...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...
Words: 1393 - Pages: 6
...Guildenstern talk about Hamlet and his lunacy. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell the King and Queen that they have tried to find out the reason for Hamlet’s madness, but he avoids their questions. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell the King and Queen about the actors that have arrived at the court and will be giving a performance. After Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave, Claudius tells Gertrude that he has arranged for Hamlet to run into Ophelia, and Polonius and the King will hide and spy on their conversation to see if Hamlet is truly going crazy because he is in love. Gertrude tells Ophelia that she hopes that Hamlet’s madness is due to his love for her. Polonius tells Ophelia to read from a prayer book while waiting for Hamlet, which makes Claudius feels guilty as he remembers his own sin that he disguises with kind words. Then, Hamlet arrives speaking his famous to be or not to be speech. He is contemplating suicide, but he decides against it because he is worried that the environment after death will be even worse than the one he is living in right now. Ophelia then tells Hamlet that she has some of his mementos that she needs to return, which Hamlet denies ever giving her. Hamlet then goes into a dialogue with Ophelia that focuses on women and marriage. He is telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery because he does not believe in women or marriage anymore. Hamlet says that women use their beauty and power to fool their husbands. Hamlet also tells Ophelia that if she does get married...
Words: 8879 - Pages: 36
...Kim Nguyen Hamlet Act 1 Logs Act 1 Scene 1 Summary: The act opens with Bernardo, Marcellus, Horatio, and Francisco seeing the ghost king while on watch duty. The ghost appeared dressed in his armor and suddenly disappears. Because the ghost appeared, Horatio thinks it’s an omen of bad luck. He thinks the ghost king was trying to warn them that something bad would happen to Denmark soon, perhaps in the form of a military attack. The ghost then appears again and Horatio tries to talk to it. It would respond back and just disappears again. Horatio decides to tell Hamlet to try to talk to it because Hamlet was the ghost son so he can’t refuse to talk to his son. Quote Analysis: “No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm” Marcellus said this when the ghost appears. When the cock crowed at the first break of dawn, it was believed that it has the power to get rid of the evil powers. The morning light compels all evil because the light was believed to be good. Character Comment: Horatio – Horatio believed in thing s like ghost and witches. He believed in the world beyond ours. When Old King Hamlet came to visit in his ghost form, Horatio thought it was a bad omen for Denmark and the oncoming war with Fortinbras’ army. Act 1 Scene 2 Summary: Claudius and Gertrude get married and they have a feast to celebrate their new marriage and new life together. Claudius’ excuse for marrying Gertrude was to balance out the sadness toward Old King Hamlet’s...
Words: 909 - Pages: 4
...In Shakespear´s "Hamlet", the character of Prince Hamlet pretends to be insane. For a person in his situation, having almost everyone thinking that you are crazy can be an advantage. The king, his father, had died, and just a few weeks after his tragic loss, a ghost appears to Hamlet. This ghost has the appearance of his father. The spirit tells Hamlet that he did not die peacefully, but instead his brother, Claudius, murdered him by pouring venom into his ear. Claudius usurped the throne and also married his brother´s wife, Gertrude. Hamlet swears to his father´s spirit that he is going to avenge his death, and he would commit this by acting insanity. There are actions in the play that would be almost impossible to achieve if Hamlet did not act like a mentally unstable person. The clues that we can find in this tragedy helps proving that Hamlet´s sanity is the motive behind his simulated madness. The first reason Hamlet has to make everyone think he had gone mad is to accomplish the freedom he gains because of this. Societies have taboos and social norms that people must follow to be accepted. However, there are some exceptions, like the mentally unstable or the insane, so Hamlet realizes that being crazy would...
