'Hamlet ', one of William Shakespeare longest and finest piece of literary work. Hamlets play hones in on characteristics such as, sadness, madness, insanity, morbidity, and mortality. While many scenes depict many of these characteristic’s if not more than one, Act 5 Scene 1 is renownedly known for exhibiting all five of these characteristics in just a few paragraphs. With Shakespeare’s writing technique imagery, repletion, and metaphors expressed throughout this scene, it allows for the reader to receive a clear image of what is going through Hamlets mind. In Act 5 Scene 1, Shakespeare uses imagery to express what Hamlet is thinking at that moment. When Hamlet begins discussion with the gravedigger, he is presented a skull of someone 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
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 ...
Much of the dramatic action of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet is within the head of the main character, Hamlet. His wordplay represents the amazing, contradictory, unsettled, mocking, nature of his mind, as it is torn by disappointment and positive love, as Hamlet seeks both acceptance and punishment, action and stillness, and wishes for consummation and annihilation. He can be abruptly silent or vicious; he is capable of wild laughter and tears, and also polite badinage.
The visual image most popularly associated with William Shakespeare's play Hamlet is that of young Ophelia's body floating in the river after her suicidal drowning as described in Act 4, Scene 7, lines 167-184. Shakespeare's captivating illustration of an unstable young woman finally at rest has been portrayed by several artists because of its beautiful, whimsical narrative. Ophelia's depiction throughout the play personifies not only youthful love, loss, innocence and naïveté, but also the dependent role of women in the time of Shakespeare.
When one reflects on the questions they are asked in life, one of the most thought provoking questions is “what is your favorite movie?” Though a trivial question, one constantly finds oneself baffled trying to think of a movie in which they can truly say is their favorite. Once one comes up with an answer to this question, the preceding question is “why?” What is it that truly makes a movie great? One can argue the characters, or the story line that makes the movie great. But ultimately it is the memorable scenes in which make the movie ones favorite. It is the scenes that truly stand out above the other components of a movie or play. For this reason, numerous writers emphasize one or two scenes in which stand out from all the rest. This technique was mastered by no other than the playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare throughout his tragedies focuses on two scenes that stand out to the audiences. Shakespeare’s emphasis on scenes is evident in act 1 scene 1, act three scene 1 of his play Hamlet, and Act 2kj… of his play King Lear.
Hamlet commences off the verbalization with darkness and despair. Hamlet is contemplating life or death.
In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the main character struggles to avenge the death of his father. Fear paralyzes him as he holds off on getting revenge on the new King Claudius, who stole the royal throne by murdering Hamlet’s father. However, it isn’t just fear that makes him hesitant as he reasons the situation. Hamlet hesitates to take action because he struggles with making his own choices, just like his weak-minded mother, Gertrude.
(Act 1, Scene 2 – Act 1, Scene 5) William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, with a reputation as the greatest of all writers in the English language, as well as one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most analysed plays. The play is about Hamlet, Prince of Denmark who hopes to avenge the murder of his father.
Within Shakespeare's Hamlet, juxtaposition is used to achieve many purposes such as to enhance mood, re-establish themes and to illustrate characterization. The characters of Hamlet and Ophelia are an example of how Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to clearly illustrate traits of his characters. However, he not only juxtaposes the character against others but also to themselves in their speech. Moreover, in the gravedigger scene in Act 5, Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to enhance the theme and message of the scene. Additionally, the use of juxtaposition creates one of the most important themes of the play, contrast.
In act 3, Hamlet questions the unbearable pain of life and views death through the metaphor of sleep. "To be or not to be: that is the question: / whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles / and, by opposing end them. To die, to sleep / no more" (3.1.64-68), details which bring up new thoughts about what happens in the after life. Thus, Hamlet contemplates suicide, but his lacking knowledge about what awaits him in the afterworld causes him to question what death will bring. For example he states, "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn / no traveler returns, puzzles the will / and makes us rather bear those ills we have / than fly to others that we know not of" (3.1.87-90), again revealing his growing concern with "Truth" and his need for certainty. Once again, death appears in act 4 with the suicide of Ophelia, the demand for Hamlet's execution and the gravedigger scene. All of these situations tie back with how death is all around Hamlet and feeds his obsession with it. Finally in act 5, Hamlet meets his own death, as his obsession to know leads to the death of himself.
Clearly this shows Hamlet grieving his father’s death while showing hostility to the king and queen for being so deathly cold about the previous king’s death. Also the readers can also see in Hamlet’s opening dialogue, it shows that he still has not come to terms with his father’s death and is still in the state of shock when we first see him.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was forced upon him.Death is something he struggles with as an abstract idea and as relative to himself. He is able to reconcile with the idea of death and reality eventually.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is filled with many schemes and situations that are a challenge to interpret. The play centers around Hamlet, whose uncle murdered his father and married his mother. Certainly no one could blame Hamlet for appearing a little bit crazy after having to deal with that type of trauma. There are several times during Hamlet when Prince Hamlet appears to be crazy. What makes assessing the prince’s mental state more challenging is the fact that Prince Hamlet sets up a play within the play to expose his uncle for killing his father. Hundreds of years after Shakespeare first wrote Hamlet in 1603, scholars still disagree over whether Prince Hamlet is actually
But because of Hamlet’s drive to avenge his father’s death, and Ophelia’s will to obey her father, the two died in grief, along with the rest of Hamlet’s family. This play portrays the tragedy of death and how revenge does not end well. In fact it shows how revenge can lead to insanity and disturbance in the natural order. It causes anger and hate, something that is uncontrollable. Ophelia’s death shows how cruel revenge is and how one cannot realize whom their actions affect. Ophelia’s innocence gave a clear relationship to the theme of the play: mortality. Her death signifies how even the most naïve and delicate of situations can be affected by the horrors of death, revenge, and
Hamlet’s mourning about the death of his father and the remarriage of his mother drives him to madness. This is the main characters inner tragedy that Shakespeare expresses in the play. First he considers suicide but the ghost of King Hamlet sends him on a different path, directing him to revenge his death. Shakespeare uses Hamlet to articulate his thoughts about life, death and revenge. Being a moral character he must decide if revenge is the right thing to do. Shakespeare relays many scenarios of reasoning to the audience about mankind His hero sets the wrongs on mankind right again.
A tragedy, in terms of literature, is when the main character is not seen as indestructible. The main character has flaws and a tragic ending. One of the most famous writer of tragedies is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare, author of Hamlet, (biography.com) was alive between the years 1564 and 1616. His occupations were playwriting and poetry and he was brilliant. William, being the poet and play writer he his, wrote almost 400 different pieces. Some of his most famous plays include: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. Hamlet is considered a tragedy because Hamlet, the main character, has a character flaw which is being very reluctant. Also throughout the play nothing really seems to go the way that Hamlet plans. Finally, the end of the play ends expectantly with a death from just about every main character except Horatio, Hamlets best friend.