I Pity the Fool
(An Essay On Three Characters From Hamlet I Pity)
When you hear the word Hamlet you think to be or not to be, but when you read this play you start to pity each one of these characters for how tortured and demented they all seem to act. Throughout this play I had made the connection that it reminds me of a beloved Disney movie The Lion King. (Hernandez) While reading or seeing this play you start to pity most of the characters and what they go through each and everyday. Hamlet, Ophelia, and Claudius are three characters you most pity throughout the play Hamlet. You start to understand why these characters are acting the way they do and at the end it all starts to make sense. You realize that they all seem to be facing similar
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He finally gains some understanding when his father 's apparition visits him and asks to avenge his father 's death this is when you start to pity Hamlet. The turning point for hamlets insanity, I think is when he finds out that his uncle had actually murdered his father. You feel sympathy for him because he has mourned for so long and with good reason that he begins to turn crazy and everyone around him seems to notice it. You start to feel bad for Hamlet because he is stuck he thinks about ending his life on page one hundred and forty-two Act three scene one lines, sixty-three to sixty-four in his To Be or Not To Be Soliloquy “To be, or not to be, that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer.” what Hamlet means is it really worth living he is so tortured by the death of his father that he thinks that killing himself will end the misery and get him out of the stuck situation he feels he is in. Hamlet is depressed and can 't get out of the funk he is in and with his mania he is having a hard time figuring out what to do with himself. (McManamy)In the end Hamlet avenges his father 's death, but dies as well and I pitied that he didn 't get to have a long prosperous …show more content…
One thing about the casting of Ophelia is that she has to be pretty if she isn 't then you lose the effect of Ophelia.(Mabillard) She seemed misguided and would do anything to please her family, for example, she stopped talking to Hamlet because her brother Laertes and she Father Polonius demanded she speak no longer to him. Yet she knew she was pregnant with Hamlet 's baby and respected her family 's wishes. However, she was used as a spy to figure out what was wrong with Hamlet and when Hamlet went off on her saying she was a slut and she needed to get herself to a nunnery because he knew she was carrying his baby. I started to pity her because Hamlet wasn 't thinking clearly and saying some really uncalled for things and when she still expressed that she loved him, but was confused about what was going on with her love Hamlet. I felt bad for her because all she has is her looks and she knows that, but she also blows it when she has a chance to tell Hamlet the truth of where Polonius is on page one-hundred and forty-six act three scene one line one-hundred and thirty-nine she says “At home, my lord” When he was really behind the drapes spying on the both of them. I really felt bad for her because she had just started to lose all hope in Hamlet and pretty much that is when you realize she has finally given up. Claudius is probably one of the characters that most people would say he got
Living in an environment of deception and hostility, the reader can easily identify with Hamlet's anger. Most all compassionate audiences will be sympathetic to his plight. However, the origins of Hamlet's vehement actions toward his once beloved Ophelia can be debated from several different points of view. Whatever his reasoning may be, it is probably correct to assume that he regrets deeply every harsh world spoken toward Ophelia. He only realizes again what a beautiful and kind person she was- after her death.
The life of Hamlet is without a doubt very interesting, he suffers from unfortunate events in his time that are often major blows to his ego. His father dies while he’s away at college, Hamlet is next in line to be king until his “uncle-father” steals it from him; but it is to be known his “uncle-father” would not have stolen it if his “aunt-mother” hadn’t allowed it. It’s very apparent from the beginning of the play that he is very well obsessed with his mother and her doings. He harasses, humiliates, and abuses her because she has done such an unforgivable act by marrying Claudius. His thoughts and feelings towards his mother are very strong and well known, he even describes the odd pair as “little more than kin and less than kind.” That’s not all with Hamlet; his mother remarrying is just the tip of the iceberg so deeply rooted in the ocean of his emotions. His relationship with Ophelia is twisted, Hamlet goes through episodes of
Peter Wenzel declares, “the most important evidence against the thesis of Hamlet’s insanity, however, is again to be found in the comments of other character’s and in this case of Hamlet himself”. Wenzel suggests through his declaration that the reader should look scrupulously at the lines of each character, especially Hamlet, to verify his sanity. When Wenzel says “in this case of Hamlet himself”, he is implying that one should focus on Hamlet’s soliloquies to understand his real thoughts and emotions. Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” speech, truly explains all that Hamlet is feeling throughout the play. Hamlet frantically expresses, “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” ( ). These famous lines are the most important lines in the entire play because there is much debate on Hamlet’s sanity during his confession. In these lines, Hamlet is contemplating suicide. One could argue that he is insane for wanting to kill himself, however understanding his past helps show he is sane. Up to this point in the play, Hamlet has dealt with family problems. His father dies, and his mother remarries his uncle. He still grieves the loss of his father, and he cannot believe his mother has moved on
Hamlet is a character that we love to read about and analyze. His character is so realistic, and he is so romantic and idealistic that it is hard not to like him. He is the typical young scholar facing the harsh reality of the real world. In this play, Hamlet has come to a time in his life where he has to see things as they really are. Hamlet is an initiation story. Mordecai Marcus states "some initiations take their protagonists across a threshold of maturity and understanding but leave them enmeshed in a struggle for certainty"(234). And this is what happens to Hamlet.
