William Shakespeare: Hamlet (Pre-1900)

The idea

Hamlet is a pre-1900 tragedy that can be studied through the lens of crime writing. The play opens with a suspected murder, develops through surveillance, spying and a play-within-a-play designed to test guilt, and ends with multiple deaths and a political reckoning. The play's soliloquies and dramatic structure invite analysis of motive, conscience and delay. Effective study combines close reading of language and dramatic method with awareness of early modern contexts of revenge, kingship and providence, and debates about whether Hamlet's actions constitute justice or further crime.

What earns the marks

• Explains how Claudius's murder of Old Hamlet functions as the originating crime and how the Ghost's revelation creates a problem of evidence.
• Analyses Hamlet's use of the Mousetrap play to test Claudius's guilt, and evaluates how this functions as detection within the drama.
• Discusses surveillance and spying, including Polonius behind the arras and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as methods of investigation and betrayal.
• Examines the play's ending as a scene of retribution and political resolution, considering how multiple deaths raise questions about justice.
• Uses contextual knowledge of revenge tragedy, early modern law and providence to illuminate the play's treatment of crime and punishment.
• Supports interpretations with precise textual reference, including quotation and analysis of dramatic form, soliloquy and stagecraft.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating Hamlet's delay as mere indecision without connecting it to questions of evidence, conscience and the morality of revenge.

  Put it right: Analyse delay as a dramatic and thematic exploration of crime and justice.

• Assuming the Ghost's account is straightforwardly true.

  Put it right: Examine how the play tests and questions evidence, including through the Mousetrap and Hamlet's own uncertainty.

• Reducing the play to plot summary.

  Put it right: Integrate analysis of language, soliloquy, structure and dramatic method into arguments about crime writing.

Exam tips

• Plan responses around the assessment objectives: combine close textual analysis with discussion of crime writing conventions and relevant contextual factors.
• Use precise quotations and references to specific scenes, then explain how Shakespeare's dramatic choices shape meaning rather than retelling the plot.
• When debating justice and revenge, weigh different interpretations and reach a justified judgement about how the play presents crime, evidence and punishment.