The Fate of a Victim
William Shakespeare once said “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” Is this always the case though? Is it possible that one’s destiny is in the hands of another person? Their fate decided by another person? Shakespeare contradicted his quote with his play, Hamlet. In this play, Shakespeare put a young Danish prince’s fate into the hands of the prince’s uncle. Hamlet became a victim of the uncontrollable greed his uncle possessed. His entire life turned upside down and it affected everyone he loved. The selfishness of Hamlet’s uncle caused Hamlet to go into a domino effect of undeserved pain. Hamlet tried used procrastination and sarcasm as a way to escape his trials but his indecisiveness helped
What does this word represent? Does it express held up emotions, aim to hurt one’s feelings, or is it simply a way to poke fun of friends and then laugh along together? In Hamlet, the young Denmark prince uses sarcasm as a way to express his feelings about the death of his father in both bitter and humorous manners. When Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, asked him, “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” (I.ii.66), Hamlet bitterly replied, “Not so my lord. I am too much i’ the sun” (I.ii.67). This quote shows sarcasm in two different occasions, the first being anger. The Prince was astonished with his uncle’s indifference towards the death of the Prince’s father. Hamlet’s quote also stands as a pun that spins off of the marriage between his uncle and mother. The use of sun also stands for son in Hamlet’s pun. It explains that Hamlet feels betrayed and disgusted with the fact that he has ‘two’ dads now. Though Hamlet was in a bitter mood, he found a way to use humor as an expression of his
Could his odd behavior be medically diagnosed through the analysis of an illness’s symptoms? When Hamlet first encountered the ghost of his father, Horatio and the castle guards were able to see the mystical being, yet in Hamlet’s second encounter with the ghost, his mother’s eyes were unable to comprehend the ghost’s image. After Gertrude asked Hamlet who he was talking to, Hamlet incredulously replied, “Do you see thing there?.../ Nor did you nothing here” (III.iv.134-36)? Though Hamlet’s mind may have been mentally intact during the first act, his mother’s inability to see the ghost shows that Hamlet is hallucinating. Multiple occurrences within the third act of the play proves that Hamlet is suffering from
He is mentally disturbed by the thought of his uncle killing his father to the point where he loses touch with sanity. Hamlet is a tragedy that will never have a straightforward answer as to if he faked being crazy or not. My belief is that Hamlet had in fact lost touch with reality. The slow decline of his mental health throughout lead me to believe he did go crazy, even if he might have been faking it at first. After seeing his father’s ghost, I believe he started acting like he had lost his mind to blame his future actions on the fact that he was crazy. I also believe he truly did lose his mind shortly after when he found out about Claudius murdering his
The Tragedy of Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare about a young prince trying to avenge his father’s death. In the beginning of the play, young Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father, who tells Hamlet that his uncle, Claudius, killed him. Meanwhile Hamlets mother, Gertrude, has gotten married to said uncle. Now it is Hamlet’s job to kill his Uncle-father to avenge his dead father, a task that may prove to daunting for Hamlet. In Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Hamlet, the author uses diction and syntax to make Hamlet portray himself as mentally insane when in reality, he is sane thorough the duration of the play, tricking the other characters into giving up their darkest secrets.
Hamlet's sanity can be recognized when mourning for his dead father at the beginning of the play. Including the fact his mother married her dead husbands brother, Hamlets uncle, builds Hamlet sickness. Shakespeare’s purpose in this scene is to utilize Hamlet.
Shakespearean revenge tragedy is most remarkable in Hamlet, where no happy ending occurs for any of the characters. External forces steer Hamlet’s internal considerations. The internal is what is going on in Hamlet’s mind, presumably what is right and what is just. The external are constant pressures coming in from an outside source. Equally, both forces contribute to the development of Hamlet’s character; from a melancholy man who could not make his mind up to a courageous and ready man. Moreover, leaves Hamlet on an emotional rollercoaster contemplating over and over in his mind the nature of his action. In what may be Shakespeare’s most remarkable soliloquy “To Be or Not to Be . . .” (3.1.1), Hamlet endeavors to contemplate the righteousness of life over death and his suicide. Hamlet cannot escape the feeling of being trapped internally and weighing the moral ramifications of life and death. These forces
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is laden with tragedy from the start, and this adversity is reflected in the title character. Being informed of his father’s murder and the appalling circumstances surrounding the crime, Hamlet is given the emotionally taxing task of avenging his death. It is clear that having to complete this grim undertaking takes its toll on Hamlet emotionally. Beginning as a seemingly contemplative and sensitive character, we observe Hamlet grow increasingly depressed and deranged as the play wears on. Hamlet is so determined to make his father proud that he allows the job on hand to completely consume him. We realize that Hamlet has a tendency to mull and ponder excessively, which causes the notorious delays of action throughout the play. It is often during these periods of deep thought and reflection that we hear one of Hamlet’s famous soliloquies, which are obviously relative to Hamlet’s apprehensions and worries surrounding his current situation. The seven soliloquies throughout the play offer insight pertaining to the deteriorating mental state of Hamlet, and the circumstances which induce his decent into madness.