At first, I didn’t really expect much as they continued to spy on Hamlet and see what the cause of his condition is. Only this time they were going to use Ophelia as volunteered bait, which would have seemed strange, but then I remember she is the daughter of Polonius, always sucking up to the king just for his own gain. However that is not was makes this play so depressing, in my opinion. In fact, it was because of Hamlet’s actions and speech that made it so depressing. For one, he gives off a famous speech in which debated on whether it is better to life or die. And yet, I believe the conversation with Ophelia was even worse. Knowing that they both clearly love each other, this felt very heartbreaking as Hamlet basically dissed on Ophelia. In a way, I can actually feel this sort of sadness as my girlfriend recently broke up with me. Even though it wasn’t a long term relationship, I will say that she was my first girlfriend I ever had and the first that broke up with me. Sure that’s life for you, but still, it was heartbreaking, and that’s what I believe Ophelia had felt. However, even though it may have ended in a bleak way, I am a person who still thinks that it isn’t too late for the two to be a thing. Nevertheless, time can only tell, and all I can do is like Ophelia, and
Hamlet could not acknowledge what had happened, so he made a guarantee to retaliate for his father’s demise by killing Claudius. The soliloquy exhibited by Hamlet, requesting that whether to be or not to be, is one of the speeches in the play that draws the audience. This is something that the audience can identify with it, and they can expect what is to come and see the advancement of the characters. There is additionally the case of Ophelia, who ends up insane on account of the demise of her father Polonius. Ophelia winds up troubled, crazy, and confused while the other characters start to see her madness when her father is killed. She is one of the characters that move toward becoming seen as a prattling fool all through the play in light of the crazy disturbances she has. This exposition will demonstrate that the Elizabethan audience is targeted by Hamlet through the study of the characters Ophelia and Hamlet. In particular, it will be analyzed; Ophelia and Hamlet's craziness, and the play's connection to regular day to day
While Hamlet may still be feeling depressed Hamlet moves into the stage of denial and isolation. Hamlet feels the effects of denial and isolation mostly due to his love, Ophelia. Both Hamlet’s grief and his task constrain him from realizing this love, but Ophelia’s own behavior clearly intensifies his frustration and anguish. By keeping the worldly and disbelieving advice of her brother and father as “watchmen” to her “heart” (I.iii.46), she denies the heart’s affection not only in Hamlet, but in herself; and both denials add immeasurably to Hamlet’s sense of loneliness and loss—and anger. Her rejection of him echoes his mother’s inconstancy and denies him the possibility even of imagining the experience of loving an...
Ophelia’s obedience towards her untrusting father is indescribable ( I; iii; 101-103. "Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl, unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them"?). Why a grown woman would listen to her father and not help the man of her dreams in his time of need is disheartening. A man’s girlfriend should be there for him when a family member passes away, no matter what. If she had been with him on the plan to kill Claudius and knew about his fathers ghost who told Hamlet that Claudius was the one that murdered him, than neither one of them would have went crazy.
