The Tragedy of Hamley in William Shakespeare's Play

827 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Character and characterization in hamlet

The Tragedy of Hamley in William Shakespeare's Play

Appearance vs. Reality is one of the main theme and stylistic device

used in the play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Most

characters in the play are unpredictable, unless audience analysis

every bits and pieces of the text in order to find the truth, really

to see inside the real character. This form of stylistic device can be

very interesting in a play because sometimes there are soliloquies,

irony, or even foreshadowing. Appearance vs. Reality is a challenge

for the character in the play, because there’s other character’s in

the play doesn’t know what’s going on in the other character’s mind.

Although some characters predict or tries to find out what’s on the

other character’s mind and this can be a bravery or foolish attempt

because he/she would get killed in later on in the story. In the play,

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark one of the main appearance

vs. reality change would be the feeling of both King Claudius and

Hamlet, at the beginning to just two scenes away. Appearance vs.

Reality adds a feature to the play, and twists the play in many

different directions for the audiences.

In Act I, Scene II lines: “Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,

And thy best graces spend it at thy will! But now, my cousin Hamlet,

and my son,--” Claudius expresses his feelings for the main character

Hamlet, Prince and son of Old Hamlet. Claudius expression doesn’t

influence Hamlet in anyways, because King Claudius who’s his uncle

married his mother, Queen Gertrude wife of the Old Hamlet. Hamlet

suspects that they might be related to the death, and his feeling

towards his Uncle is suspicious and he feels betrayal towards his

mother for marring his uncle. In the above quote it might seem that

Claudius feeling towards Hamlet is affection although he feels

suspicious, and is planning in back if his mind. Further on in the

after Hamlet’s found out about his father’s death and that his uncle

Show More
Related

  • William Shakespeare's Use of Dramatic Devices in Act 3 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare's Use of Dramatic Devices in Act 3 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet

    Read More

  • King Claudius Character Analysis Essay

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book Hamlet focuses on Prince Hamlet who is depressed. He was told to go home to Denmark from his school in Germany to be present at his father 's funeral but was shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried to his Uncle Claudius, the dead king 's brother. To Hamlet, the marriage is "foul incest." Worse still, Claudius has had himself crowned King despite the fact that Hamlet was his father 's heir to the throne. Various major characters such as Ophelia, King Claudius, Polonius, Prince Hamlet, Laertes, Horatio, and Gertrude, Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Fortinbras, Yorick, Guildenstern, and Rosencrants featured in the book but in this essay, I would be critically analyzing just one major character, “King Claudius”. I would analyze

    Read More

  • Father and Son Relationship in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning of Hamlet, the Prince behaves as any normal person would following the death of a loved one. Not only is this a loved one, but an extra special someone; it is his loving father whom he adored. Hamlet is grief stricken, depressed, and even angry that his mother remarried so soon after his father’s death. Having witnessed how his father had treated his mother with great love and respect, Hamlet cannot understand how his mother could shorten the grieving period so greatly to marry someone like Uncle Claudius.  He is incapable of rationalizing her deeds and he is obsessed by her actions.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Actors and Acting in Hamlet

    1907 Words  | 4 Pages

    The façades that the individual characters assume are all essential to the complex deception and insanity that follow. Shakespeare's characters, it would seem, all have `multi-faceted' personalities (with the exception of Horatio). The true thoughts of these characters are seen only as asides, soliloquies or, in Hamlet's case, through the manipulation of language.

    Read More

  • The Inner Struggle in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Hamlet, the incest involving his mother and uncle triggered the action which took place within Hamlet.  First off, Hamlet was in deep sorrow with the death of his father, and very angered of the hasty re- marriage of his mother. On top of all of that, the fact that Hamlet’s mother wed his uncle, made matters even worse.  In Act I, scene ii, line 129-159, Hamlet recites what is on his troubled mind.  He closes off by saying, “With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!/ It is not, nor it cannot come to good./ But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.”  This reveals Hamlet’s true feelings regarding the marriage and how he bottles up his emotions and keeps them to himself.  However, if Hamlet was a different person, he may have had the ability to speak up to his parents and tell them how he really felt, as opposed to concealing his thoughts.  Unfortunately for Hamlet, he is not that type of person, so a lot of his actions occur internally rather than externally, and this was spurred by the situation with Gertrude and Claudius.

    Read More

  • 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...