Words: 1841 - Pages: 8
...Poor Ophelia! Shakespeare’s Ophelia was a benevolent and innocent young girl, who dutifully obeyed her father, Polonius. Ophelia did as she is told, even if in her heart she felt strongly against what she was being asked to do. It was obvious that she was behaving like well mannered, aristocratic, young ladies of the time were expected to behave. Obedience and compliance were desirable traits, and Ophelia assumed that and here love and devotion to Hamlet would secure a happily ever after. But, unfortunately, her exceptional obedience would be her downfall. Ophelia is found betraying her one true love, Hamlet, by merely obeying her father, Polonius, and king Claudius, who believe that Hamlet has gone mad. Polonius seemed to bear a grudge against Hamlet, which should have been a signal to Ophelia that something was amiss. But being the good daughter, she did as she was told when Polonius instructed Ophelia not to ever speak to Hamlet again. When Hamlet comes running into her room looking like he has just seen a ghost, which in fact he has, and she does not say a word to him. She just looks at him like he is crazy and watches him go out the door without saying a word. Hamlet feels betrayed by his love for her and lack of response to his distress. She obeyed her father and did not speak to him, even when he looked like he had gone through something very terrible. Ophelia agreed to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet, even when it went against her feelings for Hamlet. The...
Words: 673 - Pages: 3
...This quote comes from Laertes response to the jest making of the gravediggers and the improper burial of his sister, Ophelia in Act V Sc. I. The priest denies Ophelia the rites of a Christian burial because of her suicide, saying it would profane the other resting souls if she was given the same rites as they. This enrages Laertes and he curses Hamlet, blaming him for her death before jumping into her grave to hold her one last time. Hamlet, who is also at the graveside unbeknownst to the others, follows Laertes into Ophelia’s grave where they grapple with each other. These events intensify the conflict between Hamlet and Laertes, as well as the theme of death. When Laertes and Hamlet jump into the grave, both their deaths are foreshadowed—...
Words: 252 - Pages: 2
...Horatio, to watch with them. When he sees the ghost, he decides they should tell Hamlet, the dead King's son. Hamlet is also the nephew of the present King, Claudius, who not only assumed his dead brother's crown but also married his widow, Gertrude. Claudius seems an able King, easily handling the threat of the Norwegian Prince Fortinbras. But Hamlet is furious about Gertrude's marriage to Claudius. Hamlet meets the ghost, which claims to be the spirit of his father, murdered by Claudius. Hamlet quickly accepts the ghost's command to seek revenge. Yet Hamlet is uncertain if what the ghost said is true. He delays his revenge and begins to act half-mad, contemplate suicide, and becomes furious at all women. The Lord Chamberlain, Polonius, concludes that Hamlet's behavior comes from lovesickness for Ophelia, Polonius's daughter. Claudius and Gertrude summon two of Hamlet's old friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to find out what's wrong with him. As Polonius develops a plot to spy on a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia, Hamlet develops a plot of his own: to have a recently arrived troupe of actors put on a play that resembles Claudius's alleged murder of Old Hamlet, and watch Claudius's reaction. Polonius and Claudius spy on the meeting between Ophelia and Hamlet, during which Hamlet flies into a rage against women and marriage. Claudius concludes Hamlet neither loves Ophelia nor is mad. Seeing Hamlet as a threat, he decides to send him away. At the play that night, Claudius runs...
Words: 10550 - Pages: 43
...Kaplan English 12 P.4 28 March 2012 The Difference of Insanity: Hamlet against Ophelia In the Renaissance, madness was the theme of William Shakespeare's writings. He attended grammar school, but nothing further. So for his writings to be written with intelligence, it was greatly admired by many. Shakespeare’s career was in the time of Elizabeth I, 1558-1603 and James I, 1566-1625. His writings were not his own original work. It has been said that he took the story, Hamlet, from Saxo Grammaticus and changed the way Hamlet was portrayed from his story into a more “mad” version of Hamlet that waits to get revenge and is not truly mad from the start. It is also said that Shakespeare stole a majority of his stories from other writers during his time, making them more well-known and changing the moral of the story. In the Renaissance, people looked at insanity as if it were a crime. It was looked down upon. People did not understand that it was something that occurred within the mind, so they thought if they sprayed people with water it would shock them out of their insanity. The Renaissance culture also gave an intellectual rendition to three specific kinds of madness: folly, demonic possession and melancholia. In that time, thoughts of madness were confused by religious beliefs and sometimes even mistaken for nonsense. The dictionary defines madness as “extreme anger, excitement, or foolishness” and in Hamlet, Hamlet is characterized as insane because he fits the definition the...
