" 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...
This explains the indecisiveness of Hamlet to remove Claudius and a strong barrier between Gertrude and Hamlet is made by him so as he will never express his true emotions for her. Hamlet feelings for Gertrude will be disguised by the ones for Ophel 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...
Even the lighter moments of the play, such as Hamlet's advice to the players, is full of negative language. The advice is largely what not to do, with the only positive direction to get a "smoothness" rather than the rough and choppy negative habit 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...
He never sees things from the perspective of other people or overthinks the moral implications of his deeds. Fortinbras challenges Claudius openly, unlike Hamlet who merely stages a play to test Claudius' guilt and tries (and fails) to kill the King 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...
Hamlet Comparison Hamlet is arguably William Shakespeare's most famous of his many still existing plays. Even people who have not read the play know the basic plot of the story. Prince Hamlet of Denmark is in mourning over the death of his father wh 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 clearly melancholic view of the future of humanity, although he is capable of acknowledging goodness, as he does when he praises Horatio's character before the play-within-a-play, and he even praises Fortinbras' action in the name of the Nor Continue Reading...
..render up myself...Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night...And for the day confined to fast in fires, / Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature/Are burnt and purged away." (I.5). At first, Hamlet believes the ghost is from Purgatory be 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...
She...handles Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with skill and diplomacy...has the accent of command with her son...witty and perceptive about Polonius...she is not stupid at her job: there she gives out and reserves herself in good proportion." (Penning 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...
In Hamlet's case, the dark Ages conquer the light and the last scene displays before Fortinbras'(the Prince of Norway, whose father was killed by Hamlet's father) eyes. Fortinbras seems to be the symbol for the rebirth of Denmark, in the light of a Continue Reading...
In the end, he is unable to break the bondage of his immorality, and dies permanently as a result. Death is therefore viewed in terms of the Christian duality of redemption and eternal damnation. The symbol of blood is prominently connected to this Continue Reading...
Oedipal Hamlet Of all the great works of William Shakespeare, arguably his masterpiece is Hamlet. It is also perhaps his most famous work. People who have never seen a production or read it still have a vague understanding about the play's basic pl 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...
Hamlet Soliloquies Act I, Scene ii, 129 - Hamlet Hamlet in this particular soliloquy is lamenting the poor state of things he finds upon returning home. Just before his emotional speech, Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, announces the sudden death of Hamle 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 this passage, Shakespeare brings into lucidity Hamlet's tragic flaw: as he delayed his plan to avenge his father against Claudius, Hamlet opens an opportunity for the murderer of his father (Claudius) to plan ahead and instead, turn the tables ag Continue Reading...
One of the running metaphors that Hamlet uses throughout the soliloquy is that of sleep as a symbol for death. This is made explicit when Hamlet mentions the "sleep of death," but it is used prior to this in more symbolic ways. This helps to bring Continue Reading...
Life is something man share with all other creatures of the earth; however, possessing a soul "distinguishes him from them" (Blits). This gives man incredible latitude, say Blits, and a man can be good or he can be a beast. He can use his "godlike r Continue Reading...
This contrasts the identification process of medieval works, in which the reader was encouraged to identify with a hero's inhuman qualities -- inhuman virtue in the case of books of chivalry. In those works the reader was called to identify himself 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 "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...
Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and the play it was based on, Shakespeare's Hamlet, acting is a major theme and motif. Especially in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, acting signifies the falsity, absurdity, and superf 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...
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...
And while it may seem silly upon first reading or seeing the play, it is clear that a Midsummer Night's Dream also has quite serious ideas. Scholars have noted that the play includes a cultural critique of the Elizabethan era in which it is set (Lam 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...
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...
Supernatural Elements in Shakespeare The supernatural is a topic that runs throughout Shakespearean plays. Indeed, the ability of the supernatural to affect the movement of drama in Shakespeare's works is almost unparalleled. Supernatural elements o Continue Reading...
In Italy, the Counter-Reformation had a great deal of effect on Renaissance works. As an example, Michelangelo's Cristo della Minerva in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in Rome, fell victim to these actions. Just as the bonfires of the van Continue Reading...
