Shakespeare 's Hamlet : A Critical Thinker

Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, informs Hamlet that he has seen a ghost on top of the tower. Hamlet wants to see this ghost and goes to the tower the next night. When Hamlet sees the ghost that looks like his father, it tells him to follow it. No one completely trust the ghost and Horatio advises Hamlet to not follow it because it could be the devil. Hamlet does not listen to the

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes and Hamlet both lose a father by unnatural and sudden death. The unnatural death of the father is brought on by someone close to the son. When Laertes discovers that his father is dead, he is outraged. When Hamlet learns from the ghost of his father’s murder, he weeps, and promises action, though he delivers none. Both Laertes and Hamlet grieve deeply for their fathers, but Laertes acts upon this grief while Hamlet carefully plots his revenge and waits for the perfect moment to avenge King Hamlet. Laertes’ unplanned action causes his death by his own sword, while Hamlet’s apparent inaction finally gets him the revenge that Laertes has attempted. Though Laertes’ grief at his father’s death causes his

An act as appalling as this would never cross the mind of a person with a healthy sense of sanity. Although he committed this dreadful crime, Claudius was good at keeping secrets; nobody ever knew of his sins. “Claudius is socially adept, and his charm is genuine. He can exhibit deep distress over his ‘dear brother’s death’ and admiration for his wife, ‘Th’imperial jointress to this warlike state.’ He knows the value of a great funeral, but quickly turns mourning into celebration and moves on ‘With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage’ to whatever lies ahead” (Claudius). This narcissistic king only cared to bring attention to himself when his kingdom chose to mourn the death of Hamlet. Claudius mourns his brother’s death in public but he only pretends to grieve so that his crime will not seem conspicuous. “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death the memory be green, and that it us befitted to bear our hearts in grief , and our whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe, yet so far hath discretion fought with nature that we with wisest sorrow think on him together with remembrance of ourselves” (Shakespeare 10,11). Claudius explains that although it is necessary to mourn, life still goes on. He points out the importance of realizing the health and prosperity of himself as the new king, only to take the attention off of the abhorrent tragedy he caused to the kingdom for the sake of gaining power and a

The direct quotation is used to compare the slight differences that Olivier’s version of Hamlet (1948) had. It is used to illustrate the points that were different.

Unlike the mother who questions “Whereon do you look?” (III.4.92) when the ghost appears, Hamlet is the only one who is believed to see the ghost. In such a case, it is suggested that Hamlet cannot even see the ghost himself. However, through his extreme emotion of grief and anger towards the death of his loved one, Hamlet confuses himself into believing his figment of imagination, for the ghost is his primary motivator in avenging his father’s death. Since the ghost is the only connector between Hamlet and his father, Hamlet becomes mentally insane to become close with his deceased dad to the point of actual madness.

King.” After discovering that Claudius is the killer, he is presented with a perfect opportunity to

“Do it or do not do it – you will regret both” (Kierkegaard 72) is a quote that echoes and expounds upon the famous “To be, or not to be” (Hamlet 3.1.56). The former quote was written by none other than Danish philosopher and poet, Søren Kierkegaard. Born in 1813, Søren Kierkegaard was well acquainted with Shakespeare’s text and often referred to it in his writings. When watching Kenneth Branagh’s unique, unabridged adaptation of Hamlet, it is apparent that Kenneth Branagh was able to capture how similar his Hamlet and Søren are in character while making his mark in cinematography history. The connection between Branagh, Shakespeare, and Kierkegaard goes beyond the setting and 19th century architecture of Branagh’s recreation of Hamlet. Through both Søren and Kenneth’s backstory, choice of esthetics, and their actions in life changing moments the story of Hamlet has proven to be a guide for both of these extraordinary men.

In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses irony to display tragic flaws of the human condition that warn the audience “[o]f carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, / [o]f accidental judgements, casual slaughters, / [o]f deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, / [a]nd, in this upshot, purposes mistook / [f]all’n on th’ inventors’ heads” (V.ii.423-427). Many tragic deaths occur to emphasize the negative consequences that self-doubt, indecisiveness, procrastination, cowardice and corruption inflict upon the conscience. As Hamlet struggles to balance morality against ambition, his inability to act swiftly and certainly while contemplating his revenge against Claudius for murdering his father, King Hamlet, ironically results in his own death.

Now that Hamlet’s aware of his uncle’s heinous crime, this revenge certainly takes over his mind and the poison of revenge begins to deluge rapidly into his mind, draining out his sanity. The death of his father, the grief he feels for him, and the revenge he craves for him all contribute to a figurative poison that is seeping out his

Hamlet is in mourning of his father and has recollections of him when the ghost of his father appears. The ghost reminds Hamlet that his father was a great

The soliloquy To Be or Not To Be is a famous piece in the play of Hamlet by W. Shakespeare. The play, Hamlet, was written around about 1601. This play has been translated into more modern English countless times and has been retold in theater and cinema enough that almost everyone now knows this story. This comparison will be of the performances of Benedict Cumberbatch who plays a World War II style version of the piece in 2015 and then again in 2017 and 2018 in encore, as well as the performance of Mel Gibson who plays a more traditional Hamlet in the 1990 movie of Hamlet.

As a result of stress, and indecisiveness Hamlet finally becomes a prey to the plan of Claudius. The unpleasantness of having a poor personal life and his wavering character makes him die. If he had killed Claudius before, the political situation would have been very much favourable to him, but rather than killing “the serpent” he allows it to kill him. Hamlet’s ruined personal life; his bad relationship with former friends and his mother and his

I had only been in class for five minutes and someone had managed to get on my nerves. The guy who sat behind me kept tapping his pencil and clearing his throat. We were reading Hamlet.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character of Ophelia may be looked at and analyzed through a Feminist perspective. By using a Feminist lens, readers may observe the impact of patriarchal society and misogyny on the mind of a young lady doing her best to fit into the role of a Shakespearian-era woman. Women were expected to be virginal, yet sexual, subservient and inferior to men, and possessions of their fathers and later their husbands. Ophelia is made to go mad due to her inability to conform to the unfair and contradictory patriarchal ideals of women, because those contradictory ideals are impossible to achieve and what leaves Ophelia feeling unsatisfactory, lost, and questioning her personhood.

In the first act Hamlet seems to be in a perfectly sane state of mind