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The Innocence of Gertrude and Ophelia
“Pretty Ophelia,” as Claudius calls her, is the most innocent victim of Hamlet’s revenge in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Hamlet has fallen in love with Ophelia after the death of his father. Ophelia “sucked the honey of his music vows” and returned Hamlet’s affection. But when her father had challenged Hamlet’s true intentions, Ophelia could only say: “I do not know, my lord, what I should think.” Ophelia was used to relying on her father’s directions and she was also brought up to be obedient. This allowed her to only accept her father’s views that Hamlet’s attention towards her was only to take advantage of her and to obey her father’s orders not to permit Hamlet to see her again.
Hamlet has the disillusion that women are frail after his mother’s rushed remarriage as shown by “Frailty, thy name is woman!” He also believes women do not have the power to reason. (“O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason.”) Ophelia has the power to change his view but her unexplained rejection of him only adds to Hamlet’s disillusion. The ghost’s revelation that Gertrude dishonored Hamlet’s father but also their marriage by the adultery with Claudius is contemplated by Hamlet until he goes into Ophelia’s room to look upon her. As Hamlet searches Ophelia’s face for some sign that might restore his faith in her, he instead believes her face shows guilt and thinks she is another false Gertrude.
There is much similarity between Gertrude and Ophelia in the play. Both are attractive and simple minded, and are easily shaped by opinion, desires and ideas of others. Ophelia and Gertrude seem to be the same women at different stages in their lives. This may be one of the reasons why Hamlet was first attracted to Ophelia and now the reason why Hamlet rejects Ophelia.
By disposition, Gertrude turns to the positive side of life and can’t bear to face pain. The pain she felt after her adultery with Claudius may have been what motivated Claudius to murder her husband. When the conditions were right for her to marry her lover, she was most happy and wished for the difficulties of the past be forgotten.
The only thing left to make Gertrude unhappy is Hamlet’s refusal to forget the death of his father or to forgive her for remarrying so quickly. In order for her to completely bury the past, she must convince Hamlet to accept her new marriage and forget his father’s death.
In his time Hannibal was a Carthaginian general revered for his prowess as a tactician and is still studied today. He learned to fight, outthink his enemies and garnered much of his animosity towards the Romans from his father Hamilcar Barca who fought against Rome in the First Punic War. After his father’s death, Hannibal succeeded him as general to the Carthaginian army at the age of 23. Hereafter he spent two years solidifying his position and gathering support before carrying out an assault on Sanguntum. He later came to be known as one of Rome’s greatest adversaries when he led a campaign against the Romans in 219 B.C.E.
There was yet another Hannibal led victory at Lake Trasumenus, where he made a series predictions and judgements to enable him to drop an ambush on a large Roman army resulting in a significant defeat of the Romans. Hannibal seemed to always be a step ahead of his Roman counterparts as he proceeded to capture Northern Italy. It was then that the Roman army commander, Fabius Maximus thought he had Hannibal and his troops entrapped by guarding the way out of Italy. Hannibal would prove superior yet again by outwitting him, using herds of cattle as decoy to escape entrapment. “He ordered his light-armed troops in the night to drive up the mountain side a herd of cattle, with lighted fagots tied to their horns.” (Morey,
While Hamlet may still be feeling depressed Hamlet moves into the stage of denial and isolation. Hamlet feels the effects of denial and isolation mostly due to his love, Ophelia. Both Hamlet’s grief and his task constrain him from realizing this love, but Ophelia’s own behavior clearly intensifies his frustration and anguish. By keeping the worldly and disbelieving advice of her brother and father as “watchmen” to her “heart” (I.iii.46), she denies the heart’s affection not only in Hamlet, but in herself; and both denials add immeasurably to Hamlet’s sense of loneliness and loss—and anger. Her rejection of him echoes his mother’s inconstancy and denies him the possibility even of imagining the experience of loving an...
The weather in the Alps can be quite unforgiving being it a high elevation mountain range. “About one-third of his army and most of his elephants perished during the journey, but those that made it through emerged after only two weeks of marching.” After the crossing Hannibal’s reduced forces were met by a brand new Roman outfit. Although being somewhat weak He still defeated the Roman forces although his numbers were somewhat depleted. “Although the discipline and courage of Roman and Italian had down to the point amply compensated for the Republics inexperienced generals, this system met by Hannibal.” He beat them using his impressive strategy that he has shown he had shown time and time
Hannibal was a great leader and had very good military strategies and tactics. He was smart and adaptive when things didn’t go as planned. If he had a bigger army and and resources to use his army would have been unstoppable. Hannibal was and will always be known as one of the world’s most famous leaders.
