Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, we are gathered here today to find out the truth in the homicide of Polonius. The biggest question we must answer will be the one that decides Hamlet’s fate: was Hamlet aware of his actions when he killed Polonius, or was he acting on the impulse of madness? To answer this question, we must first consider the circumstances which Hamlet had undergone prior to the homicide.
For one, Hamlet’s father died not nearly two or three months before his mother married his uncle. A funeral and a marriage, this must have been a lot for Hamlet to take in. Hamlet was wallowing in his sorrows, this is made obvious to us when Gertrude asks Hamlet, “If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee?, to which Hamlet replies, “ ‘Seems,’ madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems.” ‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly. These indeed “seem,” For they are actions that a man might play; But I have that within which passes show, These but the trappings and suits of woe.” Besides being a stab at the perceived quickness that which his mother experienced her grief over the death of her husband, we can see that Hamlet’s grief is more than just an outwardly sign of distress; one may even go as far to say that Hamlet suffered from severe depression.This coupled with his new stepfather, ignited great disdain in Hamlet’s heart for his uncle Claudius. This is especially seen in Hamlet’s conversation with Claudius in Act I Scene 2, where Claudius says, “ But now, my cousin Hamlet and my son-” and Hamlet respo...
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...ional state. So this Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, is what I leave you with: Hamlet was suffering greatly mentally yes, he was under much strain. Like any other adolescent he was grappling with concepts he could barely comprehend, life, love, and death. His father’s passing and his mother’s “infidelity” left Hamlet isolated and depressed. Coupled with the appearance of his father’s ghost, these events all lead to Hamlet’s great scheme to avenge his father. Although, his “insanity” scheme may have been badly executed, it never the less served it’s purpose in keeping his true intentions hidden. His friends and family assumed that he was insane, so where would the blame be placed if he killed the King which, by the way would count as treason. His defense would be that he had no consciousness of his actions. Truly the perfect cover-up. With that I close my argument.
It is man’s natural instinct to protect himself. Therefore, that person would do anything in his power to be safe, especially if they committed a criminal act; but that does not make them innocent. In the palace of the Denmark Royal family, there was a criminal act that was carried out by the beloved Lord Hamlet. He not only had slain the King’s advisor, Polonius, but also his own friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as well. In his defence, Lord Hamlet’s attorney pleads the insanity defence. However, after reviewing the case and analysing different events that had taken place, the crown is convinced that Lord Hamlet’s insanity is just a mask that he puts on to escape from the responsibility of his bloody deeds. The many points that were considered that brought the crown to this conclusion include: how he had initially disclosed his plan to act mad in order to avenge his father’s death, as well as, on several occasions; Hamlet himself reveals to certain people that he is sane. Lastly, his acts of insanity are only present in front of certain people and not around others. All these points prove that Hamlet is only pretending to be mad and should be punished for his actions.
Hamlet: Hamlet's Sanity & nbsp; & nbsp; “Great wits are sure to madness near allied, and thin partitions do. their bounds divide.” Though John Dryden's quote was not made in regard to William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it relates very well to the argument of whether or not Hamlet went insane. When a character such as Hamlet is under scrutiny, it can sometimes be difficult to determine what state he is in at. particular moments in the play.
Sometimes, revenge can be utterly nasty and repeated. A Serbian patriot once slayed an Austrian archduke to exact his revenge for Austria’s occupation of his land. Austria retaliated by starting World War I. After the war, the Allied powers took revenge by enforcing massive fines and taking away land from the defeated countries. One of them was Germany. This led to Hitler’s rise to power and took revenge against France by making them sign their surrender in the same train where Germany gave up in World War I. Following World War II, Germany was obligated to repair some of the damage done by paying war reparations to the Allies and Jewish people after the war. When countries recur to revenge, history reiterates, more often than not, it means war. On a smaller scale, in Hamlet, the prince of Denmark begins an inner war that provokes quite significant inner struggles as well as an outer war with Claudius to avenge his father’s death. William Shakespeare masterfully portrays Hamlet, whose experiences and emotions drive him to alternate between the realms of sanity and insanity to achieve his ambition. As the ancient proverb states, “desperate times call for desperate measures.” These “desperate times” include the murder of his father Hamlet Senior, King of the Danes, by his malicious uncle, Claudius, the seeming suicide of his love, Ophelia, his mother's quick remarriage to Claudius after his father's death.
Originally titled The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, this tragedy has been reproduced more times than any other play written by William Shakespeare (en.wikipedia.org 1 of 9). Prince Hamlet also has the lengthiest appearance of any character in all of Shakespeare's plays (en.wikpedia.org 6 of 9). In the play, Prince Hamlet is caught between balancing his need to avenge his father's death, dealing with the disgust he felt for Gertrude and Claudius' love affair, and maintaining the relationship he has with Ophelia without exposing his plans to kill his uncle Claudius for the murder of King Hamlet.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the king of Denmark is murdered by his brother, Claudius, and as a ghost tells his son, Hamlet the prince of Denmark, to avenge him by killing his brother. The price Hamlet does agree to his late father’s wishes, and undertakes the responsibility of killing his uncle, Claudius. However even after swearing to his late father, and former king that he would avenge him; Hamlet for the bulk of the play takes almost no action against Claudius. Prince Hamlet in nature is a man of thought throughout the entirety of the play; even while playing mad that is obvious, and although this does seem to keep him alive, it is that same trait that also keeps him from fulfilling his father’s wish for vengeance
Tragedies in the Greek theater when compared to tragedies in the Renaissance theater varied in similarities and differences. Greek theater encouraged the use of religious figures while Renaissance theater was supposed to be strictly pagan in its ideologies. Theater was most dominantly used to depict the social and religious constraints of the time period. For example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex are both portrayals of deceit, murder, and revenge all of which lead to the demise of its leading characters. Hamlet is depicted as a young man who is seeking revenge for his fathers death. Oedipus is a king who means to free the people of Thebes from a disease that has been plaguing them. They share similarities in that each of their love interest are conduits of their pain and anguish, further pushing the protagonists over the precipice. The voice of reason that they share is Creon in Oedipus Rex and Horatio in Hamlet. Their tragic flaw is that they are both ultimately and utterly doomed and no amount of guidance will steer them away from what has been predestined by fate. They are ultimately doomed to be their own Achilles heel.
