Hamlet Character Analysis

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.

William Shakespeare's Hamlet, on its surface, is a play about a man avenging the death of his father. However, Shakespeare invests the play with a meaning that transcends its plot, despite the fact that it is a performed poetic drama. Even before he learns that his father was murdered, Hamlet is presented to the audience as a man who is depressed and angry at the world. "'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother... But I have that within which passeth show; / These but the trappings and the suits of woe" (I.2) Through the use of soliloquies, Hamlet opens up his heart to the audience: "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt/ Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!" (I.2). Hamlet wrestles with larger philosophical questions that transcend the mundane, including the question of whether existence itself is desirable in his famous "To be or not to be" speech. The specific conventions of the revenge drama are used to delineate questions that transcend class and the surface questions of the storyline. Hamlet is a play that is more about the central protagonist's inner life more than anything he does on stage. Although the exterior world of the royal castle may be prison-like and Hamlet is forced to assume a persona of madness and conceal his true feelings, Hamlet is still able to wage a protest by talking to the audience, showing what lies beneath the surface of

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a work of art so prolific that many consider it as one of the best tragedies ever written in the history of literature, in which ideas and motifs of sickness and decay embed the entire plot of the story. Each unique character then conveys these ideas by the way they converse with other characters, their actions, and their use of figurative language. These create a unominous tone that is carried throughout the story, which helps the audience in fully grasping Hamlet’s truest emotions. These also help the reader know each character as well as to understand the how the figurative elements of the play translate to real life circumstances. From the start of the play, Shakespeare establishes a tone of uncertainty and

Hamlet portrays characteristics of sarcasm, insanity, and suicidal tendencies during his plan for revenge. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, puts the feeling of sorrow on the readers, so that they will feel the anger that Hamlet is going through, as his father died and his mother remarried the man who murdered his father. Hamlet struggles on keeping up with all of the unfamiliar tasks causing a fatal flaw of his father’s plan or revenge. His fatal flaw was caused by the intense amount of pressure and revenge that his father’s death put on him. Hamlet continues to hear and feel the voices of his father wanting him to cast revenge on Claudius.

Complete desolation, agony and laughter are only some of the emotions brought to the reader’s attention whilst reading William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Born in 1564, the world’s most famous playwright has written many renowned pieces of theatre, with Hamlet arguably being the most celebrated. The drama follows the sufferings of a young prince by the name of Hamlet. His father, the king, has just died, and his uncle, Claudius, has taken the throne and married Hamlet’s mother and father’s widow, Gertrude, just a few days after the funeral of the previous king. Hamlet detests Claudius and describes him as a goat-man, not even a human. By examining several passages from throughout the play, one can conclude that Claudius’ character clarifies Hamlet’s

The most often replicated play of its time, Shakespeare’s Hamlet is widespread for a good reason. To many, Shakespeare uses vague vocabulary and pursues to blur the reader when reading. Although, Shakespeare evidently says what each character wants to say in those precise moments. Though what Shakespeare fails to describe is its in-depth background information on each character in relative to others and direct characterization through what the characters may be feeling or thinking. Readers are never let directly into any of the characters minds and must only guess from clues that each character leaves behind. Which then makes the character of Hamlet especially a mystery. Although Hamlet is stated to have gone off the profound end by numerous characters in the book, his responses and observations to other characters show that possibly his madness is a disguise, in a way to be unseen by the king, Claudius’ eye. The understanding of Hamlet’s mental state can be personalized to each reader. Which, customizes the story of Hamlet to each reader, raising questions about the collusion of the key character, Hamlet. Countless times in the play madness is mentioned not only by Hamlet but by multiple characters.

Hamlet is a character with emotions that are so complex and intriguing that we, as readers or viewers, are drawn into this story until Hamlet's situations, actions, and feelings become things we can understand, and relate to, as if his emotions were as human as our own.  This genuineness Hamlet holds creates for this play an audience who

Much of the dramatic action of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet is within the head of the main character, Hamlet.   His wordplay represents the amazing, contradictory, unsettled, mocking, nature of his mind, as it is torn by disappointment and positive love, as Hamlet seeks both acceptance and punishment, action and stillness, and wishes for consummation and annihilation. He can be abruptly silent or vicious; he is capable of wild laughter and tears, and also polite badinage.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet is torn apart, his feelings are crushed, and he is pressured by many people around him. Many readers wonder why Hamlet act the way he does. Although at times Hamlet’s behavior is abnormal or crazy, Hamlet is just a man trying to deal with a situation that in a million years will never happen, trying to satisfy the ghost of his father, and work the problems around him. Hamlet’s sadness is totally understandable his mother marrying his uncle not to long after his father’s death, his uncle being the king, and being able to see the presence of his dead father. Although Hamlet is seemingly going insane, he is as a matter of a fact a very sane man pretending to be insane in order to take revenge for his father.

The unwrapping and identification of said words can be a portal into the understanding of a human’s personality. Shakespeare implements the idea of the character Hamlet being mad but also brilliantly smart in the novel Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet is torn apart by the murder of his father, and the event of his father’s murderer marrying his mother and taking his rightful place on the throne. Hamlet is driven by revenge and anger throughout the novel to drive away those he loves, and to later kill the false king Claudius. Hamlet is perceived as mad and crazy in the novel, when in reality he is clever in the approach of killing Claudius with poison.

Hamlet, a play written by William Shakespeare, can be read, looked at, and studied from multiple different perspectives. After a few read throughs one may see some some recurring ideas throughout Shakespeare’s work as well as various hidden patterns or underlying messages. Shakespeare uses puns, irony, and drama to strengthen the plot of his play. Hamlet has many different themes that can be analyzed in the play, such as: revenge, family, insanity, and death.

When one reads Hamlet, it is easy to overlook the female characters as powerless and subservient. However, things are not always what they seem at first glance, as a further analysis of Gertrude and Ophelia suggests. Although the plot centers around Hamlet’s quest for revenge, these two female characters have a profound influence on what transpires. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia appear weak at first, but their roles develop and have a massive impact on the story.

One aspect that makes William Shakespeare’s Hamlet alluring is how he broke the limiting mold of the one-dimensional character by representing characters in all of their human complexity. Hamlet, for example, is a compelling character because he is complicated. As Hamlet himself observes early in the play in, “Tis not alone my inky cloak/nor customary suits of solemn black, /Nor…forced breath/No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, /Nor the dejected ‘havior of the visage…/with all forms, moods, and shapes of grief, /That can denote me truly” (1.2.80-86). Hamlet insists that he is an individual with many psychological and philosophical facets, though he

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of his most tragic plays. The story revolves around a prince named Hamlet who strives to keep his word to his dead father by avenging his death. Throughout the play, Hamlet is perceived as a character who is brooding and manic; someone who is engrossed in killing his uncle for vengeance. Yet, at the same time, he is also a character who is dejected and lonely; a man who loathes himself and his fate. For all that, Hamlet’s life is akin to a paradox. But what if the conundrum of his nature is simply a facade? Oftentimes, people hide behind a mask to protect themselves. In this play, Hamlet opts to act aggressive and insane so he can freely investigate Claudius’ guilt without anyone suspecting him. But all the while, internally, he remains subdued. As he observes the awful world around him, he also upbraids himself for his failures. He recognizes his fatal flaws lie within his true persona despite his attempts to mask them. In the midst of vengeance, Hamlet’s inner nature dominates him and his true character is revealed through his soliloquies in Acts III and IV as sensitive, craven, and ambivalent.