...modern context. Tragedies such as Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Endgame by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), though written in completely different eras hundreds of years apart, both serve as sources of boundless pessimism and situational comedy. Though their themes are bleak and sometimes wholly depressing in nature, playwrights often capitalize on extreme negativity to yield more impacting comic relief. Both Hamlet and Endgame have pessimistic themes in common; one of Hamlet’s recurring themes is the inevitability of death and the inescapability of destiny, no matter the amount of procrastination. Endgame’s prevalent themes are the human existential dilemma and the effect of man’s lack of control over everyday life. Despite these bleak undertones, both Hamlet and Endgame yield situational comedy to lighten their audiences’ moods, manifested in Hamlet’s interaction with Polonius and the many comical instances involving Nagg. In order for the audience to fully appreciate the slight wit of comedy, both Shakespeare and Beckett develop their tragedies’ pessimistic themes to an excessive degree. Discussion: Tragedy as Unwaveringly Pessimistic Shakespeare, for example, employs some of the darkest themes in his classical revenge tragedy Hamlet. The namesake protagonist has been perceived by some as a procrastinator, unable to capitalize on opportunity because of speculated cowardice and indecision. Others have gone as far as to suggest that Hamlet is the harbinger of death and...
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...Development of Heroes (+Hamlet) The Heroes of the Greek and Rome poetries share few common uniqueness. They are heroic in that they all sacrifice, they are all intelligent, they all have their own faith or luck, they are all remembered or also known as Kleos and they all wander and deal with many problems. We have read many of them in this course such as Odysseus, Oedipus, Aeneas, Achilles and Beowulf. Then there is the great Hamlet who is not one of the Greek Heroes but a character from a play by William Shakespeare. Today in this essay, I want to compare some of the Greek poetry characters with the Prince Hamlet. First of all, I want to talk about few similarities between Hamlet and one of the Greek poet characters we have learned from this course. In my opinion, the story of Hamlet itself can be very analogous to the story of the poetry Oedipus. Both of the story have a plague or a outbreak going on from the beginning of the story. In the Oedipus the King, it starts with the Plague of Thebes where then Oedipus start to take actions for his people. This is where he shows his heroic features being a great leader for his city and sacrificing himself to solve the problem. The play Hamlet also starts with an outbreak and there seems to be something strange. The play starts with, "who’s there?" (Act 1 scene 1 line 1) by one of the guards. The fact that the play starts out with a question and with a guard, it foreshadows that there is something wrong and the Prince Hamlet would have a lot...
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...Hamlet looked upon the frail boyish body of Candide and tried to force a laugh, but couldn’t, the decision started to weigh upon his shoulders and slowly then all at once Hamlet felt as though he could not handle this task at hand. “I must do this”, Hamlet thought to himself, “it's the only, it's the only way”, the world began to turn sideways in the eyes of Hamlet, or was it that Hamlet was sideways himself. “I shall not let some fool like this Candide be accepted rather than I…. I must do this”, Hamlet finished this last sentence right before falling alongside Candide in the jagged ground. “These actions of you pesky humans have affirmed the feelings I have for these orders. You surely will not get in my way. I will observe how you will try...
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...William Shakespeare's Hamlet, a ghost is discovered walking the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark by Bernardo and Marcellus, a pair of watchmen, and Horatio. Resembling the recently deceased King Hamlet, the ghost eventually comes in contact with Prince Hamlet and declares that it is his father in spirit. The ghost's words leads to Hamlet discovering the truth of his father's death and vowing to kill Claudius. After ordering that Hamlet deal with the revenge of the man who preempted his throne and married his wife, the ghost vanishes. After that meeting, Hamlet has not been seen the same, devoting himself to avenging the death of his father, but not before entering a stage of melancholy and apparent absurdity. The Ghost plays an important role to the entire play. Although there is a lack in appearances, each visit impacts his relationship with Hamlet. After his death, the Ghost comes back to his kingdom looking for his son. Because of that one major appearance and mentioning of his death, the most vital point of the whole play is given out. If the ghost had not risen from the dead, Hamlet would have no climatic meaning. A son must have utmost respect and undying love for his father to carry out such a vigorous retaliation. Possessing such intense feelings to avenge his father, Hamlet sacrifices his life in the pursuit of justice. Hamlet's madness is caused after the appearance of the Ghost because throughout the play, people start noticing Hamlet changing. His madness...
