An Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet
Hamlet by William Shakespeare has been considered by many critics as one of the best plays in English literature. It has also been considered as one of the best tragedies among the many Shakespeare wrote. It is a story which revolves around this person called Hamlet, prince of Denmark. It is set in the Elizabethan times in the 16th century. It is a tragedy because it results in the deaths of many characters either accidentally or purposefully or forcefully. They all revolve around Hamlet’s actions and thoughts and the deaths, either directly or indirectly are a consequence of his actions. Each character in Hamlet is important and deserves a great deal of
…show more content…
The ghost also makes Hamlet and three other Danes swear to avenge ‘his most unnatural death’. The ghost brings about the beginning of the play by making its appearance and appealing to Hamlet.
The ghost appears again when it confronts Hamlet with his mother, Gertrude. It brings Hamlet back to his senses after he commits a murder in a rash mood. It is not seen by Gertrude. It tries to urge him to try to dissuade his mother to live any longer with Claudius. The ghost plays two roles, the first one to inform Hamlet of the truth and the second one to pacify him after his rash action.
2. Claudius – Claudius is the late king Hamlet’s brother. He murders his brother, marries his sister-in-law and ascends to the throne despite the king’s own son Hamlet being alive. Claudius is a very cunning and shrewd man who speaks eloquently and manipulatively trying to justify his actions. He is the person at whom Hamlet’s anger is mainly targeted at.
Claudius gives us the picture of a very crafty person who is very quick to spot areas which can help him and to exploit them. He is a man who tries to turn everything to his advantage. He is also quite shameless about his horrendous deeds though, he does try to ask forgiveness for his crime by trying to pray at which he fails miserably.
Hamlet is arguably the greatest dramatic character ever created. From the moment we meet the crestfallen Prince we are enraptured by his elegant intensity. Shrouded in his inky cloak, Hamlet is a man of radical contradictions -- he is reckless yet cautious, courteous yet uncivil, tender yet ferocious. He meets his father's death with consuming outrage and righteous indignation, yet shows no compunction when he himself is responsible for the deaths of the meddling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the pontificating lord chamberlain, Polonius. He uses the fragile and innocent Ophelia as an outlet for his disgust towards the Queen, and cannot comprehend that his own vicious words have caused her insanity. Hamlet is full of faults. But
The final way that Laertes acts as a foil to Hamlet occurs once again when Claudius and Laertes are discussing Laertes’ actions to achieve his vengeance. Claudius gives Laertes advice saying, “That we would do/ we should do when we would; for this ‘would’/ changes” (4.7.134-136). Claudius is warning Laertes that if he waits long enough, he will probably end up not doing anything at all and will not achieve his goal of vengeance. This quote spoken by Claudius is quite similar to when King Hamlet’s ghost meets with Hamlet earlier in the play to warn him about how he was killed by Claudius and that he must get revenge. King Hamlet’s ghost also warns Hamlet saying, “Taint not thy mind” (1.5.92), telling him to not over think his plan because otherwise he will not pursue his vengeance. After Claudius warns Laertes to not get side tracked, the audience is reminded of King Hamlet’s ghost telling Hamlet to not over think because then their plans will not be pursued. This scene acts as a foil towards Hamlet because soon after the conversation, Laertes does pursue his plan of seeking vengeance, whereas Hamlet has been working on his plan the whole play, and has still not started to execute it.
Hamlet is a Shakespearian tragedy that takes place in the kingdom of Denmark. The plot
William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet relays Hamlet’s quest to avenge the murder of his father, the king of Denmark. The late King Hamlet was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who took the throne and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude for himself. Hamlet is beseeched by the ghost of his father to take vengeance upon Claudius; while he swears to do so, the prince inexplicably delays killing Claudius for months on end. Hamlet’s feeble attempt to first confirm his uncle’s guilt with a play that recounts the murder and his botched excuses for not killing Claudius when the opportunity arises serve as testimony to Hamlet’s true self. Hamlet is riddled with doubt towards the validity of the ghost and his own ability to carry out the act necessary to
In the conclusion of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the audience gains an understanding of the importance of Justice to each character. In the final act both Hamlet and Laertes seek to find justice for the wrongs committed against them and their families. This leaves both men trying to identify how to right these misdeeds
So in Hamlet written by Shakespeare there is a lot of dichotomy between words vs. actions. The basic idea of dichotomy is the difference between to similar ideas or actions. In the play Hamlet there are two ideas that are butting heads. These would be words vs. actions. In the play there is a lot of talking and saying stuff about other people and there is actions to be followed by the words that were said. Throughout the essay you are about to read their will be use in imagery and symbols to help distinguish between the two ideas to morally make a theme for play. Through the the essay there will be evidence of how words and actions are different from each other 's which makes a theme for Hamlet which makes Hamlet more easy to understand when the reader is about to start the play.
