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Shakespeare's influence during the Elizabethan Era
Themes on hamlet
Shakespeare's influence during the Elizabethan Era
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Murder Most Foul William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, possesses some key themes of betrayal, allegiance, and revenge. A pivotal moment of the play is in Act One Scene Five, when the ghost of Hamlet’s father comes to Hamlet. This scene is most well-known for the line “murder most foul” (I,v,27). The ghost of the deceased king tells Hamlet that he has been murdered by his own brother, Claudius. The ghost implores one thing unto Hamlet: ¬¬¬¬¬¬to seek vengeance for the mortal sin committed against him. This scene is crucial because it sets up the motivation for Hamlet to try to kill Claudius, the new King and his own uncle. Hamlet seeking vengeance for his father being killed is the main plot of the entire play. Hamlet’s actions to pursue his murderous
The nature of this scene, and most of the play, is that many aspects are left ambiguous to the audience. Shakespeare conveys ambiguity in this scene through a few techniques. One of the primary techniques is pure uncertainty. In the play a highly debated topic is the question of if this ghost is actually real. There is ambiguity of if the ghost is truly supernatural, coming to Hamlet to speak of his own demise, or if the ghost is merely a hallucination in his caused by stress and madness. This uncertain aspect is reflected in the fact that Hamlet is the only one who communicates with the ghost. Some characters report seeing the apparition, such as Horatio and Barnardo (I,i,40). However, in one of the most emotional scenes, Act Three Scene Four, Hamlet’s mother cannot see the ghost while Hamlet appears to be madly speaking to nothing. In addition to this aspect being ambiguous, another technique for uncertainty is that Shakespeare leaves out many opportunities for detail. The only significant details given in the play are that the ghost wears the armor of the king and that Hamlet follows the ghost away from the other characters (I,i,40). This lack of details has an effect for film adaptations in that directors have artistic freedom in how they interpret the scene. The scene has the flexibility to be interpreted in numerously different ways.
The main similarity in the adaptations of the play is that they both take on a setting of Hamlet that is loyal to the Shakespearean text. They are the classic interpretation, with the setting in Denmark in roughly the late middle ages. The characters are thus reflective of these times and the culture associated with it. This is quite fitting for the text because the respective adaptations are loyal to the
Hamlet is extremely proud of Old King and respects him.“He was a great human being. He was perfect in everything. I’ll never see the likes of him again” (I.ii.185-188). Hamlet loves his father and gives the greatest praise at the funeral. Grief driven by love tempts Hamlet to think his father’s goodness, and more, the loss of such a favorable figure. Hamlet believes that the ghost that is said to look like the dead king is indeed his father.”He waxes desperate with imagination”(I.ii.92). The Prince, who is deep in sadness and does not think sufficiently, is convinced that the spirit is the Old Hamlet, he is the only person that can physically communicate with the ghost. Hamlet for the second time talks to the apparition in his mother’s chamber, where Gertrude does not see any. What Horatio and other witnesses encounter at the gate at night proves the possibility of the existence of the ghost, Hamlet later in the play is considered to be truly mad on the account of his unusual ability to see and talk to the spirit, which is obviously conjured up by his mind. Rising actions in both the book and the play are implied at the beginning of the stories: Amir’s memory of 1975 and Old Hamlet’s death. The journey of redemption or revenge takes actions of concealing their true emotions and implementing devised
... to make choices as to how they wanted to act out those scenes. Nevertheless, the ghost is an important part of the play that will always lead to questions in the readers mind. Does the ghost cause Hamlet to go mad or is that madness within that causes the ghost to be revealed? Is it the ghost who causes Hamlet to seek revenge or the unraveling truth of Claudius’s murder? These questions may change with every generation but as some questions get answered others come forth which leads audiences to always be captivated by Hamlet.
Hamlet grants himself the opportunity to momentarily direct himself, yet it remains unknown as to whether he directs a representation of truth or a falsity. He exemplifies madness so well, as the sight of "a damned ghost" (77) insanely induces his imagination and comfortably transforms his identity to one of lunacy. This role he acquires is one he portrays so explicitly well as an actor that he easily utilizes it as the foundation for his players. He instructs the players:
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.
... the mother-son relationship, Hamlet’s reaction to the ghost and Gertrude’s guilt is closer to the original text in which Shakespeare leaves room for audience interpretation. Had Shakespeare not penned a true reflection of human behaviour in all its subtleties, the Dovan and Scott versions of Hamlet might not have been questioned for their legitimacy.