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...Within the play Hamlet, females are viewed as weak minded and are used as pawns by the leading male characters. Through the character of Ophelia, the author portrays women as being easily manipulated by the men in their life. There are several instances in which the young girl is used by others in order to fulfill their personal agendas. I feel that being constantly influenced by Laertes, Polonius, and Hamlet ultimately diminished the good attributes of Ophelia and led to her downfall. In the beginning of the play, it is clear that Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, does not approve of her relationship with Hamlet. He sees his sister in the purest light and, “takes great pains to shelter her” (Mabillard). Laertes believes that the love she and...
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...tragic hero Craig is considered to be a comic hero compared to Hamlet and Archilles who are a tragic hero. Comic heroes is a hero who recovers from their flaws, however tragic heroes do not recover from their flaw for the reason to do in some sort of heroic sacrifice. Craig seems to have a worthless life and suffers from depression. Wanting to commit suicide to end his misery he decides not to for his family. Craig shows considerate feelings and seeks for help. The support from his friends and family helps him open up to his flaw and change his view in life. Successfully, Craig is able to recover from his flaw and live. On the contrary, Achilles lives a superior life as a demi god, and is highly admired as a warrior. Unlike Craig, Archilles only cares for himself. However Archilles too suffers from a flaw, Archilles is hubris. Archilles fights for the Greeks for his name to be remembered but knows his death will come. Unfortunately Archilles does not recover from his flaw, there was none to help him, and is the reason why he dies. Similarly to Archilles, Hamlet is a prince of Denmark. With no help he too suffers from a flaw that he is not able to recover from: indecisive. Making many failed attempts to avenge his father it accumulates the problem. Although Hamlet achieves his goal, his inability to act at the beginning causes the life of himself and other friends and family. Craig, Archilles and Hamlet are all around the same age with privileged lives. However Craig...
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...Hamlet Thesis Paper Shakespeare’s play Hamlet features a variety of complex characters including the intricate protagonist Hamlet and his self-proclaimed love Ophelia. At the beginning of Shakespeare’s play Ophelia is at the peak of her happiness in life seeing as that she has found her true love, Hamlet, and feels love and respect for her father and brother. She progressively becomes a victim of oppression from the men surrounding and controlling her life leading to her insanity and ultimately suicidal death. The origin of Ophelia’s madness is found through examination of her relationships with these men. Her father Polonius appears to be the sole parental figure in the play since there was no mention of a mother and there appears to be a close relationship between her and her brother and father. Ophelia relies heavily on her father and goes to him for advice and does whatever he asks of her. It was common for women to do as a man told her even if they did not agree to what they were being ordered to do, it is also understood that no one took into account the affects this type of society had on women. In this extreme case the affect is shown in Ophelia’s death. Ophelia’s fairytale ended before it even started when the suspicion that Polonius had previously requested Ophelia to fornicate with the King of Denmark in order to earn his new astute stature of being his advisor was brought to attention by a literature professor at the University of Michigan. In an argument, Hamlet...
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...human history, vengeance is a key element to many stories. When Adam and Eve eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden, God takes his retribution on them by banishing them from the garden for all time. Cain takes revenge on Abel for outdoing him in his sacrifices to God. The list goes on, the point being that people have been taking revenge upon one another since the dawn of man. Even though the desire to obtain revenge often leads people to perform criminal, or at least unkind, acts, it is necessary for human society to function. Revenge acts as a very effective deterrent against undeserved violence. When man first learned to use tools and communicate, there was no police force or other entity capable of enforcing rules of any kind. If not for the threat of later revenge, there would not have been any reason for early humans to refrain from killing and stealing from each other. Revenge is the most basic and the most crude check on greed and just available to humans. The threat of retaliation provides enough of a negative incentive against many crimes as to be a very effective deterrent for a plethora of would-be criminals. However, revenge is by no means a perfect deterrent. This is especially clear in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Take Claudius,...
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...Outline Hamlet Essay Politics, hatred, envy, incest, love, and most importantly revenge. These are all themes that boldly occur in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Literature is made to be understood and related to by the audience and throughout Hamlet; Shakespeare presents his audience with many soliloquies. As a matter of fact, the most famous of words in English literature "To be or not to be" (III, i, 58) is in a soliloquy said by Hamlet. Like all speeches in Shakespearean pieces, Hamlet's soliloquy captures the audience's eyes, ears, and hearts with relation to the economic, social, and political aspects of life. Through the common social tendencies of humans and Body Paragraph 1 Death is all around, whether caused through nature or by another man it will always haunt the world. Many people tremble upon the subject of death and it even haunts many to think of dying, this is why and how Shakespeare found a way to captivate his audience. This is evident when Hamlet says "while, to my shame, I see the imminent death of twenty thousand men, that for a fantasy and trick of fame, Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, which is not tomb enough and continent to hide the slain?" (IV, iv, 59-65). Here Hamlet expresses the great number of people that are being slaughtered in comparison to the one man who he is destined to kill to avenge his father. The audience analyzes this and now understands what it means to take a life. Shakespeare shows...
