Analysis Of Shakespeare 's ' Hamlet '

When ever a director basis their movie on a book or play they always put their own spin on the original piece. When Kenneth Branagh and Gregory Doran both made films on Hamlet the presentation of the movies were different. All directors have a style to the way they film; Branagh and Doran both have different filming styles that portray Hamlet in a different light.

The play ‘Hamlet’ written by William Shakespeare had many aspects of betrayal, a lack of loyalty, and tragic deaths. The storyline begins as a ghost appears and he resembles the late king of Denmark ‘Hamlet’. King Hamlet was Hamlets father, after his ghost appears Hamlet conversates with the figure and asks him why he is here, and the ghost states that his brother Claudius poisoned him by pouring poison in his ear while he was asleep, married his wife and finally took the power of the throne. Already in a confused state of mind Hamlet questions the ghost and decides to act delusional and put on a play to decide whether he will get revenge on Claudius. Consequently, one can tell how selfish both brothers Claudius and Hamlet are, how much do you have to hate your own family to commit such hatred. Ultimately blood is not thicker than water.

Shakespeare utilises the juxtaposition of Hamlet and King Claudius throughout the course of their external conflict, which drives the central events of the play, to represent the clash of good and evil. Readers are immediately positioned to despise Claudius, Hamlet’s primary antagonist and uncle, who is characterised as “a murderer and a villain… a king of shreds and patches” (3.4.97-104), committing selfish and highly immoral acts in his pursuit of the throne. In the Elizabethan era, the notion of ‘evil’ was perceived as a literal entity that threatened English Christian monarchical values, while the Royal Crown was considered to have been divinely touched; hence, actions against the Royal family was perceived as actions against God Himself. Therefore, Shakespeare aligns Claudius with evil, embodied in human

The evil within Hamlet and its widespread effect on others gradually develops over the course of the play. An example of Hamlet’s early disposition is his disdain for those who veil their actions with false appearances. When Gertrude asks Hamlet why he appears to be excessively grieving for the loss of his father, Hamlet rebuts quickly, saying, “‘Seems’, madam? Nay, it is, I know not ‘seems’”(I.ii.76). After meeting the Ghost later in the same act, Hamlet expresses this frustration in a more extreme way, referring to Claudius as a “...smiling, damned, villain”(I.v.106). In either case, one can see how at the beginning of the play there is at some level within Hamlet a strong opposition to those who are disingenuous or who promote false appearances which conceal vile deeds (in the above examples, the vile deeds being, in Hamlet’s opinion, the marriage of Gertrude to Claudius and Claudius’ murder of Hamlet Sr.). However, merely moments later, there is a difference in Hamlet after he swears for revenge; he decides the best course of action to exact said revenge is “To put an antic disposition on”(I.v.171).

William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, demonstrates how Denmark is falling apart. Throughout the play, the majority of the plot consists of death, decay, and disease. Usually, there are no Kings or Princes that are announcing revenge or marrying their brother’s wife. At the beginning when Hamlet sees the ghost, Marcellus says to Hamlet that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (1.4.90), this imagery can refer to the death of King Hamlet and the incestuous marriage of Claudius and Gertrude because both were sinful and evil acts that were done to kill a brother in order to obtain his kingdom and wife. In addition it develops how evil and negative actions will be occurring in Denmark with most of the characters. As a result, Shakespeare uses

The theme of corruption and decay from Shakespeare's Hamlet can be recognized throughout the play. From act 1 scene 4, the line “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” serves as one of the most important assertions that underline the overall theme of corruption. The phrase serves as Hamlet’s realization of the decaying status of Denmark and how it contains corrupted forces that are malignant. Furthermore, Shakespeare reminds his readers consistently by employing certain words and phrases that suggest the overall theme of corruption. More importantly, readers are presented with the different types of corruptions ranging from political corruption, moral corruption, to mental corruption.

        A major theme that encircles the play "Hamlet" is the disparity between what something appears to be, and what something is in reality: In otherwords, to distinguish between what is fake and what is truth. This theme is so heavily displayed in the play due to the fact that most of the central characters in the play hide behind a mask to conceal their true intentions while as trying to figure out what the other characters are thinking.

During this part of Hamlet, the King has just witnessed Hamlet’s play and concluded that his murderous actions are no longer a secret. Now that there are possible consequences, King Claudius feels regret for his actions and wants to be forgiven. However, he still wants to keep his prizes of being king and marrying the queen, therefore he tries to pray to be forgiven and later on devises a plan to get rid of Hamlet. James Burgh wrote the elocution manual The Art of Speaking to inform the youth of speaking properly and to teach them what to do with their eyes and all parts of their body. He wants to teach the readers the importance of each piece of punctuation. A comma has the purpose of “holding out the length of a syllable, a semicolon of two, a colon of three, and a period of four” (8). He also wants to teach young readers to break the habits of reading with a uniform humming tone, and teach them to allow their voices to fall at the ends of sentences and eventually have them learn to read with the natural inflections of their voice. The recitation of elocution is important to Burgh because he believes “no person reads well, till he comes to speak what he sees in the book before him in the same natural manner as he speaks the thoughts, which arise in his own mind” (8).

