him.
"I will do't.
And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood... it may be death."
[Act 4, Scene 7]
"I'll have prepared him a chalice for the nonce, wheron but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venomed stuck,
Our purpose may hold there."
[Act 4, Scene 4]
But as they are plotting, Queen Gertrude enters and informs Laertes that his sister drowned in what is a suspected suicide. Laertes runs out of the room, grief-stricken.
Returning from his voyage, Hamlet meets Horatio at a graveyard outside Elsinore castle just as Ophelia's funeral cortege arrives there, where a gravedigger (jester/clown) is digging. Hamlet finds the skull of Yorick (see skull as a symbol), an old jester to the court who carried him on his back during his childhood days, and proclaims, "Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft." As Hamlet broods on mortality, the cortege arrives with the King, Queen and Laertes. Hamlet is so distraught to learn of Ophelia's death that he leaps into the open grave and grapples with Laertes.
The scene then moves back to the castle, where Hamlet tells Horatio all that has happened at sea, and how he made his escape. There was a sea-battle in which pirates overtook the ship on which Hamlet was sailing. During the confusion, Hamlet found instructions from Claudius to the English court that Hamlet should be killed immediately upon his arrival in England. Hamlet re-writes this death warrant for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead. Suddenly, Hamlet and Horatio are interrupted by Osric, who comes to tell them that Claudius has set a large wager that Hamlet can out-fight Laertes (who is famous for his swordsmanship) in a fencing match. Horatio advises Hamlet against this, but Hamlet counters with the fact that if he does not die now, his death will be still to come.
When the match begins, Hamlet wins the first two rounds, and Gertrude drinks some of the wine to toast him, unaware that it is poisoned (although some critics and performances treat this as a deliberate suicide [1]). Hamlet is hit with the sword and fatally poisoned, but in the ensuing brawl, he swaps blades with Laertes, and deals a deep wound to Laertes with the poisoned sword as well. The Queen dies from the wine, warning Hamlet that the drink is poisoned. With his dying breath, Laertes also confesses the whole plot to Hamlet. Enraged, Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned weapon, forcing him also to drink the poisoned wine, at last avenging his father's death.
Horatio, horrified at the turn of events, seizes the poisoned wine and proposes to join his friend in death, but Hamlet wrests the cup away from him. He orders him to tell his story to the world to restore his good name. Hamlet also recommends that the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, be chosen as the successor to the Danish throne. Hamlet dies, and Horatio mourns his passing:
"Now cracks a noble heart: Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"
[Act V, scene II]
Fortinbras enters with English ambassadors. Shocked by the carnage, he orders a military funeral for Hamlet, whilst Horatio offers to relate the whole tale


"The Crucible" -

The Crucible is set in the small Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. The play begins with the discovery by the despised local preacher Reverend Parris that some local girls were performing a sinful dance in the woods with the slave Tituba. One of the girls, Parris's daughter, Betty, upon being discovered, falls into an unconscious state. Panic spreads through the village as people believe that witchcraft is afoot. The town sends for the Reverend John Hale, an authority on witchcraft, to investigate. Reverend Parris questions Abigail Williams, the unofficial leader of the group of girls, regarding what took place in the forest. Abigail denies any witchcraft and claims she and the girls were just dancing.
Abigail manipulates the other girls into not revealing what really happened in the forest that same day. She is secretly infatuated with John Proctor with whom she had an affair while working at his home. Proctor has since rejected Abigail, but she is still obssessed with having him. As the witch trials begin, Abigail and the girls lie and find a new power: accusing others of witchcraft. The madness and the hysteria build, and the girls continue to lie to seek revenge against those whom they do not like. Many residents, mainly the old and the sick, are found guilty of denial of witchcraft and are sentenced to execution.
All are fooled by the girls, including Thomas Danforth, the Judge, and many women are brought to trial. These people include John Proctor's wife Elizabeth Proctor and other respectable citizens. Proctor tries to counter the girls by producing Mary, his servant, who is willing to admit the girls lied. However, all the girls accuse her of witchcraft, and Mary eventually accuses Proctor to save herself. By this point, Reverend John Hale realizes the corruption and injustice of the court and attempts to defend Proctor. Proctor is sentenced to death. Hale denounces the proceedings and quits his position within the court. The night before the execution, Proctor gives in to the advice of Reverend Hale. Hale is now a broken man who spends all his time with the prisoners, praying with them and hoping to save their lives from their unjust fates, as the punishment for denying witchcraft is hanging whilst there is no such penalty for pleading guilty and repenting. Hale's advice is to confess, which will get Proctor leniency from execution and save his life. Although Proctor eventually agrees, he will not let the confession be displayed in the church and finally rips it up. The play ends with Proctor being led off to his execution.