Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

990 Words2 Pages

What is the appropriate time of mourning for a lost loved one? In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlets mother, Gertrude, mourned the passing of her husband for less than two months. She then decided to marry King Hamlet's brother, Claudius. Hamlets mother's new marriage is what bothers him the most. Hamlet believes Claudius will never live up to the legacy left by his father as the King of Denmark. The social context that is being revealed to the reader through Hamlets soliloquy describes three character traits he possesses: suicidal thoughts, concern for the well-being of his country, confusion towards his father's ghost and whether or not it’s in the countries best interest for him to get revenge. This also portrays how Queen Gertrude’s hasty nuptials after not having a proper time of mourning, goes against society in this era. Furthermore, this foreshadows the vast effect this will have on Hamlet.

One character trait that Hamlet possessed was suicidal thoughts. Hamlet's pure hatred for his mother’s new marriage and the fear of being called a traitor if he confesses to anyone is enough to make anyone feel confused and have self-doubt. Hamlet feels helpless and is the only one who seems to be mourning his father’s recent death. “Fie ont! Ah fie! Ti’s a un weeded garden/ that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature/ possess it merely” (I.ii.135-137). life is a un weeded garden that grows to seed. Life is a waste of time, that’s why Hamlet is having suicidal tendencies. The garden is unnatural in the state of Denmark is in, with the killing of a king. Rank and gross refer to Claudius. Rank means having an enormous hatred or disgust. Claudius’s manners and morals were gross and rank. Hamlet explains ...

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... his father’s ghost, and whether or not to get revenge. Hamlet is still unsure about the ghost being real or a hallucination from him going mad. This also adds suspicion about Claudius's true motives in marrying Gertrude and his concern for his country of Denmark. Shakespeare opts to let Hamlets character possesses these certain characteristics so early on so that it will set the scene for the rest of the play. I predict Hamlet will become so delirious and mad; he will listen to what the ghost tells him. He only wants the best for his country, but there about to go to war with Norway under the direction of a king who in Hamlets eyes is not worthy. I believe there will be a power struggle between Hamlet and Claudius over the throne and for Hamlet to claim what is rightfully his.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York:signet classic Shakespeare, 1998.