Hamlet as Victim of a Corrupt World Troubled by royal treason, ruthless scheming, and a ghost, Denmark is on the verge of destruction. Directly following King Hamlet's death, the widowed Queen Gertrude remarried Claudius, the King's brother. Prince Hamlet sees the union of his mother and uncle as a "hasty and incestuous" act (Charles Boyce, 232). He then finds out that Claudius is responsible for his father's treacherous murder. His father's ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death, and Hamlet agrees.
In act 3, scene 4 Hamlet talks to his father's ghost in front of his mother but the ghost is completely imaginary to his mother Gertrude and she even calls him mad because Hamlet seems to be talking to some kind of a hallucination (3, 4, 105-7). Therefore, this supports the argument that Hamlet is actually insane in Shakespeare's play Hamlet.... ... middle of paper ... ... Another of the events include the hastened marriage of his mother to his uncle after his father's death, which only contributed to his upsetting depression.
Right after Hamlet’s father dies he goes through a mourning phase and acts different than he normally does, but this is just an effect of seeing his dad’s ghost. The reader can make inference that he is not crazy when he sees the ghost the first time because his friends and the guards saw the ghost too. The second time the ghost appears to Hamlet his mother can not see it
In the scene, Hamlet says “Now, mother, what’s the matter?” and the Queen responds with “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended” (referring to his uncle-father, Claudius),
All throughout the play Hamlet mourns the loss of his father, especially since his father is appearing to him as a ghostly figure telling him to avenge his death, and throughout the play it sets the stage and shows us how he is plotting to get back at the assassinator. Such an instance where the ghost appears to Hamlet is when Hamlet and his mother are in her bedchamber where the ghost will make his last appearance. Hamlet tells his mother to look where the ghost appears but she cannot see it because he is the only one who that has the ability to see him.
Revenge has caused the downfall of many a person. Its consuming nature causes one to act recklessly through anger rather than reason. Revenge is an emotion easily rationalized; one turn deserves another. However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big gamble, a gamble which eventually leads to the downfall and death of all but one of them. King Fortinbras was slain by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal'd compact. "…our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem'd him-did slay this Fortinbras." Young Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to reclaim the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was killed. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…" Claudius becomes aware of Fortinbras’ plans, and in an evasive move, sends a message to the new King of Norway, Fortinbras’ uncle.
By many accounts of Williams Shakespeare’s Hamlet the main character, Hamlet, is considered to be the classic tragic hero, but in fact Hamlet is not a hero at all. There are many accounts of heroes in earlier writings such as The Odyssey and Beowulf. These heroes had confidence, careful thought, and thought clearly in their times of trial. Hamlet was not any of these things. His inability to think clearly through his anger leads to indecisiveness which inevitably puts him in a situation that costs him his own life. Hamlet is a victim to himself in this play. Throughout the entire play Hamlet is very confused, indecisive, and blinded by his mission for vengeance. It also seems that while he is angry about the murder of his father he
Despite Hamlet being a tragic play, Shakespeare incorporates numerous extensions of Hamlet’s character throughout it, including the element of sarcasm. His sarcasm is most often sparked by his contempt of either a certain subject or person, and is usually spoken in such a way that his remarks seem innocent. Hamlet’s sarcasm is first seen during his interaction with Horatio when the topic of the Queen’s remarriage following so closely behind King Hamlet’s funeral is brought up. He makes the statement, “The funeral baked meats, did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” (Act 1, Scene 2, lines 180-181). While it is true that the food they had for the funeral was most likely used during the wedding, Hamlet knows the real reason for their quick
rotten in the state of Denmark." The characters of the play know that there are
Although William Shakespeare did not invent the pun, he certainly perfected it. He conveys much of Hamlet's contempt toward his father's murderer, the new king, through abstracted language. In Act I, scene ii, line 64, the King addresses Hamlet as "my son." Hamlet wittily responds, "A little more than kin, and less than kind!" This falls on deaf ears to the disillusioned King, but the reader picks up the double meaning. He is asserting that he neither resembles Claudius in nature nor feels kindly to him. Along with the pun, Shakespeare makes abundant use of intricate, roundabout language. In Act I, scene ii, line 156, Hamlet cries, "O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" The language suggests more outrage and emotion than if he had said "It's bad for my mother to be sleeping with my uncle so soon after my father's death." Though it may bother some that his puns and fuzzy language are not always easy to notice, that was Shakespeare's intent. With every successive perusal of the tragedy the reader picks up on still another brilliant use of language.