Hamlet, By William Shakespeare

In this play “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare, there are many soliloquies that are said by Hamlet to depict various meanings of his thoughts, feelings, and actions that are inside of him. More specifically the soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, in lines 57-91 starts off with the famous saying known as “To be, or not to be”. Throughout this soliloquy, Hamlet is asking himself the question of whether it is better to live or not to live. In life, we are faced with many situations where we feel the need to give up our life and not face the problems. Only by facing all the troubles, will a person become stronger and more courageous to handle anything in life. By believing in one’s self, can man have the courage to follow what they think is right. Killing yourself or giving up is never a solution in life. This soliloquy reveals Hamlet’s fearful personality by showing that his decision-making process is slow and that he fears risks or uncertainty. These character traits are depicted thoroughly by Hamlet throughout the play.

The male characters in Hamlet continually abuse both Ophelia and Gertrude, physically and psychologically, as a pathetic attempt to gain power and control over the situation. One of the greatest examples of psychological abuse comes from the harrowing scene where Hamlet and Ophelia have their final conversation before Hamlet leaves for England. During this rage-induced altercation, Hamlet refuses to accept Ophelia’s returning of the gifts previously given to her from him, saying “I never gave you aught” (3.1.97). Ophelia is appalled as Hamlet continues to insult her and laugh in her face. In the climax of the argument, Hamlet tells Ophelia that she “should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not” (3.1.117-119). The immense amount of psychological damage received by Ophelia between the addition and removal of love by Hamlet and her father’s death is enough to drive anyone to madness. David M. Smith recounts this as Hamlet’s necessity “to genuine outsideness because of the danger of being co-opted by love” (Smith, 1). However, Hamlet no longer needed to protect himself in his situation. His actions from this scene were not only uncalled for, but added to the slow mental demise of his sweet Ophelia. Hamlet’s next scene of abuse come shortly after this when he goes to speak to Gertrude about her participation in the murder of Old Hamlet. His rage, yet again, takes over, but this time he adopts physical abuse

Almost every story involves a conflict between hero and villain. In some stories, there is a plot twist where the hero is also the villain—but in Hamlet, there are no heroes and many villains. In Hamlet, every character has lied, kept secrets or is seeking revenge that leads to a tragic ending at every corner, but what we fail to see is who the true villain is. Looking at the character of Hamlet throughout the play, it is easier to spot his many dishonorable actions than his few honorable ones.

Queen Gertrude is the mother to Hamlet, widow to the late King, and new wife to King Claudius as shown within the first act of Hamlet. Following her marriage to King Claudius, her relationship with her son Hamlet becomes strained. Queen Gertrude symbolizes much of what is considered to be a negative aspect of womanhood. To Hamlet, Queen Gertrude is a failure of a woman. Through his dialogue, it is presented that Hamlet desires a woman and mother to be concerned for her family and place tradition above all else. When Hamlet’s mother makes a decision outside of that realm and marries King Claudius, Hamlet strives to berate her for her choices. Through

Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is one of the most important works of literature ever published, evidenced by the fact that it explores several themes still relevant almost 400 years later—namely the affect insanity can have; not only on one person, but everyone involved in that person’s life. The play takes place shortly after the death of Denmark’s former king, King Hamlet, and follows his son, Prince Hamlet, as he attempts to avenge his father’s death. Although early in the play Hamlet tells his friends, Horatio and Marcellus, that he is going to assume an “antic disposition,” it is commonly debated as to whether or not Hamlet actually delves into madness (1.5.192). Hamlet’s display of control over both his thoughts and his actions, coupled with the fact that many other characters doubt his madness, makes it evident that Hamlet never does descend into true madness.

INTRODUCTION Throughout the course of Hamlet, many statements regarding women and their nature are presented from the characters’. However, none, so sufficiently, captures the thematic overtones of the play than “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (Shakespeare, pg. 29). In this scene, Hamlet, exasperated with his mother, Gertrude’s inability to commit to either himself or Claudius, vents his frustrations with woman-kind as a whole. The only other woman in the play is Ophelia, the, loosely, romantically-involved with Hamlet, daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes – two other in-play forces working against Hamlet.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character Hamlet must deal with both external and internal conflict. Hamlet encounters many struggles and has trouble finding a way to deal with them. With so many corrupt people in his life, Hamlet feels as if there is no one that he can trust and begins to isolate himself from others. A result from this isolation leads Hamlet to become melancholy. Hamlet struggles with suicidal thoughts, wants to kill King Claudius, and is distraught over his mother’s hasty marriage with his uncle Claudius.

