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Complex characters in hamlet
Motifs in shakespeare hamlet
Motifs in shakespeare hamlet
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In the Shakespearian era they gave credence in the order of the great beings also known as the Theocentrictheocentric religion. Religion has been present for over 10 000 years B.C. and teaches societies different morals and beliefs. Like all of William Shakespeare’s plays, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark could have been partly catholic and partly protestant, but most theories prove that Hamlet himself was protestant. Hamlet the protagonist faces many conflicts that he must solve hastily. King Claudius ascended to the throne by murdering Hamlet’s father. Hamlet, who is the rightful heir to the throne, plots to take revenge against his uncle. In this play, Hamlet’s religion influences his action and decisions. Religion brought him to maketake decisions on the meaning of life, take action on an incest relationship and on an incorporeal being. actions on an incest relationship and a decision on an incorporeal being.
To begin, Hamlet had to choose between life to take depending on life andor death of him or others on multiple at a couple occasions. First of all, his goal was to kill Claudius.
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Therefore, b he struggles to take action because he has an eternal dilemma: does he want to kill him or not. When the ghost of King Hamlet the previous king, gave him the task to murder King Claudius told him to take care of Claudius death, Hamlet had the chance to kill Claudius while he was sleeping. could have done it then when Claudius was sleeping. He could not decide on doing so since he did not want to break the great chain of being by committing a second regicide. Like it says in the Bible Hub bible, Romans, xii, 19: "Avenge not yourselves […] vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." This shows how God tells his believers that a man should never have to commit a murder and that every man knows murder is a sin. God the Christ and the Holy Spirit will take care of it so man does not have to. Second of all, when Claudius was praying and confessing all of his sins, Hamlet wanted to kill him. He but soon realised that if he killed him at that momentright away, the king he would go to heaven instead of hell. so Again Hamlete decided to wait, since according to hisis religious beliefs, Claudiushe would have been sent to heaven since in praying he is he is now forgiven. In addition,Also Hamlet he realizses that now Claudiushe confessed his sins to God. In doing so, Claudius will not be sent to hell ,until he will be forgiven so he would not go to hell till he commits another sin. OnceSo again as to confer with his beliefs, he must wait for the moment Claudius sins to murder him in order for Claudius to go has to wait in order for him to go straight to hell conferring to his beliefs.. Although Hamlet wanted to commit regicide to avenge his father’s death, he made sure to kill Claudius for his own dad that was killed by Claudius causing a regicide he was only sure to kill him once he was dying himself. and When sinceHamlet discovered he knew Claudius’ plot to murder him, he saw he was the one who planed his death he saw that he would be going to hell. Hamlet finally so stabbed him with the poisoned fencing sword and made him drink the poisoned wine; the wine that ed drink that killed his own mother but was meant for him the “Hero”. (restate/ summarize argument in one sentence) To follow, according to Hamlet’s religion the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius is unsuitable.
First of all, it is illegal to re-marry during the year following, a widow must mourn the loss of their husband for a year. Having been a widow for just over a month Gertrude is already engaged in a relationship with . Claudius, Hamlet’s Uncle and King Hamlet’s brother. This is inacceptable according to Hhamlet and his religion. It was incest and they didn’t even wait a bit before getting together. Consequently, while Hamlet kept increasing his anger, so did his desire for revenge against his father’s murder and the initiative tot really mad and mad him wants to kill Claudius even more and made him speak with his mother in hopes of talking in order to get some sense into her. Gertrude but she refuses to understand a word of what he said when he spoke of
incestys:. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, withWith traitorous gifts, O wicked wit, and gifts that have the power So to seduce! won to his shameful lust The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen. (1.5.42-5) This extract of the play clause (paragraph in a poem) shows how Claudius was making Hamlet turn mad by seducing his mother in order to be king all the while taking Hamlet’s place on the throne. since he only like his mom since he gets more power and get to be king and wont be called out on since he is king and religion laws do not imply on them. Secondly, this relationship makes Hhamlet want to rise to power even more becausesince he was supposed to be the heir to the to get the seat at the throne but once his father dies but instead, Claudius acquired the position by serenating Gertrude. got it since he got into a relationship Gertrude. Hamlet knows she Gertrude committed adultery, which is illegal from their religious point of view