...the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, I utilized much time in comparing and contrasting whether or not the young people of 2014 relate to Hamlet. There are some thoughts that had come across me as to why I could see some similarities of Hamlet to the young people of 2014, but in the end, I realized there was a lot more to Hamlet that I have not seen in any children of the present day. Therefore, I do not believe the young people of 2014 relate to Hamlet. William Shakespeare was the most influential writer in English literature. He was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glove maker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In 1582 he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590 he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical success quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe. The play of Hamlet is mainly about a boy named Hamlet who is trying to avenge his father’s death. Throughout the play he has many thoughts and suspicions of the cause and of the murderer but being as contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he holds back from entering a state of craziness and madness. The two watchmen discover the ghost that walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark and believe it to resemble the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose...
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...In the play of Hamlet, the ghost of King Hamlet comes back to the kingdom to tell his son, Hamlet, how he did not suffer a natural death, but rather was sinfully murdered. His death occurred because his own brother and Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, poured poison down King Hamlet’s ear while he was asleep, so that he could take over the Royal Throne of Denmark. King Hamlet’s ghost then commands Hamlet to fulfill his duty and seek revenge for him by killing Claudius. The ghost reappears later in the play, since Hamlet has still not managed to kill Claudius up to this point, and reminds him to stay focused on fulfilling the commandment he has given him. The ghost claims that he has come back to whet, or sharpen, his request for the death of Claudius, which seems to have been blunted, or dulled, by Hamlet’s actions. Hamlets purpose has been blunted throughout the play in many ways, and he fails to quickly take action for avenging the death of his father. Hamlet is not sure whether he believes the story of King Hamlet’s murder, one of the reasons for Hamlet’s inaction. Hamlet thinks that, “The spirit that [he] have seen may be a and the hath power T’ assume a pleasing shape…” (II. 627-629). Hamlet thinks that an evil spirit may have taken the ghostly form of his late King and father and this causes him to have second thoughts on what this ghost has commanded him to do to Claudius. He thinks that there is a chance that Claudius may not have murdered his father, and that the ghost may...
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...modern context. Tragedies such as Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Endgame by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), though written in completely different eras hundreds of years apart, both serve as sources of boundless pessimism and situational comedy. Though their themes are bleak and sometimes wholly depressing in nature, playwrights often capitalize on extreme negativity to yield more impacting comic relief. Both Hamlet and Endgame have pessimistic themes in common; one of Hamlet’s recurring themes is the inevitability of death and the inescapability of destiny, no matter the amount of procrastination. Endgame’s prevalent themes are the human existential dilemma and the effect of man’s lack of control over everyday life. Despite these bleak undertones, both Hamlet and Endgame yield situational comedy to lighten their audiences’ moods, manifested in Hamlet’s interaction with Polonius and the many comical instances involving Nagg. In order for the audience to fully appreciate the slight wit of comedy, both Shakespeare and Beckett develop their tragedies’ pessimistic themes to an excessive degree. Discussion: Tragedy as Unwaveringly Pessimistic Shakespeare, for example, employs some of the darkest themes in his classical revenge tragedy Hamlet. The namesake protagonist has been perceived by some as a procrastinator, unable to capitalize on opportunity because of speculated cowardice and indecision. Others have gone as far as to suggest that Hamlet is the harbinger of death and...
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...William Shakespeare, dramaturgo y poeta inglés nacido el 23 de abril de 1564, fue el tercero de ocho hermanos. Su padre un acaudalado comerciante y político local, y Mary Arden, cuya familia había sufrido persecuciones religiosas derivadas de su confesión católica. Fue educado en la escuela de la gramática de Stratford hasta 1577, cuando su padre, cayendo en dificultades financieras serias, lo retiró de la escuela. Los años siguientes estuvieron marcados por una gran pobreza. El 27 de noviembre de 1582, con dieciocho años, se casó con Anne Hathaway, ocho años mayor que él y con la que tuvo a sus tres hijos, entre ellos los gemelos Hamnet y Judith. Tubo que abandonar su pueblo por sospechas de robo y de allí partió a Londres, donde llevó una vida bastante azarosa, pues dicen que comenzó su carera teatral guardando caballos a la entrada del teatro antes de profesionalizarse como actor. Adquirió gran fama y popularidad en su trabajo para la compañía Chaberlain´s Men. El principio de su carrera literaria fue 1591, se aventuro a Italia y permaneció allí dos años, durante los cuales se interrumpió la vida de teatro de Londres. Su actividad como dramaturgo le dio fama en la época. En agosto de 1596 atestiguó la muerte, en la edad de once años, de su hijo Hamnet. En 1613 dejó de escribir y se retiró a su localidad natal, donde adquirió una casa conocida como New Place, mientras invertía en bienes inmuebles de Londres la fortuna que había conseguido amasar. Se ha considerado a Shakespeare...