Hamlet is still in mourning of his father’s death but feels that most of the people have moved on much quickly with the death of his father. And after a couple months his mother is remarried and a twist of turned events to find out that it is his uncle, Claudius which is his new step Father. Filled with anger he does not know how to digest this news. To top it off is visit buy the Ghost of Hamlet (hamlets father) to tell Prince Hamlet that his uncle Claudius is the murderer. And demand that he takes revenge upon him and kill Claudius. “To be or not to be,’ (3.1.56) true to himself or carry on bloody traditions of his war like father. But being visited by his father’s warlike spirit triggered him to be lunatic and he is lunatic because he was compared to the moon shining with the bloody borrow sheen of his warlike father (2.2.52). However, before he had even spoken to the Ghost of Hamlet he had been warned by Haratio...
After the death of Old Hamlet and Gertrude’s remarriage to Claudius, Hamlet feels extremely angry and bitter. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.133-134). Due to the death of his father, he is already in a state of despair and the lack of sympathy that his mother has towards his sorrow does not aid him in recovering from this stage of grief. “Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off, / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark” (1.2.68-69). Hamlet is struggling to accept the fashion in which Gertrude is responding to the death of Old Hamlet; she seems quite content with her new life with Claudius, which is a difficult concept for him to accept as after the d...
HAMLET Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, is one of the most analyzed plays in existence due to its vivid dramatization of melancholy and insanity. There is sufficient evidence displayed in the play that Hamlet deliberately feigns his fits of madness. He puts on this act to deceive people such as the King and his attendants into thinking he was no threat. Hamlet needed to distract attention from the investigation concerning his father’s death so he could baffle those who intended on preventing him in his quest for revenge. In light of the fact that Hamlet had claimed to “put an antic disposition on” (1.5.180), his choice to do so actually led to his downfall.
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.
As often associated with a tragedy, a conflict usually ensues between a protagonist and another force in the play. A tragedy is ‘a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror’ (Webster's dictionary). Given its structure and depth in characterization, this play will or can be analyzed and interpreted from various perspectives and beliefs. However, my analysis of the play is conducted on the basis of various components which are: Hamlet as a tragic hero, the ironic message conveyed in the play, the roles of its characters, the role and personification of madness, the role of paranormality, the role of friends and family, the role of inaction, the role of sex and violence, and the role of death as portrayed in the play. Based on literary definitions and portrayal of his character, there is popular belief that Hamlet as the protagonist acted to satisfy his own conscience but could his actions be attributed purely to his desire or was he being influenced by other factors?
Hamlet's problem is not exact; it cannot be pinpointed. In fact, Hamlet has numerous problems that contribute to his dilemma. The first of these problems is the appearance of King Hamlet's ghost to his son, Hamlet. Hamlet's morality adds a great deal to his delay in murdering the current king, Claudius. One of Hamlet's biggest drawbacks is that he tends to think things out too much. Hamlet does not act on instinct; however, he makes certain that every action is premeditated. Hamlet suffers a great deal from melancholy; this in turn causes him to constantly second guess himself. The Ghost is the main cause of Hamlet's melancholy. Also, Hamlet's melancholy helps to clear up certain aspects of the play. These are just a few of the problems that Hamlet encounters throughout his ordeal.
There are many reasons why Hamlet had his downfall. One being his decision to keeping the murder of his father a secret. Another one being the betrayals of his closest friends. Perhaps if Guildenstern or Rosencrantz had been there for Hamlet, to rely and place trust upon, he might not had to fell so alone. A little sympathy from his girlfriend Ophelia, and even his mother Gertrude would have been nice as well. Unfortunately Ophelia is held back from Hamlet, due to her father. Gertrude marries his uncle Claudius, who is responsible for his fathers death, and is looking to kill him next. And Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are ordered by Claudius to spy on Hamlet, and betray him as a friend.
The tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare’s most popular and greatest tragedy, presents his genius as a playwright and includes many numbers of themes and literary techniques. In all tragedies, the main character, called a tragic hero, suffers and usually dies at the end. Prince Hamlet is a model example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Every tragedy must have a tragic hero. A tragic hero must own many good traits, but has a flaw that ultimately leads to his downfall. If not for this tragic flaw, the hero would be able to survive at the end of the play. A tragic hero must have free will and also have the characteristics of being brave and noble. In addition, the audience must feel some sympathy for the tragic hero.
In writing Hamlet, William Shakespeare plumbed the depths of the mind of the protagonist, Prince Hamlet, to such an extent that this play can rightfully be considered a psychological drama.