Hamlet's Procrastination
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his procrastination. From the first time Hamlet was acted until now, critics have fought over the reason for Hamlet’s procrastination. Some say that the cause is due to Sigmund Freud’s theory that Hamlet has an "Oedipal Complex," which is his love for his mother. Others argue that he just never finds the right time to carry out the revenge of his father’s murder. The Oedipal Complex theory in regard to Hamlet’s situation seems more likely because of the amount of times Hamlet has to kill Claudius but always fins a reason not to kill him. If it is not the case, then the cause of the procrastination remains a mystery. There is no reason for Hamlet not to kill Claudius, whom he hates, and was ordered by a higher power to destroy, other than the fact that subconsciously, Hamlet needed Claudius to keep him away from his mother.
Hamlet procrastinated only because of his fear of intimacy with his mother, knowing that Claudius was the only person separating he and Gertrude. Although Hamlet has a pious duty to avenge his father’s murder, his desire for his mother is too strong for him to leave an open pathway to her. He tries to find excuses to postpone his killing Claudius. First, he tries to discover whether or not Claudius really did kill King Hamlet, which gives him some time. After he has convinced himself that Claudius is to blame, he attempts to murder him just twice. The first time, he finds Claudius praying, and uses that as a scapegoat so he can again put off his pious duty. Later when he is alone with Gertrude, he thinks that Claudius is behind the curtains, and kills the man there. Unfortunately, Polonius becomes the victim of Hamlet’s dagger.
The only time when Hamlet does not hesitate to carry out his pious duty is when he is in the bedroom with Gertrude. Unfortunately by mere coincidence, Polonius is the man behind the bedroom curtain, not Claudius. Hamlet stabs Polonius instinctively because he is where he truly desires to be, with his mother. This is the only time when Hamlet actually has the courage to try to kill Claudius, thus opening the path to Gertrude. All of the other times in the play, Hamlet is either alone or with people who he needs to hide his desire from.
Scout learned a number of things in the book, but most of them all refer back to a statement that Atticus and Calpurnia said, which goes, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because all they do is sing their hearts our for us.” (Lee, pg. 90). Scout learned that about people, too. She learned that some people don’t do anything to you, so it would be a sin to do something mean in return. Over the course of the story Scout becomes more mature and learns the most important facts of life. She was living through a very difficult time and most of that helped her get through.
When Hale arrives at Salem to cure witchcraft, he is very trustworthy among the people, and he has confidence in drawing opinions. In the beginning of the play, many people believe that John Hale can cure witchcraft since he is a theocratic minister. John Hale also
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is about mass hysteria of witches being in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. An educated man named Revered Hale arrived in the town with his exclusive knowledge of witches to help the town eliminate the presence of the Devil. He became a member of the court and aided in putting innocent people in jail or hung. As Hale started to see the consequences of his actions, he struggled with fixing his mistakes. The change in his perspective of the witch trials caused his overall personality and attitude to change as well. Hale’s dialogue, stage directions, and other people’s perceptions of him reveal a man motivated by good intentions; furthermore, his mission to help Salem destroyed evil in the beginning and his attempts
Rebecca Nurse has the belief that not everyone in Salem has the ability to practice magic. Although, she does her best to convince Reverend Hale that this is true, he does not agree and quickly judges her as well. As Hale spoke to Francis, he mentioned that “though our hearts break we cannot flinch; these are new times [...] the devil is alive in Salem and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points (854).” Reverend Hale means that they must not go against the court, even if his heart tells him differently. While eating dinner with several important court officials, a poppet stabs Abigail. After witnessing Mary Warren testify that the poppet which allegedly stabbed Abigail was made by her, Hale still “[could not] judge [Elizabeth Proctor] guilty or innocent.” Reverend Hale says that there will be chaos if John Proctor blames the witch trials on “the vengeance of a little girl” (861). Then, as Reverend Hale witnessed Mary Warren confess, he still believed that Elizabeth should go to jail. If Hale was not so stuck in his ways, he would see that Elizabeth is innocent of witchcraft. Hale should not have let the court officials take her to jail. Overall, Reverend Hale’s closed-mindedness keeps him from seeing that Elizabeth is
Nationwide, students in history classes study and learn about the infamous incident known as the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Through textbooks and research, students learn about this event from a factual and objective point of view. Students learn such facts like 19 men and women were hanged because they were convicted of witchcraft. Students learn the essential information as deemed important by their teacher; yet, students do not have the opportunity to learn about the trials from a subjective and personal point of view. Arthur Miller uses such a view point in his play The Crucible, which personifies the sentiments, attitudes, and standpoints of the people in Salem who were directly involved in the trials. Through Miller's poignant perspective, he shows the readers another side of the witch trials through the eyes of the actual participants. One such participant in the play who provides the readers with this valuable perspective is Reverend John Hale, a minister from Beverly who is called to Salem to investigate Salem's eccentric problem. Nonetheless, Reverend John Hale's perspective does not stay constant throughout the entire play. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the beliefs and principles of Reverend John Hale change dramatically, as the events of the Salem Witch Trials cause him to question his moral values and initial intentions.
