...of the ghost means (1.1.)? He assumes it must mean that there is something wrong with the government. 4. What happens when the ghost appears for the second time (I.I)? Horatio asks the ghost why it had come in the first place and the reason behind such appearances 5. What do we know so far about the nature of the ghost? Do we know yet if it is a "good" ghost? Summarize the circumstances surrounding the first encounter with the ghost. The ghost is Hamlet’s father; one can categorize him as good because he explains to Hamlet the real reason behind his death. 6. Identify Hamlet’s first Soliloquy in Scene 2. What is it that is really bothering him about what has happened since his father's death? How would you describe the tone of his feelings? In his first soliloquy he mourns his father. It is a passionate and startling passage that strongly contrasts to the artificial dialogue and actions that he portrays to his uncle Claudius throughout the remainder of the play. This soliloquy serves to reveal Hamlet’s melancholia and the reasons for his despair in an outpouring of anger, disgust, sorrow, and grief through which he explains how everything in his life seems futile and miserable. 7. Identify the Aside in Act I....
Words: 1513 - Pages: 7
...murdered king's son's quest for revenge. Its main character, Hamlet, possesses a tragic flaw which obstructs his desire for revenge and ultimately brings about his death. This tragic flaw makes him a tragic hero, a character who is destroyed because of a major weakness, as his death at the end could possibly have been avoided were it not for his tragic flaw. Hamlet's flaw of irresolution, the uncertainty on how to act or proceed, is shown when Hamlet sees a play and the passion the actors had, after Hamlet's third soliloquy, in Hamlet's fourth soliloquy, and in Hamlet's indecisive pursuit in avenging his father's death. First, Hamlet's flaw of irresolution is shown when he sees a play and the passion one particular actor had. A group of players has arrived and Hamlet arranges a personal viewing of The Murder of Gonzago with a small portion of his own lines inserted. Hamlet then observes one portion of the play in which one of the players put on a great display of emotion. Hamlet, besieged by guilt and self-contempt, remarks in his second soliloquy of Hamlet of the emotion this player showed despite the fact that the player had nothing to be emotional about. Hamlet observed that he himself had all the reason in the world to react with great emotion and sorrow, yet he...
Words: 1053 - Pages: 5
...The Importance of Hamlet’s Soliloquies In the Shakespearian tragedy Hamlet, we see the main character, who shares the name of the play, process many of his thoughts and evaluate many different options before he makes each of his decisions through the soliloquies he delivers throughout the play. From the first soliloquy in act 1 to the final one in act 4, many of major events in the play that involve Hamlet are decided through his trains of thought, as well as his opinions on various matters and his methods of dealing with his emotions. In the play, Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal his character by showing three of his most important traits; his indecisiveness, his nobility and his apparent self-hatred. Although Hamlet has many different character traits, and is perhaps one of the most complex characters in any of Shakespeare’s tragedies, the most prominent one is his indecisiveness. He contemplates every one of the major decisions he makes and makes sure that what he is doing is what he thinks is the right thing, and he rarely acts without thinking about it beforehand. Much of this thinking is described in his 7 soliloquies, for instance in the third soliloquy he delivers, he mentions “The spirit that I have seen may be the devil, and the devil hath power T’ 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. I’ll have grounds more relative to this” (2, 2, 577) which shows that although the...