but he never mentions it in fear that it to her scared that will hurt her too much. But Wwhen he does mention the crimes she has committed say some crime she has committed she realizses all the “black spots” she can see in her. O Hamlet, speak no more://Thou turn'st my very eyes into my soul, //And there I see such black and grained spots//As will not leave their tinct (III.iv.88-91) “ ...O speak to me no more;//these words like daggars enter my ears;//No more, sweet Hamlet!” (III.iv.94-6) After this confrontation with his mother, Hamlet kills Polonius who that was hiding behind the curtains e drape and d makes him plays a game of riddles hide and go seek with Claudius who wants to know where the dead body is in order to give a proper funeral. Hamlet just does this and does not cope with this bizarre relationship so takes weird decisions instead.because of it. Finally, Hamlet is asked to believe in his own nightmare: the devil.Firstly Hamlet’s religion tells him that any ghost or spirit is from hell and it is a sin to communicate with the devil in its ghost form. When Hamlet sees the Ghost, he thinks it appears to be his father but he is confused and questions if it was the devil disguised as a ghost. To fulfill his father’s ghost request he must go against his religion. This makes him think twice about what he should be doing. At first he did not believe the ghost and he questioned it the ghost since he was not sure if it was real or not.Fortunately, Hamlet is a believer and through his faith he tried to control his behaviour by assessing his feelings of rage with the help of his religious beliefs. Hamlet states: “The spirit that I have seen may be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me” (Hamlet, II.2, 596-601). Moments after this event, the cock crows and according to the website What’s-Your-Sign; “In Christianity the rooster is noted for crowing three times after Peter denied Christ. As such, it became a symbol for Christ's passion.” Hence, when the cock crowed it was a demonstration that informed Hamlet that he should not have believed the ghost to be anything but the devil. Hamlet truly believed the apparition of the ghost to be his father and not one of Satan. Secondly, after finally trusting the Ghost, he was asked to kill Claudius to avenge its death. Hamlet agrees to fulfill its request all the while pretending to be mad and acting, as though he has forgotten his morals and values. It is asince sin to listen to the devil and everyone is afraid of ghosts. In acting mad, nobody suspects Hamlet has talked to his fatherly-formed ghost. To ensure that the events are kept secret Hamlet makes his own friends swear on the cross, which demonstrates that his faith is paramount. SoConsequently, instead of swearing to Hamlet, his friend’s vow to God, to never tell a soul about the Ghost and its demands. In the end, Hamlet believes in his faith more than his friendships and the unspeakable devil. To conclude, Hamlet makes decisions and takes action according to his religion and not based on reason. His decisions are the following: to choose between the life and death of Claudius as he sleeps and if the apparition is real or not. He must also take action against the indecent relationship between Claudius and Gertrude. If this ghost waswere Satan maybe it would explain the chaos Young Fortinbras witnesses when he saw all the deaths at the end of the play.
The time period in which Hamlet was written was greatly influenced by the Protestant religion. Shakespeare wrote Hamlet during the encroachment of the Spanish. The “ghost” who tells Hamlet the truth about his father’s death,
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.
In the beginning of the book, Hamlet behaves as any normal person would when he mourns the untimely death of his father, the King. He is dreary and depressed and also contemplates suicide. On the other hand, Gertrude behaves as though her husband’s death did not even occur, not in such a way that she is denying it happened, but as if it was insignificant and trivial. She marries her husband’s brother a month after his death. She continues to live on in a blissful world, while Hamlet is repulsed by his mother’s decision to remarry so quickly. Hamlet refers to it as an incestuous marriage. “She married:--O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (Act 1, Scene 2, lines 156-157, page 33). He appears to be the only one in the entire kingdom affected by the death of his father and it makes him feel more alone.
Hamlet possesses an uncomfortable obsession with his mother’s sexuality. For this reason, Hamlet’s soliloquies provide most of the audience’s information about Gertrude’s sexual activities. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet refers to the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius when he exclaims, “Within a month…She married. O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (I, ii, 153-157). In saying this, Hamlet displays how hastily Gertrude has abandoned the late King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father, such that she has already married Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. In addition, Hamlet acknowledges that Gertrude and Claudius have quickly developed a very sexual relationship. Despite the very recent death of her husband, Gertrude is unable to control her sexual desires, and she remarries less than two months after King Hamlet’s funeral.
