Hamlet by WIlliam Shakespeare

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Hamlet is one of the greatest plays written in history by William Shakespeare. It is a tragedy that tells the story of prince Hamlet who seeks revenge for his father's murder. At the start of the play, Hamlet is melancholic and tries desperate to control his fate however, as the play progresses, Hamlet becomes rational and accepts his fate. Shakespeare's powerful use of dark symbols throughout the play illusatrate the inevitability of death as it is a universal component of life. Hamlet's clothing, the imagery and use of poison, as well as Yorrick's skull all symbolize the idea that death is universal and unavoidable.

Hamlets' wardrobe portrays the certainty of death because it reflects Hamlet's thoughts and feelings of grief. Hamlet is dressed in all black because he is in mourning over the death of his father. His black attire sets him apart from the rest of characters who are dressed in bright colors, just as his misery makes him an outsider in the cheerful court. Hamlet’s first appearance in the play shows him being consumed by grief and obsessing over death. While Hamlet may be dressed in black to signify his mourning, his emotions run deeper than his appearance and words. When his mother asks him why he seems upset, Hamlet replies by saying:

‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good-mother,

Nor customary suits of solemn black ...

That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,

For they are actions that a man might play;

But I have that within which passeth show;

These but the trappings and the suits of woe. (1.2.77-86)

Hamlet's response demonstrates that he has accepted his father's death and is genuinely mourning. Hamlet is enraged that everyone has managed to forget his father so quickly and that h...

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...wn deaths. In addition, Queen Gerturde incestuous marriage to Claudius is what results in her inevitable death as she accidentally ends up drinking the poisoned cup meant for Hamlet. Through ironic symbolism, Shakespeare's characters are lead to their inevitable death through their own doing

Shakespeare shows throughout the play how symbols, including Hamlet's wardrobe, Yorrick’s skull and the use of poison, depict the idea that death, as a natural part of life, is unavoidable. Hamlet is forced to accept the brutal reality of life and the consequence of human behavior after the murder of his father. He emotionally, mentally and physically struggles with his father’s death when he deals with the implications of avenging his father’s murder. In a powerful use of dark symbols, Shakespeare reminds his readers of the universality and inevitability of death.

