In both A Streetcar Named Desire and Hamlet, Tennessee Williams and William Shakespeare, respectively, demonstrate their abilities to create engaging plays which work on several levels in order to produce the desired effect. One of the most important characteristics of these plays is the playwrights' success in using their words to create the worlds surrounding their works. Both Shakespeare and Williams effectively use irony in the aforementioned plays, both in the plot
the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the use of soliloquies allows the audience to know what the characters are feeling and what their pure motives are. They are also able to hear the characters’ thoughts directly. The character’s secrets are revealed only to the audience which gives way for irony to take a part in the play. Shakespeare uses soliloquies throughout the play enhance the story by making the personal thoughts and feelings of characters open to the audience, creating irony, and setting
Biography The great English writer, William Shakespeare, was born around April of 1564 in Stratford, England. He was the son of John and Mary Shakespeare and had two older sisters and three younger brothers. He later married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had three children, two being twin girls. By 1597, Hamlet had begun to establish himself, and 15 out of the 37 plays he wrote were published. From then on, Shakespeare’s works continued to be published. Shakespeare is now said to be a famous English poet
common allusions because they are regarded as primary sources for the basis of human reason. William Shakespeare alludes to both religion and mythology in Hamlet in order to emphasize the importance and failure of religion and to reveal the nature and psychological complexes of characters. William Shakespeare alludes to the Bible in Hamlet constantly because many of the characters, including Claudius and Hamlet, are experiencing a personal crisis concerning sin. Claudius prays, “O, my offence is rank
dramatic irony takes place in act 2 scene 2. A general sense as to what is happening during this time of the play is that Hamlet states to Rosencrantz that he is extremely bored, has loss sense of his emotions and has completely let himself go. Shortly after, he is told there are actors on their way to try to entertain Hamlet. Upon the actors arrival, Hamlet specially requests for the first player and his cast to preform The Murder of Gonzago, with the addition of a few lines that Hamlet writes in
of Hamlet’s many faces Shakespeare uses a variety of literary techniques to propagate interesting and complicated characters, themes, and plot lines in Hamlet. One of the most prominent and carefully crafted instances of this is his focus on irony. He uses irony as a driving force for the developing relationships between characters and each audience member’s individual understanding of who the characters are. Sarcasm, situational irony, and dramatic irony found in Hamlet add interest and complexity
Dramatic irony in the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet has long been the subject matter of literary critical reviews. This essay will exemplify and elaborate on the irony in the play. David Bevington in the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet identifies one of the “richest sources of dramatic irony” in Hamlet: Well may the dying Hamlet urge his friend Horatio to “report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied,” for no one save Horatio has caught more than a glimpse of
Hamlet – the Irony The existence of considerable irony within the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet is a fact recognized by most literary critics. This paper will examine the play for instances of irony and their interpretation by critics. In his essay “O’erdoing Termagant” Howard Felperin comments on Hamlet’s “ironic consciousness” of the fact that he is unable to quickly execute the command of the ghost: Our own intuition of the creative or re-creative act that issued
horrible outcome. Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ is no doubt a play about a tragedy caused by revenge; Prince Hamlet’s retribution for his father, King Hamlet’s murder and Laertes vengeance for his father, Polonius’ murder. The theme of revenge in Hamlet is portrayed through various literary techniques such as foreshadowing and irony. Foreshadowing is the warning or indication that the audience receives through certain actions or phrases about a future event. Shakespeare applies foreshadowing in his play
Profound Irony of Hamlet Irony, or the “hiding what is actually the case” in order to “achieve special rhetorical or artistic effects” (Abrams 135), is amply demonstrated in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. In his essay, “Reforming the Role,” Mark Rose discusses the irony involved with the ghost’s appearance: The ghost binds Hamlet to vengeance, but there is another and more subtle way in which the spirit of his father haunts the prince. It is one of the radical ironies