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the stucture of hamlet
The representation of Hamlet
The representation of Hamlet
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Life is a very delicate thing. In Sunday School this past Sunday morning I heard a man speak on how the fragility of our lives is relatable to that of sheep. The man said once he heard one of his sheep coming around the corner of his barn and jumped out to scare it, literally instantly killing it with fear. We are not always as tough and superfluous as we think we are. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet often finds himself much closer to death than he once thought. Hamlet creeps closer to death in Act V through three circumstances: Ophelia’s death, Laertes’ challenge to a duel, and the King’s foolish plans to get rid of Hamlet.
First, Hamlet becomes close to death through the passing of his loved one, Ophelia. Hamlet has no idea when the Act opens that not only is Ophelia dead but he’s standing right next to her grave. Just moments before her body is carried onto the scene, in fact, Hamlet jokes with a skull about her. He says, “Now get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come.” (scene I, line 179) He unknowingly jokes wit...
From the beginning of the movie, until the end Hamlet is furious by the hasty marriage of Gertrude (Hamlets mother) to Claudius (hamlets uncle), especially since his father died only two months ago. Hamlet is quite literally mad, he even thinks about committing suicide and this is known because of the famous soliloquy “to be or not to be, that is the question”. However, hamlet is visited by ghost and is told that he was murdered by his Uncle by having poison poured into his ear and the king’s ghost asks hamlet to avenge the king’s death. Hamlet demonstrates his cleverness when he sets up a play which is very similar to what take place on the day that the king was murdered. Hamlet tells Horatio to observe Claudius’ reaction to the play, and if Claudius seems to be troubled by the play, that will confirm the ghosts accusation. Within all of this chaos, hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius and leaves for France. This causes Ophelia to ...
...sulted her when he knew that her father and his uncle were watching and taking notes. In addition, I do not understand why Hamlet waited until now to reveal his true feelings about Ophelia. Her death was probably what caused him to realize that he was unable to save her by telling her to leave the castle, instead he unhinged her sanity.
They decided to invite some of his college friends to watch over him. The Queen offered many thanks for their decision to watch him. “For the supply and profit of our hope, / Your visitation shall receive such thanks / As fits a king’s remembrance.” (2.2.24-26). Claudius asked Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get answers out of him, making them seem more like spies than helpful friends. When Hamlet shows up to Ophelia’s house, seemingly mentally disturbed, Ophelia tells her father. Polonius decides to tell the King of Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship that he thinks that may be the source of his problems. The King and Polonius set up a meeting between the two. Seeming to know he is being watched, Hamlet acts very wildly, leading them to believe Ophelia was not the cause of his insanity. The King is not impressed at Polonius. “Love! His affections do not that way tend, / Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, / Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul” (3.1.170-72). At this point, Hamlet has started his drastic decline in his mental stability. When he is called by the Queen for a talk, he over hears something behind the draped curtains and stabs through it, killing Polonius. His reaction is not what one would expect, as he does not feel any remorse. Hamlet simply states it was for the best and his bad luck. “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. / I took thee for thy
Hamlet runs into Ophelia and angrily Hamlet denies having given her anything; he laments the dishonesty of beauty, and claims both to have loved Ophelia once and never to have loved her at all. Then Hamlet spits out nasty comments including, “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” (Shakespeare 3. 1. 131-132). He criticizes women for making men behave like monsters and for contributing to the world’s dishonesty by painting their faces to appear more beautiful than they are. This illustrates Hamlet shifting from sane to insane. During Hamlets talk between him and his mother he hears a noise behind the arras. Hamlet storms into the room and asks his mother why she has sent for him. She says that he has offended his stepfather. Hamlet accosts her with an almost violent intensity and declares his intention to make her fully aware of the profundity of her sin. Fearing for her life, Gertrude cries out. From behind the arras, Polonius calls out for help. Hamlet, realizing that someone is behind the arras and suspecting that it might be Claudius, cries, “How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead” (Shakespeare 3. 4. 29). He draws his sword and stabs it through the tapestry, killing the unseen Polonius. This begins the starts his complete transformation from sanity to insanity. . Therefore, while Hamlet argues with his mother in her room after the dumb show he makes insulting
Hamlet's behavior throughout the play, especially towards Ophelia is inconsistent. He jumps into Ophelia's grave, and fights with Laertes in her grave. He professes I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not, with all their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum [Act V, scene I, lines 250-253], during the fight with Laertes in Ophelia's grave, but he tells her that he never loved her, when she returns his letters and gifts, while she was still alive. Hamlet subtly hints his awareness of his dissolving sanity as he tells Laertes that he killed Polonius in a fit of madness [Act V, scene II, lines 236-250]
The scene opens up with Hamlet talking outside of a movie theatre to Horatio, and he tells him that he has made a movie of his father’s death. Hamlet tells him to look at Claudius’ reaction once the act happens in the movie. Hamlet says that if he makes any strange gestures he will know that the Ghost of his father was right and Claudius killed him. Once Horatio leaves the scene then shows Ophelia walk in and Hamlet just looks at her and says nothing as she proceeds in. I feel that this was put in to show that Hamlet was still upset with Ophelia and did not want to talk to her after their last exchange in the “Get Thee To A Nunnery” scene.
