Hamlet, By William Shakespeare

Hamlet, a tragic play written by Shakespeare in the 1600s, portrays the struggle of young Hamlet in the face of avenging his father’s death. While major themes throughout this tragedy include death, loss, madness, revenge, and morality, another important theme to include in discussion is the theme of womanhood. The only two female characters in a cast of thirty-five include Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, both of whom die unfortunate deaths. The importance of womanhood and female sexuality is shown through several literary techniques; though, most importantly, the characters Queen Gertrude and Ophelia are both symbols for female sexuality. Both characters are developed as negative and positive sides to womanhood through dialogue as other characters approach them, their own actions, and most importantly, their individual deaths.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 William Shakespeare’s Hamlet the ghost is in the imagination of Hamlet and is nonexistent. For example, the sane queen did not see the “ghost” that Hamlet was referring to. The Queen asks Hamlet, “To whom do you speak this?” (III.iv.143). Hamlet, who has been acting mad and delusional throughout the play, thinks he is talking to the “ghost” of his father. The rational and mother is saddened that her son has gone mad and is seeing things. Although Hamlet does say he plans to act crazy, there is somewhat of a blur between whether Hamlet is acting crazy, or whether his madness has gotten to him at this point. Some individuals may point out that the three other guards, Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio, saw the ghost too. However, the

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

In Williams Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, tells a story of Hamlet who seeks revenge against his father’s murderer, who ends up being his uncle, King Claudius. In order to avenge his father’s death Hamlet believes he would need to distract the kingdom from them knowing what he is up to. Hamlet says to Horatio: “To put an antic disposition on” (Act.1, SC.5, Ln.171). By this statement Hamlet is letting Horatio know that he will pretend to go mad. Nevertheless, his false madness leads to him killing Polonius, who is the father of his lover Ophelia. Ophelia ends up going crazy after knowing her father was killed by Hamlet. Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s madness are both caused by their father’s death. However, Hamlet only pretends to be mad, while Ophelia goes insane.

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.

William Shakespeare’s ravishing play Hamlet was performed at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre on November 18th, 2014. To recap what went on in the play: Claudius had killed Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark. Hamlet’s mother Gertrude then married Claudius two months after the death of her husband’s murder, but she did not know. The guards of the castle saw the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Hamlet was told by his father’s ghost that he was killed by Claudius, and that is when Hamlet lost it. The King and Queen thought that Hamlet went crazy because of his love for Ophelia. They tested his opinion of her by putting them in a room together. After he was mean to her, Claudius, his uncle knows the only reason Hamlet could be mad was because he knew Claudius killed his father. Ophelia on the other hand went crazy and ended up drowning herself because Hamlet said he didn’t love her. Her brother Laertes blamed Hamlet for Ophelia’s death and challenged him to a duel. At the fight, Claudius planted poison in a glass of wine and on the tip of the swords because he wanted to kill Hamlet. Gertrude, the Queen, drank the wine by mistake and died. Hamlet and Laertes both stabbed one another with the poisoned swords and both died, but before dying, Hamlet killed the king.

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).