Duality In Hamlet

Brenda Zavala March 16th, 2015 Character Analysis project: Part 2 Commonplace Journal Entry one Hamlet His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Have you ever wanted to spend months in temperatures that regularly are -30°? Many people cannot stand cold temperatures such as 32° even just for the couple minutes it takes while they are walking from their car to the store. In the story “Extreme Research Shows How Arctic Ice Is Dwindling” by Andy Isaacson he discusses how the arctic ice is dwindling, what will happen as a result of that and then finally about his trip where he was able to observe it all firsthand. The sea of ice is unlike how most people would imagine it to be as depicted on maps, instead it is not all connected but rather it is many different pieces all just floating near one another.

2. The significance of scene five was Ophelia’s first appearance in the play that displayed her newly found insanity due to the grief she feels from her dead father, Polonius. She speaks with the Queen Gertrude, who at first does not want to see her, but when she does she is shocked by her madness. Ophelia begins singing about the mourning of her father’s death and she also, sings about a love tale of seduction and rejection. When she leaves, Laertes, her brother, enters into the King’s chambers demanding information, shortly after Ophelia enters again and sings, showing her insanity to her brother, this enrages him.

What is Hamlet about? Maybe a summary of the plot could answer this question but it wouldn’t do it justice. However it’s impossible to narrow down any of William Shakespeare’s work to one theme. The fact is, that all of Shakespeare’s plays are about many things. There are many ways to look at a Shakespearean play, and none are wrong of course, but it is not entirely true to say that one theme is the most important. Some of the more common and dominate themes that can be found in any of Shakespeare’s works are: conflict, appearance and reality, order and disorder, and change.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark has been performed thousands of times since it was “written in 1599–1601 and published in a quarto edition in 1603” (Britannica.com). It’s popularity stems from its themes that translate across time. These themes, are seen to be relatable even to this day with the ever growing audience. Readers and viewers are able to find similarities between the current state and or even relate to one of the characters or events taking place over the course of Shakespeare’s five act masterpiece. Shakespeare's, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark remains a viable text for contemporary readers in that it functions as a mirror.

Hamlet proves himself a temperamental, twisted character in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. The Prince of Denmark conveys his facetious demeanor with his behavior and sharp tongue, especially in scenes with Ophelia and Gertrude. Although Hamlet’s situation is difficult and easily sympathized by viewers, his aggression should ultimately be focused on his murderous uncle.

Were Shakespeare to be brought back to life for a single day, twenty-four hours would not be nearly enough to answer all the long-debated questions four hundred years worth of readers ask about Hamlet. Debated topics include Hamlet’s madness or lack thereof, the suspicious circumstances of Ophelia’s death, Gertrude’s loyalties, and several others. The questions about these topics, and many more, are left unanswered in Hamlet, and countless essays have been written as attempts to assuage the confusion that readers experience. Definitive answers, however, are nowhere to be found. If this hypothetical resurrection were to occur, Shakespeare would likely not answer these questions in order to preserve an important element of his work. Hamlet’s ambiguity is so pervasive that it becomes part of the meaning of the play. Through all the clouded motivations, unclear traits, and mysterious actions, the only certainty to be discovered is death. The ambiguity establishes the uncertainty of life and morality and the inevitability of mortality.

Shakespeare’s tragedy play ‘Hamlet’ argues for duality being an innate part of human nature, social roles and the universe at large as a social commentary on 16th century England. During the play’s first recession Hamlet was more violent focusing on the insanity aspect due to popular demand. The Jacobean audience was allured by nature’s unveiled dark side with most popular works being The White Devil by John Webster and Volpone by Ben Jonson; both addressing dramatical exposure of humanity’s dark side. The concept is ingrained within dramatic techniques, characterisation, and structural aspects as a mainstay of the play. Customary definitions of morality, femininity, and reality are challenged as a means of perfecting the genre of tragedy through revealing the seldom looked at society’s substructure concurrently involving the audience through catharsis.

In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, doubt is one of the most important themes. In fact, the whole play is based on the story of a ghost who claims to be Hamlet’s father, and nobody can be sure if what he says is the truth. In this essay, I am going to focus on the theme of doubt throughout the play. I will first speak about the opening scene, and then I will talk about the ghost, which is a supernatural element used by Shakespeare to create doubt in the play. I will also analyse the passage in which Hamlet declares his love to Ophelia. Finally, I will briefly discuss Hamlet’s sanity.

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the occurrence of appearance vs reality was one that set up the basis of a story surrounded by tragedy in the Elizabethan era. Shakespeare had an understanding that in life, humans had a tendency to believe their opinion to be irrefutable fact. He played upon this idea to bring awareness to issues that occured in his reality without being deliberate. He had an ability to create ambiguity throughout the play which led readers to challenge the stereotypes and social structures surrounding a time that was not only corrupt; but also non progressive. Through his characters, imagery, and physical world, he was able to use elements such as gender, madness, kingship, and social class preconceptions to bring forth the

dominates the whole story. This can be detrimental to those who are trying to bring clarity to the viewpoint of others. In the text, the problems with incomplete viewpoints is evident in many circumstances, mainly whether Hamlet is crazy or sane. Showing the importance of other’s viewpoint, Hamlet uses some of his last words to tell to Horatio to not kill himself, but rather to spread the word of Hamlet’s true sanity. Again, this luxury of a near last will and testament is granted to those who are prominent, such as the inmates who have been granted an entire episode of a radio program and Hamlet the protagonist of his namesake's play. However, just as most prisoners do not get their fairy tale prison and release story, there are always single

Temptation has been around since the conception of our Earth. All civilizations, including the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the British, and even modern day individuals, have fallen victim to temptations that the world offers. John Owen described temptation as “a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or destruction.” A temptation is an act that appears enticing to an individual, but is usually coupled with damaging implications that may lead to feelings of regret and remorse. A person may fall victim to temptation when he lacks the self control to avoid enticing situations and is

Often, pieces of literature have been analyzed and made into a motion picture in the hopes of further developing the themes presented in the work. Though the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, has been interpreted and converted into a film numerous times by different directors, Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation particularly captured the essence of Hamlet and helped the audience truly understand the events that transpired in Act Three Scene Two of Hamlet. It is in this act, Hamlet plan to reveal King Claudius’ treachery is played out. Hamlet exposes the king through adding an extra sixteen lines to the play which depicts him killing Hamlet’s father. With the directions Hamlet gave to the actors, Hamlet is able to make the audience recognize the king’s

One loses many opportunities every time they hesitate to act. Whether it be unintentional or not, it all depends on the subject in question. In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, the character Hamlet shows qualities that are evident in his soliloquies. Since the beginning, Hamlet is unable to control his emotions towards Gertrude and Ophelia. He tends to overthink, generating doubt around life and death. Though impossible and inconvenient at times, Hamlet strives for an idealistic approach, such as justification for killing Claudius. Hamlet’s complex personality and unpredictable nature delay the commitment he makes to avenge his father.

The task began by forming seven groups of three or four students based on where they were already sitting in the room. For reference, on the anticipation chart, I only referred to one student from each group by name. I gave the students the task and told them to individually read through the problem and to start working on the problem independently for five minutes before starting to work on the task in their groups. At the end of the time allotted, the groups should have some sort of solution with justification and be ready to present their results if called upon whether right or wrong.