Hamlet Changes

Throughout the play, Hamlet shows many examples of being an indecisive person and being unable to do anything he wants to, as if something stops him. An example would be in act five, when he decides to confess his love for Ophelia on her grave. He took too long to tell Ophelia or anyone for the matter about his love for her. Another example would be his mother remarrying, and Hamlet not being able to confess his true feelings about King Claudius being his new father. In the first four acts, Hamlet goes on about his life being miserable and in some kind of melancholy mood. He can’t find a way to deal with it, so he keeps all of his negative feelings to himself. This “depressed” funk he is in interferes with his will to act upon things that

Many directors choose to make many different decisions when producing their version of Hamlet. Every actor portrays the character Hamlet in several ways making each version almost a new story. Mel Gibson's 1990 version and the 2009 David Tennant films are very different in style, scene omissions and several other aspects.

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 considered to be Shakespeare's most famous play. The play is about Prince Hamlet and his struggles with the new marriage of his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle and now stepfather, King Claudius about only two months after his father’s death. Hamlet has an encounter with his father, Old King Hamlet, in ghost form. His father accuses Claudius of killing him and tells Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet is infuriated by this news and then begins his thoughts on what to do to get revenge. Hamlet and Claudius are contrasting characters. They do share similarities, however, their profound differences are what divides them.Hamlet was portrayed as troubled, inactive, and impulsive at times. Hamlet is troubled by many things, but the main source of his problems come from the the death of his father. “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter” (Act 1, Scene 2). In this scene, Hamlet is contemplating suicide, which is caused by the death of his father and the new marriage of Gertrude and King Claudius. This scene shows the extent of how troubled Hamlet is. Even though Hamlet’s father asked him to avenge his death, Hamlet is very slow to act on this throughout the play. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” (Act 3, Scene 3). This scene shows King Claudius praying, while Hamlet is behind him drawing his sword but decides not to kill

“To be, or not to be, that is the question,” (3.1.64). This famous line in William Shakespeare's Hamlet perfectly encapsulates Hamlet’s internal struggle throughout the play. Hamlet tells the story of the young prince of Denmark and his desire for revenge on the uncle, Claudius, who murdered his father. As is the case in many works of literature, Hamlet changes greatly throughout the play. However, because of his attempts to act insane, it can be difficult to precisely map the changes in Hamlet’s character. By carefully investigating his seven soliloquies, where he is alone and has no need to “put on an antic disposition,” one can understand and interpret how Hamlet’s character develops throughout the play.

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.

I think that the last scene of the first act is one of the most important ones because it is when the ghost demands Hamlet to “[r]evenge his [father] foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.25). By asking revenge, the ghost introduces here the main plot of the play, which is going to be based on that revelation. We do not know if Hamlet can trust the phantom’s accusations, if the ghost accuses Claudius because he has proof of Claudius’s guilt or just because he is deducing. Hamlet cannot be sure of any of those questions, and I think that it is this doubt introduced by the ghost that makes Hamlet incapable of action and revenge.

All people have a different way of handling situations. When put through a rough time in life, one might begin to change according to the events that happened. An example of this is portrayed in the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet goes through a difficult time in life and over time loses some of his sanity. Hamlet begins talking out of reason, acting out of character and changes his ways of thinking because of the trials and tribulations he experienced.

In this case, Hamlet is obsessed with yet unable to act out his revenge since he is a man of thought and reflection, not of action and impulsiveness. "Revenge, said Francis Bacon in his essay on the subject, is a kind of wild justice, and something in Hamlet is too civilized for stealthy murder," says Northrop Frye (Frye). While he knows it is his duty to avenge his father's murder, Hamlet's desire to fulfill this obligation constantly wavers. In self-pity he cries, "O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right!" (1.5. 188-189), and yet in rage he utters, "Now could I drink hot blood / and do such bitter business as the day / Would quake to loot on," (3.2. 397-399). Hamlet hesitates numerous times to fulfill his duty to avenge his father, and in the end he must actually convince himself to kill Claudius. "... I do not know / Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do', / Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means / To do't... / ... / O, from this time forth, / My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!" (4.4. 43-46, 65-66). This unusual flaw leads to Hamlet's inevitable demise, and is the most convincing evidence that Hamlet is, indeed, a tragedy. The protagonist, however, is not the only character in the play that experiences a want for revenge. Shakespeare uses all three of the sons seeking vengeance to reveal the complexity of the human yearning for

In Act II, Hamlet’s depression due to his father’s death and his overall miserable emotional state are best highlighted throughout the act and a little before and after the act. Hamlet’s depression is aroused when his father, King Hamlet, dies in battle. This depression is more severe than standard mourning, as Hamlet still laments that he would take his own life if not for suicide being a sin, even months after his father’s death. Both his mother and Claudius do not understand his preoccupation with his death, as Claudius even implores in Act I, “ How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” (I.ii.68).

At some point in everyone's life they seem to go through a rough patch, which almost always results in irrational behavior. This is exactly what we see in the famous Shakespearian play Hamlet. In the play, Hamlet goes through a countless number of tragic events that cause him to experience a plethora of emotions. Some of these crazy dramatic situations include the death of his father, his mother marrying his uncle, his uncle becoming king, and, most important of all, the death of his true love Ophelia. It was Hamlet’s inability to control his emotions that caused all of this pain in his life. Whether it was through Hamlet’s inability to get help for what he was feeling, bringing others feelings down with him, or believing that violence was the answer to his problems, these are situations that are still very relevant in the world in which we live.

Hamlet is an intensely cerebral character marked by a desire to think things through and pick situations apart. As such, for the first three and a half scenes of Hamlet, Hamlet broods over his father’s death instead of taking action against Claudius, his father’s murderer. Hamlet finally acts because he experiences three intense emotional jolts that allow him to view his situation from a new perspective and spur him to action. Together, these emotional experiences alter his personal philosophy about the nature of death and God’s relationship with creation, and compel him to finally take decisive action.

There are several film adaptations of the The Tragedy of Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, but I chose the 2009 film adaptation of Hamlet directed by Gregory Doran. I did this because I am more interested in how old written texts can be applied to today instead of decades or even centuries back. This film is only about 3 hours long. It also features more people of color than Shakespeare probably imagined when he wrote the original text, which is great because then people of color won’t feel as left out. I chose to watch a film adaptation of Hamlet because Hamlet is the most complex character in all of the plays I have read from Shakespeare. The audience gets to see Hamlet’s growing madness, or feigning of it, until things start really getting heated up in the second half of the play. The film makes many changes to the original text, but I think that the most significant changes are the movement of Hamlet’s “To be Or Not To Be Speech”, the appearance of video cameras, and the omission of Fortinbras and his army at the end. These changes work effectively to make the focus of the film on Hamlet.

From the beginning of the play, Hamlet is labelled as a heavy hearted and unhappy man. This is seen as “Hamlet’s Transformation” as the King called it. He has not always been like this. In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince Hamlet experiences many dilemmas that lead him to revenge and his transformation form good to evil. Shakespeare displays that revenge leads to insanity. Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, Hamlet’s uncle also known as his step-father, Claudius, and Hamlet’s dead father, King Hamlet, all drive Hamlet to lose his mind and become insane. This change in Hamlet is brought to him by devastating and life changing events that have recently happened, and did not only cause a mental reaction, but specifically a moral reaction.