The Ghost in Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a drama which has been renound for its content and depiction of characters. Over the years, it has gone through many variations of interpretations and criticisms. One such criticism is the nature of the ghost who takes the form of Hamlet's dead father. At first glance, it may be sufficient to accept the ghost as the spirit of Hamlet's dead father who returns to the land of the living in order to have his son avenge his murder. However, looking deeper into the text, several unignorable signs become visible which lead us to see that the ghost is actually the devil in disguise. Kenneth Brannagh's 1997 production of Hamlet brilliantly portrays these signs of evil and cynicism.
The Devil had an agenda from the very beginning: to cause havoc in the royal family, leading to the downfall of the crown of Denmark. After King Hamlet's death, the Devil saw this as its perfect opportunity to begin the first stage of its plan. It was aware of Hamlet's hatred toward his uncle Claudius, who came between Hamlet and his rightful seat on the throne. It was aware of Hamlet's disgust with his mother's incestuous marriage to her brother-in-law. And it was aware of Hamlet's despair over losing his father who he dearly loved and admired.
In Brannagh's film, we see Francisco (the guard outside the castle walls) startled by the ghost, who motions for his sword. This is the second time the ghost has appeared and the guards are both afraid and confused. They then call upon Horatio, Hamlet's dear friend to witness the vision to confirm their fears. When Horatio arrived, the ghost appeared once again in "that fair and warlike form / In which the majesty of buried Denmark / Did ...
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...er Claudius. Hamlet goes mad, which is pains Ophelia. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius out of rage, then Ophelia dies after going mad due to the madness of Hamlet and the death of her father. Laretes comes home to find his father dead, later finding out his sister dead, then conspires a plot with Claudius to kill Hamlet. This dual ends in the deaths of Claudius, Larates, Gertrude, Hamlet, and later we find out that Rozencranz and Guildenstern have been killed.
The death of King Hamlet began a chain reaction which inevitably leads to the downfall of the royal family of Denmark. The Devil has succeeded in its plan by skillfully choosing Hamlet to carry out its dirty work.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. In The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Carl E. Bain, Jerome Beaty, and J. Paul Hunter. W.W. Norton & Company: New York. 1995. (1306-1404).
Sovereign lending, throughout history, has been marked by occurrences of partial default and repudiation by governments of all kind; from medieval princes to dictators to democratic regimes. In the 1970s lending to lesser-developed countries led to the rescheduling and partial defaults in the 1980s. Even the sustainability of the debt of nations such as Belgium, Canada, Italy and even the United States is not free from suspect.
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Madden, Frank. Exploring Literature. 4th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print 539-663
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare). Simon & Schuster; New Folger Edition, 2003.
The US has been in and out of debt countless times throughout history, going as far back as the Civil War. However, debt did not become a truly relevant problem until much later, in the 1980s (Budget Deficits). Up to that point, large budget deficits were generally only allowed during wartime, but this pattern ended after the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s New Deal meant that the government spent much more than it previously did, even after the economy improved (Budget De...
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Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. C. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013.1709-1804. Print.
Hamlet lives in a country of different worlds. At the time, Denmark was in a state of transition between three metaphysical worlds; the heroic world, where a man's honour was foremost, killing was not accepted but expected, might was power, the Machiavellian world, an amoral world where politics and mind games were employed ruthlessly, the ends justified the means, and the Christian world of love and forgiveness. Hamlet was a Christian living in a dying Heroic world which was succumbing to the Machiavellian world. Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, belonged to the heroic world, and so for him revenge was of the utmost importance, shown by the fact that "but two months" (1:2, 136) after his death he returned to instruct Hamlet to avenge his murder. Hamlet's disgust at his mother's marriage to his uncle before "the salt of most unrighteous tea...
...e his goal was to get and retain power. He wanted to prove Claudius to be an unfit king, and he did so, but only as Hamlet himself was about to die. Hamlet had to cause grief by killing the king, but in the end, he is seen as a hero, because he unmasked his father's killer.
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.
In the act 1, sense 1, the appearance of ghost implicated that something would be happening in Denmark and created interest and caution to audience and Horatio. Ghost always represents horror and fear nowadays, and people think that ghost maybe has unfinished hope before death or revenge for somebody. In the Shakespeare world, ghost shows up in somewhere, where it’s not supposed to be. That means that there is someone else, especially in western culture. Horatio said, “has the ghost appeared again tonight” (1.1 21), and “it will not appear” (1.1 29). Horatio was educated, so he didn’t believe that. On the other hand, Bernardo and Marcellus believed the ghost was real and tried to prove it. Through the conversion and background between Horatio and officers, the plot creates the suspense and question to audience. Does the ghost really exist? Meanwhile, the audiences feel curious about the ghost.
“Those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves” (Phaedrus). This quote was said by a Roman fabulist and it depicts the entire concept of revenge in Hamlet. The nature of revenge causes someone to act upon anger rather than reason. Hamlet takes place in Denmark and is about Hamlet’s uncle who kills his dad to gain power of Denmark. After the killing, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle. In the play, there are several characters wanting vengeance like that of Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras all had a tragic death of a family member which caused their decision for revenge. Consequentially, these revenges caused the demise of two characters and the rise of power of another. The retaliation shown by the Prince of Denmark, as well as Laertes led to the downfall of their government.
The Unified Modeling Language is a standard language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of software systems, as well as for business modeling and other non-software systems. The key is to organize the design process in a way that clients, analysts, programmers and other involved in system development can understand and agree on. The UML provides the organization. The UML was released in 1997 as a method to diagram software design, by some of the best minds in object oriented analysis and design. It is by far the most exciting thin to happen to the software industry in recent years. Every other engineering discipline has a standard method of documentation. Electronic engineers have schematic diagrams; architects and mechanical engineers have blueprints and mechanical diagrams. The software industry now has UML.
A ghost appearing in the form of Hamlet's father makes several appearances during the play. It first appears to the watch men, Marcellus and Bernardo along with Heratio, at the guardsmen's post. The ghost does not speak to them. It is not until the appearance of hamlet that the ghost does speak.
A common motif in Shakespeare’s many plays is the supernatural element, to which Hamlet , with the presence of a ghost, is no exception. The story of Hamlet, the young prince of Denmark, is one of tragedy, revenge, deception, and ghosts. Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural element helps give a definition to the play by being the catalyst of the tragedy that brings upon Hamlet’s untimely demise. The ghost that appears at the beginning of the play could possibly be a satanic figure that causes Hamlet to engage in the terrible acts and endanger his soul. The supernatural element incorporated into the play is used as an instigator, a mentor, as well as mediation for the actions of the protagonist that ultimately end in tragedy, with the loss of multiple lives, as well as suscept Hamlet’s soul to hell. Shakespeare’s portrayal of the ghostly apparition causes a reader to question whether the ghost is a demonic force on the basis of its diction, conduct towards others as well as Hamlet, and it’s motive to kill.