Hale does not start out as such however. In fact he is the reason the witch hunts are started. In the beginning of the play Hale is called to Salem to determine whether or not witchcraft is afoot. Witchcraft is expertise, and Hale, eager and naïve, wants to determine whether or not the devil is in Salem. His analysis is that Tituba is controlling the girls’ souls, leading the girls, starting with Abigail of course, to shout out various people they saw convening with the devil while they were under the control of Tituba. Hale, blindly and unquestioningly conforms to the rest of the town and believes the girls. In fact he leads the way, resulting in fourteen arrests. He is completely unphased by this, and wholly believes that they are all witches and that by arresting them he is doing God’s work.
Ponyboy Curtis struggles growing up as a poor youth with his two brothers. One night while he is out with Johnny, Ponyboy is attacked by the Socs. Johnny ends up killing one of the Socs. They both flee from the scene before the news gets out. They are caught in a fire and Johnny and Ponyboy become heroes for saving some children. The story has a tragic end for Johnny but Ponyboy realises that he is fortunate, having family and friends that love him
Scout Finch is not the stereotypical girl from the 1930’s. Agents the wishes of everyone around her, she grows up in overalls instead of dresses. Scout plays in the dirt and sand, instead of in the kitchen. In the novel To Kill a Mocking Bird, by Harper Lee, Scout is the wild spirited narrator, growing up in the small town of Maycomb. As she gets older, she learns mostly from her father Atticus how to interact with people. Scout learns to show dignity and respect to everyone, under any circumstances.
Mood helps in creating an atmosphere in a literary work by means of setting, theme, diction and tone. Throughout the book To kill a mockingbird the author wanted the mood to be sorrowful or vexed or just fret about how the people are acting because seeing how things were being treated or how people acted would be enough to make you feel angry or sad or worried for the people who were in the book. You always wanted to know what was going to come next or how something would end. Vex was a very prominent mood in this story and is definitely the most relevant.
Because he is forced to accept that his beliefs have been messed with and realizes that he has sent people to their deaths, he loses faith in the law and questions his faith in God. Arthur Miller put many events into the story and tells about Hale’s mindset. In the middle of Act I, Hale comes and what he is called by the townspeople “The truth seeker”. Hale is called upon to determine what sort of witchcraft is going on. Hale arrives admired by the people who wants him to calm this nonsense of witchcraft down. He understands he being led toward the conclusion of witchcraft by the town’s wrong doings. He also begins to see a weakness in the position of the townspeople of Salem and tries to not let common things be the support for his
The test that Reverend John Hale faces is whether he can change his character early enough to redeem himself for the lives he has caused to be lost. He is the character that shows the most significant transformation overall. When he first comes to Salem, he is eager to find witchcraft and is honored that his scholastic skills are necessary. He feels that as an exorcist, it is his duty to help pe...
The main character of this book is Ponyboy. Ponyboy was a Greaser he was different from all the others he liked books and movies. Nobody in the Greasers digged books and movies the way Ponyboy did. Ponyboy was fourteen years old and he had two brothers that he lived with his older brother Darrel who they call Darry and his second older brother Sodapop who was sixteen going on seventeen. Ponyboy only live with his brothers because they mother and father was killed in a car accident. Ponyboy wanted to be like a movie star Paul Newman he wished he looked like him. Ponyboy always thought his brother Darry never cared about him or anything else. Ponyboy had a friend Jonny. Johnny was a Greaser too but he was the softest one but after he got jumped that changed he always carried a switchblade on him.
Arthur Miller weaves many events into the story that contribute to the alteration in Hale’s mindset. In the middle of Act 1, Hale arrives and is perceived by the town as “The truth seeker”. Hale is called upon to determine what sort of witchcraft, if any, is occurring (Page 33-35). Hale arrives admired by the people, who all want him to claim it was witchcraft that has occurred. Although unsure, he understands he is being led toward the conclusion of witchcraft by the town’s false pretences and mass hysteria. He begins to see a weakness in the position of the townspeople of Salem and tries to not let common accusations be the support for his diagnosis.
In the book “The Great Gatsby” we have the character Nick, which at first, gave the impression of a nice person, because in the book he states that keeps all judgments to himself, stated in, this quote, “ In consequence I am inclined to reserve all judgments.” This gives an idea that Nick while knowing the character of another keeps his ideas to himself, in addition, it shows that Nick is aiming to keep the judgments that his father gave him with out giving up, even though it has caused Nick a lot of trouble. That make Nick boring, nonetheless, he continued showing an ambition to keep his fathers advise, ...
By most accounts, this passage would be taken to mean that he does not kill Claudius because at this time the King is praying, and when praying one's soul will ascend to heaven if one should die. Hamlet wants Claudius to burn in hell; for him to go to heaven would make his revenge void. He will avenge his father's death when Claudius is engaged in some other less holy act, in order to insure the King's place in hell.