...Hamlet by Shakespeare: A Critical Analysis Can a king actually become crazy? Hamlet is written by the renowned William Shakespeare. This book is a compelling story consisting of heartache, tragedy, love, and family. Hamlet places its focus on the prince of Denmark, Hamlet. Hamlet has all eyes on him as prince, which means that more people saw him as he went crazy. However, was Hamlet really crazy or was he simply acting? First, Hamlet does talk to himself; it is as if he is in his own world. Consequently, if someone like his closest friend, Horatio, stops by to see him at his palace, he would probably hear him say something like, “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world (Hamlet 2003)!” In reality, this...
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...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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...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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...Mirabelli, 1 Hamlet Tragedy reveals the true identity of a person as it draws out one’s deepest inner emotions; this is evident in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. In the play, the newly appointed King and brother of the late King Hamlet, is responsible for the murder of his own brother and Denmark’s beloved ruler. The new King, Claudius, displays several different sides of himself to his audience when all begins to go awry. He now knows that the former King’s son, Hamlet, knows of his murder, his friend Polonius was killed by a seemingly insane Hamlet, and Polonius’ children are losing their sense of sanity and are blaming Claudius for their father’s murder. Within his speech, Claudius shows his true inner guilt over murdering his brother now that everything seems to be falling apart. Also, his sensitive side is portrayed for Polonius’ children and the loss of their beloved father. Finally, the King is shown to be deceiving and manipulative with others, showing himself as innocent and hurt when he is far from innocent. In Shakespeare’s original version of Hamlet, Claudius’ speech in Act IV, scene v, effectively captures the attention of not only the Elizabethan audience of the play, but also his wife Gertrude. Just like any villain, Claudius has a very guilty conscience that slowly comes out during the play. Firstly, he mentions that everything is going horribly, and the audience can identify a sense of guilt when Claudius brings up this point. Within the speech...
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...Hamlet: a Noble Prince Who Suffers From a Corrupt Environment “Hamlet is a noble prince who suffers from a corrupt world that is not suitable to his sensitive moral nature.” Though some may view Prince Hamlet, a fictional protagonist in the tragic play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, as a “madman,” he is simply misunderstood by the harsh society of Denmark. Mourning the loss of his recently deceased father, King Hamlet, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, inherits the throne and even marries Queen Gertrude after just one short month. Through chaotic and twisted disastrous events, Hamlet must abide by a civilization that evidently has neither structure nor principles. After Prince Hamlet suffers from the death of his father, the rest of Denmark is delighted by the celebration of a new marriage. Claudius, the actual brother of King Hamlet, weds with his widow, Queen Gertrude. Claudius remarks that he wants to bring a new light into Denmark after the city was struck with King Hamlet’s death. The rest of the town is thrilled by the news, excluding Hamlet. How could the city of Denmark recover from their grief after just one month? Eventually, Hamlet’s trustworthy watchmen tell Hamlet that they have been seeing a ghost-like figure that represents the deceased King Hamlet. When the ghost visits yet again, he signals to speak with Hamlet privately. Hamlet quickly learns that Claudius is responsible for his father’s death as Claudius plotted a treacherous scheme to rule over Denmark...
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...2012 Deceit in Hamlet Deceit is generally applied in politics and peoples everyday life to achieve power and success. The theme of deceit is generally repeated in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlets delay in killing Claudius, and Hamlets possible death is a straight-forward result of deceit in the court. Hamlet attempts to deceive everyone into believing that he is gone insane. He believes that he can kill Claudius without getting into any kind of trouble, and take revenge for his father's death. Claudius and Polonius decide to find the reason behind Hamlet's madness. They both make a plan to spy on Hamlet to see why he is acting the way he is. Through spying on Hamlet, Claudius figures out that he is dangerous, and a threat to him. Hamlets deceiving also directs to the death of Polonius and his daughter Ophelia. As well as generating Laertes to take revenge on Hamlet for producing the death of his family. After multiple attempts to murder Hamlet fail, Claudius and Laertes decide to team up. They both try to murder Hamlet and get rid of him once and for all. Each of these plans directly or indirectly leads to Hamlet's deceit and his death. Hamlets desire for revenge causes his insanity. Hamlet speaks to the ghost of his father, he figures out that Claudius murdered him to achieve that throne of Denmark. At this point, Hamlet is very frustrated and disappointed. Hamlet then makes a plan to get revenge by finishing Claudius. To complete this act, Hamlet must act inane...