The tragedy, “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare, who formulated a play about the young Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, who faces the emotions, depression, anger, and uncertainty due to the murder of his father, King Hamlet. The man who conducted this unlawful action was Hamlet's uncle, step-father and the new King of Denmark, Claudius. Hamlet desires to seek revenge upon Claudius for his father's murder and the incestuous relationship between him (Claudius) and Gertrude (Hamlet's mother). In prince's first soliloquy, he contemplates on committing suicide because he faces difficulty in mourning of the death of his father whom he greatly adored. Moments later, he expressed his emotions on his mother's decision to marry her dead
In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet plays the main character of a prince who loses his father and his heir to the throne. Hamlet experiences troubling events that affect his irrational behavior. Stylistically, Hamlet’s character is both beautiful and poetic. Realistically, Hamlet may have suffered from a psychological disorder and several complexes. Hamlet is affected by Bipolar I disorder, causing him to act irritably and have an elevated mood. He is also a victim of Freud’s Oedipus complex which makes it harder for him to accept his mother’s remarriage. Hamlet’s hatred toward Ophelia and his mother is a result of his subconscious overwhelming hatred and fear of femininity. These psychological disorders and complexes that Hamlet suffers from show why he acts as he does.
“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.-Confucius“ For as long as humans have lived with each other on this earth there has been conflict and war between us all whether it was because of resources, money, and or power someone has killed someone to get what they wanted even if they had to kill their only brother to get it.This is what happened in the story of Hamlet, Hamlet’s father was killed by his uncle; Claudius presumably because he wanted to be king himself and to marry his brother’s wife. This made Hamlet depressed and miserable because his father died and his mother married his uncle straight away. Then later on in the story the ghost of hamlets father shows up and tells him that his uncle Claudius killed him. At first Hamlet was very calm and rational about the whole ordeal, he even made a plan to try and see if the ghost was telling the truth. However once he found out that the ghost was indeed telling the truth hamlet started to obsess more and more over killing Claudius that he didn’t care who he had to kill or who he had to hurt in order to kill him. This was very obvious in the scene where hamlet accidently killed Polonius. “Help, help, ho!
Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet highlights one character above all the others; it is Hamlet the protagonist, the hero, the good guy. This essay will be devoted to delineating his character in the play.
“Hamlet” is a revenge story written by William Shakespeare near the end of the Elizabethan era. Hamlet was sent home to Denmark from school in Germany to attend his father’s funeral and suspects foul play over his death. His suspicions are later confirmed when his father’s ghost appears in the castle and now Hamlet will avenge his death. (Act 1, 4) Later, Hamlet reveals his plan for the Murder of Gonzago. The actors will perform a play with a scene with the murder that the ghost exactly described. Hamlet hopes that seeing the crime reenacted will make Cladius reveal that he murdered King Hamlet. (“Summary and Analysis Act II: Scene 2”) When Hamlet meets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he discusses his unhappiness that the two men did not come to visit him, but he knows that the king and queen have sent for them. So, Hamlet gives his opinion of mankind in the following monologue, “What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty: In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like and angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the
Analysis of William Shakespeare's Hamlet The entire world, be it in the past, present or future, is entirely
In a critical piece titled “Hamlet: Overview” Holger Klein explores how Hamlet’s intensity and complexity evokes a series of responses which says as much about their authors and periods as they do about the play itself. Klein states that the very text of Hamlet introduces problems. Three different prints, differing in hundreds of details apart from major divergences exist. The first Quarto of 1603 was a pirated version based on memorial reconstruction. The second Quart, of 1604, was based on Shakespeare’s first rough copy. The third version are the collected First Folios of 1623. The first Quarto contains about half the lines of the second. The second Quarto is the longest, which contains 230 lines not present in the First Folios. However even
Isolation. An eerie dread, a detachment, an unwelcome independence. A feeling that everyone expects to feel at some point, yet are never prepared for. Why? Why do we accept that we’ll feel isolated if we aren’t going to be prepared when the feeling actually hits us? Maybe because despite it being a common emotion, it’s not one brought about naturally. Hamlet, for example, didn’t begin to feel isolated from those around him until the tragic death of his king. After which, he saw the true colours of those around him, and began to feel isolated.
In the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Hamlet goes through tragic events and circumstances that cause an outrage. Through the events that come into play he becomes frustrated and depressed while he is looking for revenge. Throughout Hamlet continues to show mixed emotions until he finally gives in at one point and has had enough. Although Hamlet is a very complex character, his personality displays his frustration and his manipulation while also highlighting his mental instability.