Although many works of literature are very long, the main idea can be summarized in one or two of its lines. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the most important line is: “This above all, to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man” (1.3, 78-80). Spoken by Polonius, this advice is present throughout the entire play, together with the motifs of truth and lying. The characters desire to be true to themselves; however, some of them are not true to others. The main character, Hamlet, is a character that is not true to others, nor to himself. When the Ghost of his father tells him he was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet doubts the truth. He does not trust the ghost of his father, so has to find a way to prove it. Deciding on how to prove or disprove the Ghost, Hamlet predicts: “The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King” (2.2, 616-17). Because he distrusts the Ghost, Hamlet is not true to his father. However, when his plan proves to him that the Ghost’s words are true, Hamlet still does not act; he still cannot avenge his father’s murder. Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius, using the fact that he is praying as an excuse. Hamlet does not want Claudius’s soul to go to heaven, therefore he decides not to kill him, explaining: “A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do the same villain send to heaven” (3.3, 76-78). However, after trying to pray, the King claims that his prayers were not heard: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. / Words without thoughts never to heaven go” (3.3, 97-8). Therefore, had Hamlet chosen to kill Claudius at that time, his soul would have gone to Hell. Hamlet uses God as an excuse for not acting. He is not true and is lying to himself, because he wants to kill Claudius, yet does not. Claudius is also a character who is neither true to himself nor to others: he is not being true to the rest of the kingdom. He does not want to give up his gains, so the people of Denmark do not know why their previous King has died and his brother taken over. While making an attempt to pray, he realizes that his sins cannot be forgiven.
Claudius feels much guilt about the death of his brother he also faces the desires of power. The guilt of his brother death drives Claudius to be on his toes around the kingdom. He remains very scared that someone like Hamlet Jr. might avenge his father’s death. Hamlet Jr. chooses to use a play to test Claudius’s guilt. He rewrites parts of the play to replicate the story voiced by the ghost. Hamlet Jr. watches Claudius carefully during the performance, and the king leaves during it (Gale). Claudius gets up and leaves because he cannot bear to see the reenactment of how he killed his own brother. The internal conflict of the guilt about his brother eats Claudius up and he goes to repent for the corrupt act he has done: “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,/ And like a man to double business bound,/ I stand in pause where I shall first begin,/ And neglect; what if this cursed hand,/Were thicker than itself with brothers blood” (3.3.40-45). Claudius repents but knows his words will mean nothing to the heavens because Claudius is an insincere being whom
As the top-selling buyer at Posh Style Studios, I know for a film to be exceedingly preferential, the audience’s interest is the key. Without the interest of your audience, you cannot achieve the primary goal: sales. In the best interests of Posh Style Studios, we are gratified to bring before you, your next immense sensation: “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. The beguiling title refers to the time period upon which the central character, Louise Mallard, perceives that her husband is dead and then learns that he is after all, alive. In "The Story of an Hour", there are a number of literary elements that influence the story, having the audience on their toes for what will transpire next. The story's structure is also constructed on tongue-in-cheek elements. Kate Chopin uses irony to make the story a tease to the audience. The audience is forced to assume about what little is known, what they want to know, and what really is happening. This film will appeal to countless audiences as they absorb the pros and cons of communication, time...
In the short story, “Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses diction and syntax to demonstrate that as much as one yearns for freedom, it might not be everlasting.
The plays the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King". (55) Towards the end of the play, Claudius hastily removes himself from the crowd, verifying Hamlet's suspicions. Now, Hamlet not only possesses every reason to believe the ghost, but entrusts his faith in the ghost as well. However, Hamlet's faith does not lie solely in the ghost. He has another kind of faith faith in himself. Hamlet's belief that he can see through his revenge blatantly exemplifies his faith in himself.
The question of why Hamlet delays in taking revenge on Claudius for so long has puzzled readers and audience members alike. Immediately following Hamlet's conversation with the Ghost, he seems determined to fulfill the Ghost's wishes and swears his companions to secrecy about what has occurred. The next appearance of Hamlet in the play reveals that he has not yet revenged his father's murder. In Scene two, act two, Hamlet gives a possible reason for his hesitation. "The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T' assume a pleasing shape" (2.2.627-629). With this doubt clouding his mind, Hamlet seems completely unable to act. This indecision is somewhat resolved in the form of the play. Hamlet comes up with the idea of the play that is similar to the events recounted by the ghost about his murder to prove Claudius guilty or innocent. Due to the king's reaction to the play, Hamlet attains the belief that the Ghost was telling the truth the night of the apparition.
As the story progresses it becomes evident that she suffered from more than one type, physical and emotional. Common to the women of that day, Louise obviously did not go around complaining about her unhappiness with her husband and her life. Her sister and husband’s friend were worried that she might not even be able to bear the bad news. One of the aspects of “The Story of an Hour” that is compelling to the reader is the fact that Louise Mallard feels excitement after learning of her husband’s death. She anticipates the possibility of being a free woman and able to live for herself. “She said it over and over under her breath: ‘free, free, free!”.(Chopin 236) Although her husband was not abusive, the reader intuitively understands that Louise felt oppressed in her marriage and now for the first time, she feels the possibility of constructing her own identity and identifying possibilities for her own
In many short stories, characters face binding situations in their lives that make them realize more about themselves when they finally overcome such factors. These lively binding factors can result based on the instructions imposed by culture, custom, or society. They are able to over come these situations be realizing a greater potential for themselves outside of the normality of their lives. Characters find such realizations through certain hardships such as tragedy and insanity.
