Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Literary analysis of shakespeare
Shakespeare's fault with character
Literary analysis of shakespeare
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Self Doubt in Hamlet
William Shakespeare is widely known for his ability to take a sad story, illustrate it with words, and make it a tragedy. Usually human beings include certain discrepancies in their personalities that can at times find them in undesirable or difficult situations. However, those that are exemplified in Shakespeare’s tragedies include “character flaws” which are so destructive that they eventually cause their downfall. For example, Prince Hamlet, of Shakespeare’s tragedy play “Hamlet,” is seemingly horrified by what the ghost of his father clarifies concerning his death. Yet the actions executed by Hamlet following this revelation do not appear to coincide with the disgust he expresses immediately after the ghost alerts him of the true cause of his death. Thus, it is apparent that the instilled self doubt of Prince Hamlet is as the wand that Shakespeare uses to transform an otherwise sad story to an unfortunate tragedy.
Dismayed, disturbed, distressed. These three words are the resounding cry of Act I, Scene V of the play. They are felt by both of the characters featured. The ghost, or King Hamlet, because he was killed without the chance to repent his sins and now dwells without purpose “...doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, and for the day confin’d to fast in fires, till the foul crimes done in [his] days of nature are purg’d away.”(Act I, Scene V lines10-12) While Hamlet can only utter, “Alas, poor ghost,” at the suffering he is “ bound to hear” from the voice he once knew as that of his father. As the ghost begins to retell how, “...[his] custom always of the afternoon, upon his secure hour [Prince Hamlet’s] uncle stole, with juice of cursed hebona in a vial, and in the purches of [his] ears did pour the leprous distillment, whose effect holds such an enmity with blood of man that swift quicksilver it courses through the natural gates of the body...” and thus sent him to his untimely death, Hamlet can only swear that he shall never forget the words spoken by the ghost.(Act I, Scene V lines 60-7) Hamlet vows to “ ...wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past that youth and observation copied there...” so that “[his father’s] commandment all alone shall live...within the book and volume of [his] brain, unmixed with baser matter.
Hamlet is extremely proud of Old King and respects him.“He was a great human being. He was perfect in everything. I’ll never see the likes of him again” (I.ii.185-188). Hamlet loves his father and gives the greatest praise at the funeral. Grief driven by love tempts Hamlet to think his father’s goodness, and more, the loss of such a favorable figure. Hamlet believes that the ghost that is said to look like the dead king is indeed his father.”He waxes desperate with imagination”(I.ii.92). The Prince, who is deep in sadness and does not think sufficiently, is convinced that the spirit is the Old Hamlet, he is the only person that can physically communicate with the ghost. Hamlet for the second time talks to the apparition in his mother’s chamber, where Gertrude does not see any. What Horatio and other witnesses encounter at the gate at night proves the possibility of the existence of the ghost, Hamlet later in the play is considered to be truly mad on the account of his unusual ability to see and talk to the spirit, which is obviously conjured up by his mind. Rising actions in both the book and the play are implied at the beginning of the stories: Amir’s memory of 1975 and Old Hamlet’s death. The journey of redemption or revenge takes actions of concealing their true emotions and implementing devised
Hemenway, Robert E. Crayon Enlargement of Life. Modern Critical Views: Zora Neale Hurston. Ed. Harold Bloom. Chelsea House, 1986. 72-80.
After Janie’s complete failure of marriage with Logan Killicks, She was looking for what was missing with their relationship. When Joe came down the road, She saw things being significantly different than what she had with Killicks. Jody stood for things she found fascinating. “…He spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance.” (29). And although Jody did not represent the Pear tree which symbolized Janie’s ideal complementary man, He was more than what Killicks offered.
As a young teenager, Janie becomes infatuated with the idea of an idealistic romance: “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace…So this was a marriage!” (Hurston 11). This image represents Janie’s budding sexuality; Janie wants to find the love and affection from a man, that the bees share with the pear tree, thus sparking her quest to finding this love throughout the novel. Janie experiences three different marriages to Logan, to Jody, and to Tea Cake. Since Janie’s first marriage was arranged by her grandmother, Janie never found the love she was searching for and once her grandmother died Janie’s obligation to Logan died as well. Janie becomes free to marry whomever she wants and free to continue her search for love. Although Janie finds happiness in the second marriage to Jody, the love begins to fade because Jody is unwilling to treat her as an equal: “He wanted her submission and he’d keep fighting until he felt he had it” (Hurston 71). Joe represents strength and power, resulting in his domination over anything that crosses his path, and once Janie realizes this she believes her love is to be saved for another man she has yet to meet. In her final marriage to Tea Cake, Janie finds the pear tree she been looking for. Unlike the previous marriages, Tea Cake allows her to be herself...