Sadness is the first emotion that is usually related to death. In the play, Hamlet does not try to disguise his sorrow after his father’s murder. This sadness is intermingled with disgust for the others around him who moved on with their grief and criticized him for continuing to mourn. After being criticized by Gertrude and Claudius, Hamlet chooses to talk to open space to reveal his feelings (1.2.129-158). Hamlet clearly shows the sadness in his heart, as well as the idea of bitterness. He continually attacks his mother’s quick grieving: “O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason / would have mourned longer” (1.2.150-151). This sadness continues in his fake madness, seeping into conversations that show his need for escape. In a confrontation with Polonius, Hamlet ends the con...
...e tension from Ophelias death and the ever-increasing tension and complexity of the plot. It is also an important milestone for Hamlet as he comes in terms with the fact that death is the ultimate equalizer and later in the scene Hamlet imagines how that even Alexander the greats body would of turned into dust, which could have been used to make loam, and that loam could have been used to plug a beer-barrel. This readies Hamlet to die in the final scene, knowing the death is universal, equalizing and more importantly, that everyone dies.
Written by the great William Shakespeare, Hamlet is a classic play that, like many of his works, is considered one of the greatest tragedies written in the world. Telling the story of a prince named Hamlet who has lost his father and had his throne taken by his uncle, a person who has also married Hamlet’s mom, it’s one of the longest plays Shakespeare has written with death counts that never end along with containing a climax that is essentially a glorious affair of death. Furthermore, it is recognized for its usage of deaths early on as the play essentially starts with the description of death of King Hamlet, a character that is the roots of all that is developing throughout the play. However, Hamlet
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...
From past experiences in ones life, whether it be the death of a long aged gold fish to a deceased elder, one knows the pain and suffering that goes on afterwards. For one to finally move on and continue life without a tear in their eyes may take a while, yet having that immense step means to put the emotions aside and live life. Hamlet's father was murdered, and he soon sees his mother move on so quickly and marries his uncle, to continue being the queen. Hamlet's love for his father does not fade away within a two month span like his mother; he refuses to accept the fact that his father was killed, instead of a natural death. Because of this, Hamlet does not know what to do with his life. He mentions "O, that this too too sallied flesh would melt,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon `against self-slaughter" (129-132). Immediately does Hamlet questions the existence of his own life, as he feels the need to melt and disappear, ultimately referring to suicide. The problem we face...
This famous soliloquy offers a dark and deep contemplation of the nature of life and death. Hamlet’s contemplative, philosophical, and angry tones demonstrate the emotions all people feel throughout their lifetimes.
After a death, we find ways of overcoming grief in this painful world. Some people binge eat their way out while others find the easy way out, which is suicide.In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays mortality in the image of death and suicide.Shakespeare develops hamlet as a man who is sensitive and uncontrolled by his actions. Hamlet faces challenges that mess with his subconscious making him feel vulnerable to making decisions that will affect his life.We can say that Hamlet was very indecisive of living or not. He showed many signs of suicidal thoughts. Many can argue and say that Hamlet was depressed. Coming back home from school to attend his father's funeral in Denmark made him discover many things, such as, his mother Gertrude remarried to Hamlet's uncle Claudius who is the dead king's brother. To Hamlet he finds it loathsome for his
This encounter is essential to the plot, in that it provides for Hamlet's return from England and sets the stage for Hamlet's discovery of Ophelia's death. It brings Hamlet from the state in which he was able to easily arrange for the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to one in which he can feel deep sorrow at the loss of Ophelia. It further grants him a better perspective on the nature of death and on his own fate. Its sharp focus on death further serves to prepare the audience for the conclusion of the play. Up to this point, Hamlet has been an active agent in trying to fulfill his destiny as prescribed by his father's ghost. His actions were disorganized and his goal continually foiled. For example, his attempt to control the situation renders him incapable of killing Claudius when he is at prayer, since Hamlet wishes to manipulate the circumstances of Claudius' death so that he is "about some act that has no relish in't" (III, iv, 91-2). The lesson of the graveyard is that death is inevitable, not contrived. Having learned this lesson, Hamlet is a more passive agent of his own fate and the plot resolves itself. The ...
It also brought Hamlet to reality with Ophelia’s death, as he resumes discussions with Yoricks skull, he jokingly says “Now get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that.” (170) revealing how one wastes so much time putting make up on their face, to mask over the inevitable aging process; and how ones fate lies within the very ground we stand on at this moment, no matter how great one is. To further his terms with the death of Ophelia, he is shown the spot Ophelia will be buried in, a few plots away. Showing that her death, is and will be treated just as everyone else will. While the gravedigger tells hamlet much earlier in the play “"not for ever with they vailed lids/ Seek for thy noble father in the dust" (1.2.70-71) and reminded that "your father lost a father” in other words there is no time to mourn the dead, as death is much like a chain, and putting quite bluntly he expresses its best to really just move on. Shakespeare reveals this as a turning point for Hamlet, as he realizes the commonness of death, and the value of life itself, and begins to ponder about his own mortality and destined fate. While quite a morbid outlook on the matter, it does reveal truth to Hamlet, and forces Hamlet to take a more humorous toll on the matter