...feelings of many of the play's characters. Claudius, the new king of denmark, is an extremely corrupt leader and the corruption in the high ranks trickles down onto the entire kingdom. Incest, betrayal, and spying all come forth as a result of corruption. The question of morality is one that is often pondered by the protagonist, Hamlet, throughout the play. He must decide right from wrong in very difficult circumstances, which leads him to many problems throughout the play. Incest is a very prevalent topic for many of the play's characters. After killing the king, Claudius marries the queen, Hamlet's mother, leaving Hamlet infuriated and seeking vengeance. This is obviously a very corrupt action and Hamlet's anger is most certainly justified. However, judging by Hamlet's relationship with his mother, other factors may play an important part as to why Hamlet hates Claudius. The way Hamlet views himself as 'not a real man' and so often contemplates suicide is as a result of his incestuous feelings toward his mother, not claudius'. Subconsciously, Hamlet is extremely jealous of claudius for doing what Hamlet always wished he could do; kill his father and marry his mother. Furthermore, this would also answer the question as to why Hamlet can't bring himself to killing Claudius, because it would be like killing himself in a way, he actually can empathize with claudius, he just doesn't want to admit it or believe it. This results in deeply uncomfortable feelings towards his mother and...
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...There comes a time in one’s life when he loses faith in his beliefs or in his relationships. In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, murders Hamlet’s father to inherit the crown of Denmark and the love of Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Throughout the play there are six soliloquies that reveal the character of Hamlet and others. In more than any other Shakespearean play, the audience is painted a better picture of Hamlet’s mind. Shakespeare questions the social and Christian institutions in the face of tragedy with the usage of several ambiguous phrases. Through word play and tone shifts, Hamlet’s collapsing sanity is reflected and shows the deconstruction of his views towards the Church and its values and his family. Hamlet’s questionable sanity is first reflected in the Church and its teachings. During the Elizabethan Era, most people practiced Catholicism, and it was not until later in the 1500s that the Catholic religion was called into question by another developing religion at the time, Protestantism. Not only does society begin to doubt the teachings of the Church, Hamlet does as well because he has lost complete faith in Christian values. According to Hamlet, those values have the cause of Claudius murdering his own brother and marrying his wife. Hamlet is unable to accept this unfortunate fate, and in turn, exclaims to the heavens, “O God! O God” (I.ii.132)! Hamlet has lost faith in the Everlasting because he is disgusted that God would let such an incestuous...
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...Individuals may find peace and happiness throughout their lifetime, viewing it as a complete fulfillment and endless enjoyment. Sometimes, however, peace and happiness does not last forever and comes hardships. These hardships are something that the characters in Hamlet have to deal with, and it is also something the audience can relate to. This way of life is very relevant in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, which covers the competency of love, hate and power struggles found within the characters which later leads to an unfortunate ending. Hamlet, the main character of William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, is one of the most complex characters ever created. His intricacy can be seen in the amount of soliloquies he speaks throughout the play. Each one of Hamlet’s soliloquies reveals his innermost thoughts and gives the reader or audience insight as to what he is feeling at that time. The audience cannot help but to show some feeling towards the characters such as Hamlet, Fortinbras and King Claudius. All throughout the play, Shakespeare uses various characters to represent the social, economical, and cultural effects that are shown in Hamlet that may also correspond to the Elizabethan audience. Some characters that represent these effects include Hamlet, Fortinbras, Claudius, and Rosencrantz. It is through these characters’’ speeches and actions that really target the audience. The numerous soliloquy presented by Hamlet is one of the speeches in the play that captivates the audience. This is because...
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...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...
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...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...
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...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 would be whether one should live a seemingly better life, at the price of giving up parts of ones humanity, which is a theme in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Along with plot, character, setting, and style, theme is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction. Mostly people regards themes as thesis or thesis as themes but there is a clear distinction between them which is given...
