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Interpretive Lit. Analysis of Hamlet
Claudius's immorality in hamlet
Claudius's immorality in hamlet
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Recommended: Interpretive Lit. Analysis of Hamlet
Hamlet: Admirable or Weak?
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the character of Hamlet is often portrayed as a weak-minded individual, whose lack of purpose leads to seven unnecessary deaths. This is a valid interpretation, but not a very interesting one.
Hamlet is considered a tragedy, but it is also quite similar to a modern-day murder mystery. As such the most crucial plot element is Claudius' guilt, or, rather, the extent of Hamlet's knowledge of this guilt. One does not know if the ghost is the doomed spirit of Hamlet's father or a vision sent from Hell. It is impossible to determine how much Hamlet is aware of, how much can he guess, and how much is he deluding himself.
Hamlet is almost always performed as a tragedy, and Hamlet's "indecision" is universally accepted as the flaw. "If he had only made up his mind", people argue, "eight deaths could have been avoided." This, of course, is a very easy position for one to take, because we already know that Claudius is guilty. It would be a much more interesting piece if one could be left uncertain of the true facts. Due to the popularity of Hamlet, the fact that Claudius is guilty is taken for granted, and so it seems unfortunate that Hamlet cannot act sooner, but without this knowledge acting too quickly would be a mistake.
In the text, however, there is no clear evidence of wrongdoing until Claudius confesses his sins to God, his nephew, and the theater at large. Up until that point Hamlet is weighing the Ghost's story against the king's. The ghost accuses in Act I, but Hamlet is perceptive enough not to accept the being at its word. One thing that he realizes is that the Ghost is playing directly to his own emotions.
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...mbines the best qualities as his two foils: the nobility of Laertes' cause, and the execution of Fortinbras' coup. Fortinbras attacks without justice - his father died honorably in a fair fight, on the battlefield. Laertes has a larger grievance than Hamlet, but must stoop to treachery to complete his vengeance. Hamlet, however, remains true throughout, resisting his impulses until he cannot only perform Vengeance, but Justice as well.
Works Cited and Consulted:
Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations Of Hamlet. New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
Charney, Maurice. All of Shakespeare. New York, NY. Columbia University Press. 1993.
Magill, Frank N. Masterplots. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1995.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The Riverside Shakespeare. ED. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Haughton Mifflin Company, 1974.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers is a novel that takes place in a small southern town during the times of pre-World War II, the late 1930's. McCuller's main characters are misfits, lonely and rejected. They are all looking for a place in the world. The most tragic of the characters is a deaf-mute named John Singer.
The most astounding aspect of The Prince is Machiavelli’s view that princes may indeed, be cruel and dishonest if their ultimate aim is for the good of the state. It is not only acceptable but necessary to lie, to use torture, and to walk over other states and cities. Machiavellianism is defined as “A political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power (Def.)” This implies that in the conquest for power, the ends justify the means. This is the basis of Machiavellianism. The priority for the power holder is to keep the security of the state regardless of the morality of the means. He accepts that these things are in and of themselves morally wrong, but he points out that the consequences of failure, the ruin of states and the destruction of cities, can be far worse. Machiavelli strongly emphasizes that princes should not hesitate to use immoral methods to achieve power, if power is necessary for security and survival.
Pinckney praises Native Son as a powerful intellectual book that deals with issues of racism and oppression. He says explicitly that it is the most powerful book, but it is unclear what domain of books Pinckney is comparing Native Son with. Pinckney refutes James Baldwin’s statement about Native Son, saying that Bigger Thomas is not a mere stereotype, but an example of a stressed black boy of the racially segregated American society during the 1930s. It is true that Bigger Thomas is a victim of a racially segregated society.
The effects of racism can cause an individual to be subjected to unfair treatment and can cause one to suffer psychological damage and harbor anger and resentment towards the oppressor. Bigger is a twenty year old man that lives in a cramped rat infested apartment with his mother and 2 younger siblings. Due to the racist real estate market, Bigger's family has only beat down dilapidated projects of south side Chicago to live in. poor and uneducated, bigger has little options to make a better life for him and his families. having been brought up in 1930's the racially prejudice America, bigger is burdened with the reality that he has no control over his life and that he cannot aspire to anything more than menial labor as an servant. Or his other option which are petty crimes with his gang.
Reed, Anthony. "Another Map Of The South Side": "Native Son" As Postcolonial Novel." African American Review 45.4 (2012): 603-615. Literary Reference Center. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
Fortinbras, Laertes, Hamlet: hero, villain, mechanism of conflict. This triad is necessary to Shakespeare 's celebrated play, Hamlet. Despite his crucial role, the first named character is often absent in productions. Fortinbras represents the brave hero Hamlet wants to be and ultimately becomes, while Laertes represents Hamlet 's emotional self-doubt and self-hatred that drives the play 's conflict. The separate subplots of Fortinbras and Laertes mirror both Hamlet 's contradictory personality and the play’s plot.
