One of the most unique things about the play Hamlet (with Hamlet playing the main character) is the way relationships between the main and lesser characters have not changed from Shakespeare's time period in which he wrote this play to the modern dilemmas of today. The character Hamlet relates through individualism of self to others in the play and Shakespeare uses this confusion of self and nature thus assuring many types of readers who can relate to his Hamlet characterization. Hamlet portrays himself with all his human flaws, but it is this humanity that makes him distinctive from everyone else in the story. In addition, all of Hamlet's waking hours are preoccupied with his own thoughts thus adding more intensity to his feelings and perceptions about where he sees imperfections, worry and tension as well as confusion, but without a doubt it is these human qualities which makes his situation so impossible for him to resolve easily. Another tragic role of the play is its irony. The irony allows the storyline to show humor as well as the cause and effects of each action taken. There is usually little reason for a tragedy to be funny so Shakespeare has used this type of humor to add more irony to the already tragic events of the play. Pause for thought is in the types of conflict that play a major part in the play and the relationships between Hamlet and the two people who have been closest to him; being Ophelia and the ghost. Hamlet cannot share his strong feelings and emotions with his mother or his girlfriend and while his mother is literally sleeping with the enemy, Ophelia has chosen the side of Claudius because of her father Polonius. It is especially difficult for Hamlet to talk to Ophelia. The only other woman in his life, Gertrude, has betrayed his father by marrying Claudius. Hamlet may be obsessed with the idea that all women are evil, yet he really does love Ophelia because when he finds out Ophelia has died he cries out, I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.(Act V, Scene 1) The ghost provides Hamlet with a dilemma. In Shakespeare's plays supernatural characters are not always to be trusted (think of the three witches in Mac Beth who are instrumental in his downfall). Hamlet does not know whether the ghost is telling the truth or not.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is one of the world’s most revered literature. The main character, Hamlet, is arguably one of the most intriguing characters the playwright ever developed. Hamlet is daring, philosophical, mentally unstable at times, and clever. Throughout the play though, these characteristics change and/or diminish as Hamlet is put through a plethora of unfortunate events. His father is murdered by Claudius, his mother soon after marries Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern betray him, and his girlfriend most likely commits suicide. While Hamlet is incredibly philosophical, indecisive, and full of resentment in the beginning of the play, he becomes violent, instinctive, caring and sympathetic towards the end of the play.
William Shakespeare was a Stratford Grammar School boy, who was a member of the Church of England, similar to just about everyone else in Stratford. However, due to some events that occurred in the Shakespeare family home, there is some evidence that could prove that the family may have had some Roman Catholic connections. When William Shakespeare was 10 years old, legal issues and debt took a toll on his family’s life. Shakespeare’s father’s stopped attending alderman meetings which resulted in the removal of his name to become an alderman, and he was also forced to sell his beautiful home. The cause of this crisis is unknown, however the records can be used to throw together the idea that there were peculiar religious events going on (Fox). Due to these mishaps, William Shakespeare’s religion is a bit of a mystery. The play, Hamlet, was written by William Shakespeare during the Elizabethan era, which happened to be a time when religious conflicts were a big deal (Alsaif). The protagonist in the story, Hamlet, is a character who seems to make his choices through his religious beliefs. Hamlet is a very indecisive person, but his thoughts on religion tend to persuade him. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the character of Hamlet to show the flaws in all religions. Hamlet does his best to follow the rules of Christianity, but he often questions the morality involved. Although Shakespeare belonged to the Church of England, he didn’t find any particular religion to be perfect.
Hamlet’s apparent antics with Ophelia prove that their relationship begins to fall apart and become unhealthy. Hamlet mistreats Ophelia when she attempts to return the gifts he has given her, and he responds in a harsh manner, asking about her chastity and beauty, saying “that if [she] be honest and fair, [her] honesty/should admit no discourse to [her] beauty” (3.1.117-118). Hamlet continues to belittle her, calling her two-faced and admitting that he “did love [her] once” (3.1.125), his feelings for her now absent. Hamlet’s facade becomes personal through this. The entire exchange shows how Hamlet prioritizes his revenge, over his love because he eventually figures out that Polonius and Claudius spy on him. Hamlet soon speculates Ophelia’s association in their plan and decides to put on a facade for her too. Claudius’s facade also affects his relationship with Gertrude and Hamlet. After his speech to the court, Claudius approaches Hamlet in a way that appears as if he cares about him, even addressing him as “my cousin Hamlet and my son” (1.2.66), despite being aware of Hamlet’s sensitive and depressive state because of his father’s death. Moreover, Claudius expresses his deceitful love when he admits to Laertes that he won’t put Hamlet on trial because he mentions how much he loves Gertrude, and that she “is so conjunctive to my life and soul/that, as the
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.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet Perhaps the greatest uncertainty in William Shakespeare's Hamlet is the character of Queen Gertrude. Undoubtedly a major player with regard to number of lines and contribution to the action of the play. her personality is nonetheless basically undeveloped. It is also notable that Gertrude is perhaps the only character besides Hamlet. with enough power over all of the characters to stop the play's tragic.