Later in Act 1 (Scene 5) Hamlet tells Horatio that he’ll put “an antic disposition on”. This is the appearance that we see through Act 2 but the question remains does Hamlet really carry out what he is saying or does he deliberate and start at some later point; is he already mad at the start of the play or much more later than we are told. Which is similar to his execution of his plan to kill Claudius “with wings with swift as meditation”. Frankly, Hamlet does not always do what he says he will do. Therefore we make a reach and say that what he says and what he does is only part of the façade Shakespeare is presenting to the audience. In following this line of thinking you would reach the conclusion that Hamlet could have been mad as soon as the ghost had finished speaking to him by himself. So Shakespeare could have provided the character of Horatio with a fooling understatement, “Which might deprive you of your sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness?”. Even though this is isn’t what appears this is reality. This would provide a valid explanation as to why after Hamlet has talked to the ghost only he is able to hear the Ghost. This is seen through Hamlet being the first person in each instance to reply to the ghost. It would suggest that Hamlet can hear him since the ghost is in Hamlet’s head. An alternative interpretation is that the way Marcellus and Horatio are treating Hamlet
I personally disagree with the author W.W. Greg’s interpretation of Hamlet’s ghost, and believe that his assumption that Hamlet is simply hallucinating his father’s ghost is without merit. Many of W.W. Greg’s claims relate Hamlet to other plays that were written by Shakespeare, claiming that due to how Shakespeare portrayed ghosts in his previous works, it would follow that Hamlet also fits into the same mold as these past writings. W.W. Greg even states, “I should like to be told what Shakespeare's views were of ghosts in general ... I am forced to turn to Shakespeare's other plays for suggestions as to how he represented these phenomena” (Greg 395). W.W. Greg is simply claiming that trends in Shakespeare’s writings in the past logically must take the same form in the character of Hamlet’s ghost. This method of thinking simply does not hold up when examined critically, mainly due to the fact that there were multiple witnesses to the ghost, a...
The story of Hamlet Senior's death is the ghost story aspect of the play. Hamlet Senior, the late king, was being tormented in hell throughout the daylight hours and during the night he was forced to walk the castle. He stated that he was "Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confin'd to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my [being the late King's] days of nature Are burnt and purg'd away (50 lines 10-13). His release from this torture would not be permitted until his avenger is retaliated against by his son. Hamlet, Francisco and Bernardo all see the ghost of the late king, but the apparition will only speak to his son. The ghost brings an unnatural feel to the drama and leaves the reader/viewer wondering if it was real or all in Hamlet's mind.
Revenge is a recurring theme in Hamlet. Although Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death, he is afraid of what would result from this. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s unwillingness to revenge appears throughout the text; Shakespeare exhibits this through Hamlet’s realization that revenge is not the right option, Hamlet‘s realization that revenge is the same as the crime which was already committed, and his understanding that to revenge is to become a “beast” and to not revenge is as well (Kastan 1).
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.
Thus, the first appearance of ghost in front of hamlet is a huge impact and sets the action in motion for the entire plot. The appearance becomes the most important scene in the play. To Hamlet, Hamlet really admired his father, and his father’s death entirely affected his emotion and life. As Hamlet knew that the ghost was the symbol of his father and the unnatural murder. The nightmare...
Furthermore, it is possible to propose that Shakespeare merely uses this scene to provoke irritation and consequently suspense from the audience. If Hamlet wasn’t given this opportunity to kill Claudius we would have not this insight into Hamlet’s indecisiveness, possible cowardice and inability to kill Claudius in cold blood. It is probable to suggest that through this soliloquy we are shown that Hamlet’s initial passion for revenge after the Ghost’s visitation has faded as the play progresses to merely thinking about killing Claudius.
Throughout Hamlet, each character’s course of revenge surrounds them with corruption, obsession, and fatality. Shakespeare shows that revenge proves to be extremely problematic. Revenge causes corruption by changing an individual’s persona and nature. Obsession to revenge brings forth difficulties such as destroyed relationships. Finally, revenge can be the foundation to the ultimate sacrifice of fatality. Hamlet goes to show that revenge is never the correct route to follow, and it is always the route with a dead
The appearance of the ghost to Hamlet causes him much confusion. As Dodsworth states, "Hamlet regards the Ghost as eminently 'questionable' (43), that is, 'which invites question' as Jenkins has it, but more pertinently 'uncertain, doubtful'"(Dodsworth 58). Hamlet does not know whether or not to listen to the ghost. If it is indeed the ghost of Hamlet senior Hamlet is obligated to follow his orders, "It is as he is flesh of his flesh that Hamlet is bound (by 'nature') to act on his father's behalf" (Dodsworth 59). In conclusion, the appearance of the eminently is the beginning of Hamlet's problems.
The ghost is the guiding force behind hamlet. It asks hamlet to seek revenge for king Hamlet's death. This propels him into a series of events that end in his death.