She only sees the good and not his faults. She comes to regret going off with Jody Starks. Joe values ambition and material wealth more than Janie. She suffers under Joe’s controlling possessive personality. She is forced to keep silent, stops her from talking with the others and hides her hair. Janie is just a symbol for Joe to show off. Janie, though rarely speaking her mind, shows little contest during this marriage. Her caring nature doesn’t allow her to rest while Joe is dying. She does everything she can for him but in the end, she feels like has freedom at
Throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by, Zora Neale Hurston, many themes occurred that were similar to this time
Janie instantly adored his confidence and his charisma, which is why she decided to marry him after having only known him for about two weeks. The relationship quickly turned sour after that with Janie realizing that Joe is very abusive. He constantly needed control over everything that she did. He beat her if the slightest thing wasn't as he wanted it to be and always made it a point to show off his "masculinity" in front of others. Joe once said, "Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves." (Hurston 71) He had an uncontrollable jealousy over Janie. He saw her as an object more than a person; he constantly made her feel as though she was lesser. Joe also said things such as, "You gettin' too moufy, Janie..." (Hurston 75) Joe eventually became sick in his old age. Janie had mixed feelings when he came down with kidney failure. He didn't even know he was dying and when Janie told him he was, he was quite upset. Janie felt bad for him in that moment. However, right after Joe's death, she let down her hair and was happy to be a newly free
It was not that Marx was religious anymore, the religion was sentimental to him. Marx a battle-tested soldier in the U.S. Army did not even recognize that he had already defeated an enemy set to wipe his heritage. PFC Grossbart and Captain Barrett were Marx’s next opponents. Grossbart first introduced himself as “Sheldon,”(p.117) to try to get on a first name basis with Marx, for a familiarity that Marx did not want. Grossbart suspected Marx was Jewish by the spelling of his last name, which he spelled out as “M-a-r-x.”(p.117) Grossbart led Marx into believing he was interested in going to church instead of cleaning the barracks. Marx knowing it was unfair that they were denied the chance to attend service told Grossbart he could “attend shul”(p.118). By call...
...h, K.A. and Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. eds. Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993.
Hamlet tarnishes his image and sacrifices his dignity as a result of his ploy to fool those around him and avenge his father’s murder. Initially, the character of Hamlet is portrayed as “a soldier” and “a scholar” with “a noble mind”. This description by Ophelia is one that the citizens of Elsinore including friends and family of Hamlet would have open-heartedly agreed to. After all, as Claudius said to Hamlet: “You are the most immediate to our throne...” Hamlet must act in a presentable state at all times so can be in favor with the people in the event that he were to become king. However, after the revelation by the Ghost that “The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown,” Hamlet is shocked but at the same time confused. He is forced into a conflict between acting and not acting ...
Throughout the play Hamlet is in constant conflict with himself. An appearance of a ghost claiming to be his father, “I am thy father’s spirit”(I.v.14) aggravates his grief, nearly causing him to commit suicide and leaving him deeply disgusted and angered. Upon speaking with his ghost-father, Hamlet learns that his uncle-stepfather killed Hamlet the King. “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown”(I.v.45-46) Hamlet is beside himself and becomes obsessed with plotting and planning revenge for the death of his father.
In Hamlet, William Shakespeare presents the main character Hamlet as a man who is fixated on death. Shakespeare uses this obsession to explore both Hamlet's desire for revenge and his need for assurance. In the process, Shakespeare directs Hamlet to reflect on basic principles such as justice and truth by offering many examples of Hamlet's compulsive behavior; as thoughts of death are never far from his mind. It is apparent that Hamlet is haunted by his father's death. When Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, their conversation raises all kinds of unthinkable questions, for example murder by a brother, unfaithful mother, that triggers Hamlet's obsession. He feels compelled to determine the reliability of the ghost's statements so that he can determine how he must act. Ultimately, it is his obsession with death that leads to Hamlet avenging the death of his father by killing Claudius.
The way we see ourselves is often reflected in the way we act. Hamlet views himself as different to those young nobles around him such as Fortinbras and Laertes. This reality leads us to believe that over time he has become even more motivated to revenge his father's death, and find out who his true friends are. How can you be honest in a world full of deceit and hate? His seven soliloquies tell us that while the days go by he grows more cunning as he falls deeper into his madness. This fact might have lead Hamlet to believe that suicide is what he really wants for his life's course.
Death threads its way through the entirety of Hamlet, from the opening scene’s confrontation with a dead man’s ghost to the blood bath of the final scene, which occurs as a result of the disruption of the natural order of Denmark. Hamlet is a man with suicidal tendencies which goes against his Christian beliefs as he is focused on the past rather than the future, which causes him to fall into the trap of inaction on his path of revenge. Hamlet’s moral dilemma stems from the ghost’s appearance as “a spirit of health or a goblin damned”, making Hamlet decide whether it brings with...
Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks was the first stage in her development as a woman. She hoped that her forced marriage with Logan would end her loneliness and desire for love. Right from the beginning, the loneliness in the marriage shows up when Janie sees that his house is a "lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been" (20). This description of Logan's house is symbolic of the relationship they have. Janie eventually admits to Nanny that she still does not love Logan and cannot find anything to love about him. "She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (24). Janie's prayer is her final plea for a change in her life. She says "Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best Ah could do. De rest is left to you" (23).