" Calling their marriage incestuous and wicked draws attention to the depth of feeling gnawing away at Hamlet, the complex emotions that drive his actions throughout the course of the play. Hamlet perceives their union as being against divine law by Continue Reading...
"So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr" (Shakespeare, William) is a Shakespearian juxtaposition used to compare Old Hamlet with Claudius. Hamlet alludes to Hyperion, the God of Light who represents not only honor and virtue, but Continue Reading...
Hamlet's attitude towards the other female characters in the play, such as Ophelia is shaped by the distrust of women that is engendered by the mother's actions. Many critics have noted the strange and extreme attitude that Hamlet has towards women Continue Reading...
He questions whether he should try to clear the court of corruption or just give up and end his life now. It is this emotional doubt that drives Hamlet to act deranged at times, but he overcomes it, and almost manages to answer the difficult questio Continue Reading...
Hamlet In the first act of Shakespeare's Hamlet, the title character delivers a powerful soliloquy expressing his anguish and suicidal ideations. Hamlet is coming to terms with the death of his father; and the tragedy that his uncle might be the mur Continue Reading...
Polonius' concerns are different -- he warns her that Hamlet is "out of her star" and that she should not give too much weight to Hamlet's "tenders" of affection. What does the Ghost tell Hamlet to do and not to do? Why does Hamlet believe he needs Continue Reading...
Hamlet is by far one of Shakespeare's more enigmatic characters. We understand from the beginning of the play with Horatio and Marcellus that they think very highly of Hamlet as they decide to tell him first about the ghostly vision they saw whom the Continue Reading...
He tests the ghost's word by staging a play that will replicate the method by which Claudius killed his father, and swears he'll "take the ghost's word at a thousand pound," but rather than engage in bloody violence like a savage, he cannot bear to Continue Reading...
Hamlet" by William Shakespeare The play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare has a story that revolves around the main themes of revenge and search for the truth. Shakespeare's male characters, in particular, are portrayed somewhat villainously because Continue Reading...
Shakespeare's Plays: Henry the IV Part I, Hamlet, a Midsummer Night's Dream Henry the IV, Part I Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 78-90. KING HENRY IV: Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin In envy that my Lord Northumberland Should be the father t Continue Reading...
In his "to be" soliloquy, Hamlet explores how we can sometimes kill our motives when we think about them too much. He is thinking of Fortinbras when he makes this statement because he is aware that there is something in him that is very different fr Continue Reading...
Shakespeare's Play "All's Well that ends well" -- a Critique Conflict between generations is a theme prevalent in many of Shakespeare's tragedies, histories, and comedies. Romeo and Juliet struggle against their parents' feud and values. Hamlet batt Continue Reading...
Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is perhaps one of the most famous and hotly debated literary artifacts ever written. However, because literary critics and historians have discussed the work so often, it is easy to forget that Shakespeare wrote his tragedy as Continue Reading...
When we consider the character of Hamlet, it is easy to assume we are in for serious contemplation. Hamlet is not one of the easiest characters to figure out. However, we do know that he is a broken man. Some of the ideals and impressions he once h Continue Reading...
The script eliminates one of Ophelia's major monologues, when she details to Polonius how Hamlet came to her, after seeing the ghost, when she first fears he is mad. Instead, the movie script shows this seen as action, in the real time of the play. Continue Reading...
Cain's crime was committed over jealousy, as was Claudius's murder of King Hamlet. Claudius knows that he must be forgiven of his act in order to enter heaven, but he shows doubt that he can be forgiven fully for the act that he has committed. He do Continue Reading...
Of course, the studious scholar might point out that nearly every document produced since the time of Shakespeare must have been influenced by the writer because of the sheer number of vocabulary words he created, but the focus of this essay is lite Continue Reading...
Willlam Hazlitt largely comments on the contemporariness and universality of Hamlet's character: that although Shakespeare wrote the play more than 500 years ago, we have come to know the character of the tragic Prince quite well. Not only because we Continue Reading...
Polonius Quote One of the more famous quotes in William Shakespeare's Hamlet not spoken by the titular character is given early on in the play by Polonius, adviser to the king and father of Ophelia and Laertes, when he instructs his son on how to be Continue Reading...
Tragedy & Comedy One popular method of distinguishing between a comedy and a tragedy has always been by virtue of whether a play or film has a happy or tragic ending. Today, however, it is largely considered that a tragedy can be comic in parts, Continue Reading...
Human Suffering in the Works of W. Faulkner, S. Plath, T. Roethke, and W. Shakespeare Literature is considered as one of humanity's powerful medium of expression. Different forms of expression are used in literature, such as poetry, plays, novels, Continue Reading...
Dreams May Come, a film directed by Vincent Ward, with a screenplay by Ron Bass, shows visually the mental images of characters in the film through the afterlife universes that they create for themselves. The aim of the film is signaled by its title Continue Reading...
Even in Catholic France, the Protestant sentiment that God's grace alone can save His fallen, human creation was evident in the humanist king, Francis I's sister, Margaret, Queen of Navarre's novel when she wrote: "We must humble ourselves, for God Continue Reading...
In this area, meanings with their endless referrals evolve. These include meanings form discourses, as well as cultural systems of knowledge which structure beliefs, feelings, and values, i.e., ideologies. Language, in turn, produces these temporal Continue Reading...
Like Romeo, Juliet believes that the only solution is committing suicide, but the Friar tells her of a secret potion, a drug that will make her only appear dead for almost two days. The Friar tells Juliet to take it the night before her wedding. Me Continue Reading...
(Shakespeare V.ii.201-4) In these scenes, the Chorus adds something significant to the play. The Chorus encourages us to use our "imaginary forces" and create the "might monarchies./Whose high upreared and abutting fronts/the perilous narrow ocean Continue Reading...
Romeo and Juliet: A Tale of Love and Anxiety Shakespeare's story of Romeo and Juliet is often accepted as the tragic story of two lovers who cannot be together. Romeo is part of the Montague family, which has a long history of feuding with Juliet's Continue Reading...
"(Bloom, 41) Any act of evil is seen thus to change the basic structure of the universe and to transform nature into a desolated chaos. It is not only the natural, physical environment that becomes extremely chaotic through evil, but the human natur Continue Reading...