Hamlet treats Ophelia like property and because he does not care for her. This is proven because he insults Ophelia, uses her to get his revenge on Claudius and uses her as a way to get attention. To begin with, Hamlet abuses Ophelia by accusing her of having impure motives. To him she “jig[s]… amble and …lisp” (3.1.145) to seduce other men. He also accuses her of being deceitful because she changes the “one face [that]…God hath given” to her by putting on cosmetics. Hamlet verbally abuses Ophelia because he believes that she is worthless. Hamlet is not concerned about the effect that these insult have on Ophelia’s psyche. In addition to verbally abusing Ophelia, Hamlet uses Ophelia as a pawn. Hamlet uses Ophelia as a way to get to Claudius by also physically abusing her. Ophelia description of Hamlet’s abuse exhibits Hamlet’s unruly behaviour towards her: “He took me by the wrist and held me hard; then goes he to the length of all his arm” (2.1.88-89). Hamlet physically abuses Ophelia because he knows that Ophelia will report it to her father who in turn will tell Claudius. By doing this, Claudius will think Hamlet is insane and will then lower his guard and will not suspect that Hamlet intents to kill him. Hamlet does not stop to consider what kind mental toll will take on Ophelia, all he cares about is to finishing what his father asked of him. It is apparent
In act three, he even admits that his actions are insane, horrible and evil. He says, “I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft” (3.4.191). For Hamlet to admit that his actions are mad or insane, is the most insane trait of Hamlet. For him to openly admit that he is fully aware that his actions are mad, only ignites the flame of his insanity. This quote seals the deal for the reader that Hamlets mind is a wasteland of madness, but also of planned insanity and horrible actions.
Ophelia is a crucial character because the role she plays in setting up Hamlets antic disposition, she is used by a number of characters including her father for the sole purpose to deceive and gather information and “misjudges Ophelia’s” ability to gather accurate information due to Hamlet’s deceitful character (The World Of Hamlet 260). Hamlet is the first to use her when he sets up his antic disposition early in the play, which ignites many of the events that lead to the tragic ending of Hamlet. After Polonius speculates that Hamlet has gone mad with love for Ophelia he reports this info to the king. To confirm this, he watches their interaction in the nunnery scene. Polonius wants to prove his theory and deception is what leads him to investigate more thoroughly, believing Hamlet is truly mad with love for Ophelia he ease drops on Hamlet and Gertrude’s conversation and it ends up bringing about his death. Once again, we see that deception is the most important theme of Hamlet because it is responsible for moving the plot along through
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.
Hamlet gives many clues in this play that he is beyond feeling upset and anger over what is happening in his life. His soliloquies and speeches give excellent indications that he is actually depressed. People do not understand why he acts the way he does and even try to tell him to move on with his life. However, depression is a very serious disorder that cannot be easily detected or treated. Because the people do not detect that Hamlet is depressed, they obviously do not treat him for it. Hamlet's case continues to get worse and eventually aids in the cause of his death. Hamlet reveals too many obvious symptoms of depression to disclaim that he is inflicted with the disorder. Hamlet, a young prince, his heart filled with years of sadness and hardship, cannot escape his misery and develops major depression disorder.
Hamlet appears to be a rather philosophical character. He is skeptical and expresses views that nowadays can be described as existential and relativist, but those terms did not exist in Shakespeare’s time. Existentialism analyzes existence and the way humans appear to exist in this world. It is concerned with the individual; finding oneself and finding a meaning to life by one’s own measures.That is exactly what Hamlet is going through. Presented with the jarring conflict of avenging his father’s death, Hamlet finds his meaning to life shortly before dying himself among others tangled in this mess. He was tasked by the ghost of his father to kill Claudius in an act of vengeance, which would be considered noble (though in this case, it is a regicide avenging a regicide; treason for treason). The ideals of society demand that he...
Major life changes bring about the rise of Hamlet's insanity. The play begins with Hamlet returning home to Denmark to discover that his father had died. Aside from his father's death, Hamlet also had to accept that his mother was now married to his father's brother, Claudius. In Hamlet's first soliloquy preceding his father's death, he tells the audience “O that this too, too solid flesh would melt. Or that the Everlasting had not fixed, His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!”(Act 1. Scene 2. lines 130-133) This gives us a brief preview of Hamlet's mental state in the beginning of the play. Hamlet is extremely depressed and admits that but says it would be a sin to kill himself. Hamlet goes on to describe the world as "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" and compares it to an "unweeded garden” (Act 1. Scene 2. lines 133-135). Hamlet shows red flags for depression; however, he seems to be reacting as a normal person would to the death of a loved one, losing a sense of understanding and love fo...