How Does Shakespeare Use Self-Respect Plays When An Individual Respond To Injustice

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Discuss the ideas developed by the text creator about the role self-respect plays when an individual responds to injustice. How do you react when you are facing injustice? Do you just sit there and forebear it, or do you stand up and fight for justice? Apparently different people would react in various ways, though what’s affecting each individual to make their choice? William Shakespeare developed the idea that when facing injustice, the action an individual take is related to self-respect. His play Hamlet discusses a number of injustice for instance, Hamlet’s uncle killed his father and married his mom, Ophelia is used by his father and the King, etc. The difference in action of each individual is linked to their different extend of self-respect …show more content…

Self-respect affect one’s judgement, it makes one more sensitive and more determinate. Laertes yells to Claudius “O thou vile King, give me my father.” (Act IV scene v l.117-118) right after he breaks the last door to the King and holds his sword against Claudius’s neck. Because of his high self-respect, Laertes does not care if it is the King of Denmark who killed his father, he decides to despite the belief at that time which is that everything the King does is correct. He believes that the King is not supposed to do whatever he wants to, or even get away from murder. If the King kills, then he is a murderer and he deserves to be punished in order to get justice for the deceased. Laertes sister, Ophelia, on the other hand takes no action when facing injustice. When her father forbids her to meet Hamlet, she responds that “[She] shall obey.” (Act I scene iii l.141) though that is not what she wants, she cannot question any decision that has …show more content…

After Laertes knows about the mysterious death of his father and thinks the King Claudius killed him, he organizes a rebellious army and fight all the way into the castle to get revenge for his father. By the time the messenger comes and tells Claudius and Gertrude that [Young Laertes, in a riotous head, overbears [the King’s] officers.] (Act IV scene iv l.102-103)Laertes’s rebellious army are already at the last door to where the King is. Laertes, as a gentleman from a noble family and a scholar studying abroad, has fairly high self-respect and sense of honor. When his father’s been killed and buried secretly his family lost their honor. Therefore his self-respect pushes him to regain the pride that has been lost, even if it means that he has to act against the head of the kingdom, the King of Denmark, to find out the truth of the death of his father. However his father, Polonius, is the totally opposite of him. Polonius has always been a sycophant to Claudius, everything he says is to please the King. He tells his daughter, Ophelia, that Hamlet doesn’t love her, he is only playing with her. Yet, what he says to the King is that “[He] went round to work, and [his] young mistress thus [he] did bespeak: ‘Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of [Ophelia’s] star. This must not be.’” (Act II scene ii l.147-149) Also, Polonius is willing to “loose [his] daughter to [Hamlet]. Be the [King and him] behind an arras then, mark the

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