Hamlet: Moral Order
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, a very clear moral order is established as
the protagonist, Hamlet, completes his journey through the phases which
define a Shakespearean tragedy. The play begins with Hamlet encountering
his father's ghost, at which point he learns his father had in fact been
murdered by his own brother, Claudius. It is Hamlet's wish to avenge his
father that causes all other moral dilemmas in the play, and this is what
defines the play's particular moral order: As the play progresses, the
gravity and seriousness of Claudius sins lessen, and Hamlet's grow,
although never reaching the moral plateau on which Claudius rests. In the
beginning of the play, Hamlet is morally "in the right", always taking
precautions to ensure this remains so. Claudius, on the other hand, not
only murders Hamlet's father, but then plots to do away with Hamlet as soon
as he feels threatened. As the play progresses, Hamlet continues
attempting to right the original wrong, but only succeeds at the finish,
with Claudius' death. Hamlet's words in Act III, Scene IV -- "thus bad
begins, and worse remains behind" illustrate the moral order well; the
actions against him were wrong, but, to a lesser extent, so was his revenge.
Near the start of the play, The Ghost tells Hamlet of the crime
committed by Claudius. When Hamlet finds out his father was murdered by
his own brother, who then stole his wife and crown, he immediately commits
himself to avenging the murder; "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as
swift/As meditation or the thoughts of love/May sweep to my revenge." At
this point, Hamlet is completely justified in his feelings, and most would
agree that his revenge is morally right. Although the act of murder itself
is wrong, an "eye for an eye" almost wholly justifies it. The gravity of
Claudius' crime grows when one considers that all the deaths throughout the
play would not have come if it were not the murder. The crime itself is,
in a sense, worse because of the circumstances; not a simple murder, but
the murder of one's brother wholly for personal gain, his crown and queen.
It is this which balances out any morally wrong actions Hamlet may take.
Hamlet, on the other hand, begins the play as a very rational and
intelligent man. Although it is shown he can be impulsive and rash, his
rationality wins out - at least in the beginning of the play. When seeing
his father's ghost, he unquestionably accepts all he hears as truth, but
doesn't act on it until he can verify it in some way.
Augustus Caesar was very ambitious leader. He is best known for bringing peace to Rome. Augustus was considered the first great roman emperor, because He didn’t care about wealth and fortune. Augustus cared about the people of Rome. He was a great military leader and was successful in most of his missions. He showed people that being a good ruler requires a lot of hard work and dedication. He was a very generous man. Augustus was greatly admired by the Roman people.
Philosopher A: In the Republic, the Senate was the primary branch of the Roman government and held the majority of the political power. It controlled funds, administration and foreign policy, and had significant influence of the everyday life of the Roman people. When Augustus came to power, he kept the Senate and they retained their legal position. The Emperor’s rule was legitimized by the senate as he needed the senators experience to serve as administrators, diplomats and generals. Although technically the most authoritative individual in Rome, Augustus strived to embody Republican values. He wanted to relate and connect to all parts of society including Plebeians. Through generosity and less extravagance, Augustus achieved a connection with the common people.
Discuss the ideas developed by the text creator about the role self-respect plays when an individual responds to injustice.
In Sophocles’ classic play Antigone the main character Antigone faces the impactful and controversial choice between god’s laws and man’s laws, fate and free-will, and family versus government. With her heroic and ultimately fatal decisions, Antigone would normally be the character everyone defines as a stereotypical tragic hero, however, not many people take into consideration that her counterpart Creon, is the real tragic hero. Creon is often portrayed as the antagonist within the play, yet he has all the qualities that make an ideal tragic hero.
Even though Hamlet is a prince, he has little control over the course of his life. In that time many things were decided for the princes and princesses such as their education and even who they married. This was more or less the normal way of life for a child of the monarch. But in the case of Hamlet, any of the control he thought he had, fell away with the murder of his father. Having his father, the king, be killed by his own brother, sent Hamlet into a state of feeling helpless and out of control. Cooped up in a palace with no real outlet, he tries to control at least one aspect of his life. Hamlet deliberately toys with Ophelia's emotions in order to feel in control of something since he cannot control the situation with Claudius.
