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Comparing hamlet to other works of literature
Comparing hamlet to other works of literature
Social influences on hamlet
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By many accounts of Williams Shakespeare’s Hamlet the main character, Hamlet, is considered to be the classic tragic hero, but in fact Hamlet is not a hero at all. There are many accounts of heroes in earlier writings such as The Odyssey and Beowulf. These heroes had confidence, careful thought, and thought clearly in their times of trial. Hamlet was not any of these things. His inability to think clearly through his anger leads to indecisiveness which inevitably puts him in a situation that costs him his own life. Hamlet is a victim to himself in this play. Throughout the entire play Hamlet is very confused, indecisive, and blinded by his mission for vengeance. It also seems that while he is angry about the murder of his father he
It is clear many times during the play that Hamlet is confused as to how to proceed in certain situations. These are actions of person that does not have the clear thought of a mature man. Research on this topic would produce a physical age of about 20-30 years of age. Again it is not the physical age that matters, it is his mental age that is in question. This can be proven in the way he handles the entire situation from the get go. Most normal thinking people would have made it public that there was something amiss with their new king. This would have been the nationalistic thing to do, but probably would have had no different outcome as to Hamlet’s death. What he does instead after hearing from the ghost of his murdered father is to go about scheming and lying to cover it up. Again this is not the actions of a hero. These are the actions of someone that is not mentally mature. In Act I Scene 5 Hamlet gives a soliloquy to prove his youthful mind in where he vows to, “Wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all form, all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there: And thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain.” (Shakespeare 676) This can be viewed as someone that promises they are going to erase all the things they have learned and focus solely on the mission of avenging the death of his father. Are these the actions of a hero? A hero in many cases used the knowledge they have gained to face the challenge they are faced with, but Hamlet does the absolute opposite. He goes on by writing, “So, Uncle, there you are. Now to my word; It is ‘Adieu, adieu! Remember me.” (Shakespeare 676) This is a promise that Hamlet is writing down referring to his Uncle. He is basically saying, you are finished Uncle. His reaction to this is surprisingly ignorant since
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character is one of histories greatest examples of a tragic hero. Hamlet is born a prince and is seen throughout the play as a hero, but soon the reader begins to see a flaw emerge. Throughout the play, Hamlet exhibits indecision and procrastination. These two traits are his tragic flaws that lead to his death. Hamlet at many times during the play has a chance to avenge his fathers’ death and kill Claudius. At one point Hamlet gives a whole soliloquy debating on whether or not to kill his Uncle, “And ...
At the opening of the play Hamlet is portrayed as a stable individual . He expresses disappointment in his mother for her seeming disregard for his father's death. His feelings are justified and his actions are rational at this point, he describes himself as being genuine. As this scene progresses it is revealed that Hamlet views himself as being weak: "My father's brother, but no more like my father/ than I to Hercules" (1.2.153) The doubts that Hamlet has concerning his heroism become particularly evident in his actions as the story progresses. These doubts are a major hindrance to his thoughts of revenge.
Hamlet is a character that we love to read about and analyze. His character is so realistic, and he is so romantic and idealistic that it is hard not to like him. He is the typical young scholar facing the harsh reality of the real world. In this play, Hamlet has come to a time in his life where he has to see things as they really are. Hamlet is an initiation story. Mordecai Marcus states "some initiations take their protagonists across a threshold of maturity and understanding but leave them enmeshed in a struggle for certainty"(234). And this is what happens to Hamlet.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character Horatio plays a quintessential role in gaining a deeper understanding on the perplexing tragic hero, Hamlet, from the perspective he has about him. Horatio’s sensible ideology becomes apparent as he takes on the role of the spokesman of common sense, attempting to advise the stubborn tragic hero about his destructive journey towards revenge. Additionally, because of the true friendship Horatio presents Hamlet, it leads him to confide in Horatio about his secrets and plans, thus highlighting his essential role in bringing out Hamlet’s true intentions. Hamlet’s death becomes more meaningful as a result of Horatio’s approval of Hamlet and the devotion he shows Hamlet until the end, which
... Hamlet is merely a young man, looking for revenge for the death of his father. A young man that has gone through hell and back since his fathers death, losing his love, his mother marrying another man, best friends betraying him, all of which finally lead to his demise. Hamlet shows that he understands real from fake, right from wrong and his enemies from his friends.
As shown through textual evidence, Hamlet attempts to act morally. That he does not take action unless he is assured that it will accomplish what he desires. Additionally, during the delay to gain revenge for his father, he not only deceives himself, but also the people around him. Hamlet is a man of many discoveries. The tragic hero in Shakespeare's Hamlet undergoes many changes throughout the play. His mindset is set deep and far away from the physical world that both helps him and hinders him in his plight for revenge against his uncle, Claudius.
