The present and the future are but the slave to memory.
When reading any article, novel or play, readers are always looking for different themes in the literature, sometimes even unknowingly. By the end of the reading, there is typically one standout theme greatly representing the plot and the characters. Readers must understand the deeper meaning of the writing and discover which theme in their opinion impacted the play the most. Furthermore, it is very important that the author often leaves much of the story open to interpretation. Shakespeare was particularly fond of allowing his audience and his readers the freedom to interpret the deeper meaning of his work. Of the many themes in the play “Hamlet”, the concept of memory is the most
…show more content…
However this time only Gertrude is unable to see the ghost. Gertrude’s faded memory of her late husband resulted in her inability to see the ghost. Gertrude did everything in her power to forget the memory of King Hamlet; she remarried after his funeral as soon as possible. Also, unlike Hamlet, Gertrude has a very realistic view on life, “Thou know’s ‘tis common; all that lives must die”(1.2.75). Gertrude’s realistic view caused her to move on much more quickly than Hamlet. Likewise, her husband, King Claudius, was still facing an internal guilt for murdering his own brother. This guilt caused King Claudius to do everything in his power to forget his brother. Additionally, Gertrude was always very easily influenced by men. On top of remarrying to Claudius very quickly, she also agreed to help Hamlet cover up his madness from Claudius in Act 3 Scene 3, shortly afterward she hastily told Claudius about Hamlet killing Polonius despite promising to keep that a secret. Due to Gertrude being so easily influenced, Claudius could easily manipulate her into forgetting about King Hamlet. Lastly, Hamlet sees the ghost the first time while he is depressed, and constantly reminisces about his father. In Act 2, Scene 2 Hamlet questions the ghost’s honesty, claiming that perhaps it “May be a devil”(2.2.565). Hamlet will be unable to see the ghost again until he is certain that the ghost is honest, when King Claudius shows his guilt during the
What is madness? Is someone considered mad or insane simply because they are different, and they, in turn, see the rest of the world as insane? William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who plays the role of a tragic hero. He encounters several misfortunes from experiencing his beloved father’s death, witnessing his mother 's incestuous remarriage to his uncle, and seeing his father’s ghost. Due to all of this, Hamlet falls into a deep depression. Hamlet begins his journey by seeking revenge against Claudius after discovering that his noble father was murdered by his own uncle. Hamlet is a character whose actions and emotions may seem like one of an insane person, however, in the beginning of the play, it is clear that he decides to fake madness in order to gain an advantage over Claudius. This would aid in him in accomplishing his revenge. Hamlet is sane throughout the play: he only shows signs of insanity in front of certain people whom he does not trust. However, even they believe that his madness is not sheer madness but has a reason to it. Hamlet’s character is sane as in the play his rationality is shown through the logic and intelligence he uses in his plots. He usually calculates his movements and his impulsive acts are justified. While there are reasons to believe that many of the hardships could have driven Hamlet to the point of insanity, his display of intelligence and rational thinking throughout the play proves his sanity.
In this play “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare, there are many soliloquies that are said by Hamlet to depict various meanings of his thoughts, feelings, and actions that are inside of him. More specifically the soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, in lines 57-91 starts off with the famous saying known as “To be, or not to be”. Throughout this soliloquy, Hamlet is asking himself the question of whether it is better to live or not to live. In life, we are faced with many situations where we feel the need to give up our life and not face the problems. Only by facing all the troubles, will a person become stronger and more courageous to handle anything in life. By believing in one’s self, can man have the courage to follow what they think is right. Killing yourself or giving up is never a solution in life. This soliloquy reveals Hamlet’s fearful personality by showing that his decision-making process is slow and that he fears risks or uncertainty. These character traits are depicted thoroughly by Hamlet throughout the play.
The male characters in Hamlet continually abuse both Ophelia and Gertrude, physically and psychologically, as a pathetic attempt to gain power and control over the situation. One of the greatest examples of psychological abuse comes from the harrowing scene where Hamlet and Ophelia have their final conversation before Hamlet leaves for England. During this rage-induced altercation, Hamlet refuses to accept Ophelia’s returning of the gifts previously given to her from him, saying “I never gave you aught” (3.1.97). Ophelia is appalled as Hamlet continues to insult her and laugh in her face. In the climax of the argument, Hamlet tells Ophelia that she “should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not” (3.1.117-119). The immense amount of psychological damage received by Ophelia between the addition and removal of love by Hamlet and her father’s death is enough to drive anyone to madness. David M. Smith recounts this as Hamlet’s necessity “to genuine outsideness because of the danger of being co-opted by love” (Smith, 1). However, Hamlet no longer needed to protect himself in his situation. His actions from this scene were not only uncalled for, but added to the slow mental demise of his sweet Ophelia. Hamlet’s next scene of abuse come shortly after this when he goes to speak to Gertrude about her participation in the murder of Old Hamlet. His rage, yet again, takes over, but this time he adopts physical abuse
In the play by William Shakespeare, the ghost of King Hamlet approaches his mourning and depressed son, Hamlet, who is still affected by his death. The ghost explains to Hamlet how he died and demands that Hamlet avenge his death. Note how the ghost approaches Hamlet when he’s the weakest and still mourning to persuade and manipulate him into taking revenge for him. In Act one Scene 5 the ghost states, “If thou didst ever thy dear father love-/ Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The way King Hamlet words his request is more as a challenge; in which Hamlet’s love for his dead father can only be proven by carrying out whatever his father wishes. The ghost influences most Hamlet’s behavior, which not only affects the plot, but also the relationships with other characters. The ghost influences the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. He becomes angry at Gertrude because of her fast marriage with his uncle Claudius. Through the use of innuendos, antic disposition, and metamorphic plays, Hamlet makes it his duty to get King Claudius back for killing his father. Hamlet agreed to avenge his father without second thought. As the play advances, Hamlet begins to doubt the apparition. In act 3 Hamlet begins to have second thoughts and states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil…” This shows Hamlet’s inner conflict between listening to his father and avenging his death or following his ethics. To be sure that Claudius
Almost every story involves a conflict between hero and villain. In some stories, there is a plot twist where the hero is also the villain—but in Hamlet, there are no heroes and many villains. In Hamlet, every character has lied, kept secrets or is seeking revenge that leads to a tragic ending at every corner, but what we fail to see is who the true villain is. Looking at the character of Hamlet throughout the play, it is easier to spot his many dishonorable actions than his few honorable ones.