Words: 886 - Pages: 4
...Importance of Hamlet’s Soliloquies in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Shakespeare often has his characters speak in soliloquies during the course of his plays. Soliloquies are essential to the presentation of a story through the medium of a play because they provide the opportunity the chance to tell the audience specific pieces of information which cannot be disclosed through normal conversation. In his work, Hamlet, Shakespeare’s title character is shown to speak in seven soliloquies. Each soliloquy advances the plot, reveals Hamlet’s inner thoughts to the audience and helps to create an atmosphere in the play. The first soliloquy which Hamlet delivers gives the audience their first glimpse of him as a character. Hamlet is reflective and depicts the way he views his own position; he tells of his father’s death and then his mother’s quick remarriage. He says, “It is not, nor it cannot come to good” (I, ii, 163), when referring to the marriage of his mother. This gives the audience a hint of foreshadowing because it is the first time when Hamlet mentions the future. This speech also reveals his thoughts further when he says that his mother is frail because she is a woman, while he also admits that he knows he must hold his tongue. During the course of this speech Hamlet makes several allusions to historical figures and this demonstrates to the audience that he is an intelligent young man. One of these allusions is when he compares the love his late father had for his mother to Hyperion...
Words: 4820 - Pages: 20
...Hamlet Act IV – Cause and Effect Literary Essay The original Elizabethan play, Hamlet by Shakespeare, targets the audience in social, cultural, and economic values. The speech that was chosen, was found in Act IV, Scene IV, lines 30-66, and it causes its target audience to have an effect on all three of these values. This field of study is important because it shows the reader that there is a relationship between the dramatic works and their target audience. The first, second, and third points will discuss Hamlet’s soliloquy’s and how the speech causes its target audience to have an effect on the social, cultural, and economic values, as they are all crucial evidence to this thesis. Firstly, there is one reason why the speech causes its target audience to have an effect on the social value. Hamlet’s soliloquy indicates his failure to act when he has so much reason to do so. “How all occasions do inform against me, / and spur my dull revenge! What is a man, / If his chief good and market of his time / be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. / Sure he that made us with such large discourse, / Looking before and after, gave us not / that capability and godlike reason / to fust in us unused. Now whether it be / Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple / of thinking too precisely on th' event -- / A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom / and ever three parts coward -- I do not know / Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do', / Sith I have cause, and will, and...
Words: 702 - Pages: 3
...Ranking the Play Hamlet The Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet is among the best ever written, and perhaps the very best. Why do the literary critics say this? In this essay let’s examine the play to see what makes it a prizewinner. Phyllis Abrahms and Alan Brody in “Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy Formula” give some detail about the reasons for the undying popularity of this play: No play demonstrates the power and glory of Shakespeare’s tragic vision more than Hamlet, which for over 350 years has excited us with its action, its insight, its brilliant language. Hamlet is an unparalleled adventure story, complete with suspense, intrigue, murder – even a battle at sea with pirates. It is a play of intense emotional and physical violence. Yet underlying all of this are some of the most profound explorations of the mysteries of human existence. (43) This play is ranked by many as the very greatest ever written. Cumberland Clark in “The Supernatural in Hamlet” gives the consensus regarding Hamlet that exists among literary critics of today: At least six or seven years pass after the writing of Midsummer Night’s Dream before we find Shakespeare engaged on Hamlet, the second of the great plays with an important Supernatural element, and, in the opinion of many, the greatest tragedy ever penned. (99) There is no more exalted ranking than the above. Richard A. Lanham in the essay “Superposed Plays” maintains that no...
Words: 1789 - Pages: 8
...was entitled to Denmark. His only wish was for his happiness and to be a strong and healthy family, like when his father still reigned as king. During these times he cared for Ophelia and had no foul intentions in any thought at all, until he was corrupt by vengeance and madness. On the other side Hamlet has dark black hair that symbolizes his new corrupt and dark ways that led him to succeeding in his aspirations. If it weren’t for these dark changes that surrounded Hamlet ho would have never accomplish what he set out for. The clothing that Hamlet is wearing is also symbolizes Hamlet’s personality. The red that occupies half of his clothes represents his willingness to spill blood to get what he wants. This is shown when he is ready to fight Laertes at the graveyard. He also takes the opportunity to fence against Laertes at the very first opportunity possible. The gray that takes up half of Hamlet’s clothes represent his lack of emotion in the beginning of the story. With his father recently passed away, Hamlet only wants things to return to the way they were but can’t express himself due to his lack of...
