Villains in Shakespeare
analytical Essay
675 words
Three stories from the same author, but not just an author. Perhaps the greatest author in human history. His name was William Shakespeare, heard of him? Maybe you have heard of these three stories by him Hamlet, Othello, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These stories have been talked about throughout history because of the similarities and difference in the plots. What is really important to me, is the villains or antagonist in the plays. “Equally well known as the Hero is the Villain. And just as the Hero is actually made up of several distinct qualities, so is the Villain. In fact, for every quality the Hero possesses, the Villain embodies a counterpart.” (Phillips) Each story has certain villains that make the plays, and their names are Hamlet and Claudius, Iago, Puck and Egeus.
First of all, one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays of all time, Hamlet, has a combination of two villains. Hamlet is the main character of the play, and most controversial character ever made by Shakespeare. He is controversial because he is the protagonist and antagonist at the same time. He makes the viewers and readers love him on his journey for revenge. But at the same time, as Hamlet crosses paths with his dark side, he turns into the hated Hamlet that ruins his life and ends the play. Everybody has a villain inside them, it’s not about getting rid of it, and it’s about hiding it for no body to see. The other villain inside the story is Hamlets uncle, Claudius. He kills the rightful kind of Denmark, Hamlets dad and then to top it off, takes Hamlets mom as his lover. Which is just wrong on so many levels. “Claudius is viewed as the evil murderer in Hamlet. However, counting the number of people killed, Hamlet wins by far. Claudius only kills one...
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...ers in all of literature.” (Tannahill)
Works Cited
Adams, John. "Who is the main villain in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream?" enotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Kravchuk, Michael. "Hamlet – Hamlet the Villian." Music, Art, Literature. N.p., 2013. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Phillips, Melanie Ann. "Hero is a Four-Letter Word: The Villain." Writers store. N.p., 1982. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Smith, Sylvester. "Iago." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Tannahill, Ryan. "Top Shakespeare Villains." Shakespeare Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the similarities and differences in the plots of hamlet, othello, and a midsummer night's dream, but the villains or antagonists are important to them.
- Analyzes how hamlet, one of shakespeare's most popular plays of all time, has a combination of two villains.
- Concludes that villains are just as important to the story as the characters in a midsummer night’s dream.
- Explains adams, john, and kravchuk, michael. "hamlet – hamlet the villian." music, art, literature. n.p., 2013.
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- Analyzes how hermia is in love with lysander and they seem happy, but her father doesn't want her to be with demetrius and says she can marry him or be faced with death. she chooses to run off with him so they can be together.
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- Analyzes how shakespeare portrays deception as the cause for tragic ends of ophelia, rosencrantz, and guildenstern.
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- Analyzes how claudius' villainous deeds influence the decisions of every other character in the play, and how his villainy propels both topics to a deeper meaning.
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- Analyzes how hamlet and claudius were foils to each other in regards to the throne and the essence of their character.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how shakespeare intended for hamlet to prolong the deaths of each character, including polonius, ophelia, queen gertrude, claudius and laertes.
- Analyzes how hamlet delayed committing the act because of his physical aspect of the situation and his mental thoughts complicate his ability to face his fate.
- Analyzes how hamlet is incapable of executing the things he intends to do.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hamlet is determined to achieve his ultimate goal by seeing that claudius is put to justice for the crime of murdering the king of denmark.
- Analyzes how hamlet's obsession with his mother and his uncle during the play serves as the catalyst for all the suffering.
- Analyzes how hamlet's obsession causes gertrude mental anguish by pretending to be insane throughout the play, and also by always trying to make her feel guilty about marrying claudius.
- Analyzes how the motif of misogyny is not exclusive to gertrude, but shared with ophelia as hamlet excessively attacks her with sexual insults which leads to her mental anguish.
- Analyzes how the plot refers back to the incestuous motif and polonius' death leaves laertes with an obligation to avenge his father that will lead to his death.
- Analyzes how hamlet tries to overcome his suffering caused by his father's suspected murder by hurting all of the people he comes in contact with because of his inability to take action against claudius.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hamlet is a revenge tragedy, written by william shakespeare, in which the storyline's primary motive is revenge.
- Analyzes how hamlet proclaimed his love for ophelia through poems, letters, an emotional graveside confession, verbal statements, and acts of protection.
- Opines that ophelia is ill at these numbers. they have not art to reckon their groans, but that they love thee best.
- Analyzes how shakespeare used wordplay to confuse the reader regarding hamlet’s love for ophelia and the frustration that young virgins felt.
- Analyzes how the tragic death of ophelia caused hamlet to stop his madness and express his endless love for her.
- Opines that you should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it.
- Analyzes how hamlet's love for ophelia played a role in keeping him from committing suicide.
- Analyzes how hamlet wanted to protect ophelia's innocence by telling her to go to a nunnery. chikako kumamoto is an honor professor of english at the college of dupage.
- Analyzes how hamlet proved his love for ophelia through written text, emotional graveside acclamation, verbal admissions, and demands of isolation.
- Analyzes how hamlet's love for ophelia was dubious due to claudius' murder. he wanted polonius to know that he knew.
- Analyzes how hamlet used his soliloquy "to be or not to be" to express his feelings to ophelia in 3.1.
2176 wordsRead More - Hamletanalytical essayHamlet arrives home from his studies to discover that his uncle, Claudius, has murdered Hamlet’s father, the king of Denmark. Hamlet vows to avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius. Although Hamlet is obsessed with killing Claudius, his conscience seems to be plagued with the enormity of committing murder. Claudius’s conniving assassination of the king and Hamlet’s desire for justice make the two characters seem quite dissimilar. Hamlet the beloved prince is supposed to slay Claudius the scheming usurper. Yet, in some sense, Hamlet seeks the same path as Claudius. He wants to murder Claudius, just as Claudius murdered his father. To do this, however, would bring Hamlet down to Claudius’s level. The lust, manipulation, selfishness and even doubt that are so plainly seen in Claudius also exist within Hamlet and become apparent as he contemplates his revenge.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hamlet vows to avenge his father's death by killing claudius, but his conscience seems plagued with the enormity of committing murder.
- Analyzes how claudius and hamlet display lust and obsession in their pitiable relations with women.
- Analyzes how claudius shows his manipulative nature when he convinces laertes to avenge polonius by killing hamlet.
- Analyzes how claudius takes advantage of the fuming laertes, but hamlet's manipulation is much more crude. he rewrites the letter with instructions that england, should the bearers put to sudden death.
- Analyzes how claudius' selfish nature creates the chaos that unfolds throughout the play. he robs his brother of his life to gain the crown and the queen for himself.
- Analyzes how hamlet's selfishness goes hand in hand with his desire for revenge. he accuses his mother for her lack of remorse and then proceeds to berate her with no mercy.
- Analyzes how both hamlet and claudius display a sliver of doubt about the murders of which they seemed so certain.
- Analyzes how hamlet realizes the monster he is becoming. he sees his character flaws, but continues his murderous crusade.
- Analyzes how hamlet is traumatized by the evil perpetrated against his father, triggering a descent into anger, hatred, obsession, self-loathing, and eventually murder and death.
954 wordsRead More