Life Of Pi Character Analysis

This all sets the stage for Hamlet’s mental state prior to learning that he was killed by somebody in his family. These themes of death and betrayal lead into the end of the first act when Hamlet is tasked by the ghost of his father to seek revenge against Claudius for what he did. Hamlet believes that he was “born to set it right” (1.5.190). The extremes of this line reveal that Hamlet believes that the whole reason for his existence is to avenge his father. This need for revenge drives Hamlet for the rest of the play. He wants justice for his father, but he also wants to punish Claudius for his murder and marrying his mother. He gives in to human nature when he starts striving to avenge his father’s death.

Yann Martel (born 1963) is an author best known for the Man Booker Prize winning novel Life Of Pi, a# 1 international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on the New York Times Bestseller list. It was adapted to the screen by Ang Lee.

When Hamlet hears a noise behind a curtain, and stabs at it wildly, assuming it is the man who killed his father, he finds out it is his friend Polonius, the father of Ophelia. After Ophelia learns of her father’s death, she loses touch with reality, and drowns. Once Hamlet decided to take action, he had no control over the actions of his revenge, which consequently led to his girlfriend’s death. Also, Laertes, the son of Polonius, after learning of his father’s murder by Hamlet, concocts a plot of his murder. He poisons a rapier to kill Hamlet, but Hamlet unknowingly uses that same poison against him. Laertes´ desire for revenge against Hamlet led to his own death from his own actions. After being poisoned in his duel with Hamlet, he says “I am justly killed with mine own treachery” (5.2.338). The characters who pursued these acts of vengeance expected satisfaction, but the opposite occurred. Thus, Hamlet, undermines the belief that revenge gives satisfaction and relief to the pursuer, especially because of Shakespeare’s acknowledgement of the drastic consequences. Finally, the play offers the idea that for both parties, revenge can be forgiven, which is more satisfactory than any other

Hamlet, and J Alfred Prufrock take us down the paths of revenge and recollection. Hamlet is driven by the want to revenge his fathers murder. Early on In the story Hamlet learns of the way in which his father is killed and this brings out a rage in him. This shows readers how much Hamlet really loved his father and how willing he is to get his revenge. Hamlet is willing to go crazy so that his actions wouldn’t be suspicious to his mother, Claudius, or Polonius. It was proved to work considering Claudius covered Hamlet’s murder of Polonius. Hamlet was willing to go as far as killing his two “best friends” so that he could kill Claudius. One example of Hamlets love for his father was how he said, “By what it fed on, and yet, within a month—Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman!—A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father’s body, Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she—O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourned longer!—married with my uncle”(1.2.145-152). Hamlet argues that his mother shouldn’t have been able to move on as fast as she did. He emphasizes one month, the time it took for his mom to move on and the fact that she married his fathers brother is what makes him even sicker. Hamlets affection for his father is what drives his pursuit of revenge. While Prufrock doesn’t show much love towards a certain individual, similarly,

“It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.” (Martel 205) This quote describes how even though Pi despaired his first killing of the fish because he took a life, he now becomes delighted at the idea of killing fish; he even has hunter’s pride now. This displays how Pi loses a part of his morality because of the decisions that he had to make in order to survive because he did not have anyone to confide in or talk to in order to stay grounded to who he is. “He gave me life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man’s frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life.” (Martel 283) This is a dark moment for Pi as he experiences an awful event, which causes him to lose the morality that he had during his

In this case, Hamlet is obsessed with yet unable to act out his revenge since he is a man of thought and reflection, not of action and impulsiveness. "Revenge, said Francis Bacon in his essay on the subject, is a kind of wild justice, and something in Hamlet is too civilized for stealthy murder," says Northrop Frye (Frye). While he knows it is his duty to avenge his father's murder, Hamlet's desire to fulfill this obligation constantly wavers. In self-pity he cries, "O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right!" (1.5. 188-189), and yet in rage he utters, "Now could I drink hot blood / and do such bitter business as the day / Would quake to loot on," (3.2. 397-399). Hamlet hesitates numerous times to fulfill his duty to avenge his father, and in the end he must actually convince himself to kill Claudius. "... I do not know / Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do', / Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means / To do't... / ... / O, from this time forth, / My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!" (4.4. 43-46, 65-66). This unusual flaw leads to Hamlet's inevitable demise, and is the most convincing evidence that Hamlet is, indeed, a tragedy. The protagonist, however, is not the only character in the play that experiences a want for revenge. Shakespeare uses all three of the sons seeking vengeance to reveal the complexity of the human yearning for

