Not really a Hamlet expert (or English expert
) but...
1. Well, the conflicting paradigms is the CAUSE of his internal struggle essentially. E.g. At times, his Christian values prevents him from avenging his father while his ''classical'' Roman values urges him to seek vengeance. He is torn between two conflicting worlds. If you want a sophisticated word in regards to this - I think you should look up '' Neoplatonism'' iirc.
2. Dramatic techniques are more-so like you said, the ''production'' techniques which specifically apply more to plays. Examples include soliloquy, dramatic irony, stage directions (e.g. asides), dramatic foreshadowing, the use of ''a play within a play'', the physical fighting between two characters which you can call ''dramatic action'' (lol), etc. You can even consider the appearance of the Ghost as a dramatic device - Deus Ex Machina which speeds up the plot since the apparition informs Hamlet about stuff earlier on.
Yes, you can get ''slayed'' (like Polonius ''O I am slain!'') if you don't use dramatic techniques. Literary/poetic techniques are great but I've heard of people getting hammered cause they lacked ''dramatic techniques'' - I mean you are ANALYSING A PLAY. I've heard from someone (went to a selective school, not my school though) that they did really great in all their English trial sections EXCEPT Hamlet because they didn't focus enough on ''dramatic techniques''.
3. From everything (e.g. Themes, Characters and Key Events) but some quotes can be used for MULTIPLE areas (quotes from Hamlet himself can be used if they specify a ''character'' question but also used if they specify a theme like corruption or something. Quotes from Horatio can be used if they ever asked you to look at the minor characters of the play - which I doubt but just making an example - yet it can hit the theme of ''loyalty'' as Horatio is very loyal to Hamlet).
Appearance VS Reality can be grouped under ''Uncertainty''. I don't think there's such thing as UNNECESSARY THEMES but in exam conditions, if they happen to give you a generic question - know what your best themes are and use them (around 3 or 4 - like corruption, uncertainty, etc.)
Misogyny and destiny/fate have like a 1% chance of being specified so unless you need to use those paragraphs on them, I think you probably won't need them but I guess it's useful to have just in case.
Well, let's look at the past few years for Hamlet...
HSC 2013 - CORRUPTION, ''USE OF TIME AND PLACE'' iirc.
HSC 2012 - Inherent tension between CONFRONTATION and RESOLUTION, CHARACTERISATION (a character's interactions with other characters)
HSC 2011 - ENDING/CLOSING SCENE (so they specified a scene)
HSC 2010 - DRAMATIC TREATMENT of STRUGGLE and DISILLUSIONMENT
HSC 2009 - HUMAN EXPERIENCE, LOYALTY
For HSC 2008 Mod B King Lear (Hamlet replaced King Lear), they asked ''How have DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES been used to....''
2006 Mod B King Lear - they asked you to ''support your evaluation (of the question) with a close analysis of TWO key extracts'' so you could choose 2 key scenes rather than them specifying a scene.
I think 2013 Independent trials paper asked you to CHOOSE ONE CHARACTER to analyse but can't remember clearly.
2010 CSSA Trials paper asked you about ''challenging ideas of LOVE and RIVALRY'' --> yeah, didn't prepare for LOVE or RIVALRY did ya for Hamlet?
What I'm really trying to get at is - the past questions indicate that they cover THREE AREAS essentially:
1. Themes - Loyalty, Corruption, etc.
2. Scenes - they can specify one and asked you to use it within your judgement of the play as a whole... or you might have to discuss some scenes which you have selected yourself.
3. Characters/Characterisation
You always have to cover dramatic techniques essentially if you want to get a good mark for Hamlet
4. It's been awhile since I last looked at my HSC English trials essay for Hamlet
but I'll give this a shot.
As W. Hazlitt once said ''It is we who are Hamlet''. Hamlet, himself, is like a possible model of humanity. I emphasised how we can ''relate'' to him. Like for CORRUPTION and UNCERTAINTY for example - Hamlet is clearly affected by these things and obviously, all humans are influenced by these things as well. Conflicting religious beliefs is not only limited to Hamlet.
Essentially, I just used ''themes'' in regards to Hamlet (I think I chose 3 areas out of the 4 areas in my prepared essay) - to explain why I think he is memorable so for me, he is indeed memorable because we can relate to him (lol). There's many ways to approach such a broad question.
NOTE - I'm not some Shakespearean genius nor am I a HSC English master so yeah