Words: 817 - Pages: 4
...combining aspects associated with its time, and some beyond – Hamlet continues to cross boundless eras. Hamlet explores ideas of chaos creating tragedy creating confusion, and obscuring reality. This disorder stems from a Renaissance Humanist perspective due to a break in the Chain of Being. In disturbing this natural order, chaos is manifested in the lives of all characters, with particular effect on the internal workings of Hamlet. His inaction in avenging the King’s “most foul and unnatural murder” is justified by the disarray present in the metaphorical “ear of Denmark”. Although I excuse Hamlet’s “pigeon-livered” actions, his inability to restore the Chain of Being fosters the chaos, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Such notions are reflective of Hamlet’s time. Furthermore, close investigation of Hamlet’s frame of mind suggests good reasons for his procrastination. During the third soliloquy, Hamlet uses tangible imagery to personify murder in “murder, though it have no tongue, will speak”. This highlights that he is acknowledging the enormity of what he has been asked to do as he is “a figure trapped in circumstance” (Kruse). Such paradoxical language also encapsulates the disorder of Denmark as “murder” is the process which ends life; however Hamlet uses personification to bring it alive and “speak”. The responder gains a tangible understanding of...
Words: 1121 - Pages: 5
...Home > Why Hamlet Delays His Revenge Why Hamlet Delays His Revenge (Excerpt from Quintessence of Dust: The Mystical Meaning of Hamlet) Kenneth Chan ... Hamlet is finally alone, and the stage is set for the soliloquy that gave rise to one of the most persistent mysteries in literature: Why does Hamlet delay his revenge? Hamlet Ay, so, God buy you. Now I am alone. Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his whole conceit1 That from her working all his visage wanned, Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! For Hecuba! What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do Had he the motive and the cue for passion That I have? He would drown the stage with tears, And cleave the general ear with horrid speech, Make mad the guilty and appal the free,2 Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled3 rascal, peak Like John-a-dreams,4 unpregnant5 of my cause, And can say nothing--no, not for a king, Upon whose property and most dear life A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward? Who calls me a villain, breaks my pate across, Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face, Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i'th'throat As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this? Ha, 'swounds, I should take...
Words: 7854 - Pages: 32
...One of the most unique things about the play Hamlet (with Hamlet playing the main character) is the way relationships between the main and lesser characters have not changed from Shakespeare's time period in which he wrote this play to the modern dilemmas of today. The character Hamlet relates through individualism of self to others in the play and Shakespeare uses this confusion of self and nature thus assuring many types of readers who can relate to his Hamlet characterization. Hamlet portrays himself with all his human flaws, but it is this humanity that makes him distinctive from everyone else in the story. In addition, all of Hamlet's waking hours are preoccupied with his own thoughts thus adding more intensity to his feelings and perceptions about where he sees imperfections, worry and tension as well as confusion, but without a doubt it is these human qualities which makes his situation so impossible for him to resolve easily. Another tragic role of the play is its irony. The irony allows the storyline to show humor as well as the cause and effects of each action taken. There is usually little reason for a tragedy to be funny so Shakespeare has used this type of humor to add more irony to the already tragic events of the play. Pause for thought is in the types of conflict that play a major part in the play and the relationships between Hamlet and the two people who have been closest to him; being Ophelia and the ghost. Hamlet cannot share his strong feelings and emotions...
Words: 1880 - Pages: 8
...''Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.'' Or “The main subject that is being discussed or described in a piece of writing, a movie, etc.” Theme is a word having etymology from the Greek, "placed" or "laid down". Its origin is 1250–1300; Greek théma proposition, deposit, akin to tithénai to put, set down. In contemporary literary studies, a theme is the central topic a text treats. Themes can be divided into two categories: a work's thematic concept is what readers "think the work is about" and its thematic statement being "what the work says about the subject". The most common contemporary understanding of theme is an idea or concept that is central to a story, which can often be summed in a single word (e.g. love, death, betrayal). Typical examples of themes of this type are conflict between the individual and society; coming of age; humans in conflict with technology; nostalgia; and the dangers of unchecked ambition. A theme may be exemplified by the actions, utterances, or thoughts of a character in a novel. An example of this would be the theme loneliness in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, wherein many of the characters seem to be lonely. It may differ from the thesis—the text's or author's implied worldview. A story may have several themes. Themes often explore historically common or cross-culturally recognizable ideas, such as ethical questions, and are usually implied rather than stated explicitly. An example of this...
Words: 5060 - Pages: 21
...Rating Hamlet Is this Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet at the top of the rating chart, or is it just near the top? This essay intends to examine various aspects of this subject, along with critical opinion. Could the enduring reputation of Hamlet be attributed to the “ultimate form” in which the Bard of Avon expressed his ideas? Robert B. Heilman says so in “The Role We Give Shakespeare”: It is the way of venerable texts whose authenticity has impressed itself on the human imagination: he has said many things in what seems an ultimate form, and he is a fountainhead of quotation and universal center of allusion. “A rose by any other name” comes to the mouth as readily as “Pride goeth before a fall,” and seems no less wise. [. . .] The Ophelia-Laertes relationship is strongly felt near the end of Goethe’s Faust, Part I, and the Hamlet-Gertrude-Claudius triangle echoes throughout Chekhov’s Sea Gull (24-25). This play is ranked by many as the very greatest ever written. Cumberland Clark in “The Supernatural in Hamlet” gives the consensus regarding Hamlet that exists among literary critics of today: At least six or seven years pass after the writing of Midsummer Night’s Dream before we find Shakespeare engaged on Hamlet, the second of the great plays with an important Supernatural element, and, in the opinion of many, the greatest tragedy ever penned. (99) There is no more exalted ranking than the above. Richard A. Lanham in the essay “Superposed Plays” maintains that no...
Words: 982 - Pages: 4
...Chapter II: literature of the renaissance (End of the 15th - beginning of the 17th century) In the 15th - 16th centuries capitalist relation began to develop in Europe. The former townspeople became the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie fought against feudalism because it held back the development of capitalism. The decay of feudalism and the development of capitalist relation were followed by a great rise in the cultural life of Europe. There was an attempt at creating a new culture which would be free from the limitation of the feudal ideology of the Middle Ages. The epoch was characterized by a thirst for knowledge and discoveries, by a powerful development of individuality. It was then that great geographical discoveries of Columbus, Magellan and other travelers as well as astronomical discoveries of Copernicus, Bruno, Galilei were made. The invention of the printing press (Fyodorov in Russia, Guttenberg in Germany, Caxton in England) contributed to the development of culture in all European countries. Universities stopped being citadels of religious learning and turned into centers of humanist study. There was a revival of interest in the ancient culture of Greece and Rome ("Renaissance" is French for "rebirth"). The study of the works of ancient philosophers, writers, and artists helped the people to widen their outlook, to know the world and man's nature. On the basis of both the ancient culture and the most progressive elements of the culture of the...
Words: 8940 - Pages: 36
...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 from the room during the scene of the murder, proving his guilt. Hamlet...
Words: 10550 - Pages: 43
...The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering King Hamlet, Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king's widow and Prince Hamlet's mother. The play vividly portrays both true and feigned madness – from overwhelming grief to seething rage – and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption. Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play and among the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language, with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others." The play was one of Shakespeare's most popular works during his lifetime It has inspired writers from Goethe and Dickens to Joyce and Murdoch, and has been described as "the world's most filmed story after Cinderella". Shakespeare based Hamlet on the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum as subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest. He may also have drawn on or perhaps written an earlier Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet. He almost certainly created the title role for Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time. In the 400 years since, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors and actresses from each successive age. Three...
Words: 5201 - Pages: 21