Hamlet is given reason to believe that his Father was murdered. A ghost bearing the “…same figure like the king that’s dead.” (Bernardo 1:1) informed him that the old King’s death was “Murder most foul…” (Ghost 1:5). When Hamlet eagerly inquires as to the meaning of the Ghost’s words he is told that “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.” Upon hearing this Hamlet immediately knows that his Uncle Claudius, the new king and his new step-father, is the guilty party. A mature person upon hearing news like this would, most likely, also have gone slightly insane with anger. How ever a mature person, upon regaining some control of his or her faculties, would have taken steps to punish the murderer in a just fashion. These steps would have included informing to populace and the Queen of the New King’s treachery against the old. Hamlet does not do this, instead he schemes and plots ways to kill his Uncle as opposed to giving him the opportunity to exculpate himself. Had Hamlet acted with maturity and expressed his concerns about his uncle the lives of many people would have been spared.
Hamlet appears to be a rather philosophical character. He is skeptical and expresses views that nowadays can be described as existential and relativist, but those terms did not exist in Shakespeare’s time. Existentialism analyzes existence and the way humans appear to exist in this world. It is concerned with the individual; finding oneself and finding a meaning to life by one’s own measures.That is exactly what Hamlet is going through. Presented with the jarring conflict of avenging his father’s death, Hamlet finds his meaning to life shortly before dying himself among others tangled in this mess. He was tasked by the ghost of his father to kill Claudius in an act of vengeance, which would be considered noble (though in this case, it is a regicide avenging a regicide; treason for treason). The ideals of society demand that he...
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...
William Shakespeare is seen to many as one of the great writers in history. More specifically, the characters in his plays are reviewed and criticized and have been so for nearly four centuries. The character that many have revered Shakespeare for is perhaps the greatest such character ever in literature, Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The commentary and response to this legend of literature is of wide array and opinion, though most, such as Pennington, believe him to be a truly magnificent character: "Hamlet is perhaps the cleverest hero ever written, the subject of the first European tragedy, a form of genius. A type Shakespeare despaired of writing thereafter, having perceived that the heroes of tragedies must be sublime idiots" (185). However, despite his clear gifts and aura, Hamlet was a doomed character from the beginning: Hamlet is dominated by an emotion that is inexpressible. It is thus a feeling he cannot understand, he cannot objectify it, and it therefore remains open to poison life and to obstruct action" (Eliot 25). Thus, Hamlet, while possessing the traits of no other men of his time, a true Renaissance man, was doomed from the beginning of the play partly by forces he could not control, and also partly by his own character. It leads to a slow but definite ending to one of literature's great characters, one that he could not control. In the end, Hamlet was out of place in his environment, he was simply not meant to be.
I thought Hamlet was a selfish, self-centered, weak and crazy person. How can you call a person a hero after killing friends and family in order to get what one wants? Hamlet can be a very smart and noble person but in parts of the play he exhibited actions that are completely opposite of the person he can be. He acted with a sense of madness that made me think he was actually going mad. He acted obnoxious and annoying to other characters in the play.
With his thinking mind Hamlet does not become a typical vengeful character. Unlike most erratic behavior of individuals seeking revenge out of rage, Hamlet considers the consequences of his actions. What would the people think of their prince if he were to murder the king? What kind of effect would it have on his beloved mother? Hamlet considers questions of this type which in effect hasten his descision. After all, once his mother is dead and her feelings out of the picture , Hamlet is quick and aggressive in forcing poison into Claudius' mouth. Once Hamlet is certain that Claudius is the killer it is only after he himself is and and his empire falling that he can finally act.
As the play’s tragic hero, Hamlet exhibits a combination of good and bad traits. A complex character, he displays a variety of characteristics throughout the play’s development. When he is first introduced in Act I- Scene 2, one sees Hamlet as a sensitive young prince who is mourning the death of his father, the King. In addition, his mother’s immediate marriage to his uncle has left him in even greater despair. Mixed in with this immense sense of grief, are obvious feelings of anger and frustration. The combination of these emotions leaves one feeling sympathetic to Hamlet; he becomes a very “human” character. One sees from the very beginning that he is a very complex and conflicted man, and that his tragedy has already begun.
Hamlet’s mourning about the death of his father and the remarriage of his mother drives him to madness. This is the main characters inner tragedy that Shakespeare expresses in the play. First he considers suicide but the ghost of King Hamlet sends him on a different path, directing him to revenge his death. Shakespeare uses Hamlet to articulate his thoughts about life, death and revenge. Being a moral character he must decide if revenge is the right thing to do. Shakespeare relays many scenarios of reasoning to the audience about mankind His hero sets the wrongs on mankind right again.
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.