From the dark atmosphere of the previous scene, with its unbelievable deceit that seems to color the whole world black, the mood shifts. It focuses on the small-mindedness of a sly old man, Polonius, preparing with careful calculation to spy on his own son. This small example supports Hamlet’s cynical vision of the world, a corrupt, vicious place where a father might use devious means against his own child.

As Mahatma Gandhi stated, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”, through the play Hamlet, Shakespeare conveys this same sentiment as the protagonist suffers the dire consequences of attempting to avenge his father’s death. By seeking revenge to those who have wronged to you, only leads to a greater division with both sides becoming “blind” which results in a constant circle of hatred. In the play “Hamlet”, there are several encounters where prince Hamlet uses revenge “ taking an eye”,after his father’s death in order to avenge him. Due to his vengeful mindset, Hamlet fails to realize the aftermath of his retaliating manner which eventually causes the world to become “blind”.

There are many outstanding stories that have been written by the one and only William Shakespeare, in which a soliloquy of a character is very compelling. The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story in which a man kills his own brother and then marries the wife of his brother and takes the throne while he is at it. There are many secrets and no one knows that the original king was killed by his brother. Hamlet is then told by the ghost if his father to revenge him by killing his new stepfather/ uncle. In order to complete this task, Hamlet makes people believe that he is losing his mind in order to fulfill what his deceased father urges him to accomplish. This leads to many fatalities in the end. Also one of the most famous soliloquies of all time, Hamlet makes a compelling statement that can be interpreted in many ways.

Jean Jacques Rousseau stated that: “man is born free; but everywhere he lives in chains”. This suggests humankind is only free at the moment of birth and thereafter they live their lives chained down by forces working to hold them back from being who they truly are. Every man and women are shaped not by their freedoms, but by their limitations. This is evident in all types of literature and from observation of the world we live in now. However, I have chosen to analyze Prince Hamlet in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Winston Smith in 1984 by George Orwell and lastly The Man in The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Hamlet is based off of jealousy, revenge, and tragedy. Prince Hamlet, Son of the deceased King Hamlet has become depressed. Coming home to from Germany because his father has died, he is startled to find that his mother has already remarried. The queen has remarried to Prince Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius who is now the king of Denmark. Hamlet finds their marriage to be “foul incest”(https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/hamlet/play-summary). With all that’s happened, a ghost has appeared in the presence of Bernardo, Marcellus and a visitor of to Denmark, Horatio. The ghost then proceeds to tell young Hamlet that he was poisoned and murdered by his brother, Claudius. Prince Hamlet takes matters into his own hands and stages a play to see if Claudius will have a negative reaction proving he’s guilty. With trial, error and sacrificing a few lives, Hamlet is finally successful in avenging his father by stabbing Claudius at the toll of losing his own life. He then passes the throne to Fortinbras in his last living moments. The ghost effects action by convincing Hamlet to kill Claudius thus giving Fortinbras the throne, and theme through revenge and avenging his father similar to Fortinbras’s motivation.

This pay is a reflection of Shakespeare’s time because; it’s set in the same time era as Shakespeare. It in a time where there are kings and queens in the empires. This play is about a prince who decides to take revenge on his uncle for murdering his father. It starts with the ghost speaking to some guards then to Hamlet. Hamlets uncle kills Hamlets father so he could marry his wife and take his throne. When Fortinbras found out he wanted to start a war with Denmark so Claudius could be killed while Hamlet acted crazy. This play shows that the people in this time era took revenge and power over morality and what is right. This play could to of a different time where people don’t choose revenge and power over morality. Hamlet and Fortinbras choose revenge. That is what makes this seem the way it does. If that were how things were today we would be at war forever cause everyone would have someone to revenge or want more power and morality would be thrown out the window. When hamlet decides that he wants to kill Claudius he loses his morality and ends up being just as bad as his uncle is for killing his father. This also shows that when you think you got away with something it doesn’t mean someone doesn’t know. Claudius also chose power over morality when it came to his own brother. The people in this time don’t realize the sacrifices they make cause they only care about the outcome in the end of the whole ordeal. This leads to a point where everyone either kills for power or

Hamlet’s flaw is that he thinks more than acts? Is it Hamlet’s rational acts caused his downfall (Hamartia)? The idea that we have now; that hamartia means 'tragic flaw,' or something within the character of the person who meets a tragic fall, is a fairly modern idea. Hamlet was viewed as a revenge-obsessed character and the play suggest the tragic hero’s downfall is caused by a flaw in his character. Hamlet weakness could be that he is too uncertain, spending too much time debating his actions. Hamlet’s classical hamartia, or tragic error or mistake, is truly a mistake in two ways: a mistake in judgment (to kill Claudius to avenge his father) and a mistake in circumstance (it wasn't Claudius but Polonius).