...rectly after he decides not to stab Claudius at prayer because he wants to ensure that Claudius’ soul is “…as damned and black as hell, whereto it goes…” He does not want Claudius to be sent to heaven but rather to hell. This hasty decision can be seen as madness, but it also reveals the inner confusion within Hamlet because when he is finally bold enough to act, he acts too quickly and kills the wrong person, which shows how desperately he wants to prove himself a brave and noble son to his late father, and not “pigeon-livered.”
In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin tells the story of a woman, Mrs. Mallard whose husband is thought to be dead. Throughout the story Chopin describes the emotions Mrs. Mallard felt about the news of her husband's death. However, the strong emotions she felt were not despair or sadness, they were something else. In a way she was relieved more than she was upset, and almost rejoiced in the thought of her husband no longer living. In using different literary elements throughout the story, Chopin conveys this to us on more than one occasion.
However, when one of the actors gives a speech he berated himself. "HAMLET: O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! / Is it not monstrous that this player here, / But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, / Could force his soul so to his own conceit / That from her working all his visage wanned, / Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, / A broken voice, and his whole function suiting / With forms to his conceit—and all for nothing!" (2.2.577-584). After getting moved over a fictional character, he is ready to face of what's in front of him. Hamlet is motivated to complete his goal to let the people of Denmark the truth about his father and uncle. Hamlet watched Fortinbras send an army across Denmark and wonders that so many men are going to die of a small piece of land. "HAMLET: Whose spirit with divine ambition puffed / Makes mouths at the invisible event, / Exposing what is mortal and unsure / To all that fortune, death and danger dare, / Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great / Is not to stir without great argument, / But greatly to find quarrel in a straw / When honor's at the stake. How stand I, then, / That have a father killed, a mother stained, / Excitements of my reason and my blood, / And let all sleep, while, to my shame," (4.4.53-61). He looks at the men marching and says that this is pointless over land and at this moment Hamlet's thoughts turn into full on revenge on Claudius. He's fueled
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin can be portrayed in many ways. The main character Louise has been notifued that her husband has passed away in a tragic accident. There is no telling what she felt towards him or the incident, due to her feeling the need to be "free". Was it the desire to actually be free or the desire to be alone and independent once again?
Setting exists in every form of fiction, representing elements of time, place, and social context throughout the work. These elements can create particular moods, character qualities, or features of theme. Throughout Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," differing amounts and types of the setting are revealed as the plot develops. This story deals with a young woman's emotional state as she discovers her own independence in her husband's death, then her "tragic" discovery that he is actually alive. The constituents of setting reveal certain characteristics about the main character, Louise Mallard, and are functionally important to the story structure. The entire action takes place in the springtime of a year in the 1890s, in the timeframe of about an hour, in a house belonging to the Mallards. All of these aspects of setting become extremely relevant and significant as the meaning of the story unfolds.
Upon seeing her husband alive and well Louise realizes that the life she has imagined is not to be. The return of Brently signals a return of the patriarchal oppression in her life, and after imagining herself as an individual and then to be denied the chance to live freely is a punishment far worse than the crime. Louise loses her identity and once again becomes "his wife." Richards once more tries to protect her, a helpless woman, by attempting to block her view from her husband, because of the fragile state of her heart. Mrs. Mallard's strengths are gone, never to be acknowledged by the men in her life. For one, brief hour she was an individual. Now she finds herself bound by masculine oppression with no end in sight, and the result is death.
At first, Hamlet sees the ghost of his dead father and vows to avenge his death. “Christianity forbids followers to seek out spirits for advice or communication” (Ja) Hamlet has his faith tested because he is unsure about what his father is telling him. If the truth is that Claudius is the one who murdered Hamlet’s father then Hamlet will need to commit murder himself in order to fulfill his promise to his father’s ghost. “Hamlet, after the shock of his discoveries, becomes virtually another person and re-evaluates the situation in accordance with his religious views. Perhaps the ghost is just an illusion or mental disorder making him imagine this tale, and the murder of his father is illusory because he is not able to accept this kind of marriage and he wants to justify his crimes.” (****) Hamlet wrestles with his feelings and decides he must arrange for Claudius to admit to the murder instead of murdering Claudius himself. He is aware of the moral dilemma he finds himself in, if he kills Claudius then he, Hamlet may go to hell. If he refuses to kill Claudius then his father may be sent to hell. Hamlet knows from his religious background that murd...
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” focuses on a woman named Louise Mallard and her reaction to finding out about her husband’s death. The descriptions that the author uses in the story have significance in the plot because they foreshadow the ending.