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...Who was William Shakespeare? Shakespeare is William Shakespeare, one of the English-speaking world's greatest playwrights and poets, who possessed a great knowledge of human nature and transformed the English theatre. Yet many facts of his life remain a mystery. Some have been acquired from painstaking looks at the records of the time, so that this summary is based on generally agreed facts. It has been said that we only know three things about Shakespeare: that he was born, married and died. He was baptised on April 26, 1564; we do not know his birth date, but many scholars believe it was April 23, 1564. His father was John Shakespeare (who was a glover and leather merchant) and his mother Mary Arden (who was a landed local heiress). John had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, alderman, and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the late 1570s. William lived for most of his early life in Stratford-upon-Avon. We do not know exactly when he went to London but he is said to have arrived in 1592. There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival that of Eton. While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's...
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...Literary Analysis: Hamlet In the tragedy Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, Hamlet is this young man who experiences close relation death which was his father. He later finds out it was his uncle who murdered his father just to take heir to the throne. Hamlet constant brooding about death and humanity comes ahead. (Tennen) Hamlet is arguably the greatest dramatic character ever created from the moment we meet the crestfallen prince we are enraptured by his elegant intensity. (Mabillard) William Shakespeare hamlet follows the young prince Hamlet home to Denmark to attend his father’s funeral. (Stockton) In “Hamlet” the tragedy hamlet the prince holds a great internal conflict throughout the play. (Studymode) On a dark winter night a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore castle in Denmark. (Sparknotes)The first edition of hamlet was published in 1603 from a previous sketch composed several years earlier the second one following 1604. (Bates) Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy Bernado’s question betrays the mood of uncertainty that prevails throughout the play. (George) So speaks Shakespeare’s prince hamlet of the transient nature of all mankind throughout the play humanity and frailty is a common theme. (Mortensen) In Hamlet the tragedy, hamlet, the prince of Demark with holds a great internal conflict throughout the play. (Directessays) Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play and the play responsible for the immortal lines “to be or not to be that is the question” (Taylor) The story...
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...undeveloped to most “civilized.” Rather, they suggested that each individual culture should be understood in terms of its unique beliefs and ideals. That is, in order to observe and understand how people live and operate in a particular culture, it is important to consider the way other view the world within the framework of their culture. A great example of this idea is depicted by Laura Bohannan in her work “Shakespeare in the bush.” With an argument in mind, that human nature is more or less universal, she travels to Africa and discusses a famous Shakespeare’s tragic play with native people of a tribe Tiv, expecting only slight variations in its interpretation accounted for discrepancies in culture. To her surprise, Bohannan finds out that customs, beliefs, translations and culture have an enormous role in the perception and interpretation of Shakespeare’s play and that its meaning is not as universal as she previously thought. She realizes that many concepts that are well-known and taken for granted in western society are so remote to the elders of the tribe, that they become convinced that Bohannan got the story wrong. For instance, Hamlet’s uncle’s succession to the throne being as a motive to kill Hamlet’s father, was entirely misunderstood, since in Tiv...
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...in the Humanist writes about the story Lawrence Wechsler describes in his classic book, “A Miracle, a Universe, (1990) a story when a man, tortured in a South American prison saw the man who tortured him. In the dialogue from the book, the survivor asked the man on the street how is he. When a former torturer said he was depressed because he was being prosecuted, after a silence moment, the survivor offered help and said, “Shake hands, friend. I forgive you.” Schulz, who engages himself in the protection of human rights, is writing, not only to the audience but to himself too, after encountering many situation of the human rights deprivation. “The reason not to give up on humanity is that the capacity to feel remorse is impossible to kill in every heart.” Another way of showing optimism and optimistic view is a possibility to rescind with the past and the recollection of memories that will make us negative. A Swedish author Johan Norberg in the Spectator's article argues about process of nostalgia and says nostalgia is biological. As we are becoming more mature, we are taking more responsibility and we are looking on imagined carefree youth, Norberg writes. People want to memorize and look back at good times, like high-school pictures, careless youth and time without problems. Norberg says when he talks to people, “They describe a time before everything become confusing and dangerous, the young became rude, or listened to awful music, or stopped reading books in order to just...
