The Mystery Man: Hamlet

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"To be, or not to be" (3.1.57) is usually all one thinks about when Hamlet is brought up, yet Shakespeare intended the play to be so much more than that. Hamlet is a play based on the royal family of Denmark. The protagonist, Hamlet, is the prince and son of King Hamlet. The play starts with the mysterious death of King Hamlet, and the swift wedding of the Queen to Prince Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet is sorely grieved with the death of his father. Shakespeare's playwriting abilities from the early 1600s have resonated until today for multiple reasons. Hamlet addresses social concepts from Shakespeare's day up until modern times. The ideas that he portrays in the characters in the play teach lessons to today's youngest generation. Despite having been written over 400 years ago, Shakespeare depicts the themes that apply to today's society through the actions and thoughts of the main character, Hamlet.
Hamlet's frequent use of sarcasm - most often in a negative way against his mother or uncle - is used by Shakespeare to give insight about Hamlet's true identify to the viewer and also to prove that Hamlet is not mad. Hamlet uses his sarcastic remarks to give the impression to the viewer that he despises his mother and uncle without revealing this to the Queen and King. An example of this is when he is speaking face-to-face with his mother: "'Seems,' madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems' (1.2.76). Throughout his lengthy response to his mother's simple question ("If it be, why seems it so particular with thee?"), Hamlet conveys his sarcasm through the word "seems". He does so subtly whilst continuing to go on about his sufferings and afflictions.
Another way Hamlet shows his displeasure with the King and Queen is through sarcastic comments...

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...t be label with procrastination as his tragic flaw. He never had a liable time to carry out the task. Between having to wait for Claudius to be egregiously sin again and being banished, Hamlet never had the chance to finish his assignment. Procrastination is defined by Websters Dictionary as "to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy". Hamlet certainly wants to kill Claudius, and he is not lazy. How can one conclude that procrastination is Hamlet's fatal flaw when he never technically procrastinated? He never had the chance until it was too late for him. Hamlet is witty and quite genius, but he falls short in social areas. He cannot get along with anyone except maybe his father (which we never get to see). Far from perfect, but yet he is far from despicable. In the end, Hamlet is human just like everyone else.

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