In comparison to Hamlet’s refusal to kill Claudius before he knew whether or not he was guilty, Hamlet’s stabbing of the “rat” without even caring to double check who it was is unjust and irrational. The reappearance of the ghost during this scene also raises questions of Hamlet’s sanity. While the numerous witnesses of the ghost in the Act I allow the audience to reasonably conclude that the ghost is real, Hamlet is the only one to see the ghost in the closet scene. There are several accepted explanations for Gertrude’s inability to see the ghost. Certain arguments say that the reason lies in Gertrude herself; Gertrude’s innocence protects her from seeing the ghost or that her guilt made her blind to the ghost of her late husband but these are both
Hamlet, a play written by William Shakespeare, is all about revenge. All is not well in Denmark where a king is murdered and his son is out to avenge him. The only two females in the play, Gertrude and Ophelia, are completely overlooked. The two have little role in the story and are only present when talking to one of the men. Gertrude lost her first husband and quickly remarried to his brother, Claudius. Her son, Hamlet, greatly despises her for it. Ophelia believes that she and Hamlet are in love and she is the cause of his madness. None of the men pay much attention to them unless they are being scolded or used in a plan. Ophelia and Gertrude have many similarities like how they do as they are told and are victims of Hamlet’s madness, yet are different like how they love Hamlet and how they react to death of a loved one.
Being indecisive means not showing or having the ability to make a decision. Not making a decision quickly and efficiently. In the book Hamlet, the main character, the prince of Denmark. Hamlet has shown that he is indecisive throughout the book. Hamlet shows that he is mostly indecisive when it comes to his father’s death, King Hamlet. Hamlet also doesn’t trust anybody. Hamlet can’t even trust his own family or his girlfriend. Hamlet has been acting like he is mad because he doesn’t want to confront people so he just acts like he is crazy. Hamlet always acts with an impulse, Hamlet can only show bravery when it doesn’t involve his family. Such as when his boat was attacked in England by pirates. At this point Hamlet just doesn’t know what to do with his life. Everything is moving too fast, like his mom getting married quick after his father’s death. Also the fact that Gertrude married Hamlets uncle is just too much for Hamlet right now.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character Hamlet must deal with both external and internal conflict. Hamlet encounters many struggles and has trouble finding a way to deal with them. With so many corrupt people in his life, Hamlet feels as if there is no one that he can trust and begins to isolate himself from others. A result from this isolation leads Hamlet to become melancholy. Hamlet struggles with suicidal thoughts, wants to kill King Claudius, and is distraught over his mother’s hasty marriage with his uncle Claudius.
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.
A standout amongst the The majority exceptional things over those assume village (with village playing those fundamental character) may be those lifestyle associations between those fundamental and lesseps characters have not changed from Shakespeare 's time period over which he composed this assume of the present day dilemmas about today. The character village relates through independence from claiming self should others in the assume Also shakespeare employments this perplexity about self What 's more way Therefore guaranteeing a number sorts from claiming book lovers who might identify with as much village characterization. Village portrays himself for every last bit as much mankind 's flaws, in any case it is this humankind that makes
The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is set in an anti-feminist era. Women traditionally have been seen inferior to men. This was an intellectual as well as a physical issue. Women were to raise a family, cook, clean, be pretty and not be smarter than any man. The main characters Ophelia and Gertrude are both depicted with these characteristics as powerless and frail people. This illustration of helpless women affects one's understanding of what their true selves could be.
Shakespeare writes in a way that is difficult to understand for anyone that speaks the modern language. His story Hamlet is understood through the emotions felt by his characters. Hamlet is the main character who is conflicted with revenge and conspiring friendships. Hamlet returns home from Germany for his father’s funeral only to find far more troubling things. Hamlet is a conflicted character but that doesn’t stop him from knowing what he wants. Revenge is the main cause of his confliction but with great reason, which is important to understand about this play because it helps explain all the betrayal and tragedy.
At the beginning of Hamlet, Hamlet gets a visit from the ghost of his dead father informing him that his brother Claudius was the one who killed him. He gives Hamlet the duty of killing Claudius in revenge and Hamlet agrees to do so. The task seems easy at first but as the play advances, Hamlet finds it tough to complete such a cruel task. I found it interesting how Hamlet’s hesitation to kill Claudius and get revenge for his father’s death drives him mad and ultimately causes the death of many innocent people, including himself.
William Shakespeare is very well known around the world for his literary work. He has written many different kinds of works. Some comedies, historic and tragic pieces of literary work. One of his works is called Hamlet. This work is about revenge, greed, and murder. Most people of our time now can relate to this tragedy because in our time now, these actions seem to be what people do now a day. Hamlet is still studied centuries later throughout the nation in many different schools for its literary creativity.