Killing someone is not like Hamlet and he knows the consciences that he has if he does it and not repent. Hamlet does not think that he can do it and has many soliloquies debating if he should. When Hamlet is talking to himself he says, “To be or not to be” (Act 3, Scene 1 Line 64). Hamlet is basically saying should he kill himself or live. Hamlet rather kill himself than deal with any problems that go on which makes him insane also. Since The ghost told Hamlet exactly how he was killed hamlet came up with an idea. Hamlet had previously watched a play and decided to take the actors from the play and make a play of his own. The play was going to be a reenactment of what happened to his father. Depending on the reaction that Hamlet got out of Claudius it would show if he did it or not and if he would kill him. Before the play Hamlet old the actor, “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue” (Act 3,Scene 2 Lines 1-2). Hamlet is telling the actor to act the play exactly as he had told him with many
... to make choices as to how they wanted to act out those scenes. Nevertheless, the ghost is an important part of the play that will always lead to questions in the readers mind. Does the ghost cause Hamlet to go mad or is that madness within that causes the ghost to be revealed? Is it the ghost who causes Hamlet to seek revenge or the unraveling truth of Claudius’s murder? These questions may change with every generation but as some questions get answered others come forth which leads audiences to always be captivated by Hamlet.
The novel, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is literally about Marlow’s journey into the Belgian Congo, but symbolically about the discovery of his heart and soul during his journey, only to find that it is consumed by darkness. He realizes that the man he admired and respected most, is really demonic and that he may be just like him. He is able to come to this realization however, before it takes the best of him.
King Hamlet was beyond annoyed that Hamlet had done what every child does when their parent asks them to do something, and did the exact opposite. Not only had Hamlet spoken to his mother about her poor choices, but he also had yet to kill Claudius. In Hamlet’s defense he had a good reason for why he hadn’t killed his uncle yet (definitely a good conversation to have over the holidays) and had half of Shakespeare’s characters taken the time to make sure things are done right then there probably wouldn’t be so much tragedy. Hamlet had waited to kill Claudius because he wasn’t certain about the ghost being his father and so he did not want to commit a sin that was not necessary. However, he still failed because he entertained King Hamlet’s ghost and that is a sin in and of its own. In order for Hamlet to decide whether or not he can trust the ghost of his father he decides to put on a play for his mother and uncle that was based around his father’s murder. As the play took place, Hamlet kept a close watch on Claudius and all of his emotions and that is how Hamlet knew that the ghost was not an evil spirit, but was definitely his beloved father. Once Hamlet comes to terms with the fact that he’s letting down his father even after he’s passed Hamlet is able to come up with a plan to kill Claudius so that he can suffer the same way that he has made
In the heated trial that determines whether Bigger Thomas will live or die, his supportive defense attorney exclaims, “You cannot kill this man, your Honor, for we have made it plain that we do not recognize that he lives!” Living in the Chicago slums as a poor, uneducated young black man whose only confidence can come from acts of violence, Bigger Thomas of Richard Wright’s novel Native Son is destined to meet a poor fate. Anger and hopelessness are a daily reality for him as he realizes that his life has no real meaning. When he accidentally murders a young, rich, white woman, however, his actions begin to have meaning as he accepts the crime as his own, even while he lies to the authorities. Bigger is, of course, taken down by a society who takes offense at the remarks of his supporters and seeks to justify itself. Bigger himself is doomed, but his emotions, his actions, and his motivations all help to give the reader a window into the mind of a criminal and a repressed inner city African American.
Ethical or not, the simple effort of investigating whether the ghost’s claims were true shows that Hamlet was a just man not entirely fixated on avenging his father in the beginning of the play. Hamlet could have simply ignored the ghost’s request of removing Claudius or could have killed Claudius without any tangible proof, both being disgraceful in injustice or in recklessness. But instead, with great effort, Hamlet discovered the truth of Claudius’ crime by arranging the play “The Mousetrap” to draw out Claudius’ well-hidden guilt publicly. It was then that Hamlet had the evidence he needed to serve his uncle’s
Shakespeare, William. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1985.
Overall, Hamlet is a tragedy that is the result of too much thought and too little action that is the result of excessive uncertainty. The powerful examination of appearance and reality dominates Hamlets thoughts and causes great questions, in which answers are never certain. The need to be certain of a terrible after life in either hell or purgatory for Claudius is the result of an obsession with death causes Hamlet to delay in his revenge. Lastly, Hamlets inability to act when it is not just impulsive causes him to fail in his preferred delivery of revenge. Hamlets mind, which is his greatest asset, turns out to also be his greatest downfall as it leads to over thinking of everything and causes him to delay in his revenge.
Hamlet is the best known tragedy in literature today. Here, Shakespeare exposes Hamlet’s flaws as a heroic character. The tragedy in this play is the result of the main character’s unrealistic ideals and his inability to overcome his weakness of indecisiveness. This fatal attribute led to the death of several people which included his mother and the King of Denmark. Although he is described as being a brave and intelligent person, his tendency to procrastinate prevented him from acting on his father’s murder, his mother’s marriage, and his uncle’s ascension to the throne.