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...Shakespeare’s Hamlet was remembered by many Elizabethan Era viewers as both a philosophical and oft-debated masterpiece (Dickson). These controversial themes attracted viewers everywhere, enticing them to see the play. One scene in particular from the original text of the play where this proves true is act IV, scene iv, lines 31-65, in which the titular character Hamlet decides that the time for revenge is at hand in an insightful soliloquy. The audience would have been attracted to the scene because they would receive a moral insight into Hamlet’s mind, revealing his true thoughts. It also would have expanded on the theme of revenge, and how this theme would affect the final scene of the play. Finally, by focusing on the theme of morality, the soliloquy would have provided audiences with a thought-provoking look into their own consciences. In Shakespeare’s original version of Hamlet, Hamlet’s speech from Act IV, scene iv effectively targets the Elizabethan Era audience. Through the soliloquy, the audience is able to clearly see Hamlet’s thoughts, and this discerning look behind his motif effectively catches the audience’s attention. At the beginning of Hamlet’s speech, the audience becomes aware that Hamlet regrets his hesitation to avenge his father, and he decides the time for vengeance is upon him. The prince admits this when he thinks to himself, “How all occasions do inform against me,/ And spur my dull revenge” (IV. iv. 31-32). It is apparent to the audience what Hamlet is thinking...
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...Introduction Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most famously problematic plays ever written. It has inspired critics to argue over it, since it first appeared on the stage in 1601. • John Dennis implies that there is no clear moral lesson in the play, since both good and bad characters die, but he refers to Hamlet as the best of Shakespeare’s tragedies. • Samuel Johnson generally praises Hamlet for its entertaining variety and balance but he dislikes its resolution. • Johann von Goethe sees the character of Hamlet as lacking in heroism. • T.S. Eliot felt that Hamlet was an artistic failure. • A.C Bradley says “It was not that Hamlet is Shakespeare's greatest tragedy or most perfect work of art; it was that Hamlet most brings home to us at once the sense of the soul's infinity, and the sense of the doom which not only circumscribes that infinity but appears to be its offspring”. The layers of Hamlet seem endless. Even after more than four hundred years of critical debates, there is no consensus about the play. Interestingly, Hamlet begins with a question and it remains infinitely open to interpretation. It is therefore a play of mystery. One of the central concerns of the play is the nature and the role of the Ghost who takes the form of Hamlet’s dead father. In order to understand it, we firstly ought to consider the theatrical impact of ghosts and spirits on Shakespeare’s audience. Ghosts in Shakespeare’s Time Shakespeare’s contemporaries...
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...Annotated Bibliography for Hamlet Thesis: In Hamlet, Ophelia faces the constant struggle to find her identity, due to male superiority and lack of mother. If Ophelia were to live in today’s world, she would most likely suffer from depression, abuse, and eating disorders due to her lack of personal identity. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Dover Publications, 1992. Print. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare is the main text used for relations to Ophelia and her lack of personal identity. This play provides us with first-hand information on Ophelia’s downward spiral into insanity, which results in her own personal demise. This source is very appropriate, due to the fact that it is the first-hand insight into what Shakespeare portrayed Ophelia as, in her role in Hamlet. Therefore, it is believed that all information found in it, can be trusted and used accordingly, to relate Ophelia and her insanity due to contributing factors in her social environment. I found this source, in class, as it was our primary learning source in the discussions we had about Hamlet. This source is unlike my other sources, due to the fact that it is the base text for my work. From this source, I can learn how Ophelia slowly fell into madness, and what events helped lead up to her peak of insanity in the play. This helps develop my essay, because it is the main source that I will be using in relation to my other research sources. Considering that this is my base text, it is relatable to both my...