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...(1590-96), purity is treated as an ideal for everybody to strive towards. It is always analogous to goodness. A character with this trait (more usually female ) is treated both by the narrative and many of the characters as being a shining example of good. Almost always beautiful, she often gives off a soft radiance that attracts people. She is almost exclusively soft-spoken, polite, optimistic, and just all round pleasant to be around. The 14th century alliterative poems Pearl , Purity ,and Patience, draws easily on the Bible for its narrative and illustrate the virtue of purity in character. In Shakespearean tragedies like Othello , Desdemona is killed by her husband Othello who thinks she was unfaithful. The gentle-hearted Ophelia, Hamlet’s unfortunate lover, lost in a world too cruel for her pure fragile soul, is driven mad and topples from a branch into her watery death.Cordelia is the epitome of goodness in King Lear , for her loving virtuous and compassionate nature and, adherence to truth, which ironically turn against her. But The Tempest is a 'dramatic romance', a world of wish...
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... |Syllabus | | |College of Humanities | | |ENG/125 Version 3 | | |Literature in Society | Copyright © 2010, 2008, 2006 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course introduces themes in literature and provides guided study and practice in reflecting on themes which describe the human experience across cultural and societal boundaries. The course includes readings from literature in different genres and cultures. Students study the literature in thematic units and are asked to make connections to their own lives and cultures. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class....
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...his mother’s sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and contemplative. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, evidence that any other character in a play would believe, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle’s guilt before trying to act. Claudius - The King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle, and the play’s antagonist. The villain of the play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere. Gertrude - The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth. Polonius - The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, a pompous, conniving old man. Polonius is the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Ophelia - Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet...
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...KING LEAR Act One The play opens at Lear’s court, where we meet the main characters. The opening scene is in itself shocking, as Lear forces his daughters to declare their love for him. The one who loves him the most will receive the largest part of his kingdom, which he intends to divide between the three. Lear himself wishes to hand over the ruling of the kingdom to his daughters, while retaining the ‘Pre-eminence, and all the large effects / That troop with majesty’ (Scene 1, Lines 131-2). Goneril and Regan acquit themselves well at this love test. Cordelia, however, dismayed by her sisters’ ponderous words, refuses to take part in the ‘contest’ and tells Lear that she loves him as her duty instructs her. When Cordelia refuses to speak again, Lear casts her off without a moment’s hesitation. Ken attempts to argue with the King, accusing him of ‘hideous rashness’ (Scene 1, Line 151). When Kent further warns Lear that his elder daughters are false flatterers, Kent too is banished. Lear invests Albany and Cornwall with power, and, after Burgundy refuses to take Cordelia as his wife, now that she is without dowry, France takes her for her virtues alone. Goneril and Regan complain, in private, about Lear’s harsh judgement and unpredictable behaviour and worry that they too may be treated unfairly. Edmund, Gloucester’s bastard son, soliloquises about his own situation, revealing his devious intentions towards his brother. When his father enters, Edmund’s...
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...notmyessay Wesleyan University WesScholar Division I Faculty Publications Arts and Humanities 1995 Anna Karenina: Tolstoy 's Polemic with Madame Bovary Priscilla Meyer Wesleyan University, pmeyer@wesleyan.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/div1facpubs Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts and Humanities at WesScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Division I Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of WesScholar. For more information, please contact dschnaidt@wesleyan.edu, ljohnson@wesleyan.edu. Recommended Citation Priscilla Meyer. "Anna Karenina: Tolstoy's Polemic with Madame Bovary" Russian Review 54.2 (1995): 243-259. Anna Karenina: Tolstoy's Polemic with Madame Bovary PRISCILLA MEYER D id Tolstoy intend a dialogue with Flaubert's Madame Bovary when he wrote Anna Karenina? Boris Eikhenbaum agrees with the French critics who found traces of Tolstoy's study of French literature in Anna Karenina, though he emphasizes the complexity of Tolstoy's struggle with the tradition of the "love" novel.' George Steiner long ago concluded that "all that can be said is that Anna Karenina was written in some awareness of its predecessor."2 But the evidence of that awareness is so abundant and suggestive that it is worth examining the possibility of a more detailed dialectic than Eikhenbaum and Steiner suppose.3 Tolstoy arrived in Paris on 21 February 1857. Less than...
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