Our society today is filled with many people that are not who they say they are, and will do almost anything to get what they desire. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, almost all major characters have the intention of deceiving others, in order to satisfy their own personal needs. The few characters that establish this adequately are, Hamlet to make everyone believe he is going insane to successfully complete his plan of killing the king, Claudius making all of Denmark see him as someone who is caring and well intentioned but is a cold murderer, and Gertrude who makes the town’s people see her as a woman who enjoys her life and is happy, but in reality is living the opposite life. All characters listed illustrate the theme appearance …show more content…
After this being revealed to Hamlet he had been filled with rage and planned to avenge his father’s death, although he wanted to plan this perfectly. From the moment he had found out, Hamlet stated “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. “ (Shakespeare.I.V.29-31). This quotation means that Hamlet has become eager to murder the person who killed his father, and that he’ll take his revenge quicker than someone can fall in love. Although first, he convinces Marcellus and Horatio keep what they’ve seen a secret, and that they must prepare for the way Hamlet will act in the near future. Hamlet …show more content…
Hamlet is furious with the idea of his mother remarrying the man that killed her past husband. After accidentally killing Polonius, Hamlet states “A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king and marry with his brother.” (III.IV.29-30). This quote demonstrates the pain and disgrace his mother’s actions had on him, and he attempts to show her the toll it took on him as well. After Hamlet tells his mother how he truly feels about her actions, she breaks down emotionally “O Hamlet, speak no more! Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grained spots As will not leave their tinct.” (III.IV.89-92). The truth of Gertrude is revealed, she understands her actions have been disgraceful to her past lover and child, and that the image she pretends to be cannot be kept going any longer. Gertrude doesn’t lie to cover up evil mistakes like Claudius as stated in the “Introduction to Gertrude in Hamlet” Gertrude “lies to herself about the consequences of her actions, and she lies to those around her. But she lies to protect. Hers are not cruel and wicked falsehoods; hers are white lies…to keep her and those around her safe” (Mabillard, Paragraph 4). For the most part, it can be seen that Gertrude lies to cover up her pain and suffering from the loss of
Gertrude’s blindness to the whole situation is sickening. How she marries the brother of her former husband right after he kills him and never knows the truth is beyond me. She never cared about how her son felt before or after she married Claudius. She didn’t even wait very long after her husband died to get married again ( I; ii; 180-181. "Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables".). Therefore she is either a very slow, naïve woman or a very evil, coldhearted one. For someone to side with a person even after their own son has told them that the person they’re with has murdered their former lover is absolute lunacy ( III; iv; 29-30. "A bloody deed- almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king, and marry his brother".). Not knowing the truth in the first place is one thing, but turning your back on your own flesh and blood is another. Therefore without his mother on his side, Hamlet has lost all the family in his life that could have helped him get through his terrible time and he sinks lower than ever before.
Literary Devices Identified in Hamlet’s Soliloquy O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Metaphor The purpose of a metaphor is to compare the similarities between two different ideas.
The interpretation of Hamlet’s, To Be or Not to Be soliloquy, from the Shakespearean classic of the same name, is an important part of the way that the audience understands an interpretation of the play. Although the words are the same, the scene is presented by the actors who portray Hamlet can vary between versions of the play. These differences no matter how seemingly miniscule affect the way in which someone watching the play connects with the title character.
With Gertrude, Hamlet would also like to express his anger towards her, as well as possibly kill her or make her go insane, without arising suspicion in others that he is not insane. In addition, he would like to confront Gertrude with the grounds of Claudius' crime, without her thinking that he actually believes in them, so that she might somehow think about them and realize that Claudius is guilty. Now, she will no longer love Claudius and she will not believe that Hamlet thinks that Claudius is guilty. If she believes this, she might pass on this fact to others, leading to Hamlet's downfall. Also, Hamlet does not want to confront Gertrude with the crime in a sane condition, which then will be forcing her to make a difficult choice between Hamlet and Claudius, with disastrous psychological results for Hamlet if she chooses against him.
