...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
...How Much Do Lady Macbeth and Ophelia Have in Common? Although obvious polar opposites, Lady Macbeth and Ophelia are connected, their descent into insanity and eventual demise are their one liking variable. Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famously frightening and powerful female characters. At the start of the play, she is a loving wife to her husband but at the same time very ambitious, as shown by her immediate determination for Macbeth to be king. This outcome will benefit her and her husband equally. She immediately concludes that "the fastest way" for Macbeth to become king is by murdering King Duncan. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth knows her husband well. She thinks he may be too kind in order to murder King Duncan. At first Macbeth agrees but later wavers in his decision, but Lady Macbeth assures him that being king is what he really wants and that this is the best for both of them. So, in response to Macbeth's uncertainty, Lady Macbeth manipulates him by questioning his manhood and his love for her. She is successful because regardless of his own conscience, Macbeth carries out their plan of murder, by himself. The almost superhuman strength Lady Macbeth gains for the occasion and her cunning ability are shown through her meticulous attention to detail regarding the murder. However, though Lady Macbeth seems strong in her initial pursuits, she proves her weakness when she is unable to commit the act herself or deal with the consequences of her actions. Lady Macbeth's...
Words: 1802 - Pages: 8
...and Origin of Hamlet Although I enjoyed reading many of the texts throughout the semester during this course, my favorite reading was Hamlet. Only the first part of the book was assigned to read, but I was very interested to hear about the end of the book. I decided that this would be a good opportunity to read the rest of the book and use it for my final paper in the class. Not only did I get to finish the book, I also learned much about the author William Shakespeare and the country of England. I hope to make it clear of my understanding of the text, author, and country in this final paper. Hamlet has not only taught me the importance of family and struggle with fate, but has also given me a better understanding of whom and where the novel originated. The text begins in Denmark where a ghost walks the embankments of Elsinore Castle. The ghost is first discovered by some guards, then by Horatio. Horatio is a close friend and former classmate of Hamlet. The ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father. King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. Gertrude is Hamlet’s mother. When Horatio and the guards bring Prince Hamlet to see the ghost, it speaks to him. The ghost threateningly states that it is his father’s spirit, and that he was murdered by Claudius. He orders Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who seized his throne and married his wife, and then disappears. Prince Hamlet decides to devote...
Words: 1402 - Pages: 6
...lasted for centuries and ensnared women within a value system created by society that defined what a woman’s role should be. The cult presented women with four cardinal virtues: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. In the ages when these ideals were held at a high standard, works of literature written during this time reflected the societal standard. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, various essays, and our culture also depict the cult of domesticity that still exists regardless of the success of the feminist movements throughout history and in present day; meanwhile, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is a great example of women who lived within the “cult...
Words: 1529 - Pages: 7
...encountered and a decisive victory is won" (Campbell 1). It is in this storyline that most storytellers need to go by in order to create the most closely related idea of a hero. Even though some heros do not follow these stages and their journey becomes more complex in relation to society, Shakespeare’s character Hamlet, seems to be the most hard to understand. Shakespeare created Hamlet as a hero who corrupts the archetype so much that the basic stages of his heroic journey must be changed in order to recognize him as a hero. Aristotle defined a hero as “a man with outstanding quality and greatness about him. His own destruction is for a greater cause or principle”. Aristotle simply states that the hero's downfall is usually cause by his own fault. Usually the hero’s death is seen as a waste of human potential but usually results in greater knowledge and awareness for whoever hears of the hero’s story (Aristotle). In most traditions of the hero archetype, the journey of the hero follows a path that can be split up into three different sections. The departure, initiation and return. Journalist and writer, Rob Thorp writes about these stages and how they can apply to Shakespeare. Within these three stages or acts, there are multiple sub-stages (Thorp). Hamlet’s journey doesn’t follow all...
Words: 1731 - Pages: 7
...in the Trojan War and Hamlet Hamlet is the melancholy Dane; Claudius, the smiling villain. Polonius is the oily courtier; Horatio, the loyal friend. Most of the characters in Hamlet are well defined and unambiguous; the character of Gertrude, however, presents us with many ambiguities and difficulties. Some critics see her as "well-meaning but shallow and feminine, in the pejorative sense of the word: incapable of any sustained rational process, superficial and flighty" (Heilbrun 10), while others see her as a stronger character, cool and calculating. The play presents many aspects of Gertrude’s character ambiguously. Janet Adelman writes, Given her centrality in the play, it is striking how little we know about Gertrude; even the extent of her involvement in the murder of her first husband is left unclear....The ghost accuses her at least indirectly of adultery and incest...but he never accuses her of nor exonerates her from the murder. For the ghost, as for Hamlet, her chief crime is her uncontrolled sexuality; that is the object of their moral revulsion, a revulsion as intense as anything directed toward the murderer Claudius. But the Gertrude we see is not quite the Gertrude they see. And when we see her in herself, apart from their characterizations of her, we tend to see a woman more muddled than actively wicked; even her famous sensuality is less apparent than her conflicted solicitude both for her new husband and for her son....Even her death is not quite her own to...