Words: 1294 - Pages: 6
...In Hamlet, trust is an apparent theme and shows how fragile it is. At the beginning of the play, Ophelia and her father, Polonius, talk about her relationship with Hamlet. Polonius says, “This is for all: I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth have you slander any moment leisure as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet” (1.3.140-143). Polonius’ tone in this quote is very demanding and harsh with his decision. Polonius not letting Ophelia speak to Hamlet not only shows a lack of trust with Hamlet, but a lack of trust with Ophelia. He does not believe that Ophelia can make her own decisions in life, which is consistent with how he treats her for the rest of the book. Since Ophelia and Polonius are part of a family, this lack of trust is so apparent and so much more amplified because he is controlling the decisions she makes in life. Hamlet was also very deceptive once his mom broke their trust. For example, Hamlet had decided that he wanted to kill Polonius for the acts that he committed. Gertrude had no idea of this plan, and was completely blindsided when it happened. She said, “ O, what a rash and bloody deed is this! (3.4.31). Especially in Hamlet: The Movie, Gertrude sounds very shocked and surprised by what Hamlet has done. This is because of Hamlet’s lack of trust with Gertrude. He does not feel that he can tell Gertrude these plans...
Words: 1085 - Pages: 5
...daughter without a second thought of how she felt. Polonius in Hamlet written by William Shakespeare is one who tries to seek power by using her daughter ( Ophelia ), kissing ass, and backstabs people to get what he wants. Throughout the novel Polonius uses Ophelia, her daughter to seek power. Even though he is chief counselor of the king he sets up Ophelia to be...
Words: 692 - Pages: 3
...This first quote is from Act III, Scene ii of Hamlet. Hamlet is giving instructions to the troupe of actors that has come to the castle. These actors are going to perform a play within a play and Hamlet has added some lines to the play in the hope of exposing Claudius’ treachery. “Termagant” is an allusion to a god that Elizabethans believed Muslims worshipped. Herod is the king in the Bible that had John the Baptist beheaded and was responsible for Jesus’ death. This allusion is particularly important to Hamlet because like Claudius, Herod married his brother’s wife. John the Baptist told Herod that this was evil, so Herod’s wife Herodias instructed her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist, a request with which Herod complied. Hamlet is telling the players not to overdo their acting, not to be more like Herod than Herod himself. Hamlet wants the players to reveal the treachery in a subtle way. Hamlet is disturbed, although perhaps not mad, and although his anger against his mother and stepfather is intense, it tortures him more than them. Throughout the play, he is unable to act on his desires and seek revenge, as his father’s ghost has instructed him to do. I think he fears what might happen if the players are too bold. I think he wants to get back at Claudius through Claudius’ conscience, or at least get back at his mother, who is less stable than her husband. In the third quote, Hamlet is talking to Ophelia. It is right before the play is to be performed. He...