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Analysis of the Tone of the To Be or Not to Be Soliloquy in Hamlet
644 Words | 2 Pages
This famous soliloquy offers a dark and deep contemplation of the nature of life and death. Hamlet’s contemplative, philosophical, and angry tones demonstrate the emotions all people feel throughout their lifetimes.
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Stages of Grief in Hamlet, The Descendants, and Broken April
1244 Words | 3 Pages
After the death of Old Hamlet and Gertrude’s remarriage to Claudius, Hamlet feels extremely angry and bitter. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.133-134). Due to the death of his father, he is already in a state of despair and the lack of sympathy that his mother has towards his sorrow does not aid him in recovering from this stage of grief. “Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off, / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark” (1.2.68-69). Hamlet is struggling to accept the fashion in which Gertrude is responding to the death of Old Hamlet; she seems quite content with her new life with Claudius, which is a difficult concept for him to accept as after the d...
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The Importance of Laertes and Fortinbras in Hamlet
1290 Words | 3 Pages
Hamlet's response to grief is a trait starkly contrasted by Laertes. Laertes response to the death of his father is immediate. He is publicly angry, and he leads the public riot occuring outside Castle Elsinore, which Polonius' death and quick burial served as a catalyst. He is suspicious, as is evident in his speech to Claudius. "How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with. / To hell, allegiance!"(Act 4, 5:130). Hamlet, however is very private with his grief. His mourning for King Hamlet is long and drawn out, two months after his father's death, he is still observed to be wearing "...suits of solemn black."[(Act1, 2:78) Claudius and Gertrude comment on his unhappiness, however it is not until Hamlet's first soliloquy that the audience is made aware of the depth of his suffering. Although dismayed at his mother's quick remarriage to his uncle, Hamlet suspects nothing of his father's murder until the ghost discloses this to him.
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Hamlet by WIlliam Shakespeare
1044 Words | 3 Pages
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.
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Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1 Analysis
721 Words | 2 Pages
It also brought Hamlet to reality with Ophelia’s death, as he resumes discussions with Yoricks skull, he jokingly says “Now get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that.” (170) revealing how one wastes so much time putting make up on their face, to mask over the inevitable aging process; and how ones fate lies within the very ground we stand on at this moment, no matter how great one is. To further his terms with the death of Ophelia, he is shown the spot Ophelia will be buried in, a few plots away. Showing that her death, is and will be treated just as everyone else will. While the gravedigger tells hamlet much earlier in the play “"not for ever with they vailed lids/ Seek for thy noble father in the dust" (1.2.70-71) and reminded that "your father lost a father” in other words there is no time to mourn the dead, as death is much like a chain, and putting quite bluntly he expresses its best to really just move on. Shakespeare reveals this as a turning point for Hamlet, as he realizes the commonness of death, and the value of life itself, and begins to ponder about his own mortality and destined fate. While quite a morbid outlook on the matter, it does reveal truth to Hamlet, and forces Hamlet to take a more humorous toll on the matter
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Father and Son Relationship in Shakespeare's Hamlet
558 Words | 2 Pages
Throughout the play Hamlet is in constant conflict with himself. An appearance of a ghost claiming to be his father, “I am thy father’s spirit”(I.v.14) aggravates his grief, nearly causing him to commit suicide and leaving him deeply disgusted and angered. Upon speaking with his ghost-father, Hamlet learns that his uncle-stepfather killed Hamlet the King. “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown”(I.v.45-46) Hamlet is beside himself and becomes obsessed with plotting and planning revenge for the death of his father.
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Hamlet's Grief
953 Words | 2 Pages
Sadness is the first emotion that is usually related to death. In the play, Hamlet does not try to disguise his sorrow after his father’s murder. This sadness is intermingled with disgust for the others around him who moved on with their grief and criticized him for continuing to mourn. After being criticized by Gertrude and Claudius, Hamlet chooses to talk to open space to reveal his feelings (1.2.129-158). Hamlet clearly shows the sadness in his heart, as well as the idea of bitterness. He continually attacks his mother’s quick grieving: “O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason / would have mourned longer” (1.2.150-151). This sadness continues in his fake madness, seeping into conversations that show his need for escape. In a confrontation with Polonius, Hamlet ends the con...
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Hamlet Acts Morally, Harms Others by his Actions, and Realizes his Tragic Limits
1017 Words | 3 Pages
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.
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Hamlet: The Bewildering Human Condition
1242 Words | 3 Pages
Death threads its way through the entirety of Hamlet, from the opening scene’s confrontation with a dead man’s ghost to the blood bath of the final scene, which occurs as a result of the disruption of the natural order of Denmark. Hamlet is a man with suicidal tendencies which goes against his Christian beliefs as he is focused on the past rather than the future, which causes him to fall into the trap of inaction on his path of revenge. Hamlet’s moral dilemma stems from the ghost’s appearance as “a spirit of health or a goblin damned”, making Hamlet decide whether it brings with...
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An Analysis of Mortality in Hamlet by William Shakespeare
2189 Words | 5 Pages
Shakespeare shows the ideology of death internalizing within Hamlet first with Hamlet’s emotions following the death of Old Hamlet. In the scene in which Hamlet is introduced, Hamlet is portrayed as an embodiment of death, dressed in “suits of a solemn black”(1.2.81) and has “dejected havior of the visage”(1.2.84). Hamlet’s physical representation as death signifies his lack of desire to continue living himself, being detached and discontent with the world around him. Hamlet, in his first soliloquy, opens by stating, “Sullied flesh would melt/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/His canon ‘gainst Self Slaughter!”(1.2.133-135). This is significant, as it shows Hamlet’s full willingness to commit suicide and end Hamlet’s internal pain, if not for suicide being a sin under religion. The reason for Hamlet’s desire for death and his dis...
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Hamlet, the Existentialist
1068 Words | 3 Pages
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was forced upon him.Death is something he struggles with as an abstract idea and as relative to himself. He is able to reconcile with the idea of death and reality eventually.
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Social and Psychological Influences on Hamlet
772 Words | 2 Pages
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the influence of Hamlet’s psychological and social states display his dread of death as well as his need to avenge his father’s death. In turn, these influences illuminate the meaning of the play by revealing Hamlet’s innermost thoughts on life, death and the effect of religion. Despite the fact that Hamlet’s first instincts were reluctance and hesitation, he knows that he must avenge his father’s death. While Hamlet is conscious of avenging his father’s death, he is contemplating all the aspects of death itself. Hamlet’s decision to avenge his father is affected by social, psychological and religious influences.
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Moral Issues In Shakespeare's Hamlet By William Shakespeare
1896 Words | 4 Pages
“Hamlet” is a play, compose by William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers for drama. This play is centered on the young Norwegian prince named Hamlet. The exact age of Hamlet is not noted in the play, but it can be deduced from the clues presented in the play, like Hamlet goes to school away from his home country and Hamlet knowledge of fighting with swords. In the play Hamlet father died, however it is not until Hamlet finds out how his father died that the plot start to gain momentum. Hamlet’s father spirit claims his death, a “foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare, Act I, scene v, line 25). This lead Hamlet to be roused into taking revenge for his father. The killer of Hamlet’s father is revealed
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Hamlet, A Noble Prince
1585 Words | 4 Pages
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.
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Condemned: Hamlet’s Moral Dilemma
1663 Words | 4 Pages
Hamlet is one of the most often-performed and studied plays in the English language. The story might have been merely a melodramatic play about murder and revenge, butWilliam Shakespeare imbued his drama with a sensitivity and reflectivity that still fascinates audiences four hundred years after it was first performed. Hamlet is no ordinary young man, raging at the death of his father and the hasty marriage of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet is cursed with an introspective nature; he cannot decide whether to turn his anger outward or in on himself. The audience sees a young man who would be happiest back at his university, contemplating remote philosophical matters of life and death. Instead, Hamlet is forced to engage death on a visceral level, as an unwelcome and unfathomable figure in his life. He cannot ignore thoughts of death, nor can he grieve and get on with his life, as most people do. He is a melancholy man, and he can see only darkness in his future—if, indeed, he is to have a future at all. Throughout the play, and particularly in his two most famous soliloquies, Hamlet struggles with the competing compulsions to avenge his father’s death or to embrace his own. Hamlet is a man caught in a moral dilemma, and his inability to reach a resolution condemns himself and nearly everyone close to him.
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Hamlet by WIlliam Shakespeare

Analysis of the Tone of the To Be or Not to Be Soliloquy in Hamlet

Stages of Grief in Hamlet, The Descendants, and Broken April

The Importance of Laertes and Fortinbras in Hamlet