    Read More

  • Folly in William Shakespeare's King Lear

    2870 Words  | 6 Pages

    In "East Coker," T. S. Eliot pleads "Do not let me hear / Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly…." (Eliot 185) The folly of old men must surely be a central trope in any discussion of Shakespeare's imposing tragic accomplishment, King Lear. Traditional interpretations of the play, drawing on the classical Aristotelian theory of tragedy, have tended to view Lear's act of blind folly as hamartia, precipitating the disintegration of human society. In the ensuing crisis, "the basic ties of nature fall apart to reveal a chaos where humanity 'must prey on itself like monsters of the deep.'" and "evil is immanent and overflows from the smallest breach of nature." (Mercer 252) Modernist interpretations have given this scenario an existential spin, treating Lear as a representative of Man, lost in a nihilistic universe. Thus Joyce Carol Oats writes that "the drama's few survivors experience [the conclusion] as in 'image' of the horror of the Apocalypse, that is, an anticipation of the end of the world." She concludes that "we are left with no more than a minimal stoicism…. For what purpose?--to turn the wheel full circle, it would seem, back to the primary zero, the nothing that is an underlying horror or promise throughout." (Oats 215)

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In The American Dream

    1991 Words  | 4 Pages

    While similar, the terms stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination all have their own distinct meanings. Gorham defines stereotypes as the organization of beliefs and assumptions people have toward social groups (19). Stereotypes can often be misrepresentative of a particular group because people unknowingly make assumptions about other people based on the knowledge they have acquired from media and/or people not in that particular social group. Examples of stereotypes can be beliefs that people of Asian descent are inherently good at math or that all black men are criminals. Unlike stereotypes which are predetermined assumptions people make about social groups, prejudice is holding negative feelings toward a group of people without fairly

    Read More

  • Comparision Of Hamlet With Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Hamlet, the value of truth incorporates the theme of appearance as opposed to reality and it links ...

    Read More

  • Appearance vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Hamlet

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    Appearance vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. In Hamlet, one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, there is a prevailing theme that is concurrent throughout the play. Throughout the play, all the characters appear to be one thing on the outside. yet on the inside, they are completely different. The theme of Appearance versus reality is prominent in Hamlet because of the fact that the characters portray themselves differently from what they really are.

    Read More

  • The Villains of Hamlet

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark the main character Hamlet goes through a series of very unfortunate events throughout his life, and mostly negative things come out of them. During the beginning of the play we find out that Hamlet loses his father the King of Denmark. This causes a great depression to Hamlet. Soon after Hamlet becomes even more upset due to the fact that he finds out that his uncle Claudius will be marrying his mother Gertrude and be the new King of Denmark. This causes Hamlet to go crazy, insane, and mad. Over the course of the play Hamlets madness continues to build due to everything that happens between the beginning and the end. At the end Hamlet has gone completely and incredibly mad. This madness ends up breaking out of him and spread throughout the ending scene of the play.

    Read More

  • Free Hamlet Essays: Role of Women in Hamlet

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gertrude influenced Hamlet significantly throughout the course of the play. Hamlet was very angered by his mother's remarriage. A few months after his father's death, Gertrude married Claudius, Hamlet's uncle. He was driven mad when his father's ghost appeared to him and revealed that Claudius was responsible for the death of Old Hamlet. Hamlet even termed the marriage as incest. Hamlet's fury is displayed when he throws his mother on the bed and says, "Frailty, thy name is woman" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). This shows his extent of anger because he makes a generalization that all women are weak. As a result of his mother's actions, Hamlet strives to seek revenge against Claudius for the death of his father. In order to marry Gertrude, Claudius kills his brother. Therefore, Gertrude is the driving factor for the whole setup of the play.

    Read More

  • Hamlet and Claudius’ Power Struggle

    1838 Words  | 4 Pages

    Claudius is seen in Hamlets eyes as a horrible person because he convicted murder and incest. Claudius had killed the king of Denmark, Old Hamlet, to obtain the position of the throne. He had been jealous of Old Hamlet’s wife Gertrude and wanted to marry her for her power. Although, such an act would be called incest and considered unnatural he did not care, all he had cared about was the power that he would be stealing from Hamlet and Old Hamlet, Gertrude’s son and husband (R). When Hamlet had talked to his f...

    Read More

  • Nature of Revenge

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Claudius is praying, Hamlet has an opportunity to slay him but doesn’t because if he kills him in his prayers he will make him go to heaven instead of hell. Another minor reason for Hamlet’s revenge against his uncle is his affection towards his mother. As the play progresses, we are able to determine that Hamlet’s relationship with his mom is close to incest status. With this information, we are able to imply that Hamlet is jealous of his Uncle Claudius for marrying his mother.... ... middle of paper ...

    Read More

  • Deception In Hamlet Essay

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    To put an antic disposition on), That you, at such times seeing me, never shall—With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, As ‘Well, well, we know,’ or ‘We could an if we would,’ Or “If we list to speak,” or “There be an if they might, “Or such ambiguous giving out—to note That you know aught of me. This not to do, So grace and mercy at your most need help you, swear” (Act 1, Scene 5). Hamlet is planning to feign madness so that he can fool those around him into believing he is harmless and gain insight into the King’s secrets. Hamlet’s fake insanity gives him the opportunity to verify that what the ghost said is true. His next piece of trickery that he puts into action is an “innocent” play that he writes to force the guilt of murder to make an appearance on Claudius’ face because, supposedly, a play can “Make mad the guilty and appeal the free” (Act 2, Scene 2). The actors have the exact effect on Claudius as Hamlet predicts, sending Claudius into a fit of anxiety and rage.

    Read More

More about The Tragedy of Hamley in William Shakespeare's Play

Open Document