Hamlet's Destructive Humor

810 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Hamlet doubt quotes analysis

Hamlet's Destructive Humor

Humor can be funny and uplifting or cynical and destructive. Hamlet's humor insults every one around him and it's very cynical and leads to his downfall. When Hamlet insults people around him, his remarks are not clearly understood by the people who he is insulting. Hamlet makes Polonius look like a fool when he criticizes him with his words, and Polonius doesn't know that he is being fooled. Hamlet even makes fun of the courtiers particularly Rosencrantz and Guildernstern. Although Hamlet doesn't stop there, he even insults Claudius and his own mother, Gertrude. Hamlet's love, Ophelia, is also an unfortunate victim of these remarks. All these insulting remarks show Hamlet's lack of sympathy for other people, and this confusion leads to his downfall.

When Hamlet feigns madness, Polonius is the most unfortunate victim of Hamlet's insulting and humorous words. When Polonius asks Hamlet, "Do you know me my lord?" (2.2.173) Hamlet replies by saying, "Excellent well. You are a fishmonger." (2.2.174). Hamlet says that, Polonius is sacrificing his daughter's happiness to win the trust of the king. Hamlet says to Polonius, "For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?" (2.2.182-183). Hamlet says that it is not surprising that Polonius is such a hypocrite, because the life giving sun can produce all kinds of horrible things, especially from other horrible things. Polonius asks Hamlet, "Will you walk out of the air, my lord?"(2.2.204), and Hamlets says, "Into my grave" (2.2.204). When Polonius offers Hamlet to go to a warmer room, Hamlet says he'd rather die than go anywhere with Polonius. All these insulting remarks show that Polon...

... middle of paper ...

... Hamlet's humor is rude and insulting to people around him; it's very cynical and leads to his downfall. Hamlet proves his cynical humor when he fools Polonius, makes fun of the courtiers and insults Claudius, Gertrude and Ophelia. Hamlet insults Polonius with his words and always finds out what the courtiers were up to. All these experiences show that humor can be joyful but on the other hand it could prove to be very fatal.

Works Cited and Consulted:

Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations Of Hamlet. New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

Brodwin, Leonora. Hamlet Character Analysis. Monarch Notes. Brodwin's Notes

Scott-Hopkins, Benjamin. "Dark Humor of Hamlet" Shakespeare-Online

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Unabridged William Shakespeare. William George Clark and William Aldis Wright, ed. Running Press. 1989.

Show More
Related

  • Huckleberry Finn Hero's Journey

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Huckleberry Finn learns the value of Jim's life as they formed a strong bond with one another. When the Duke and Dauphin sold Jim, Huckleberry realized that he would do anything to save Jim even if it means he will "go to hell" (Twain 217) for not following societies orders. Huck shows the hero side of him when he realizes that he will

    Read More

  • Journey to Freedom: An Analysis of Huckleberry Finn

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    Huck got a glimmer of hope when the village thought they found Pap drowned in the river, but Huck reasoned that the body was not Pap, and Huck expresses his fear when he says, "So I was uncomfortable again. I judged the old man would turn up by and by, though I wished he wouldn't" (Twain, 11). Huck’s fear of Pap is so extreme that Pap’s survival comes as a disappointment. Huck wishes Pap would stay away and never come back, but he keeps coming back to get money for whiskey,which Huck gives to him because it will make him go away. The whole town knows that Pap is abusive and they are always trying their best to get him sober or legally take Huck away from him, but they never manage to succeed. Pap doesn't even want Huck to be educated, and orders him to stop going to school. Neither Pap nor Huck's mother learned to read, and Pap accuses Huck of feeling superior because he is getting an education. In contrast to Pap, Jim is always kind to Huck during their journey, and he drinks alcohol to relieve venom from a snake bite, not to get drunk like Pap. He is never abusive to Huck, and is a better father to Huck than Pap ever

    Read More

  • Comparison of The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare). Simon & Schuster; New Folger Edition, 2003.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn

    1711 Words  | 4 Pages

    Huck Finn. Huckleberry Finn or Huck Fin is the protagonist of the story. A dynamic character, he is a liar and sometimes a thief. In Tom Sawyer's book, he is a vagabond with a drunkard father. In this book, he starts as a ward to Miss Watson and Widow Douglas. He is afraid of responsibilities and being civilized. Everything that he is changed, when his father kidnapped him and he ran away. He became responsible and loyal to the slave Jim whom he freed from slavery.

    Read More

  • The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin with, the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson are two wealthy sisters who adopt Huck. Thw two sister’s want to teach Huck the importance of religion, manners, and behaving. After staying in the house for a while, Huck realizes that “it [is] rough living in the house all the time”, because the Widow Douglas wants to “sivilize [him]”(Twain, 1). When dinner is ready the widow would call Huck to the table, but before they began eating the widow needs “to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals” (1). Huck knew there was nothing was wrong with the food but because the widow was religious she was trying to instill in Huck that he needs to bless his food and give thanks to God for it. The widow is trying to make religion a part of Huck’s life, which seems to be a negative impact on his life considering the many times Twain portrays religious persons as being gullible. Miss Watson, the more forceful of the two sisters, is adamant about getting huck to behave. To help mold Huck into a person that “go[es] to the good place” also known as heaven, Miss Watson constantly tells him things to do to help him behave such as “don’t put your feet up there” and “set up straight”(2). Besides adopting a religion, and behaving, Hucks appearance needed to be neat and respectable. Although the new clothes made Huck “sweat and sweat,...

