Textual Analysis Of Hamlet

The English Play writer, William Shakespeare had written many well-known pieces of work including Hamlet. Hamlet is known to be one of his most popular works. Hamlet was written in the late 16th Century about the Prince of Denmark. The original title of the work was The Tragedy of Hamlet, now it is referred to as just Hamlet. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the mental state of his characters to prove that not all characters in books have to be one dimensional. Shakespeare’s writing shows that humans are complex, and can have different mental states. Characters throughout the story such as, Hamlet, Gertrude, and Ophelia show their not so stable mental state. First we will analyze Hamlet and talk about Ernest Jones’ Psycho-analytic study of Hamlet. Then we will talk about Ophelia and how the events that happened leading up to her death or suicide played a role into her mental state. Finally we will analyze Gertrude, the Queen’s role in Hamlet, and how she is a mentally weak woman and relies on the men in her life.

The final way that Laertes acts as a foil to Hamlet occurs once again when Claudius and Laertes are discussing Laertes’ actions to achieve his vengeance. Claudius gives Laertes advice saying, “That we would do/ we should do when we would; for this ‘would’/ changes” (4.7.134-136). Claudius is warning Laertes that if he waits long enough, he will probably end up not doing anything at all and will not achieve his goal of vengeance. This quote spoken by Claudius is quite similar to when King Hamlet’s ghost meets with Hamlet earlier in the play to warn him about how he was killed by Claudius and that he must get revenge. King Hamlet’s ghost also warns Hamlet saying, “Taint not thy mind” (1.5.92), telling him to not over think his plan because otherwise he will not pursue his vengeance. After Claudius warns Laertes to not get side tracked, the audience is reminded of King Hamlet’s ghost telling Hamlet to not over think because then their plans will not be pursued. This scene acts as a foil towards Hamlet because soon after the conversation, Laertes does pursue his plan of seeking vengeance, whereas Hamlet has been working on his plan the whole play, and has still not started to execute it.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark has been performed thousands of times since it was “written in 1599–1601 and published in a quarto edition in 1603” (Britannica.com). It’s popularity stems from its themes that translate across time. These themes, are seen to be relatable even to this day with the ever growing audience. Readers and viewers are able to find similarities between the current state and or even relate to one of the characters or events taking place over the course of Shakespeare’s five act masterpiece. Shakespeare's, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark remains a viable text for contemporary readers in that it functions as a mirror.

Hamlet is a suspenseful play that introduces the topic of tragedy. Throughout the play, Hamlet displays anger, uncertainty, and obsession with death. Although Hamlet is unaware of it, these emotions cause the mishaps that occur throughout the play. These emotions combined with his unawareness are the leading basis for the tragic hero’s flaws. These flaws lead Hamlet not to be a bad man, but a regular form of imperfection that comes along with being human.

As one of the most famous and world-renowned works, Hamlet has been remade countless of times both on stage and on screen. In 2009 a modernized rendition of the brilliant play starring David Tennant as the Prince of Denmark, with Patrick Stewart as Claudius, and Penny Downie as Gertrude was released to the big screen. Set in early modern times, the clothes of this movie may have been updated, however the language remained loyal to the original text. With the significant length of this interpretation of the play, it can be assumed that the writers did not mess with the script too much, thus keeping the plot as it was intended to be enjoyed. While watching the film no major portion of the play was missing, and all actors did a very good job portraying the many conflicts and moments of insanity that is the play of Hamlet. David Tennant and Mariah Gale give brilliant performances of two very different types of insanity, allowing the play to become more understandable to the audience. In all, the movie gave respect to Shakespeare’s most famous of works, while making it enjoyable to a more modern spectators.

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays to date. It follows the tragic story of the young prince of Denmark and his quest for revenge. Although it is a great play, it is much too out-dated for the modern generation to be interested in it and to see the greatness of it. The solution for this would be to create a film that not only exhibits the central themes but also attracts the contemporary teenage audience. To effectively gain their attention, the setting, characters and language would need to be modified.

As you read William Shakesphere's Hamlet, you come across this character names, well, Hamlet. You come to find that he is one messed up kid, but isn't that the case with most teenagers? Not with this kid! Hamlet has some pretty major problems he comes across, and it all seems to bunch up all in one time. Hamlet has some major problems he has to deal with as the play takes place.