Nevertheless, Hamlet is overflowing with faith. Faith in god, faith in himself, even faith in his dead father's ghost a faith that will cost him his life. The untimely "Death" of King Hamlet, Hamlet's father, has sparked
Hamlet’s relationship with his mother Gertrude is one of mostly rage, hatred, and possibly jealousy that could have been from loving her in a romantic sense. Hamlet finds out that Gertrude marries his father’s brother soon after his father’s death and goes in a fury. He yells at her and he calls her an incestuous beast. Whether or not this is from hatred for Claudius, Gertrude, or even out of jealousy are all cases that can be very well argued. The fluctuating emotions that Hamlet shows throughout is what makes the play so easy to relate to as a human and also what makes the possibility of there being multiple interpretations on how he really feels. Gertrude is also a strange character in that it seems as
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.
The way we see ourselves is often reflected in the way we act. Hamlet views himself as different to those young nobles around him such as Fortinbras and Laertes. This reality leads us to believe that over time he has become even more motivated to revenge his father's death, and find out who his true friends are. How can you be honest in a world full of deceit and hate? His seven soliloquies tell us that while the days go by he grows more cunning as he falls deeper into his madness. This fact might have lead Hamlet to believe that suicide is what he really wants for his life's course.
Faith plays a large role in how one lives their life. Christianity plays a strong role throughout Hamlet by William Shakespeare. When reading the play one must think of the controversies of the time when Shakespeare writes the play. Reformation and Renaissance opinions are reflected throughout. Shakespeare deals with very controversial attitudes and religious questions dealing with death, the existence of purgatory, morality, murder, suicide and marriage in his play Hamlet. It is obvious throughout the play that Hamlet’s life is guided by his faith and his religious beliefs.
In theory women during the Elizabethan Age had no power in their homes. In royal families the women are the breeders, they had the responsibility to keep the royal bloodline flowing by having male children to keep the male dominance. “A woman whose job is to represent the family, is doing the traditionally female job of being wife or mother.” (Billig) Gertrude’s role in the play had fairly little significance, besides that she was a mother and wife. She showed no reasons as to why she was in such a rush to remarry after her husband, King Hamlet’s death. Claudius, being the wicked man that he was, may have been so eager to claim the thrown as King that he married the widow to rule Denmark. This whole ordeal of his uncle sleeping with his mother made Hamlet infuriated and ill to his stomach. Hamlet showed his emotions when he said:
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.
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than four months since the death of his biological father, yet she is already remarried to Claudius. He feels his father is being betrayed from her lack of mourning. She tells her son to "cast thy nighted color off" (I.ii.68) and "all that lives must die" (I.ii.72). Clearly, she isn't grieving over her late husband's death and instead puts forth an optimistic attitude to her new husband and life. Gertrude's concern with Hamlet's odd behaviour after his encounter with Ophelia in act II scene i also shows the strain in their relationship. For example, she agrees with Claudius' words that "of Hamlet's transformation" (II.ii.5) and suggests Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and find out the underlying cause of her son's problems. In addition to that, she consents Polonius to hide behind the tapestry in act III scene iv without Hamlet knowing. These two decisions suggest their inability to communicate. Instead, spying is required for Gertrude to find out about her son's inner mentality. The mother and ...
Hamlet is not a play based on religion but it illustrates religious beliefs of the 16th century, and religion is used as a catalyst to provoke Hamlet’s procrastination creating internal conflict from within raising questions about society and the new King of Denmark. The play is set in Denmark, a protestant nation but this might not greatly influence the plot since it is set at a time period...
Elements of Religion in the Renaissance Portrayed in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Literature of the Renaissance was far different from that of the previous eras. Man was now thought of as the center of life, as opposed to God being the center of life. center in earlier times. Also, man was thought to have free will over his life. not simply being a pawn of the Gods.
A common motif in Shakespeare’s many plays is the supernatural element, to which Hamlet , with the presence of a ghost, is no exception. The story of Hamlet, the young prince of Denmark, is one of tragedy, revenge, deception, and ghosts. Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural element helps give a definition to the play by being the catalyst of the tragedy that brings upon Hamlet’s untimely demise. The ghost that appears at the beginning of the play could possibly be a satanic figure that causes Hamlet to engage in the terrible acts and endanger his soul. The supernatural element incorporated into the play is used as an instigator, a mentor, as well as mediation for the actions of the protagonist that ultimately end in tragedy, with the loss of multiple lives, as well as suscept Hamlet’s soul to hell. Shakespeare’s portrayal of the ghostly apparition causes a reader to question whether the ghost is a demonic force on the basis of its diction, conduct towards others as well as Hamlet, and it’s motive to kill.