Hamlet takes control of the conversation from the very beginning of the scene although it is Gertrude who was meant to be rebuking him and doing much of the talking. Hamlet succeeds in shaming her until the point when she begs him to stop. Hamlet having the upper hand in the conversation, asks his mother to change her ways, which she agrees to and asks for his advice, showing that she has submitted herself to her son. Hamlet does not really show much respect for his mother while reproving her and forcing her to sit down but he does love her. Some critics believe that his love shows sexual connotation and that is a reason why he gets so upset at her remarriage. There is a point in this scene when Gertrude thinks her life is in danger of Hamlet and gets frightened, which shows us that she considers him to be mad and harmful. After this scene she becomes aware that Hamlet isn't mad and starts trusting him as opposed to Claudius. This is exactly how Shakespeare has presented women throughout the play: they are easy to convince, very meek and become submissive to the men (as we can see Ophelia and her response to her father and brother). They are depicted as weak and inferior in comparison to the male figures, who control their lives. After the closet scene Gertrude keeps faith to her son and lies to her husband Claudius for Hamlet saying he killed Polonius in his madness:
Tragedies in the Greek theater when compared to tragedies in the Renaissance theater varied in similarities and differences. Greek theater encouraged the use of religious figures while Renaissance theater was supposed to be strictly pagan in its ideologies. Theater was most dominantly used to depict the social and religious constraints of the time period. For example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex are both portrayals of deceit, murder, and revenge all of which lead to the demise of its leading characters. Hamlet is depicted as a young man who is seeking revenge for his fathers death. Oedipus is a king who means to free the people of Thebes from a disease that has been plaguing them. They share similarities in that each of their love interest are conduits of their pain and anguish, further pushing the protagonists over the precipice. The voice of reason that they share is Creon in Oedipus Rex and Horatio in Hamlet. Their tragic flaw is that they are both ultimately and utterly doomed and no amount of guidance will steer them away from what has been predestined by fate. They are ultimately doomed to be their own Achilles heel.
One of Shakespeare’s great pieces of work, Hamlet, has been divided to alternate versions Quarto 1and Quarto 2. Focusing on Act I Scene iii, apparently the differences in these two versions are mainly on the way the characters are formed and the language that is used. Quarto 1 is a much more compact version that has weakly defined characters and uninformed language. As for Quarto 2 this lack of complexity is not so. This version has a higher quality of character depth and a language that is more comprehensible to allow more meaning to the play. Nonetheless the mutuality between these two versions main idea are clearly the significant mutilations to these scene are factors that make the play have a different meaning. The Quarto that would be most appealing to actors and the one that would be more fulfilling to the reader would be the second one because of it richness in characters and language.
In “Hamlet,” Shakespeare commendably conveys a, if you will, a “love story” between the major characters in the play. Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius are the individuals he writes about. In this story, Gertrude must choose between her son, a loyal, sincere male figure in her life that has always supported and loved her, or a man who can offer her power and fulfill her dependency trait, which one may say is what she has always strived to attain. Gertrude’s inability to see the bigger picture of King Claudius’ deceit and ill morals is what makes Gertrude a weak and submissive character. While Gertrude means no harm, her poor judgment contributes significantly to the rotten events that occur throughout the play. The choices Gertrude does make ultimately leads to her death and the downfall of the ones she loves as well.
Hamlet’s first soliloquy takes place in Act 1 scene 2. In his first soliloquy Hamlet lets out all of his inner feelings revealing his true self for the first time. Hamlet’s true self is full of distaste, anger, revenge, and is very much different from the artificial persona that he pretends to be anytime else. Overall, Hamlet’s first soliloquy serves to highlight and reveal Hamlet’s melancholy as well as his reasons for feeling such anguish. This revelation in Hamlet’s persona lays the groundwork for establishing the many themes in the play--suicide, revenge, incest, madness, corruption, and mortality.
Hamlet wishes to avenge the murder of his father and rectify this great injustice. The conflict between his desire to seek revenge and his own thoughts of incompetence is the cause of his initial unrest. "Haste me to know't , that I , with wings as swift / As meditation or thoughts of love , / may sweep to my revenge (1.5.29-31). Here Hamlet pleads to the Ghost of King Hamlet to reveal the name of his murderer.