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...Victor Gonzalez Professor Samtani 20, November 2104 English 1B The revenge of Hamlet To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 60 And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; 65 To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there’s the respect. 70 That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin Who would fardels bear To grunt and sweat under a weary life…… Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy is arguably the most famous soliloquy in the history of the theatre. Even as today many people are familiar with that famous lines to be or not to be. Although they might not be quite sure...
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...In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses Especially notable in his soliloquy about suicide, Hamlet wonders about the realm of the afterlife and how it can relieve one from physical pain, yet any acts of suicide is condoned by God. He mentions how suicide is like sleep and sleepers often dream dreams. After he learns about his father’s death at the hands of his uncle, he begins to contemplate where a soul goes after death. He discusses how the spiritual aftermath of death works, how something like his father’s ghost is forced to reside in Purgatory, and he also ponders on the physical remains of death, through his close examination of Yorick’s skull and the decaying corpses in the cemetery. As Hamlet is contemplating the mystery of the afterlife and death, he brings his quest for revenge into account. He questions one’s spirit enters the afterlife, heaven or hell, based on their actions in the physical realm. This is especially noted when Hamlet finds Claudius trying to pray to heaven for repentance. Hamlet believes if he killed Claudius then his spirit will go to heaven as he has committed a righteous deed as he died. Hamlet decides that only when Claudius is committing a sin, like incest or murder or drunkenness, will his spirit go to hell. The scenario of Claudius’ death reflects this as Hamlet learns of Claudius’s sin of attempting to poison Hamlet and actually poisoning Gertrude. Leaping at the chance that Claudius has committed a sin, he kills Claudius and believes...
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...In order to understand Hamlet, we must understand his frustration. This frustration is most clear in his famous monologue, famously beginning with the line "Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I." This self-condemnation is contrasted by his admiration for the actor of the previous scene, who "in a fiction" is able to "force his soul to his own conceit." The word "soul" is an example of metonymy, as the soul represents the actor's "visage," "tears," "distraction," and "voice." Thus Hamlet equates "soul" with one's actions, so by his own comparison his soul is weak, as he does not take action against the king. The second sentence is furthermore a rhetorical question, beginning with, "Is it notŠ" So clearly Hamlet's lack of emotion is "monstrous" in his own mind at the very start of the monologue. The equation of "Hecuba" to "nothing" is then contrasted by Hamlet's "cue" being the murder of his father. Hamlet then states that the actor would "drown the stage with tears" if he were in Hamlet's position. The visual hyperbole which is compounded by the repetit... ... middle of paper ... ...tions: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Rpt. from Tragic Alphabet: Shakespeare's Drama of Language. N. p.: Yale University Press, 1974. Rosenberg, Marvin. "Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 1992...
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...Elements of Drama: A Review of Hamlet Elements of Drama: A Review of Hamlet The way an artist creates a sculpture is similar to the tactics of a drama writer. While artist focus on the color and shape of their creations, writers of drama focus on specific elements. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses plot, character, setting, staging, and theme to create a well-rounded story. One of the first elements of drama is plot. Considered to be the foundation, plot is the idea in which the setting and characters surround (Mays, 2014). As a stack of dominoes, lined in a row, the plot of a story creates a similar effect. As each domino falls, it enables the rest to follow suit. Plot is comparable, because the events within a story usually lead to the next. The drama, Hamlet, revolves around a prince seeking revenge for his father's death. As the story begins, Hamlet's father has died, and his mother marries her husband's brother, the new king. Soon, Hamlet realizes, after meeting with the spirit of his father, that his dad was murdered. The spirit convinces Hamlet to seek revenge. Pretending to be mad, Hamlet conspires to kill the king. During his scheme, Hamlet pretends to despise his crush, Ophelia, and accidentally kills her father. The death becomes reason to send Hamlet away. As Hamlet travels back to school, Ophelia's brother seeks revenge on Hamlet for his father's death. Hamlet returns and is informed of Ophelia's suicide, along...