Hannibal grew up being taught to completely despise Rome and everything about it. His hatred made it easier for him to come up with new tactics and ideas to gain strength in the years he was fighting in Spain. Hannibal was born a trickster, and he is known for winning most of his battles with clever antics and rather gruesome forms of punishment. Some may say Hannibal was a ruthless ruler, others may say he is a great leader, but his brutal childhood and learning from his father to be hateful contributed to his bloody ways. Hannibal’s tactics enforced loyalty among his soldiers and power over his enemies. There are many battle horror stories including Hannibal. Once, he had a Roman soldier held captive. He put the soldier up to fight against the elephant and said, ‘If you win, you will be freed.” The prisoner went underneath the elephant and cut its vital organs, giving the prisoner a win. Hannibal was
Hannibal was a Punic military leader that is considered to be one of the greatest to walk the Earth. Hannibal was widely known for his sneaky military tactics and brave decisions. The leader of the Ancient Carthaginians was the mastermind that led them through the Punic Wars.
Hamlet shows much anger and disrespect to the women in his life. Ophelia’s believing her father’s words breaks Hamlets heart, being the reason for his treatment towards not just her but his mother. Ophelia
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, women are oversexualized, and are given no role other than to be the item of a man’s desire. The promiscuity of the only two women in the play, Gertrude and Ophelia, detracts from their power and integrity, and allows Hamlet a certain amount of control over them. Gertrude’s sexual lifestyle is often mentioned by her son, Hamlet, and Hamlet uses his knowledge of Gertrude’s sexuality as a means to criticize her. Ophelia’s sexuality initially appears to be controlled by Laertes and Polonius, and Hamlet takes advantage of the naive image that she is required to keep. However, in her later madness, Ophelia taints this image by revealing that her innocence is feigned. By exposing the sexual natures of both Gertrude and Ophelia, Hamlet strips these women of any influence they may have had, and damages their once-honourable names.
The Punic wars was a series of wars that determined how the rest of world history would play out in the future. The Romans and Carthaginians were the powerhouses of the Mediterranean for many years. Both had the wealth and the power to rule the Mediterranean. Because of this, the two empires clashed for control of the Mediterranean and the small countries around it. The Second Punic War conflict lasted from 218 to 201 B.C. and changed the course of history for centuries. Many ethnic groups fought in this war for money, fame, alliances, as well as fear. This war affected many people. Carthages empire was based on commerce which allowed them to have the wealth to create massive mercenary armies to do there doing. On the other hand Romans armies
In conclusion, Hannibal was a man with a multitude of great traits. One of his biggest downfalls was his terrible sense of luck. Luck favored the Romans time and time again. In light of this, Hannibal was still able to prove his worth as a general. Hannibal was feared beyond reason, unrelenting even without assistance, renowned as a politician, and a genius in the art of inventing ways to defeat his opponents. Without a doubt, Hannibal is one of the greatest general of all time and will be remembered by historians thousands of years from now.
The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.
In the play “Hamlet,” Gertrude and Ophelia share similarities and they are also contrasting characters. Gertrude, the mother of Hamlet, is a loving, honorable, protective mother. Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest, is young, foolish, and underestimated. One of the main stances, to which they both contrast, is their love for Hamlet.
Two of Ophelia’s difficulties arise from her father and brother. They believe that Hamlet is using her to take her virginity and throw it away because Ophelia will never be his wife. Her heart believes that Hamlet loves her although he promises he never has (“Hamlet” 1). Hamlet: “Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but not the time gives it proof. I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock ...
Another significant female character is Ophelia, Hamlet's love. Hamlet's quest for revenge interferes with his relationship with Ophelia. There is much evidence to show that Hamlet loved her a great deal, but his pretense of madness drove her to her death. Ophelia drowned not knowing what was happening to her. This can be deduced by the fact that she flowed down the river singing and happy when in truth she was heartbroken. Ophelia was very much afraid when she saw Hamlet "with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). She described him as being "loosed out of hell" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). In addition to that he scared her when he left the room with his eyes still fixed on her. She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he no longer loves her and that he is opposed to marriage. He advises her to go to a nunnery and avoid marriage if she can.