After King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet feels hatred bottled-up inside him, and he is getting to the point where he would unleash this wrath of hatred onto King Claudius. To demonstrate how great his hate towards King Claudius is, Hamlet convinced himself to commit the premeditated murder of Claudius. However, the inspiration of Pyrrhus’ revenge is still not great enough to give Hamlet a good reason to kill Claudius right away. At this point, Hamlet is hesitant of what to do next because he does not have enough evidence to kill Claudius and if he does succeed in killing Claudius, he will disgrace his mother to the nation. Hamlet. Hamlet shows how great he values revenge was when he says, “Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell” (2.2. 613) to

Hamlet went from a mourning Prince of Denmark over the death of his father, to a revenge seeking murderer as the play progresses. This transition in character is evident through Hamlets meaning of life; the desire for justice. After the meeting with the ghost, his worldview completely changed to a craving for revenge. In today’s ever changing world, people who act on revenge are no longer socially acceptable. These people who act on revenge often commit mortal sins and heavy crimes and are set to life in prison. Hamlet is the only person to blame for his death because of his worldview. “A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.” (Shakespeare 3.3 76-78) At this point, Hamlet’s worldview is completely based on getting revenge for his father. There is nothing more important in life at the time. Hamlet has just killed Polonius mistaking him as Claudius. Moments later Hamlet is face to face with Claudius, but chooses not to kill him because he wants the worst for him. Hamlet says “ I, his sole son, do this same villain send to

When Pi was trapped in the middle of ocean alone, he needed God to help him get to shore. Being as bored as Pi was, it was hard for him to survive. “In your boredom there are elements of terror: you break down into tears; you are filled with dread; you scream; you deliberately hurt yourself. And in the grip of terror – the worst storm – you yet feel boredom, a deep weariness with it all” (217). Being in the position that Pi was in must be the most brutal experience of all time.

Hinduism deeply changes Pi for the good, although people don’t believe his story, Pi is convinced that through his faith, he survives crossing the Pacific Ocean. There is also a great amount of symbolism in Martel’s novel, from the Tiger, to even the travel itself, symbolism plays a great deal in the Book.

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia.

Throughout time, humans have written books based on various genres in an effort to tell a story, whether it is fact or fiction. Storytelling is one of the most beautiful ways to express ideas, and creative thoughts, involving characters, settings, to create a plot. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, cleverly incorporates ambiguity from the omission of information, and lack of resolution. These aspects in turn, create the ambiguity, which leaves the reader to interpret the text in anyway. The ambiguity formed develops the significance of Pi’s storytelling, to the author and the readers. The post-modern aspects in Life of Pi, leave many things open to interpretation based on Pi’s storytelling ability.

Hamlet is aware that Claudius murdered his father, and is planning to take Claudius’ life as revenge. Later in the play, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Laertes is led to believe that it was not an accident, and he plans revenge on Hamlet. The two characters trying for revenge ends up getting most of the people in the play killed. It is like the famous quote made by Mahatma Gandhi, “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” Often, when people try for revenge, it ends up making the situation worse than it was to begin with. This is one of the major lessons taught in Hamlet. If Hamlet had tried to take a peaceful path instead of a violent revenge, the tragedies in the play might have been avoided

Pi could survive on the ocean for many months is a miracle, and he even stayed with a tiger during the venture. He probably was eaten by the tiger, but he didn’t. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi survival depended on his past experiences, Pi not only survives, he becomes stronger due to learning how to swim when he was young, believing in three religions, and stay with animals for a long time because he father used to own a zoo.

The death of Hamlet’s father and his mother remarrying two months after his father’s death are two scenarios that instill revenge into Hamlet’s brain. Throughout the play, the readers see how Hamlet’s personality and mental state evolves while revenge is still on his mind. Hamlet rationally thinks about revenge and the consequences to come by contemplating killing Claudius for a great amount of the play. Ever since Hamlet discovered that Claudius killed his father by pouring poison down his ear, Hamlet became obsessed with the idea of death and revenge. King Hamlet encourages Prince Hamlet to take action immediately against Claudius and ultimately leaves it up to Hamlet to figure out the revenge plan (1.5.7-41). Hamlet solely focuses on getting revenge even if it is the last thing he does. Because King Hamlet left his fate up to his son, Hamlet had to make complicated decisions on his own, which altered his mental state as the play progressed. Shakespeare tactically builds up the beginning of Hamlet, only to have Hamlet question the authenticity later in the play, which is where his paranoia begins. In the article “Revenge and Vengeance in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Study of Hamlet’s Pursuit and Procrastination Regarding Revenge,” the author, Haque, states that “Hamlet was actually considered to be an indecisive person who always used to think much but act too little,” meaning that the conversation with the ghost telling him to get revenge would not be the only time Hamlet was indecisive, which delayed his revenge process. The readers see that Hamlet is eager planning the revenge on Claudius, but when the time comes, Hamlet is unable to