The Flies By William Shakespeare

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

punishment. “ ‘Only . . . I want to die as myself. Does that make sense?’ he asks. I shake my

quickly grab the materials for the soup, and then Marion got boiled water all over her leg. How

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.

"A bunch of them were eaten. This is what you get for going outside the walls."

The purpose of the article "Consider the Lobster." By David Foster Wallace is to demonstrate that is not morally correct to hold the lobsters captive in bright crowded glass tanks or to cook the lobsters alive in hot boiling water. Lobsters out of captivity avoid light and being crowded. We should consider the lobster and not have it suffer in order for us to eat it.   The writing patterns I see being used in this article are descriptive and narrative writing patterns.

Lobsters are the freshest food source that there is and this is why they have such a high appeal. They are taken straight from the water and they are kept alive even as they are put into the boiling hot water. This treatment of animals is just wrong. It is absolutely wrong. David Foster Wallace, the author of “Consider the Lobster”, states, “the lobster…behaves very much as you or I would behave if we were plunged into boiling water” (506). We would not place a human into boiling hot water, alive or at all, so why must we do that to animals? It is a wrong and inhumane thing for us to do to other living creatures that share this world with us.

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.

“I see it as a death sentence. I really don’t know how he could survive with the combination of targets on his back,” she added.

In “Consider the Lobster,” Wallace talks about the ethical side of cooking lobsters alive. He starts his passage by talking about the Maine Lobster Festival where people are consuming a lot each year. After pointing out that lobsters are basically giant sea insects, he goes on and explains the history of lobsters. Then the focus of the passage shifts to the discussion of morality behind consuming lobsters. Wallace goes on views both side of the debate on whether eating lobsters is ethical. In the passage, he discusses how it is ethical because lobsters do not feel pain because they don’t have cerebral cortex. And he debunks the fact by discussing an experiment that lobsters attempt to escape the boiling water. Then he goes on and continues

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.

on her plate, and as the steam rose from the boiled meat, waves of nausea rose from