Hamlet, though published hundreds of years ago, is one of the most studied texts in history and continues to offer scholars new details of interest to explore, one of which being different types of kings portrayed in this play: Old King Hamlet, a beloved ruler who earned reputation for the state of Denmark, Claudius, a treacherous usurper under whose rule Denmark became rotten, and Fortinbras, a foreign prince and the king- to- be. As a tragic hero, Hamlet is always being criticized for the deficiency in his character, but few have recognized him as the rightful heir to the throne withwho has the strength and potential to rule a country. Although the predicaments do not permit him to emerge as ruler, Hamlet, whose character is shaped into …show more content…
Throughout the play, Hamlet views himself not only as a son who is to avenge his father’s death, but also as a hero who is bound to restore order in Denmark by removing the “rotten” part of the state. After the ghost revealed the truth of the old king’s gruesome murder, Hamlet expressed his determination in avenging his father’s death: “The time is out of joint. O cursed spite/ that ever I was born to set it right” (1.5.210-211). He uses an analogy to point out that the state of affairs in Denmark is chaotic and that, as Prince of Denmark, he is responsible for purging his country which is polluted by Claudius, the current king, through his various crimes including regicide, the usurpation of the throne, and incestuous marriage with Queen Gertrude (Rossiter 740). This sense of responsibility becomes especially cognizant to Hamlet after his return from England. After a long period of self-identification, Hamlet finally presents himself as a mature individual who is aware of his responsibility as a prince by saying “This is I, Hamlet the Dane” (5.1.270-271). The significance of this line lies in that, in all five times the word “Dane” occurs in the play, it serves as a synonym to king (Deats 24). Thus, by identifying himself as “Dane,” Hamlet is implying that he is ready to embrace his duty as the rightful heir to the throne and protect the state of Denmark from the corrupting influence of Claudius. This sense of responsibility becomes stronger in the final scene of the play, where Hamlet says to Horatio that he would be damned if he does not take action to prevent an evil villain like Claudius to do anymore harm to the country (5.2.77-80). Hamlet’s sense of responsibility to and genuine care for the state will ensure that he would manage state affairs most
Sometimes, revenge can be utterly nasty and repeated. A Serbian patriot once slayed an Austrian archduke to exact his revenge for Austria’s occupation of his land. Austria retaliated by starting World War I. After the war, the Allied powers took revenge by enforcing massive fines and taking away land from the defeated countries. One of them was Germany. This led to Hitler’s rise to power and took revenge against France by making them sign their surrender in the same train where Germany gave up in World War I. Following World War II, Germany was obligated to repair some of the damage done by paying war reparations to the Allies and Jewish people after the war. When countries recur to revenge, history reiterates, more often than not, it means war. On a smaller scale, in Hamlet, the prince of Denmark begins an inner war that provokes quite significant inner struggles as well as an outer war with Claudius to avenge his father’s death. William Shakespeare masterfully portrays Hamlet, whose experiences and emotions drive him to alternate between the realms of sanity and insanity to achieve his ambition. As the ancient proverb states, “desperate times call for desperate measures.” These “desperate times” include the murder of his father Hamlet Senior, King of the Danes, by his malicious uncle, Claudius, the seeming suicide of his love, Ophelia, his mother's quick remarriage to Claudius after his father's death.
Originally titled The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, this tragedy has been reproduced more times than any other play written by William Shakespeare (en.wikipedia.org 1 of 9). Prince Hamlet also has the lengthiest appearance of any character in all of Shakespeare's plays (en.wikpedia.org 6 of 9). In the play, Prince Hamlet is caught between balancing his need to avenge his father's death, dealing with the disgust he felt for Gertrude and Claudius' love affair, and maintaining the relationship he has with Ophelia without exposing his plans to kill his uncle Claudius for the murder of King Hamlet.
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.
In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the main character struggles to avenge the death of his father. Fear paralyzes him as he holds off on getting revenge on the new King Claudius, who stole the royal throne by murdering Hamlet’s father. However, it isn’t just fear that makes him hesitant as he reasons the situation. Hamlet hesitates to take action because he struggles with making his own choices, just like his weak-minded mother, Gertrude.
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.
Hamlet’s sanity began to deteriorate when learned that his father’s death was not an accident, but rather a foul deed committed by the newly crowned King of Denmark. “If thou didst ever thy dear father love – Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” [Act I, v l .23-25]. As a mysterious ghost appeared in the terrace, Hamlet learned of a murderer that would prove his fealty towards his father. As he contemplated the appalling news recently brought to his attention, the control Hamlet had over his actions was questioned. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark,” [Act I, v l. 106-109]. Hamlet’s hatred toward his father’s killer caused him to relate the tribulations between murder and the aspects of Denmark as a country together. As with most of the conflicts Hamlet faced, his lack of ability to avenge his father’s death, furthered the deterioration of his life and surroundings.
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Washington Square Press new Folger ed. New York: Washington Square, 2002. Print.
The Complex Character of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Upon examining Shakespeare's characters in this play, Hamlet proves to be a very complex character, and functions as the key element to the development of the play. Throughout the play we see the many different aspects of Hamlet's personality by observing his actions and responses to certain situations. Hamlet takes on the role of a strong character, but through his internal weaknesses we witness his destruction.
To understand a play, you must first understand the fundamentals for the play: protagonist, antagonist, exposition, rising action, crisis, climax and resolution. I will examine Hamlet by William Shakespeare. This is a great example for the purpose of this paper it provides a clear and great examples.
Keys to Interpretation of Hamlet & nbsp; William Shakespeare's Hamlet is, at heart, a play about suicide. Though it is surrounded by a fairly standard revenge plot, the play's core is an intense psychodrama about a prince gone mad from the pressures of his station and his unrequited love for Ophelia. He longs for the ultimate release of killing himself - but why? In this respect, Hamlet is equivocal - he gives several different motives depending on the situation. But we learn to trust his soliloquies - his thoughts - more than his actions.
Hamlet is a tale of tragedy by Shakespeare which tells the story of the prince of Denmark who is on a quest to avenge the death of his father at the hands of his uncle whom subsequently becomes king of Denmark. This is what fuels the fire in the play as Hamlet feels the responsibility to avenge his father’s death by his uncle Claudius; however, Claudius assumed the throne following the death of hamlets father. It is in this context that we see the evolution of hamlets character from a student and young prince of Denmark to the protagonist and tragic hero in the play.
Up until this point the kingdom of Denmark believed that old Hamlet had died of natural causes. As it was custom, prince Hamlet sought to avenge his father’s death. This leads Hamlet, the main character into a state of internal conflict as he agonises over what action and when to take it as to avenge his father’s death. Shakespeare’s play presents the reader with various forms of conflict which plague his characters. He explores these conflicts through the use of soliloquies, recurring motifs, structure and mirror plotting.
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.
Hamlet is a paradox; he is a perplexing character that throughout the play has more to show. Hamlet is a person of contradictions he is inquisitive and profound yet indecisive. The experiences Hamlet goes through led to dramatic changes in his character. In the beginning we are introduced to a young man who is mourning for the death of his father and struggling with the sudden marriage of his mother to his uncle. Hamlet faces the dilemma of wanting to avenge his father’s death and suppressing his intense emotions in order to calculate a plan.
The perfection of Hamlet’s character has been called in question - perhaps by those who do not understand it. The character of Hamlet stands by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be. He is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from his natural disposition by the strangeness of his situation.