Gibson and Branagh in the Movie Versions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
1241 Words | 3 Pages
From the beginning of the movie, until the end Hamlet is furious by the hasty marriage of Gertrude (Hamlets mother) to Claudius (hamlets uncle), especially since his father died only two months ago. Hamlet is quite literally mad, he even thinks about committing suicide and this is known because of the famous soliloquy “to be or not to be, that is the question”. However, hamlet is visited by ghost and is told that he was murdered by his Uncle by having poison poured into his ear and the king’s ghost asks hamlet to avenge the king’s death. Hamlet demonstrates his cleverness when he sets up a play which is very similar to what take place on the day that the king was murdered. Hamlet tells Horatio to observe Claudius’ reaction to the play, and if Claudius seems to be troubled by the play, that will confirm the ghosts accusation. Within all of this chaos, hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius and leaves for France. This causes Ophelia to ...
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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: In Search of His Own Identity
1373 Words | 3 Pages
...ut his lifetime. With all the events occurring, Hamlet goes through so much stress, pain, and suffering from which started with the murder of his father. He has tried to understand his position in life, yet every step he takes, someone always steps in front of him, and it puts him in a worst situation from which he started. A young man like he should be out studying and having fun with his friends, but his two non family related friends betray him, and follow King Claudius' ruling. His mother who he once loves dearly and felt so close to also betrays him by ending her mourn so soon and remarrying to Claudius. Everyone in Denmark has a problem, and the "unweeded" garden is not being kept in good hands, for which bad things have come. The evil in everyone has come out, and Hamlet searched and searched for a reasoning in life, to only come out with one thing, nothing.
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Hamlet is Guilty of Murder
573 Words | 2 Pages
After Hamlet’s mother became remarried Hamlet felt that there was something wrong. He was suspicious of his Uncle, and already grief stricken, Hamlet’s suspicions were doubled, One night he was told his father’s ghost had appeared, and upon meeting this spirit he was told that the new king, Claudius, has poured poison into the old king’s ear while he slept. Outraged and wanting revenge, Hamlet began planning. Seemingly insane, as you people that defend him may think, he wandered about the castle, making no since when he spoke, and not seeming to be very princely at all.
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Claudius' Speech
1144 Words | 3 Pages
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet revolves around Hamlet’s quest to avenge his father’s murder. Claudius’ first speech as King at the beginning of Scene 2, Act 1 introduces the themes of hierarchy, incest and appearance versus reality and plays the crucial role of revealing Claudius’ character as part of the exposition. The audience is left skeptical after Horatio’s questioning of King Hamlet’s ghost in the first scene of the play. By placing Claudius’ pompous speech immediately after the frightening appearance of Hamlet’s ghost, Shakespeare contrasts the mournful atmosphere in Denmark to the fanfare at the palace and makes a statement about Claudius’ hypocrisy. Through diction, doubling and figurative language, Shakespeare reveals Claudius to be a self centered, hypocritical, manipulative and commanding politician.
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Hamlet as Victim of a Corrupt World
1502 Words | 4 Pages
Hamlet as Victim of a Corrupt World Troubled by royal treason, ruthless scheming, and a ghost, Denmark is on the verge of destruction. Directly following King Hamlet's death, the widowed Queen Gertrude remarried Claudius, the King's brother. Prince Hamlet sees the union of his mother and uncle as a "hasty and incestuous" act (Charles Boyce, 232). He then finds out that Claudius is responsible for his father's treacherous murder. His father's ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death, and Hamlet agrees.
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Hamlet and his battle with depression
1756 Words | 4 Pages
Hamlet, a young prince preparing to become King of Denmark, cannot understand or cope with the catastrophes in his life. After his father dies, Hamlet is filled with confusion. However, when his father's ghost appears, the ghost explains that his brother, Hamlet's Uncle Claudius, murdered him. In awe of the supposed truth, Hamlet decides he must seek revenge and kill his uncle. This becomes his goal and sole purpose in life. However, it is more awkward for Hamlet because his uncle has now become his stepfather. He is in shock by his mother's hurried remarriage and is very confused and hurt by these circumstances. Along with these familial dysfunctions, Hamlet's love life is diminishing. It is an "emotional overload" for Hamlet (Fallon 40). The encounter with the ghost also understandably causes Hamlet great distress. From then on, his behavior is extremely out of context (Fallon 39). In Hamlet's first scene of the play, he does not like his mother's remarriage and even mentions his loss of interest in l...
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Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
1163 Words | 3 Pages
Everyone has lied at one point or another in their life. Whether it is a small white lie about an outfit’s mishaps or something that ruined a relationship, lying or hiding the truth is a universal theme that everyone could relate to. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the theme of deception to develop characters and cause their ultimate downfall in the play. Deception is not only woven in the plot but also portrays through the characters’ action and personality, such as Claudius, Polonius, and Hamlet.