In the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Hamlet is in a persistent mental battle between his religious, moral values and his desire to take revenge on the one who murdered his innocent father. Throughout the play, the actions that are taken by characters in Hamlet 's life ultimately lead to the demise and dismissal of each person who not only get in the way of Hamlet but go against the actions he takes. As the ghost of the late dead king appears to Hamlet and informs him of the truth behind what occurred that night Denmark lost a king and Hamlet lost a father, you see him embark on a journey of devotion to the father who was murdered by his uncle and everyone who has been caught up in the uncle’s web of lies. The philosophy of commitment and beauty are shown throughout the play through Hamlets vengeful task of revenge and deceit, King Claudius’s task to keep his murder a secret, Laertes commitment to murdering Hamlet, and the failed preservation of God made beauty.
In Act I, Hamlet returns to the death of his father and the “hasty marriage” of his mother and Claudius which breaks him up inside but only show signs of sorrow and anger, not lunacy which is demonstrated when he states: “The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables,” and “Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, that can denote me truly.” After time passes Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father, who instructs Hamlet that he must “[r]evenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” At this moment his sanity is questioned, because can a person who sees the ghost of their father be sane and believe what it says. This is possible if they portray lunacy.
In the Res Gestae, he often speaks of being offered positions of power and turning them down. He also speaks of how he donated his own money to the Roman people and building projects. However, some of his actions before he became emperor often went against that image. Augustus also chooses to omit the fact that he had immense power as emperor. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar, Augustus was named as his heir and began a rivalry with Marc Antony for power. He engaged in many deceitful acts, such as slandering Marc Antony and Cleopatra to turn the Roman people against them. In the end Marc Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. Augustus doesn’t discuss the events from this period of time in detail. Augustus wanted to be seen as humble. He often spoke of turning down positions of power that he was offered by the people and the senate. However, he chooses to omit the fact that he was given Mauis Imperium in 23 BC which gave him immense power. This gave him the power to command any official in the empire. Augustus also wanted to present the image of being well-liked and respected. In the Res Gestae, he often mentions honors and positions he was offered due to the senate and people being so impressed with his accomplishments. However, not everyone was always impressed with Augustus or liked him. He completely omits any mention of the Perusine War. The Perusine War took place in 40 BC. Aristocrats opposed
truths, a just society, and redemption. Moral truths are cultural and religious traditions, where people are expected to have proper behavior. Moral means concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character. Of the three themes, I believe moral truths is the most common in Hamlet because it is shown throughout the whole tragedy, mainly through murder as a form of revenge and whether suicide is justified or not. The ghost, King Hamlet, appeared to Hamlet and informed him that Claudius was the one that murdered him, then took over
When placed in a situation out of one’s control, the individual freedom of choice is apprehended, often leading to cognitive dissonance followed by a resolution in which an ultimate decision is made based on a consolidation of personal ethics. However, such resolutions are not achieved easily. In both William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet and Aeschylus’ classical trilogy The Oresteia, the progression of human morality is examined through the protagonists, who are subjected to psychological conflict as they struggle to consolidate their own sense of morality in their pursuits of vengeance.
It is also interesting to note that Augustus is never referred to as an Emperor in this text- this is the best evidence of how the Res Gestae was tailored to please the people as much as possible, as the title Emperor shows the power Augustus had too clearly- the Romans had a hatred of dictators and tyrants inspired by the Roman Kingdom. Instead of referring to himself as Emperor, Augustus uses his consulship or tribunician power for a time frame,
How are the perceptions of human nature conveyed by individuals subject to the influence of
I believe that there wasn't a higher power that set Hamlet to his death. I will be going over why there isnt a higher power or karma that caused everyone to kill themselves to create such a dramatic, and domino effect in the play. I do believe that if Hamlet did a lot of things way differently, though a lot of people would still be alive till the end of the play.
"To be or not to be – that is the question." It is one of the most famous lines in Western Literature and the hallmark of a critical thinker. It is no coincidence that Hamlet is one of the greatest critical thinkers of all time. In school, we are expected to think critically and it is seen as an intellectual virtue. Given the situation Hamlet is in though, Hamlet's intellectual virtue only leads to chaos and death. The story of Hamlet is a tragedy because Hamlet has a tragic virtue.
Morality is a remarkable dispute of a person’s actions within one’s own mind. Typically, everyone in the human species possesses a sense of their own regards to the matter of positive or negative outcomes. In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character faces a vast majority of internal struggles throughout his story. Hamlet is surrounded by tragedy and betrayal. Hamlet’s endeavors in the play coincide with those of a modern day soldier. Hamlet’s character relates to a soldier on the aspects of honor and murder, but they differ in their sense of morality.