Words: 420 - Pages: 2
...his words are crazy; however there is a reason to them. Polonius also says: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't" (2.2.203-204). This quote clearly shows that Hamlet is crazy, but there is reason behind his craziness, and sure enough there is. The question always remain whether Hamlet is crazy or not, but there is no denying Ophelias madness. Both of them have tragic events occur in their lives. Ophelia is asked to stay away from Hamlet from her father; she then gets rejected by Hamlet, tricked into giving up her virginity, and worse of all her father is killed by her ex lover. Ophelia starts singing about her father's death, Hamlets trickery and all the tricks of this world. To be singing after the death of your father shows there is something wrong with you: "A document in madness" (4.5. 175-176). Hamlet does not completely lose it after the death of his father but keeps his calm and mind focused on his plan. Also, Hamlet constantly talks about suicide throughout the play: "To be or not to be, that is the question" (3.1. 156). But he never actually goes through with killing himself, unlike Ophelia who does end up committing suicide. Shakespeare uses Hamlet to illustrate the complex workings of the mind, and how one must use deception in order to deceive others to get to the truth. In a way we all can relate to Hamlet. We decide on our own unique methods to overcome whatever problems lie in our way, maybe the methods may not be right, but we believe them to be...
Words: 312 - Pages: 2
...To Be or Not to Be… Mentally Ill? In Shakespeare’s play: “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, the principle character, Hamlet, is a young man who decides to pretend he is mentally ill (“mad”) to avenge his father’s murder. However, Hamlet’s actions, his behavior, and his general persona indicate otherwise and suggest that he is in fact mentally ill. The first part of this play foreshadows Hamlet’s mental stress. As the play unfolds, he no longer seems to be “pretending madness”, as ultimately multiple deaths occur. “Mad as the sea and wind when both contend Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit, Behind the arras hearing something stir, Whips out his rapier, cries, “A rat, a rat!” And in this brainish apprehension kills The unseen good old man.” (IV.i 8-13) This quote in Act IV, scene i is the turning point in the play when clearly Hamlet’s “pretend” madness is no longer an act, but truly indicative of “madness”, leading to the question: Does Hamlet’s “madness”, his ascent from sanity to insanity, result in the tragedy in “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”? The first part of this play foreshadows Hamlet’s mental decline. He has many of the risk factors for depression such as his age (clinical depression often first occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood), and he has had many life changing events happen in a relatively short period of time such as his father unexpectedly dying (possibly murdered), his mother remarrying shortly...
Words: 810 - Pages: 4
...found in Hamlet Honesty and integrity can both be described as good qualities, but they are interpreted in different ways, honesty is quality of truthfulness and sincerity. While integrity can be described as the possession of a strong moral principles, and the righteous acts committed by a character. William Shakespeare uses multiple forms of deception and immoral acts in almost every scene in the play Hamlet. Proving that there is neither honesty, nor integrity in the play. Different forms of deception are present in the play Hamlet. Including dishonesty, and manipulating the truth. The first major point to contradict honesty, and prove deception in the play is Hamlet’s antic disposition, and all the lies that were made following it. “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet, to put an antic disposition on” (I, v, 172-173). After he was informed that Claudius was the killer his father, Hamlet decides to put on an antic disposition (a cloak of madness). Hamlet is therefore deceiving everyone into believing in an act that he had created in order to learn more about his father’s death. A second example to oppose honesty in the play Hamlet is Ophelia’s deception towards Hamlet. “Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where's your father...At home, my lord” (III, i, 130-131). Hamlet asks Ophelia where her father is in the previous quote, but she replies with a lie when she said at home. In reality, Polonius was hiding with Claudius behind a door. Therefore, she agreed to deceive Hamlet so Claudius...
Words: 734 - Pages: 3
...scene I chose to present Hamlet is holding Yorick’s skull with a sword on his back in a graveyard. This scene is a turning point in the story when Hamlet truly won’t let anything get in his way from claiming his revenge. It also portrays Hamlet leaving behind his past and moving forward and not letting past experiences get in his way of claiming victory at last. The way Hamlet is shown represents his transformation from being innocent and pure to being dark and spiteful in his actions and attitude towards his pears and superiors. The sword that Hamlet holds in the scene represents his determination in killing Claudius and avenging the death of his father. Before his transformation Hamlet would have been too afraid to act on an opportunity....
Words: 817 - Pages: 4