Far too often we see men and women with noble causes lose their motive because of their emotional behavior. Their emotions cause them to lose track. We see no finer example of a man with a noble cause whose emotions cause him to lose sight of his noble cause: the character of Laertes in the play Hamlet. Laertes has a vendetta against Hamlet for killing his father. Although Laertes meant well in avenging his father’s death, his emotional behavior overtook him in the process. If we look at other characters in the play, we find a similar struggle between a noble goal and one’s emotions. Hamlet fights the same battle as Laertes does; however, Hamlet is better able to control his emotions. To maintain a noble goal without faltering, one must be able to rid one’s self of emotions that lead to undesirable actions.
The loss of a parent can have a traumatic effect on one. It can lead he or she to a place of sadness, darkness and depression. In Shakespeare's revenge tragedy "Hamlet", the passing of the King stirs up the same emotions in the prince Hamlet. Although, it would be the starting point of his journey filled with deceptions, murders and conspiracy. After a visit from his dead father as a ghost, and the revelation of his uncle's betrayal, Hamlet embarks on a path to avenge the death of his father (Shakespeare). In the midst of all the lies and deceptions, before his ultimate downfall Hamlet achieves his goal of avenging the death of his father by killing Claudius, while liberating Denmark from a deceitful ruler; his uncle Claudius.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet revolves around the title character’s undeniable obligation to immediately avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius. Yet much time elapses before Hamlet finally does slay his evil uncle, leading to a fundamental question: what causes the hero to delay before eventually managing to salvage some retribution? The answer is that Hamlet’s reoccuring state of impractical contemplation renders him incapable of any decisive action that could have brought quick revenge.
Foremost, is the character of Hamlet: the causes and effects of his actions, or lack thereof. Hamlet is a very thoughtful person by nature, and often spends more time thinking than acting. However, Hamlet does realize that "...conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution/ Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought"(III.i.84-85). Although Hamlet recognizes the fact that too much reflection could end poorly, he does it nonetheless. Every situation he is faced with he insists upon planning it out first, and rarely actually acting upon these plans. Additionally, since Hamlet is considered to be a tragedy, there must be a tragic hero. All tragic heroes have some kind of flaw or blemish, which, according to the article "Characters", "Hamlet's weakness may be that he 'thinks too much' and cannot make up his mind. The resulting inactions leads to his death" ("Characters"). Because Hamlet spends so much time pondering his surroundings, he sometimes misses the chance to act on them. This inability to accomplish anything slowly pulls Hamlet to a point where no amount of thought or action could possibly help him. However, at one point in the play Hamlet comes very near to followin...
Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude, this type of parent and child conflicts are somewhat common in some of Shakespeare’s plays. The events surrounding these characters must be taken into account as we watch the attitudes and personalities of Gertrude and Hamlet change as the play progresses. They have their own unique places in the story but do not always mesh well together when thrown into a conflict. Throughout the play hamlet struggles to keep his sanity. This is especially apparent after his father’s ghost visits him. The ghost tells him that his father was murdered by his uncle Claudius, who is the curre...
After he meets the ghost, Hamlet begins to treat people cold-heartedly. His is led by his mind, but not his heart. The acts of cruelty on Hamlet’s part were done because pity or sympathy no longer exists within. His treatment of Ophelia, his only true love, is disgusting. He also treated his mother in a rude fashion. He felt betrayed by his mother because he loved and trusted her, but she went and married his uncle soon after his father’s death.
Although many different positions could be taken on writing an essay for this Shakespearian play, the author took it upon himself to write about Hamlet’s grief. His grief is obvious from the beginning of the play and he continues to grieve althroughout the play. Within his twenty-one-page essay, I chose this line to represent that I agree with his outlook on the play. “…his focus is on his grief and the profound impact in which the ghost has upon it. (Hamlet pg.18 paragraph 3)
Hamlet has the disillusion that women are frail after his mother’s rushed remarriage as shown by “Frailty, thy name is woman!” He also believes women do not have the power to reason. (“O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason.”) Ophelia has the power to change his view but her unexplained rejection of him only adds to Hamlet’s disillusion. The ghost’s revelation that Gertrude dishonored Hamlet’s father but also their marriage by the adultery with Claudius is contemplated by Hamlet until he goes into Ophelia’s room to look upon her. As Hamlet searches Ophelia’s face for some sign that might restore his faith in her, he instead believes her face shows guilt and thinks she is another false Gertrude.
The conversation between the ghost and hamlet serves as a catalyst for Hamlet's last actions and provides us with insights into Hamlet's character. The information the ghost reveals insights Hamlet into action against a situation he is already uncomfortable with. It must be noted, that hamlet is not quick to believe the ghost. He states that maybe he saw a devil that abuses him due to his meloncaully. We are thus subjected to an aspect of Hamlet's character. Hamlet next encounters the ghost in his mother's room. The ghost wets hamlets appetite. Hamlet is now convinced of the ghost and listens to it. The question many ask is did the ghost mislead hamlet?