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...never doubt I love” (2.2.119). Hamlet proclaims his feelings for Ophelia, assuring her that he will always love her. Hamlet gives Ophelia the mindstate that she should trust the love she receives. Love heavily impacts and drives Ophelia’s actions throughout the play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. Ophelia’s desires push her to be intimate with Hamlet and eventually drive her to madness resulting in her death. Ophelia’s loving and trusting nature compels her to obey her father. She trusts her father’s judgement, but also wants to trust Hamlet’s love for her. Ophelia has very strong feelings and has put a lot of trust in Hamlet so when her father asks “Do you believe his tenders” (1.3.45-112). Ophelia...
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...Throughout history of English literature, William Shakespeare’s characters have been some of the most complex and famous characters in literature. They are played over and over again in community theaters, and their archetypes are used repeatedly in modern film and books. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Hamlet is arguably displayed as one of the most dramatic character ever created. From the moment we meet the prince we are captivated by his elegant, yet intense personality. The play opens up with frightened guards forced to stand watch in the cold, dark night. They are frightened because they believe they have seen an apparition, or ghost of some sort. Prince Hamlet has just arrived home from school because his father has pasted away. To make matters worse for Prince Hamlet, his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married his uncle, Claudius, the newly appointed king, very soon after his father’s death. When Hamlet joins the guards and his good friend Horatio, they too see the ghost. They’ll all soon realize the spirit is the image of the late King Hamlet, dressed in his armor, ready to fight. From our very first encounter with Hamlet, he is consumed by grief and obsessed by death. Although he is dressed in black to signify his mourning, his emotions run deeper than his appearance. In Act 1, Scene 2, he says to his mother: ‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good-mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black ... Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief That can denote...
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...Philip K. Dick once said that, "It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane" (brainyquote.com). This is a very controversial statement to make, since more often than not, madness is unquestionably inappropriate; for example, in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Yet, Dick is right; under specific circumstances, insanity can be righteous, such as in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. In both The Picture of Dorian Gray and Hamlet, with influence, the titular characters descend into madness. However, the similarities in their stories end there. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the nominal character is selfishly chaotic, thus, his madness can never be forgiven. Contrarily, Hamlet, in the play titled after him, becomes deranged...
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...Hamlet review and critique On Sunday October 26, 2003 at 2:00 PM I saw Hamlet the play at Cal State Fullerton campus in the Little Theatre. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a tragic play consisting of numerous deaths. The deaths that took place played a very important role in the unfolding of the play. From viewing this play the audience can almost guess who was going to die. A prince named Hamlet is the main character. Hamlet planned to take over the throne in Denmark, but treachery would spoil all of Hamlet's plans. The King, Hamlet's father, was found dead. Hamlet was devastated when he learned of his father's death, but what made him more uneasy was the fact that Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, remarried so quickly to the brother of the dead King. The brother would be the one who would betray Hamlet. Horatio, a loyal friend to Hamlet, was on night watch outside the castle, he told the prince of an incident when they saw an apparition who resembled King Hamlet. Hamlet came out the next night hoping to see the ghost. Sure enough, the ghost appeared and called to Hamlet, wanting to speak with him. The spirit talked about how Claudius poisoned the King while he was sleeping. The spirit wanted the prince to avenge his murder. All was quiet in the kingdom until the start of Hamlet's supposed insanity. The Prince was with his mother talking when the prince noticed someone in the room. Hamlet thought it was Claudius, and killed him. Hamlet did...
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...Hamlet is thought to be one of William Shakespeare's most honored works and is a piece of art in its form that has been studied in depth by many scholars since its time. The storyline of Hamlet follows a vein of madness that begins with Claudius' murdering King Hamlet and ending with the tragic killing of almost every main character. Many reasons have been proposed for the ultimate tragedy, which occurs at the conclusion of the play. Indeed Hamlet is mad, but the other characters' madness also helped in contributing to his own. It is or is it not true that Hamlet was faking his insanity? Highly doubtful that Hamlet was faking the whole thing. The meaning for insanity on Dictionary.com is “a permanent disorder of the mind.” Hamlet didnt have a permanent disorder of the mind he knew what he was doing and even planned the majority of the events that happened. Most of the time anyway. Having your father die is bad enough, but to have your mother marry your uncle, within a few weeks of your father’s death? Then to see the ghost of your dead father. That would drive anyone a little insane, but maybe not to the extent that everyone thought Hamlet was acting. Hamlet is torn between acting sane and letting everyone else see him as insane. Throughout the story Hamlet pretends to be insane and even dies acting out this front of insanity. At first it seems as though Hamlet is just acting, but then it appears that he does truly indeed go insane. Even after he has gathered evidence against...
