Hamlet -- Realism and Imagination
Do realism and imagination coexist side by side and equally present within the Shakespearean drama Hamlet? Let us examine the evidence from the play, along with literary critical opinion on this subject.
In “Acts III and IV: Problems of Text and Staging” Ruth Nevo explains how “all things are opposite of what they seem” at a crucial time in the play:
In the prayer scene and the closet scene his [Hamlet’s] devices are overthrown. His mastery is confounded by the inherent liability of human reason to jump to conclusions, to fail to distinguish seeming from being. He, of all people, is trapped in the fatal deceptive maze of appearances that is the phenomenal world. Never perhaps has the mind’s finitude been better dramatized than in the prayer scene and in the closet scene. Another motto of the Player King is marvelously fulfilled in the nexus of ironies which constitutes the plays peripateia: “Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.” In the sequence of events following Hamlet’s elation at the success of the Mousetrap, and culminating in the death of Polonius, all things are the opposite of what they seem, and action achieves the reverse of what was intended. Here in the play’s peripeteia is enacted Hamlet’s fatal error, his fatal misjudgment, which constitutes the crisis of the action, and is the directly precipitating cause of his own death, seven other deaths, and Ophelia’s madness. (52)
According to the best of literary critics, realism is basically “representing human life and experience” (Abrams 260). In the essay “An Explication of the Player’s Speech,” Harry Levin explains how the playwright achieves an “imitation of life” in his play:
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...are. N.p.: Princeton University Press, 1972.
Pitt, Angela. “Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Excerpted from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Rosenberg, Marvin. “Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 1992.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
West, Rebecca. “A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
With more than 200,000 US cases per year, Parkinson’s disease has become a major part
These Reconstruction plans are three different policies but the creators did share common ideas and opinions. All three had very similar goals. One major goal was to reintegrate the south back into the union as quickly as possible. The quicker the reunion of the two sections, the easier it would be to establish order and control. Similarly, another goal was to create order after the long p...
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
Parkinson disease begins after the age of 40 years, with peak age of onset between 58 and 62 years. It is slightly more prevalent in males. This disease is one of the most prevalent of the primary CNS disorders and a leading cause of neurologic disability in individuals older than 60 years. The prevalence rate is 107 to 187 per 100,000 persons, with 40,000 new cases in the United States each year.
Findlay, Alison. "Hamlet: A Document in Madness." New Essays on Hamlet. Ed. Mark Thornton Burnett and John Manning. New York: AMS Press, 1994. 189-205.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
Paulson, G. W. Management of the patient with newly -diagnosed Parkinson’s disease. Geriatrics, Feb. 1993: 30-40.
Parkinson’s affects about one million people within the United States and about five million people worldwide. Most individuals who develop Parkinson 's disease are 60 years of age or older. Parkinson 's disease occurs in approximately 1% of individuals aged 60 years and in about 4% of those aged 80 years (Heyn and Stoppler, 2013). Since overall life expectancy is rising, the number of individuals with Parkinson 's disease will increase in the future. According to Sweeny (2013) Parkinson’s affects approximately 1.5% to 2.0% of people aged 60 years and older. Though it is rare, young adults may also be diagnosed with PD. Before the age of age if 21, the diagnosis is deemed juvenile onset. Between the ages of 21 to 40 it is called early onset. A significantly higher incidence rate of Parkinson’s disease was found among men with the relative risk being 1.5 times greater in men than women. (Wooten, Currie, Bovbjerg, Lee, and & Patrie,
Most signs and symptoms of Parkinson disease correspond to one of three motor deficiencies: bradykinesia, akinesia, tremor, and rigidity. The first two qualities are usually present before tremor, but often attributed to aging by the patient and even the physician, and thus the disease is rarely diagnosed until tremor becomes evident much later. An average of 80% of the nigrostriatal neurons may have already degenerated by the time Parkinsonism is diagnosed, which complicates treatment (Fitzgerald, 130). Bra...
...ry work, medical industry work and other areas that require steady and stable hand control. The Michael J. Fox Foundation website allows for people to post comments and I was touched by the strength that these individuals have. Jo Dee Biddle, who is a caregiver and loved one of Parkinson’s patient posted “If I have learned anything about PD in 28 years, it is to take things one day at a time. If it's a good day, seize the moment. If it's not, don't apologize.” I think that this is such an inspiring way to look at daily life with Parkinson’s. This attitude and approach will make the good days with this disease be even greater and the harder days easier to cope. There is much that is unknown about this disease, but there are many foundations and research efforts that support furthering the cause of research and continuous search for early diagnosis.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html