Hamlet Essay

Many Shakespearean plays reflect views of the time in which they were written. They convey this through common themes. These themes often define a character's specific personality and characteristics. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes serves as a foil for Hamlet in which their contrast presents pivotal themes that reveal Hamlet’s character. While the play has many themes, morality, revenge, and honor specifically relate to the contrast between Laertes and Hamlet, consequently resulting in Laertes purpose as a foil for Hamlet.

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare brilliantly recounts the tale of feigned and true madness as it delves into themes of betrayal, incest, revenge, moral corruption, and death. The play, set in the kingdom of Denmark, gives an account of how Prince Hamlet seeks exact revenge on his uncle Claudius, for murdering his own brother and Prince Hamlet’s father. After assassinating King Hamlet, Claudius succeeds the throne and becomes joined in holy matrimony to King Hamlet’s widow and Prince Hamlet’s mother, Queen

Shakespeare's drama Hamlet has become a central piece of literature of Western culture. It is the story of a prince named Hamlet, who lost his father. Soon after that he has to confront multiple obstacles and devises a series of situations to defend the new king's royalty. Furthermore, he had to prove that King Claudius, who was the prince's uncle, had killed Hamlet's father. This story has remained among the most popular and the most controversial plays around the world. It generates controversy for all the doubts that this play leaves with the readers. One of the most questioning situations in the play is the delay of Hamlet in avenging Claudius' for his father's death. As a reader this

How does the use of comic relief best contrast the tragedy of Hamlet? In great works of literature a comic relief is used as contrast to a serious scene to intensify the overall tragic nature of the play or to relieve tension. As illustrated in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, intense scenes are joined with character’s banter and vacuous actions as to add a comic relief. In Hamlet, Polonius acts as a comic relief by his dull and windy personality, Hamlet uses his intelligence and his negativity toward the king and queen to create humor, while on the other hand Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a comic relief by their senseless actions and naïve natures. Polonius, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are all used as a comic relief to

What should Hamlet do? Explain the moral theories of each philosopher: Plato, Aristotle and Augustine. For each, determine the right thing for Hamlet to do. Then, assess the prince's actions from the perspective of each recommendation.

Hamlet is a suspenseful play that introduces the topic of tragedy. Throughout the play, Hamlet displays anger, uncertainty, and obsession with death. Although Hamlet is unaware of it, these emotions cause the mishaps that occur throughout the play. These emotions combined with his unawareness are the leading basis for the tragic hero’s flaws. These flaws lead Hamlet not to be a bad man, but a regular form of imperfection that comes along with being human.

Hamlet and Laertes both have dead fathers that they wish to avenge, yet things are so different in their demeanor, and how they want to go about their business. Hamlet is more introspective and thoughtful about his revenge, maybe to a fault because he can not seem to actually get it done, but nonetheless is constantly thinking about the details of the revenge, and is willing to take his time to make sure it goes off perfectly. His thought process reveals a more human aspect of revenge, calling into question whether or not it is useful to act upon these acts of revenge (Newspaltz).

“A bloody deed – almost as bad, good mother/ As kill a king and marry with his brother”, a statement so bold you would assume it was from a bold man, but the reality couldn’t be further from that assumption. In the play Hamlet, the former king’s son Hamlet attempts to take revenge upon the new king, Claudius. As the readers, though we see how Hamlet is indirect in his action and delays his revenge multiple times. Hamlet is a man of inaction. Hamlet waits to kill his Uncle, Claudius, because he is uncertain of the truth, he is afraid of the afterlife, and he is working to exact the perfect revenge.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the forces of a power hungry uncle, Claudius, come in contact with the allegiance of Hamlet to his dad, King Hamlet. As both characters begin a clash, others such as Gertrude (Hamlet's mom) and Laertes (Polonius’s son) are dragged into a heroic battle for veracity and vengeance. All the tension going on in the play, then comes to a climax during the last moments in which a combat becomes a brutal slaughtering. This death scene in Hamlet highlights the interpretation of the work as a whole that although we all fight for our meaning in life, we are all inevitable to death.

William Shakespeare employed juxtapositions between the main and foil character to emphasize the meaning of the literally work, Hamlet. This relationship between Laertes and Hamlet further explains the meaning of the work as the themes of corruption, justice and revenge, and purpose are emphasized by each character’s contrasting actions. Through the differing reactionary elements, which lead to the same consequence, Hamlet and Laertes both were able to engender defiant temperaments that caused the unfortunate downfall of both factions. Hamlet and Laertes varying reflections, rise to actions, and comparable tempers establish the themes of the play.

1. What do we learn from the interaction between King Claudius, Queen Gertrude and Hamlet in Act 1, Scene 2? Based on King Claudius statement and the atmosphere that he welcomes Hamlet in is very Sarcastic. The interpretation of his statement merits being a joke. In actuality, it is not accepted at all that King Claudius acts like Hamlet is his son when the prince's father has just died.

Hamlet's self-description in his apology to Laertes, delivered in the appropriately distanced and divided third-person, explicitly fingers the greatest antagonist of the play‹consciousness. The obligatory cultural baggage that comes along with Hamlet heeds little attention to the incestuous Claudius while focusing entirely on the gloomy Dane's legendary melancholia and his resulting revenge delays. As Laurence

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.

as these lines relate back to the development of Ophelia’s character, as well as play an important role in the plot of the play, and a major conflict that is portrayed.

will.” ( III I, 179-181) The fear of what will happen after death deters him.