Words: 1642 - Pages: 7
...Whether death is a constant presence in Hamlet or not – one thing is for certain – death, or whatever it is supposed to represent permeates the play right from the opening scene, where the ghost of Hamlet’s father introduces the idea of death and its consequences. The ghost represents a disruption to the accepted social order – a theme also reflected in the volatile socio-political state of Denmark and Hamlet’s own indecision. This disorder has of course been triggered by the "unnatural death" of Denmark's figurehead, the King, and is soon followed by a whole range of murder, suicide, revenge and accidental deaths. Hamlet is above all a story of individuality – and the search for it. This is why Yorick’s skull is so pivotal to the whole story. Previously, Hamlet has been appalled and revolted by the moral corruption of the living. Seeing Yorick's skull (someone Hamlet clearly loved and respected ‘I knew him, Horatio’ ‘fellow of infinite jest’ ‘how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises’) propels Hamlet's realisation that death eliminates the differences between people. His questioning of ‘Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment’ are a manifestation of his realisation. This, once hilarious, loving person is a conglomeration of bones. It is also difficult to not notice the sudden shift in age as important. When the play begins, Hamlet is a university student, and therefore presumable 18 to 25. By the time Hamlet makes it to the...
Words: 1505 - Pages: 7
...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 king,...
Words: 3527 - Pages: 15
...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...
Words: 6999 - Pages: 28
...permanently.. So now one should analyze how Oedipus showed signs of revenge throughout the play. It may sound awkward or funny but one can say that Oedipus took revenge out on his self by gouging out his eyes for the actions he committed like killing his father and having an incestuous relationship with his own mother. Oedipus says, “You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind...
Words: 2636 - Pages: 11
...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...
Words: 27223 - Pages: 109
...metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60413-723-1 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4381-3425-3 (e-book) 1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Criticism and interpretation. I. Bloom, Harold. II. Heims, Neil. PR2976.W5352 2010 822.3'3—dc22 2010010067 Bloom’s Literary Criticism books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities...
Words: 239932 - Pages: 960
...Title: Author(s): Publication Details: Source: Document Type: The Carnivalesque in A Midsummer Night's Dream David Wiles Shakespeare and Carnival after Bakhtin. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1998. Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 82. Detroit: Gale, 2004. From Literature Resource Center. Critical essay Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale, COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale, Cengage Learning [(essay date 1998) In the following essay, Wiles examines the festive and carnivalesque elements in A Midsummer Night's Dream. According to the critic, the play was historically part of an "aristocratic carnival" used to celebrate weddings in upper-class society.] Carnival theory did not begin with Bakhtin, and we shall understand Bakhtin's position more clearly if we set it against classical theories of carnival.1 From the Greek world the most important theoretical statement is to be found in Plato: The gods took pity on the human race, born to suffer as it was, and gave it relief in the form of religious festivals to serve as periods of rest from its labours. They gave us as fellow revellers the Muses, with Apollo their leader, and Dionysus, so that men might restore their way of life by sharing feasts with gods.2 This is first a utopian theory, maintaining that carnival restores human beings to an earlier state of being when humans were closer to the divine. And second, it associates carnival with communal order. Plato argues that festive dancing creates bodily order, and thus bodily and...
Words: 8623 - Pages: 35
...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...
Words: 82733 - Pages: 331
...35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Carl and the Passions changed band name to what How many rings on the Olympic flag What colour is vermilion a shade of King Zog ruled which country What colour is Spock's blood Where in your body is your patella Where can you find London bridge today What spirit is mixed with ginger beer in a Moscow mule Who was the first man in space What would you do with a Yashmak Who betrayed Jesus to the Romans Which animal lays eggs On television what was Flipper Who's band was The Quarrymen Which was the most successful Grand National horse Who starred as the Six Million Dollar Man In the song Waltzing Matilda - What is a Jumbuck Who was Dan Dare's greatest enemy in the Eagle What is Dick Grayson better known as What was given on the fourth day of Christmas What was Skippy ( on TV ) What does a funambulist do What is the name of Dennis the Menace's dog What are bactrians and dromedaries Who played The Fugitive Who was the King of Swing Who was the first man to fly across the channel Who starred as Rocky Balboa In which war was the charge of the Light Brigade Who invented the television Who would use a mashie niblick In the song who killed Cock Robin What do deciduous trees do In golf what name is given to the No 3 wood If you has caries who would you consult What other name is Mellor’s famously known by What did Jack Horner pull from his pie How many feet in a fathom which film had song Springtime for Hitler Name the legless fighter pilot of...
Words: 123102 - Pages: 493
