Hamlet Essay

Hamlet seems to be the one who lets things dwell in his mind before taking any action or making an attempt at trying to get on with his life. After the death of his father he becomes depressed and gradually becomes enraged with his mother's

In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the character of Fortinbras, has been used as a foil for the main character, Hamlet. Hamlet and Fortinbras have lost their fathers to untimely deaths. Claudius killed Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, and King Hamlet killed Fortinbras' father. Both Hamlet and Fortinbras have vowed to seek revenge for the deaths of their fathers. Since the revenge tactics of Hamlet and Fortinbras are completely different, Hamlet perceives the actions of Fortinbras as better than his own and the actions of Fortinbras, then, encourage Hamlet to act without hesitating.

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

Hamlet realizes that he is dying and that he now has the excuse to kill Claudius

Hamlet didn’t go straight to the problem for answers. Instead he had waited, than casually

Although deeply sorrowed by his father?s death, he did not consider payback as an option until he meets with the ghost of his father. The ghost tells Hamlet King Claudius, his own brother, murdered him. The ghost then tells Hamlet ?to revenge his foul and most unnatural murder? (I.v.25). Although murder was an acceptable form of revenge in Hamlet?s time he is uncertain about killing Claudius. However, upon his father?s command, Hamlet reluctantly swears to retaliate against Claudius. Hamlet does this not because he wants to, but because his father makes it clear that it is his duty as a son. Hamlet promises to prove his love and duty by killing Claudius.

his reaction to the actions to see if the plan would work. It did, Claudius freaks out and

The first of the three is arguably the least important. The young Prince Fortinbras of Norway seeks revenge against the monarchy of Denmark for the slaying of his father in battle some time ago. Regarding the plot, Fortinbras acts as a foil to Hamlet; this allows readers to recognize Fortinbras as “hot and full” and Hamlet as more pensive (Shakespeare 96). The real importance of Fortinbras surfaces when he goes to pillage a paltry patch of polish property. Marching through Denmark to do so, Fortinbras indirectly inspires Hamlet to continue on with his revenge.

Existence. We all exist in a world where we live our own lives, but is there something more to that existence? Do we live just to die, or do we leave a greater essence behind? Throughout Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet struggles with living in a world where he must balance his desire to live an authentically conscious life, yet battle the morality of his inner voice. His questioning of a world so cruel and corrupt leads him to act impulsively, especially in the last act, but in his dying words he ultimately rejects the ideas presented in existentialism and asks for his legacy to be remembered.

In the beginning of Hamlet, Hamlet is told a gruesome tale detailing the poisoning of his father by Claudius - all through the ghost of Hamlet’s father. At this instance, this present a mere possibility on how King Hamlet died. Hamlet is uncertain of the authenticity of this testament, but feels obligated to seek revenge for his father’s death. Throughout Hamlet, Hamlet gains the confidence to murder King Claudius through becoming increasingly certain of his uncle’s convictions.

During this time, it can be seen that Hamlet is still quite logical because of his efforts in trying to comprehend the situation at hand. However, after King Claudius’ extravagant reaction to the play’s murder scene, proving that he is the murderer, Hamlet goes mad, leading him to act impulsively. When given the four commands, Hamlet appeared to fully understand all of his duties, but soon after figuring out that King Claudius is truly the perpetrator, Hamlet adjusts his focus towards the first command that asks him to avenge his father’s death. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (page 1823). Hamlet is very committed in obtaining his vengeance, which soon becomes the only objective he had in his mind. He was willing to leave his education in studying philosophy behind to achieve this goal and was even willing to die as long as he was able to get his revenge for his father. Hamlet was ready to die for what come because he believes in God, but lacked the understanding of King Hamlet’s directions.

Sigmund Freud made many contributions to the field of psychology, the most prominent being his concept of the “Oedipus complex,” in which young children project their budding sexual desires onto a parent of the opposite gender. These feelings, while largely innocent, are often accompanied by jealousy directed toward the parent of the same gender; for example, the competition/threat of losing the mother’s attention that a father presents to the son. Shakespeare’s Hamlet displays the psychoanalytic principles of unconscious incestuous desire, potential castration anxiety, and subtle phallic symbolism through Hamlet’s relationship with his mother, late father, and Claudius.

To become familiar with this play, I would first, before anything else, look up it’s history . I would research William Shakespeare (the author of Hamlet), and I would then read the general information and expand from there. I would consider general information things like, the time period it is set in, where the story takes place, etc. To expand on those things, I would do research on that time period and setting and get to know the culture and traditions they had. After, I would read the play and analyze the purpose and intended audience because I greatly feel that those tow things impact the contest immensely. To get a starting idea on props, set design, costumes, etc. I would hold out more research with a concentration on the things listed before to make sure everything is historically accurate. (Because we all know there will be some history major in the audience shaking their head when they see something just a little bit off.)

Although Claudius is ruthless, he does show a human side. He does show guilt, even

The prince of Denmark, and a student at the University of Wittenberg. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, has recently died, and his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married the new king, Hamlet's uncle Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle and disgust at his mother for marrying him. When the ghost of Hamlet's father appears and claims to have been murdered by Claudius, Hamlet becomes obsessed with avenging his father's death but keeps thinking of reasons why he should wait before killing Claudius—then chastizes himself for failing to act boldly. Hamlet is a character of contradictions. He admires characters like Fortinbras and the Player King, who behave passionately