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hamlet: little help needed please!

At the end of act one, in scene 5, Hamlet speaks the well known sentence to Horatio: "There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophy."

What I have to figure out now is what Hamlet means with philosophy. I don't know that much of the play, so I was hoping that someone with a lot of knowledge about Hamlet could help me out.

so, if anyone knows?! I would be very thankful!

Greetz
Nas
Posted by nas m #88631 at Apr 14, 2009 8:12 AM || Report this post || Reply

The most literal explanation is the following: Horatio is a model of rationality in Hamlet. Horatio is, like his friend Hamlet, a student at the University of Wittenberg, a university known for the study of rational thought and Protestant humanism. Ghosts are not the sort of beings his rational "philosophy" easily takes into account. The philosophy Hamlet and Horatio studies there is probably classical—a compound of ethics, logic, and natural science. The emphasis on everyday phenomena pretty much excludes speculation about talking ghosts.
Posted by joe m #88783 at Apr 15, 2009 10:31 AM || Report this post || Reply

what is the hamartia in Hamlet ?
Posted by nitu k #98357 at Jul 04, 2009 1:05 PM || Report this post || Reply

 

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