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...explored and explained through countless stories and books over time. Shakespeare's Hamlet is no exceptions as the character Hamlet has unique relationships with Horatio as well as Rosencrantz and Gildenstern which dictate different types of friendships. Hamlet seems to have a genuine relationship with Horatio and trusts him while his interactions between Rosencrantz and Gildenstern show another story. He is more suspicious of them and knows that they are working for the king and queen so he isn't always honest with them and ends up turning on them. These two types of friendships show the idea of a real friend and someone playing the part or befriending someone to gain something else....
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...common motivation for characters in a story. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare it is a motivation for the characters Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras. In the play all three characters lose their fathers in by acts of murder, which causes the characters to want get vengence on those responsible. Having different personalities the audience gets to see different approaches and outcomes to the same situation by the three characteres. By the end of the story they are characters who ultimately reach their goals in similar but different ways as avengers. First looking at the character Hamlet, the audience can see a change of the character throughout the play, because of this it allows the audience to think about the character state of mind, based on the actions he takes throughout the play. At the beginning of the play we see that Hamlet is very saddened by the sudden loss of his father, only to find out after meeting the ghost of his father that his death was not a cause of age but murder, which was committed by the new king who has taken power, his uncle Claudius “ The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown.” ( Shakespeare I.v, 7). Gaining this information from the ghost of his father we see where Hamlet wants to avenge his father which is proven by his soliloquy, “ that one may smile and smile and be a villain” (Shakespeare I.v, 63), “ now to my word...” ( Shakespeare I.v, 63). It is from this point we see that Hamlet starts to plan out his revenge by putting on...
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...Hamlet’s plan, struggle, and inevitable death Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a very controversial story of how the entire royal family of Denmark was wiped out. Hamlet is doomed to die, but in his death Denmark would be purged of its evil. Through murderous plots and schemes, it is revealed that King Hamlet’s brother Claudius murdered him. Hamlet is the son of the late King Hamlet, he was supposed to be the next king, but Claudius quickly married Hamlet’s Mother to take the crown. During the play, it is shown why Hamlet is a considered a revenge tragedy. Throughout the play Hamlet’s view of death prevents him from taking action, but through accepting his fate he is able to finally kill his uncle, without thinking about his death. After Hamlet meets...
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...Randle is shaken by Cheswick’s death and wonders if he is to blame. The battle between McMurphy and Ratched is not a battle between them two anymore; it is a battle between Ratched and all the patients on the ward. He realizes that his friends truly follow by his lead. The fight for power against Ratched causes Cheswick’s death and McMurphy needs to stay and continue fighting for his friends. As Buddha states, “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely” (Bodhipaksa). McMurphy will do all it takes to conquer Ratched’s power. Especially after Cheswick’s death, he will continue to fight for his friends until Ratched gives out. He can be compared to Hamlet from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, as Hamlet sets out on a determined mission to seek revenge for his murdered father. In the end, Hamlet is not scared of death: “There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow” (5.2.217-218). He wants people to remember him for who he was, a hero, and wants everyone to know the truth about his father’s death and the evil doings of his uncle Claudius. McMurphy wants people to know the truth about the evil doings of Nurse Ratched and wants the patients to regain their power and dignity. However, Chief questions if the protagonist is a traitor. McMurphy makes a rigged bet and Chief yells, “ ‘You’re always…winning things!’ ” (269). The men are uncertain if McMurphy is a selfish gambler or a helpful friend. He contrasts the protagonist, Chris McCandless, from Jon Krakauer’s...
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...prevent her from fulfilling the role of revolutionary heroine by examining her strong hatred for the enemy, her optimism, and her will to sacrifice. She has a very strong feeling of hatred for the enemy (Imperialists/Capitalists), which fuels her will to continue...
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...All of these heros were given a path that they must follow in order to discover their ultimate destiny and become a hero. Joseph Campbell book, “A Hero With A Thousand Faces” has best explained the important stages that every hero needs to go by in order for fulfill their destiny, “ A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there 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....
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