In a critical piece titled “Hamlet: Overview” Holger Klein explores how Hamlet’s intensity and complexity evokes a series of responses which says as much about their authors and periods as they do about the play itself. Klein states that the very text of Hamlet introduces problems. Three different prints, differing in hundreds of details apart from major divergences exist. The first Quarto of 1603 was a pirated version based on memorial reconstruction. The second Quart, of 1604, was based on Shakespeare’s first rough copy. The third version are the collected First Folios of 1623. The first Quarto contains about half the lines of the second. The second Quarto is the longest, which contains 230 lines not present in the First Folios. However even

The beginning of the scene starts us off at a churchyard, where we first see two clowns, also known as gravediggers; start up a conversation about Ophelia 's death. Strangely, this is actually supposed to be the comic relief of the story. Between their conversations, the first clown believes that her death was not by of nature and was indeed a suicide, and since suicide is a sin against God, she should not technically be allowed to be buried in a Christian graveyard. While the second clown defends her for a bit, they both eventually came into an agreement about the argument. As for Ophelia, she is lucky that her family is rich and has power with the king, so they were somewhat able to make an exception. After that, they had a humorous that invokes the Bible and to the art of gallows-making.

Isolation. An eerie dread, a detachment, an unwelcome independence. A feeling that everyone expects to feel at some point, yet are never prepared for. Why? Why do we accept that we’ll feel isolated if we aren’t going to be prepared when the feeling actually hits us? Maybe because despite it being a common emotion, it’s not one brought about naturally. Hamlet, for example, didn’t begin to feel isolated from those around him until the tragic death of his king. After which, he saw the true colours of those around him, and began to feel isolated.

The play Hamlet has a lot of speeches within it, especially in the first three acts of this play. Each of these speeches has many messages within them, from the first act speech to the famous “to be or not to be” speech in act three. Within the first three acts, the play is quite long, it feels like it is dragging due to the lack of action, nothing is happening besides the fact that Hamlet learns a bunch of different things with his new step dad, Claudius and now has to think of ways to kill him. The first few acts basically build up to the action but within each act, there are three very important speeches that come with acts one through three. Each speech has at least brought up how Claudius had pretty much ruined Hamlet’s family and even though he is the new king and his new step dad, Hamlet will do anything to get revenge, especially with him knowing the fact that his father did not die of a snake bite but of poison in the ear. Though each speech has a different message that goes with it, they all focus on one main thing and that is how Hamlet is actually going to go through with getting the revenge his father’s ghost has asked for.

Throughout the few most recent months we spent some time reading different plays. After reading numerous plays it led to a discussion. Why did Mrs.Seibert actually make us read these plays? Although each play has a different title, theses plays have much in common with each other. Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, and Long Day's Journey Into Night were three of the plays we read in class. Although it was apparent that these plays were different, but however, reflecting back to these plays it makes sense why we read them together. Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night all have family issues, each play ends in a tragedy, and each of these plays without a doubt has a twisted plot.

Throughout Hamlet, the females of the play are portrayed as reliant on the men in their lives. The queen, Gertrude, relies very heavily on having a man in her life. Ophelia is very obedient of her father throughout the beginning of the play. Because of this, Ophelia is willing to sacrifice her relationship with Hamlet to please her father. Hamlet shows us that the queen and Ophelia needed one common thing, a man to rely on.

It is common knowledge to say opposites attract. However, it would be a much greater statement to say this is only true if said attraction is both of greatness and tragedy; tragedy as to that of what can be understood in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The main character throughout the play, Hamlet, is a rather interesting person to say the least as he contains a paradox in emotions that is the underlying foundation of the movement through the whole literary work. This creates such friction between characters to the point of breaking; death.

Throughout my research process, I was only able to find a select pool of articles critiquing Svend Gade and Heinz Schall’s 1921 film, Hamlet. I believe the lack of critiques on the film stems from a variety of factors including but not limited to the films age and the fact that the film was made in a different country, which makes me think that there may be a larger pool of critiques written in German that have not been translated. Luckily, the critique I was able to locate, “Expressionist Shakespeare” by J. Lawrence Guntner, provides an in-depth and thoughtful analysis of the lesser-known Hamlet. This critique presents the reader with a multi-faceted look Hamlet, which, above all, gave me an understanding and background of early German film and the film’s unsung backbone, Asta Nielsen.