Multiple characters in Hamlet that are at least somewhat relevant end up tragically dying in the play. Each of the character’s death is caused by the same evil that had spread to each character at some point in the play. Claudius starts this spread of evil by murdering Hamlet the First with poison that Claudius put in Hamlet the First’s ear. This evil spreads first to Hamlet the prince, who plots his revenge on Claudius. The same evil further spreads to every other relevant character at some point in the play, but since the play is set in the late middle ages, this evil takes a long time to affect and eventually kill some of the characters. The world has advanced remarkably since the time of Hamlet, and there is still the same evil around

The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is set in an anti-feminist era. Women traditionally have been seen inferior to men. This was an intellectual as well as a physical issue. Women were to raise a family, cook, clean, be pretty and not be smarter than any man. The main characters Ophelia and Gertrude are both depicted with these characteristics as powerless and frail people. This illustration of helpless women affects one's understanding of what their true selves could be.

During the course of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, the character of young Hamlet exemplifies an often puzzling and ambivalent persona. During the play, Hamlet is often contradicting of himself. By role-playing, or self-fashioning, Hamlet is able to balance his virtues in order to stay true to himself. This is demonstrated by his decisions to act upon something, as well as his inactions to not act upon something. The obscurity of Hamlet’s mannerisms are displayed within two conflicting personas: one that is perceived as calm and rational; the other displaying utter madness and loss of control. These conflicting behaviors are revealed within Hamlet’s internal struggles—to kill those responsible for his father’s murder, or to act responsibly and virtuous, and await further proof of their guilt. Throughout the play, Hamlet teeters on the brink of insanity induced by his actions, or inactions, but never actually crosses the threshold of insanity by balancing the virtues of "playing a role" and self fashioning, with looking at his own sense of self to rationalize his actions throughout the play.

What is the ultimate form of betrayal within a family? Are there possibilities of forgiveness in mending the damaged relationship? This issue is present in Hamlet, as Shakespeare conveys the dramatic yet broken relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude, after the death of his father. Gertrude’s rash decision to remarry sparks the beginning of Hamlet’s dissatisfaction with her and his own inability to accept the situation at hand. Hamlet’s need to justify his father’s death causes him to seek revenge on his step-father, Claudius, while Hamlet, himself, experiences a major character shift that results in a loss of humanity towards the end of the story. Through the formalist approach, the author achieves his purpose by utilizing pithy dialogue and fervent diction to depict that the characters’ actions will always have consequences regardless of the reasoning behind it.

Shakespeare writes in a way that is difficult to understand for anyone that speaks the modern language. His story Hamlet is understood through the emotions felt by his characters. Hamlet is the main character who is conflicted with revenge and conspiring friendships. Hamlet returns home from Germany for his father’s funeral only to find far more troubling things. Hamlet is a conflicted character but that doesn’t stop him from knowing what he wants. Revenge is the main cause of his confliction but with great reason, which is important to understand about this play because it helps explain all the betrayal and tragedy.

Many people base their lives on the uncertainty they place around themselves. Thus causing many problems with being able to guarantee anything in day to day life. Is it certain that one will arrive to a destination unharmed? Can anyone’s safety be guaranteed? This same problem can be seen in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet’s whole life is based on uncertain ideas and in the end it collapses on him, as if he built a house on shifting sands. If there was no uncertainty in Hamlet, There would be no story line. As soon as Hamlet was told to kill Claudius, he would have killed him and avenged the murder, but because of the uncertainty he has to find out for certain what has arisen. In order to reduce uncertainty, one must ultimately research and deduce life’s choices. One is able to see where Hamlet struggles with uncertainty when he questions the reliability of the ghost, death, and the afterlife.

Among the most powerful and influential tragedies in English literature, William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, was written in the early 1600s. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the protagonist, young prince Hamlet, is instructed by the ghostly figure of his father to seek revenge on his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet’s father was murdered by Claudius, who seized the throne after his death and married the queen, Hamlet’s mother. The occurring events possibly drive young Hamlet into madness. Madness plays a major part in the play, Hamlet, but one could compare Hamlet’s ability to put on an act to the times when his true madness was shown.

Hamlet was the character who was the protagonist. He was the son of Queen Gertrude and, at the start of the play, he was around thirty years old. King Claudius was his uncle. He was referred to as the Prince of Denmark (Faulkner 69). Hamlet was very fascinating and was a complex character that people have discussed for years (Williamson 03).