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Hamlet by William Shakespeare
1763 Words | 4 Pages
While a revenge tragedy by definition, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is first and foremost a play concerning memory. The importance and effect of memory and the ars memoria could not be stressed more. Memory, remembrance, or, in some cases the lack there of, frame much of the dialog throughout the work and are therefore unmistakable themes of the play. In Act one, scene five, the ghost of old king Hamlet uses memory as a call to arms, “Mark me…Remember me,” he commands his astonished son (1. 5. 2, 91). This supernatural encounter, with its simple directives to memory, changes everything for Denmark. Memory becomes Hamlet’s foundation for avenging his father’s murder. However, his dwelling in the past soon proves problematic and his memory of the phantom’s words becomes warped. Hamlet regrettably suffers from selective memory when it comes to his father’s directives. This corrupted recollection of the ghost’s instructions develops into the core conflict of the tragedy. While Hamlet is ultimately able to reach his vengeful goal, it is not in a timely manner and certainly not without added bloodshed; making each casualty of the play a result of Hamlet’s inability to follow orders, to remember correctly.
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Hamlet by William Shakespeare
1382 Words | 3 Pages
The fight for power is an essential part of the play. Each character has a corrupt way of trying to overpower one another. Due to all the sorrow and madness brought upon the play, the characters have no choice but to go mad. This play would not exist without the lust of power. Within the play comes power which bring upon madness, causing corruption.
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Ophelia's Use Of Foils In Hamlet
750 Words | 2 Pages
the foils of hamlet In his plays, Shakespeare often puts the antagonists in circumstances similar to or resembling the problems of the main character or hero. He does this in order to give us a clear perception of what the characters are like, through contrast or similarity between them. These literary experiments are called foils. In Hamlet, Shakespeare gives us many foils for Hamlet, the main character. One major foil is Ophelia. Hamlet and Ophelia have both lost their fathers.
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Hamlet by William Shakespeare
1346 Words | 3 Pages
The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, builds up a story beginning with the murder of Hamlet`s father, as it leads to the downfall of not only Claudius, Old King Hamlet`s brother, but also Hamlet`s death, as the story slowly unravels with the death of many other characters, and the events that shape the story into its final moments. The suggestion of suicide is the perception of escapism as one character after another considers taking their lives to escape the frustrations and pains that are associated with existing in a life where constant problems arise in reality. The death of Ophelia, the soliloquies that Hamlet recited, the death imageries, and Ophelia’s funeral, all shows suicide as an option to the problems as it becomes agonizing to bear the reality and the problems that come along with it.
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Essay about Hamlet
946 Words | 2 Pages
One can envision him as someone who radiates his sorrow over his father’s death. Hamlet’s attitude changed from the sadness of his father’s death to anger when the ghost revealed that his Uncle, King Claudius, killed his father by poisoning him in his ear. Followed by his Mother’s marriage, which Hamlet called an ‘incestuous marriage’. The loss of Hamlet’s father affected him greatly and thus affected his relationship with other people. When his father died, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, married Claudius only after two months.
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Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
782 Words | 2 Pages
Throughout Hamlet the protagonist loses many of those dear to him. In fact, the cause of this story is the death of Hamlet's own father. Along with Hamlet's aforementioned father the deaths would include Hamlet's lover, Ophelia; his mother (her death being both figurative and literal); Laertes; Claudius; and Polonius. Death is a constant theme of this tragedy and Hamlet even takes time to ponder his death and fate in a graveyard. "Here hung the lips that I have kissed I know not how oft - Where be you gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs?" Hamlet says, talking about the skull of the Jester he found.(Hamlet 5.1.164) In the beginning of the story it is revealed to Hamlet that his father was murdered by none other but Hamlet's uncle and new father-in-law, Claudius. This murder is the catalyst for the story and greatly upset Hamlet even before he knew his father was actually betrayed. Hamlet mourned his father long after everyone else had moved on. The fact that Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, married Claudius not long after the death of the former king also caused a bitterness in Hamlet. He criticizes his mother by saying she's like a depraved animal. "O God, a beast that wants disco...
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Conflict in William Shakespeare's Hamlet
2442 Words | 5 Pages
Old Hamlet is killed by his brother Claudius. Only two months after her husband’s death a vulnerable Gertrude marries her husband’s brother Claudius. Gertrude’s weakness opens the door for Claudius to take the throne as the king of Denmark. Hamlet is outraged by this, he loses respect for his mother as he feels that she has rejected him and has taken no time to mourn her own husband’s death. One night old Hamlets ghost appears to prince Hamlet and tells him how he was poisoned by his own brother. 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.
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Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Gibson and Branagh in the Movie Versions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet