...Hamlet act I, Questions: The opening scene of the act I can be seen as a misterius and curies approach, because the guards reply with “ who’s there”, “ask it something”, “Quiet shut up it comes again”. Which in return sets up tone for the opening scene. The reason why Francisco and other guards were assigned to guard the palace was because the king of Norway was killed by the king of Denmark. Therefore the king son of Norway wanted to reclaim the land the king from Denmark took. Francisco is uneasy because of the extreme quietness during his shift. The ghost appears to look in a battle gear attire, have white hair sticking out like whiskers, and look like the previous king from Denmark. Horatio and the rest decide to tell hamlet about the...
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...however, convey the same themes and messages more successfully than others. William Shakespeare’s work, with all its fame, is no exception. When considering Act 3, Scene 1 of Hamlet in particular, the version performed by David Tennant outperforms its counterparts though use of a contemplative and exhausted tone...
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...Act 1, Scene 5, Critical Analysis In Act 1, Scene 5, King Hamlet’s suspected ghost reveals himself to Hamlet and his friends. Ghosts and spirits were thought of to be believed just as much as religious figures during this time. This introduction of the ghost presented some sympathy, and fear for Elizabethan audiences. Elizabethan audiences would presented quite bold sympathy, when viewing the play depicting King Hamlet’s murder within this play. This occurred because acts of treason were especially atrocious to Elizabethan citizens, since the English monarch generally represented God on earth during this time period. When the ghost appears, as a reader we feel remorse for Hamlet seeing this ghost of his father. But After this moment, we know hamlet is truly the protagonist of the story. We now learn Claudius is the antagonist of the story and gain a sense of major conflicts that will occur in the future because of this scene. As a result of Claudius’s previous strange behavior, such as when he said; “our sometime sister now our queen” we dislike him, and ultimately becomes the antagonist once we realize he is the one who truly killed Hamlet’s father; “the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown”. From this moment onwards, Hamlet is furious with Claudius to the point of madness because of the stature Claudius holds as king. In the coming scenes of the story Hamlet tries to now revenge his fathers murder, but finds great difficulty in doing so because Claudius...
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...William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, act 1 scene 2 soliloquy provides an image and insight on Hamlet’s emotional state apart from what Claudius had pointed out. Ham let in his moment of grief and sorrow for his father’s death has grown to contempt for his mother Gertrude and his uncle Claudius. Who have in merely two months of the king's death ran to an, “incestuous sheets!” Hamlet’s emotional and passionate first soliloquy is a striking contrast to the controlled and unnatural conversation that he has been exchanging with Claudius and the court. The primary function of this soliloquy is to reveal to the audience Hamlet’s gloom and despair. With Hamlet’s emotional outburst or outpouring of disgust, anger, and grief, Hamlet without exception says that the world is futile, “rank and gross in nature.”(138) Meaning the world is rotten and corrupt. Shakespeare uses a metaphor of the world as, “an unweeded garden,”(137) which is an allegory of the Garden of Eden. Hamlet’s nature of grief is revealed to be about his mother's hasty marriage to Claudius. In...
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...unbearable. Hamlet’s Act 1 Scene 2 soliloquy shows his extreme despair and anguish. He wishes that it would not be a sin to commit suicide. His use of vivid imagery shows that he is a man on the edge of losing his precarious grip on the reality of his situation in life. Hamlet’s grip on reality is starting to crumble. Before his father died, he loved Elsinore and Denmark. He is now extremely unsatisfied with Denmark and the state it is in He compares the Denmark to an unkempt piece of land, calling it, “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/ Seem to me all the uses of this world! / Fie on’...
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...In both the 2012 and 1948 films, characters have expressed irrational decisions and displayed very hectic scenes. After diving into the play, some characters display fear, but mostly show overall confidence and bravery throughout act 1 scene 5. During this scene, Hamlet and a few other guards wait for the Ghost of king Hamlet to appear. Once the Ghost presents itself, the guards stay back while Hamlet desperately chases after the ghost to get answers. In act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet's reaction to the story of his father's murder is meant to start Hamlets need for revenge. The ghost opens up to Hamlet and explains about his murder. King Hamlet's ghost reminds Hamlet “The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears...
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...The Theme of Hamlet - Revenge In Hamlet, Shakespeare created three revenge plots; all of the revenges involve a son seeking vengeance for the death of a father. Revenge has caused the downfall of many people. In my opinion, revenge is a very dangerous theory to live by. It will consuming ones nature and causes one to act recklessly through anger rather without any reason. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Prince Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in doing so, three of them rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big risk, the risk which eventually leads to the downfall and death. In Act 1 Scene 1, Shakespeare was written about Prince Fortinbras's attempts to reclaim the land his father lost to Old Hamlet and that is the first of three revenge plots in the play. King Fortinbras was killed by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a sealed compact. "…our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteemed him-did slay this Fortinbras."(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 85) Prince Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to take back the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was killed. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…"(Hamlet...
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...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...
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...Hamlet Notes Tragedy is the downfall of a man because of a weakness in his personality. This weakness leaves him unable to negotiate successfully the conflict that he experiences in the outside world. Consequently, when he encounters evil, he is unable to make the right decision. A tragic hero has a moment of insight in which he realises his error. However, this insight comes too late for him to address his sillinesses/error. The tragic hero always dies. The key to understanding this play is a close and insightful study of the soliloquies in the play. Act 1 Scene 1( pg 3-13) Horatio will be the fall for the mercurial Hamlet. Horatio is quiet and well balanced and becomes a notable witness. At the beginning of the play, Denmark is not only socially, morally and culturally questionable but politically unstable. Norway, lead by Fortenbras is leading a campaign to reclaim the lands lost to Norway as a consequence of the Danish King Hamlet. At the end of this scene, the appearance if the ghost. King Hamlet. He was poisoned by Claudius. He was married to Gertrude, Claudius was Gertrude's brother-in-law—-> affair Act 1 Scene 2(pg 13-31) Set against the splendour of the court, scene 2 juxtaposes the mysteries and frightening opening scene. The court of Denmark represents hypocrisy and excess. We are introduced immediately to Claudius. He is suave and worldly wise. His idiom, register and tone of speech will create a suspicion. He is of course the antithesis of Hamlet as...
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...Otu Ms.Cincinelli ENG4U1 July 19, 2016 Hamlet Quotations Choice 1 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. This quotation is said by Gertrude, the Queen, also known as Hamlets mother, in Act 4, Scene 1, 8-12. This passage serves to develop the character of Hamlet, and show how much he has grown mad in comparison to his visitation to Ophelia, which is when they begun to believe he has actually lost his mind. This passage also serves to develop conflict because Hamlet has just killed Laertes’s father, and Claudius’s good friend. This can develop conflict between the men because just as Hamlet wanted to seek revenge for the murder of his father, Laertes will also desire to do the same, as we see in Act 4, Scene 5, 104-110. This passage also serves to develop theme of death because this makes two deaths. Two deaths that have driven the characters to insanity. As we see in the text Hamlet first decides to put on an act, as he said he may find it fit to in Act 1, Scene 5, 171-173. Although, as we can see, the events that begin to take place in his life gives way for his acting to become reality, and the death of his father being one of the few reasons. As for Ophelia, she became crazy very soon after the death of her father, whom Hamlet killed. A key literary device used to achieve...
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...English 203 October 24th 2012 Hamlet Question Set ACT I 1. What happens when Francisco and Bernardo meet at the beginning of scene1? Where are they, and when? Why is Horatio with Bernardo and Marcellus there? The play, begins in Elsinore with Francisco, who is waiting for Bernardo to relieve him of his duty right after midnight. Bernardo calls wondering who is there, to which Francisco replies that Bernardo should tell him who he is first. 2. What is Horatio's initial response to the story of the apparition? Horatio’s initial response is skepticism, as in disbelief. 3. What does Horatio first assume the appearance 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...
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...The role of Hamlet in Hamlet December 23,2011 Mr. Santin English 12-U Ethan D’Mello In many pieces of literature, it is the characters actions and words that have the greatest effect on the story line. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, there are many characters that are key to furthering the plot of the story, while keeping the reader engaged and interested in the book. These dramatic forces add suspense, irony, and mood which together makes for a good read. The characters who further these dramatic forces are Hamlet, Claudius, and Laertes. The character that furthers the dramatic forces the most is Hamlet. By examining the theme of love, their views on life and death, plus the act of scheming between Claudius, Hamlet, and Laertes, it will be evident that Hamlet furthers the dramatic force the most. Hamlet is a better character to reveal the theme of love when compared to Claudius. Hamlet encounters his father’s ghost and is told that his father’s brother Claudius had murdered him in his sleep. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain, My tables,- meet it is I set it down That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain, …So, uncle, there you are; now to my word; It is ‘adieu, adieu! Remember me.’ I have sworn’t” (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 106-111). As a dutiful and loving son, Hamlet decides to avenge his father’s death. By doing so, he is accepting the task of going against all of Denmark and is planning to prove that his father was killed by the present...
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...ENG 4U Ms. Straus May 23, 2015 Hamlet Quotation Test Quotation 1: “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 unus’d.” (Hamlet: IV, iv, 3238) Literal Level: This quotation is from Act IV, Scene IV, when Hamlet observes Fortinbras leading the army through Denmark towards Poland. Hamlet learns that the Norwegians are going to war with the Polish over a small, worthless patch of land. In this soliloquy, Hamlet ponders how these men are willing to risk their lives for such a small cause, when he is still so hesitant to act on his revenge on Claudius for his father's murder. 1. This passage helps to develop Hamlet’s character and the plot of the play because it is in this scene that Hamlet realizes that he must act on his revenge plan or else he is just going to be a purposeless “beast”. Throughout the play, Hamlet struggles with whether or not to exact revenge on Claudius because he is not certain of all of the facts. When Hamlet sees how willing the soldiers are to fight over such a small piece of land, he realizes that without action Hamlet is not taking advantage of the gift of life that God has given him. Hamlet realizes that humans have “capability and godlike reason” and that ...
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...theme of death in the fifth act of Hamlet) Death, no one likes to hear the word, but none of us can escape it. The death of someone or even ourselves is all a part of the life that we live. It is impossible to avoid death when the time has come. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet¬ there is much death throughout the play. The play itself starts out with the knowing of the death of the King, Hamlet’s father. Throughout the play more and more characters die in their own way. In act five of Hamlet death appears in three different ways: through suicide, through accidents, and through revenge. Initially, the first way death appears in act five is suicide. In the beginning of the fifth act the two grave-diggers are digging the grave of the once love of Hamlet, Ophelia. They are talking whether or not she is being buried in the right place or not. “Is she to be buried in...
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...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...
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