In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the importance of characters Laertes and Fortinbras have been an issue that's discussed and analyzed by many literary critics. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are parallel characters in the play. Laertes and Fortinbras are often use by Shakespeare to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. "They are also important in Hamlet as they are imperative to the plot of the play and the final resolution" (Nardo, 88). Shakespeare placed these three men: Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras into similar circumstances, which is, to avenge for their fathers' deaths. The main difference between the three is the way that each of them comes to grief of their fathers' deaths and the way they planned their vengeance.
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than four months since the death of his biological father, yet she is already remarried to Claudius. He feels his father is being betrayed from her lack of mourning. She tells her son to "cast thy nighted color off" (I.ii.68) and "all that lives must die" (I.ii.72). Clearly, she isn't grieving over her late husband's death and instead puts forth an optimistic attitude to her new husband and life. Gertrude's concern with Hamlet's odd behaviour after his encounter with Ophelia in act II scene i also shows the strain in their relationship. For example, she agrees with Claudius' words that "of Hamlet's transformation" (II.ii.5) and suggests Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and find out the underlying cause of her son's problems. In addition to that, she consents Polonius to hide behind the tapestry in act III scene iv without Hamlet knowing. These two decisions suggest their inability to communicate. Instead, spying is required for Gertrude to find out about her son's inner mentality. The mother and ...
In his famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates death and existence. To him, death is full of unknowns and existence is full of suffering and pain. Eventually, he decides to endure “the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks/that flesh is heir to…” (Shakespeare 62-3) rather than face the possible horrors that might be revealed in death. Kumin’s “In the Park” agrees with Hamlet in the aspect that death and the afterlife is mysterious. Through the exploration of Buddhist and Jewish beliefs on death and the near death experience of Roscoe Black with a grizzly bear in Glacier Park, Kumin comes to a conclusion that death is inevitable and non-discriminatory. Her nonchalant acceptance of death contrasts with Hamlet’s fear of death. The attitude of both poems towards life further sets them apart. Hamlet is tormented and intimidated by the suffering and pains of existence while Kumin subtly appreciates the complexity of life and the possibilities it offers.
Hamlet's problem is not exact; it cannot be pinpointed. In fact, Hamlet has numerous problems that contribute to his dilemma. The first of these problems is the appearance of King Hamlet's ghost to his son, Hamlet. Hamlet's morality adds a great deal to his delay in murdering the current king, Claudius. One of Hamlet's biggest drawbacks is that he tends to think things out too much. Hamlet does not act on instinct; however, he makes certain that every action is premeditated. Hamlet suffers a great deal from melancholy; this in turn causes him to constantly second guess himself. The Ghost is the main cause of Hamlet's melancholy. Also, Hamlet's melancholy helps to clear up certain aspects of the play. These are just a few of the problems that Hamlet encounters throughout his ordeal.
In this scene, Hamlet argues with his mother, Gertrude. He belittles her, and insults her “incestuous” relationship with Claudius. Hamlet accuses his mother of helping Claudius kill his father. Hamlet even tells his mother that “(would it were not so) you are my mother” (3.4.21.). Basically, Hamlet tells his mother that he wishes that she wasn’t his mother. During this scene, Hamlet is actually contemplating whether or not he is to kill his mother. While Hamlet has no concrete proof that Gertrude actually had any place in the plot to kill Hamlet Senior, he believes that her relationship, and loyalty, to Claudius is proof enough. Then, however, the ghost intervenes and informs Hamlet of his mothers’ innocence. The passion behind Hamlet in this scene is his resentment of his mothers’ marriage to Claudius, and his belief that his mother had a part in the murder of Hamlet Senior. This caused him to be enraged at his mother, and even wish for her death. However, if Hamlet thought logically, he could have discussed Claudius’ crime with his mother and determined whether or not she was guilty for himself, instead of relying solely on the