    Read More

  • Change In Huck Finn

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    From their growing friendship, Huck is able to see Jim more as an equal human being. All the while, Huck is at conflict with his conscience as his mind reminds him of what he’s been taught to think about slaves, but at the same time his heart strives to tell him to do what he feels is right. During the middle of their journey, Huck recognizes that his morals increasingly try to interfere with what his mind believes society would want him to think. One of the first instances where Huck accumulates more respect for Jim was after a violent storm where Huck took advantage of Jim and tried to trick Jim into thinking he dreamt of a wild storm that separated both of them on the river for hours. In the end Huck gave Jim the respect he deserved as a person and apologized: “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a n****” (92). This is the first symbolic moment where Huck verbally admits his wrong doing to Jim and shows more respect towards him as a person. However, Huck still finds his conscience getting in the way as he almost convinced himself it would be better to write a letter to Jim’s owner, Ms. Watson, and tell her where he is and just end the whole journey down the river, “At last I had an idea; and I says, I’ll go and write the letter—and then see if I can pray”

    Read More

  • Journal Entries on Huckleberry Finn

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ot about his character. Jim trusts Huck more and more, and Huck is thinking of Jim more as his friend.

    Read More

  • Socrates and Epicurus - Live Life Without Fear of Death

    2744 Words  | 6 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. C. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.

    Read More

  • How Is Jim A Hero

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    2. Jim wants to protect Huck from seeing his father’s dead body. Jim in this way is being the father that Huck always needed. This is part of the beginning of Huck and Jim’s friendship and it really shows how much Jim cares for Huck. Jim is just starting to play the fatherly role for Huck as ironically Jim finds Huck’s real dad dead.

    Read More

  • Huck and the Question of His Morality

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character, Huck goes through major changes. The story is set before the Civil War in the South. Huck is a child with an abusive father who kidnaps him from, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, the people he was living with. He eventually escapes from his father and finds Jim, Miss Watson’s runaway slave. As Huck travels with Jim, Huck begins to realize that Jim is more than a piece of property. During the travel down the river, Huck makes many decisions that reflect his belief that Jim deserves the same rights he has. Because of these realizations, Huck chooses to do the right thing in many instances. Some of these instances where Huck does the right thing instead of society’s version of the right thing include, Huck apologizing to Jim, not turning Jim in, and tearing up the letter he was going to send to Miss Watson.

    Read More

  • Outdoor Adventure Paintball Park Case Study

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    The second function of organizing is accomplished through the assessment of planning and the preparing for the implementation of resources such as workers and their schedules. Currently, the organization lacks manpower in specific areas and this need to be addressed through better organization of human resources. Managers must also make sure that employees have the necessary resources to perform their jobs. Lack of organization can lead to inefficiency and lack of productivity, which is occurring in the in ability to service customers properly and double booking of clients.

    Read More

  • The Comedy of Hamlet

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, a comic relief is used to relieve tension and to contrast serious scenes to increase the ultimate tragic nature of the play. Polonius uses his self absorbed dull personality to create humor in his scenes. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern act as the fool by their tactless actions and dialogue, their lightheartedness makes the tragic parts of the play seem all the more tragic. And finally Hamlet uses his morbid humor to intensify scenes of sorrow while he also bitterly teases others to relieve tensions at times. The comic relief in Shakespeare’s Hamlet contrasts intense scenes as to make them more intense.

    Read More

  • Theme of Madness Conveyed in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    One example of Hamlet’s madness is how he mocks Polonius. He would not do so normally because Polonius is older than he is so he would normally treat him with a certain amount of respect which he does not do following the sighting of the ghost of Old Hamlet. The Ghost tells Hamlet of his murder, and to test the truth of what he is told, Hamlet puts on “an antic disposition”. Hamlet manages to convince Polonius that he is inconsiderate of others, knowing that with seeing this odd change i...

    Read More

  • Sanity In Hamlet

    2032 Words  | 5 Pages

    During a confrontation between Hamlet and Ophelia, Hamlet denounces her by saying he never loved her and she should enter a nunnery isolated from society. Afterwards, Ophelia says, “That unmatched form and feature of blown youth/ Blasted with ecstasy, O, woe is me/ T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (Shakespeare 3.1 162-164). Ophelia is shocked how Hamlet could suddenly changes his personality. Before, Hamlet was joyful, noble, and full of youth. She believes he has now been ruined by madness, and she feels heartbroken seeing both sides of Hamlet, especially because they were supposed to be in love with each other. According to Mack, “He now sees everywhere, but especially in his own nature, the general taint, taking from life its meaning, from woman her integrity, from the will its strength, turning reason into madness” (Mack 11). Hamlet has been raging at Ophelia, damaging her integrity, and isn’t being rational, specifically because of his increasing instability and madness. In another scene, Hamlet stabs Polonius through a curtain. After murdering Polonius, Hamlet refuses to give away his location. Hamlet says, “Not where he eats, but where ‘a is eaten. A/ certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at/ him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet” (Shakespeare 4.3 19-21). Hamlet says that Polonius is beating eaten by worms, and they are getting fatter by eating at his

    Read More

  • The Moral Maturation of Huckelberry Finn

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    .... Although Jim is a slave, Huck has already learned to recognize Jim as a real human being with emotions and deep consideration for his family. Because of these conclusions, he will do anything to fight for his friend’s rightful freedom.

    Read More

More about Hamlet's Destructive Humor

Open Document