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...Hamlet, In spite of a prejudice current in certain circles that if now produced for the first time it would fail, is the most popular play in our language. ~ G.H.Lewes. The distinctive concerns of a time and place construct the foundation and shape meaning in a text. The Shakespearean play of Hamlet is an enduring play as the themes introduced in the play by Shakespeare are closely parallel and touch on with the intricacies of human conditions. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is complex play where numeral themes are intertwined. These themes reinforce the development of a revenge tragedy. Without any doubt, the most essential theme present in Hamlet is revenge. Revenge is a frightening bloodthirsty emotion which forces individuals to act blindly. This aspect of revenge is explored through the play by Shakespeare creating the idea in which Hamlet seeks to avenge the murder of his father, King Hamlet, by Claudius. In a typical revenge tragedy, a revenger craves and takes his revenge, leaving himself in a vicious cycle of ongoing revenge. However Hamlet is quite different, “prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, / must like a whore unpack my heart with words” As instead of taking revenge he talks about it. William Shakespeare very effectively uses soliloquies to accentuate character traits and to reinforce specific themes in his play. A soliloquy spoken by hamlet in act 3 clearly portrays his character flaws and reinforces...
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...Hamlet’s Revenge It does not matter how old a person is or if that person likes literature or not, it is very probable that he or she has heard these words pronounced by Hamlet: "To be or not to be; that is the question..." (Act III, Scene I). This quote is not only one of the most popular quotes in history of literature, but also one that describes Hamlet’s dramatic situation after his father’s death, when he contemplates suicide as an option. This dramatic story is considered one of the greatest in history and, for many people, the best book written by Shakespeare. The influence of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in many modern narratives can be easily identified. Scott Leslie’s presentation is a good example of how Hamlet’s tragedy has influenced modern authors to write similar stories like “The Lion King”. In fact, Scott literally said, “The Lion King is the light version of Hamlet”. The story of Hamlet is based on revenge and Hamlet’s internal conflicts. Revenge is a concept that is not well considered today due to the strong moral values the society seems to have. However, anyone with my same perception of both modern justice and honor will claim that Hamlet’s revenge is justified. The first point to be discussed in order to demonstrate that Hamlet’s revenge is justified is the concept of justice. Many people will state that revenge has nothing to do with justice and it is nothing else than a primitive behavior. However, what is justice? According to Oxford’s dictionary, “justice...
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...In Hamlet, suicide is a motif, but it is an act that Hamlet himself cannot commit in order for the story to be a revenge tragedy. Hamlet has to revenge his father's death and if he were to commit suicide the final wish of his father would not be granted. Hamlet's father comes to him in Act I as a ghost and tells him that King Claudius has murdered him. The ghost tells Hamlet to seek revenge for his murder. Hamlet is distraught by the death of his father and also by the marriage of his mother to her brother-in-law. All of the grief that he experiences leads Hamlet to contemplate suicide. We see his contemplation during his famous soliloquy, "to be, or not to be; that is the question:" (3.1.58). Hamlet is grief-stricken yet he is uncertain that if he were to end his life, things would be any better. Hamlet is a Christian and to commit suicide would be against his religion. Hamlet seems to be concerned with what the nobler thing to do is, "whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/ and, by opposing, end them" (3.1.59-62). If Hamlet committed suicide, it would not be a noble act and he would get no credit for revenging his father's death. Many people, other than a crazy man who was weak and could not endure the loss of his father, may not remember hamlet. If Hamlet were to die, by taking his own life, than he would "sleep" and by sleeping he figures he would put an end to "the heartache and...
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...Hamlet's Delay The question of why Hamlet does not immediately avenge his father's death is probably the best-known critical problem in Shakespeare studies. The most obvious reply to this inquiry is that if the Danish prince moved at once upon the Ghost's report of foul "murther" and killed Claudius straightaway, then there would be no further story for Shakespeare to tell after the start of the play's second act. From this simplistic (if valid) standpoint, Hamlet's delay is essential to the tragedy's narrative progression. More important, while there is plenty of action in Hamlet (a stage work in which all of the major characters suffer untimely deaths), the play's plot is plainly subordinate to the tandem development of Hamlet's character and certain philosophical themes such as the knotty issues of mortality and chance. Absent his deferral of action, there would be no need for Hamlet to grow into his role as "scourge and minister," and no dramatic occasions at hand for his (and our) consideration of the deeper issues that Shakespeare poses in this tragedy. A second response to this question challenges its underlying premises. It proceeds from the counter-assertion that Hamlet does, in fact, act forcefully long before the play's final act. By Act V, Hamlet has invented the "mousetrap" of the play-within-a-play, slain Polonius and dragged his corpse away, persuaded the off-stage pirates to release him from captivity, and cleverly arranged the demise of his erstwhile...
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