Hamlet by William Shakespeare

One must always be able to see the flaws in their idols. The play Hamlet centers on protagonist Hamlet as he questions whether to take revenge against his uncle for killing his father or leave him alive. Written by William Shakespeare in the early 17th century, Hamlet addresses motifs of indecisiveness, insanity, as well as death and suicide. Furthermore, the majority of these motifs are left up to interpretation. Throughout the play, the family, friends, and acquaintances of Hamlet insist that he has lost his mind drowning in his melancholy over his father’s death. Some may argue that he remains in this state of mind throughout the play. However, it is clear that Hamlet develops more clarity of thought by his final soliloquy. Through the contrast between Hamlet’s thoughts and actions in Act II and IV, Shakespeare effectively establishes Hamlet’s sanity by the end of the play. Furthermore, through this Shakespeare also establishes the catalyst behind Hamlet’s decisions in his third and sixth soliloquies to be his idolization of others.

aspects of Hamlets character. It is used when referring to the garden, to poison and to

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 Shakespeare’s classic play Hamlet, there are certainly a host of contrasting and influential characters that come together to naturally unfold the surprising events that make up the story. One such character is Ophelia, who spices up the play quite a bit. One of the main components, aside from her unrequited love of Prince Hamlet and her spying on him on behalf of her father and brother, that allows her to be such a central character is her madness, which leads up to her death. Not everyone agrees on the subject of Ophelia’s madness, especially if it was real or feigned and if it’s actual cause. In my opinion, Ophelia was driven to genuine madness out of grief and confusion.

In Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet,” we are introduced to the sorrow and tragic character of Ophelia. In spite of a comparatively marginal role throughout the play, Ophelia actually has quite a substantial impact on our understanding of the main character, Hamlet. With Ophelia’s highly controversial and often debated death, we are left to ponder about what truly constitutes action, attempting to make meaning of actions with relation to context. Specifically, through examining Gertrude’s description of Ophelia’s death, while also taking into consideration the character’s history and experiences, we can forge a connection between our understanding of Ophelia’s actions, and Hamlet’s dilemma with his own actions.

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.

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.

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.

In this portion of the play, Hamlet is still feigning madness in front of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Claudius. Hamlet speaks in riddles and expresses absurd thoughts that all contribute to his madness facade. Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Claudius fail to decipher these riddles, which leaves them confused and convinced that Hamlet has lost his mind. In Scene II, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern approach Hamlet to retrieve Polonius’s body, Hamlet responds by calling Rosencrantz a sponge. Using the phrase ‘sponge’, Hamlet means to say that once Claudius acquires what he needs from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he will require no further use of them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are confused by Hamlet’s muddled words and ignore him, shifting the subject back to the location of Polonius’s body. This change in subject and inattention to Hamlet’s words shows how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern don’t take Hamlet seriously, believing that he is mad. In Scene III, when Hamlet is presented to Claudius about the inquiry of Polonius’s body, he answers with yet another riddle. Through his conundrums, Hamlet leaves Claudius confused just like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Similar to his courtiers, Claudius also chooses to ignore Hamlet, not taking him seriously because he too considers Hamlet to be mad.

In this story Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, there was an excessive deal of questions surrounding Hamlet’s mental state. Claudius’s nephew hadn’t been the same since his father passed away. It’s been up for discussion as if he’s actually senseless surrounding the death, or the wedding between his mom and uncle. Gertrude and the King married approximately a month or two after the funeral. At this point it’s not actually established what the cause of his actions is. Was Hamlet at fault for Polonius’s death? If Hamlet is playing demented, has he seriously become absurd? I plan to discuss Hamlet’s mental state and answer a few of the questions above surrounding his mental health.

No matter how hard one trains, tries, or practices, there are a couple of things that cannot be controlled such as sanity. Insanity is very hard to notice because not only is it hidden in the mind, but also it develops slowly over time, and is usually noticed at the point of no return. Hamlet decides to create a façade of madness in order to discover the truth to his father’s death. Everything is going as planned until the insanity begins to slowly take over his sense of self-control. What began as a facade becomes a harsh reality until it finally consumes Hamlet and he loses himself in this tragedy.

William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet focuses on Hamlet, a 30-year old man who tries to seek revenge for his father. Reading the play and looking at it through a contemporary lenses, one can assume the title character is homosexual. Even though Shakespeare does not mean for hamlet to be a homosexual, a contemporary reader can assume this argument; through Hamlet’s characterization and misogynistic relations.

Throughout Hamlet, William Shakespeare’s eloquence and use of thematic imagery helps convey Hamlet’s state of mind as troubled and ambiguous, establishing him as a tragic hero whose feelings of death are nothing short of an enigma. From the opening scene with the ominous apparition to the brutality of the final scene, death is seemingly portrayed further than that of its simplistic physical nature. Hamlet’s thought provoking and introspective nature causes him to analyze death on different levels, ways that are much more profound. Hamlet’s acceptance of death is gradual but very much evident in the play, as his idle nature transitions to one of cowardice and eventually determination and resolve. As the reader is introduced to Hamlet, it is evident that he is tortured by grief from the death of his father and the much too premature, incestuous marriage of his mother with Claudius. Following his meeting with his father’s ghost, readers are able to see Hamlet’s attitude towards suicide and the afterlife in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy. He knows that he must avenge his father’s murder, but is paralyzed by his inaction and instability. Ensuing his fourth soliloquy, Hamlet legitimately develops a fixation on the certainty of death. He is cognizant of death’s inevitability and comes to accept it and sees the futility in living in fear and desperation.

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.

Who exactly is Hamlet and what are his true characteristics? It may seem like an easy question, however, quite difficult to answer. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet,” Hamlet seems to be on the verge of insanity. However, it cannot be known for certain if Hamlet has lost his mind, "To put an antic disposition on, That you, at such times seeing me, never shall," (Shakespeare 1.V.173) It may not be known if Shakespeare intended to have Hamlet evolve into a madman, however, what is known is the fact that Hamlet’s irrationality is one of, if not, the biggest flaw that Hamlet possesses. Many reasons contribute to Hamlet feeling the way he does, such as Hamlet losing faith in love, religion, society, and even philosophy. From Hamlet