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...Hamlet Theme of Appearance vs. Reality A major theme that encircles the play "Hamlet" is the disparity between what something appears to be, and what something is in reality: In otherwords, to distinguish between what is fake (a lie) and what is truth. This theme is so heavily enwoven in the play due to the fact that most of the central characters in the play hide behind a mask to conceal their true intentions while as trying to figure out what the other characters are thinking. For example, with the case of Hamlet he chooses to appear mad in front of the others (whether or not he actually turns mad is a whole other debate entirely) so that he may better conceal his true intentions (he does a poor job in this part) and gain the opportunity to kill Claudius (perhaps with the defense that he is insane?). Thus, Hamlet exaggerates and shows tremendous hatred and disgust towards Ophelia so that he may convince Polonius and Claudius that he has gone mad due to Ophelia's rejection of his love. On the other hand, there is Claudius, the duplicitous cowardly, and conniving politician. Claudius, in comparison to the rest of the characters in the play, is the master at deception and hypocrisy. Claudius hides behind a veneer of being a gentle, just, and concerned King, that grieves for his dead brother and who cares for his people and in particular, his stepson. However, in reality, Claudius conceals a very dark secret and fears Hamlet's apparent madness not because...
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...Adler Dual Enrollment English Hamlet’s Insanity Many people have different opinions about Hamlet’s mental state throughout William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. There are certain parts in the play Hamlet where Hamlet can be seen as crazy. Hamlet’s craziness was not real. His reactions to the events in his life are completely normal. Hamlet had a lot of events that lead people to think he was crazy. Some events that really affected his mental state were the fact his father had passed away, his mother remarried his uncle, and his girlfriend, Ophelia, broke up with him. Some could call it “the subsequent emotional turmoil” (Lee). One major event Hamlet encounters is the death of his father. The play starts with Hamlet’s father just passing away. This tragedy truly affected Hamlet’s sanity. Any normal human being would be affected by this. Death is not an event that a person can just move on from. There is usually many stages to dealing with the death of a person. These stages include denial, anger, depression, and acceptance (“The 5 Stages of Loss and Grief”). Hamlet experienced anger and depression. Hamlet had every right to be angry and depressed over the death of his father. This type of reaction is normal for anyone who is grieving. This reaction is even more acceptable if the grieving is over a parent such as Hamlet’s situation. Hamlet was angry at the beginning because the death of his father was a brand new change in his life. Throughout the play Hamlet’s angry...
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...cscanada.org Http://www.cscanada.net E-mail: css@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com Vol.5 No.5 2009 10/31/2009 Hamlet’s Femininity L A F É MINIT É D E HAMLET GUO De-yan1 Abstract: The charm of Hamlet over the centuries largely lies in Shakespeare’s subtle treatment of Hamlet, and many critics have interpreted Hamlet’s tragedy as a result of his indecisive character, his obsession with philosophical thinking or his Oedipus Complex. This essay holds that Hamlet’s struggle with his femininity also contributes to his tragedy. Hamlet does exhibit some masculine traits such as courage, rationality and aggressiveness, but at the same time he is agonized to find that he is as weak, emotional, passive and dependent as a woman. In whatever cases he is placed either as a prince, a son or a lover, he is more identified with women than with men. Such a discovery tortures him and produces in him some sense of self-negation and self-hatred. Because of his deep-rooted patriarchal concept of gender identity, Hamlet cannot make a compromise with the feminine traits in him, and it somewhat prevents him from taking a masculine action to avenge his father. Key words: Hamlet; Femininity; Masculinity; Tragedy; Self-Hatred Résumé: Depuis des sicècles, le charme d’Hamlet se trouve largement dans un traitement subtil de Shakespeare de ce personnage et de nombreuses critiques ont interprété la tragédie d'Hamlet en raison de son caractère indécis, son obsession par la pensée philosophique...
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...the 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...
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