The Point Of The Gravedigger's Riddles And Songs In Hamlet Analysis

Hamlet is however racked with indecision, and spends most of this scene subtly ridiculing Claudius anyway, though Hamlet is not yet sure of his guilt. For example, after the play has served its purpose and Claudius rises, calling for light, Hamlet makes a joke that the King is “frightened by false fire” (272), implying that the King is scared this may happen to him. The reader can envision the mocking tone from Hamlet’s verbal irony as he rejoices in finally proving the King’s guilt, at least to himself. Hamlet actually employs the same stylistic irony earlier, during a short exchange with Polonius, relating it back to his father’s murder. Polonius says, “I did enact Julius Caesar: I was killed i' the / Capitol; Brutus killed me” (105-6). To which Hamlet replies, “It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf / there” (107-8). This is symbolic of what Hamlet knows about his father’s death in that he relates Caesar’s innocent “calf-like” death to his father’s murder. This, along with pieces of his conversation with Ophelia, seem to be pieces in which he is talking to himself, so zealous about his plan with the play, that he is merely speaking aloud in riddles about what has been bothering him. He mentions to Ophelia, “how cheerfully my / mother looks, and my father

Throughout the play, Hamlet questions his every action. Elliot writes, "Claudius, to be sure, according to the Ghost's story, has obtained the throne by killing a king. But that is a main motive for Hamlet's not doing likewise; the ways of his uncle are precisely those that the prince is most reluctant to follow"( Elliot 27). Hamlet does not want to obtain the throne the same way in which Claudius has, through murder. Hamlet even thinks about Claudius's life after death. An example of his thought is in Act III,

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet, a studious young man and Prince of Denmark, struggles to face the death of his father and the task to kill his father’s murderer, Claudius. He was once known as a charming, smart young man before his father’s death. However, Hamlet experiences depression and anger at the world, causing him to look outwardly on society but failing to look inwardly on himself. The death of his father and the task for vengeance leads him to question whether or not he should follow through in killing Claudius. He becomes a man of thought rather than a man of action. In addition, the delay of King Claudius’ murder leads the readers to believe that he wishes not to kill him; he

Not only is Ophelia's death marked much less significant than the other male deaths noted in the previously mentioned articles, but Ophelia’s death is articulated as a passive accident, one that happened to occur, to no avail. Every other death in the play is met with vigorous analysis and criticism, unphased by the death of Ophelia, inadvertently caused by men. Ophelia is also described as “mermaid-like” adding to the previously set notion that women are sexual objects- even at death. At this point of the play, Hamlet proclaims in a bipolar and seemingly fraudulent manner that he has always loved Ophelia (although he ordered her to “get thee to a nunnery” and was the root of her abrupt madness and suicide), while Laertes threatens that he loved Ophelia more. The attention and passion are still not recognized and respected with Ophelia even after her death but is used as a game between two men to satisfy their guilt and build their ego, competing for the love of Ophelia that was only disrespected when she was

Another time Ophelia was important in Hamlet's life was after not seeing Ophelia for a while Hamlet stumbles upon a grave site being dug in the middle of the woods, but at the time he doesn’t know who for. When Hamlet find out that Ophelia is the one that is being put to rest he starts to go crazy again. He says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers, if you added all their love together, couldn’t match mine. What are you going to do for her?” ( V, I, pg.12. lines 247-249). Hamlet is basically trying to say that even if they don’t believe him he really did love Ophelia. Gertrude responded by saying, “This is pure insanity. He’ll be like this for a little while” (V, I, pg. 12 lines 247-249). When Gertrude says this she basically means that he has gone crazy before that this is normal he will calm down soon. Therefor Ophelia played a huge role in Hamlet’s life without necessarily being there all of the time.

During his speech in the beginning of Scene 3, Claudius conveys how he is conflicted on whether or not to kill Hamlet. He remarks how Hamlet is “loved of the distracted multitude” (IV.iii.4) to describe how the people of Denmark admire Hamlet, which explains why it would be difficult to kill him without it backfiring.

In Act 4, Ophelia is told by the king that her father has died. Ophelia also acts insane in because of this and can no longer take the time to grieve. Ophelia sings a lot to try to forget the death of her father, but it does not work. Ophelia kills herself and Hamlet does not know because the king sent him away to be killed once they found out that he had killed another friend. Hamlet and Horatio are in the woods when the run across a grave digger digging a grave, but hamlet does not know it is for. When hamlet hears people coming him and Horatio hide behind a tree to see who it is. When Hamlet is talking to Horatio about what it is going on he says, “Twas of some estate” ( Act 5, Scene 1 Line 228). When Hamlet says this is saying that whoever is in the casket has a lot of money because of the people that is there. Hamlet becomes insane when he jumps from behind the tree yelling, “What, the fair Ophelia”, because he is surprised that Ophelia is dead. This brings out the hidden emotions that he has had for Ophelia. Talking to everyone at the funeral, hamlet says with much emotion, “I loved Ophelia, Forty thousand brothers” (Act 5, Scene 1 Line 285). This is showing that he loved his girlfriend with all his heart, even though he may have never expressed enough to her and anyone else. This hurts hamlet because he did not know that the grave, he was viewing was for her. This is showing him insane because he

Act 5 of “Hamlet” starts by presenting two drunk gravediggers digging a grave to the audience, the very first sign of death to appear in the act. They jest as they dig Ophelia’s grave, wondering if she committed suicide like they’d heard, even though

• This example of dramatic irony is important because if Hamlet had killed Claudius in this scene, that Hamlet would have achieved hos ultimate goal much more quickly, and the play would have been finished.

But, is not willing to make a sacrifice since he does not want anyone else ruling Denmark besides himself. Not only that, but Claudius did not think about the impact that King Hamlet's death would have on Hamlet, Gertrude, and Denmark as a whole. Hamlet struggled significantly with his father's death and this was something that didn’t concern Claudius since he was not concerned about Hamlet’s well-being nor did he think about Hamlet while murdering his father. Also, Claudius never thought twice about how King Hamlet’s death would impact Denmark as a whole since he was a great ruler and his absence might cause the country to “crumble”. The only thing Claudius was concerned and blinded with was ruling the throne and not the fact that he would make an unfitting ruler and what would be best for the country since all he wants to do is control everyone. Furthermore, in the soliloquy, it is present that Claudius has a sense of guilt for murdering his

Ophelia was known as a sweet, innocent, and more importantly obedient girl. Yet, being the obedient, daughter she was, she separated from Hamlet by orders of her father and helped him spy on Hamlet for the King. Being in love with Hamlet, this was a difficult thing for Ophelia to do, although, not until her father’s death does the reader really see Ophelia in a state of madness. When she talks to Gertrude she begins to sing, “He is dead and gone, lady, / He is dead and gone;/ At his head a grass-green turf, / At his heels a stone” (4.5.29-32). The way Ophelia acted seemed obviously uncharacteristic of her, and portrayed a mental breakdown that ultimately leads her to take her own life. This tragic event marked a turning point in the play due to the fact that she wasn’t murdered, but a casualty of the feud between Hamlet and Claudius. Both of them bared responsibility for the murder of her father, which lead to her decision to commit suicide. Additionally, losing the love of Hamlet may have caused her to feel alone and in such a dark place it made her feel suicide was the only option. In conclusion, Ophelia’s death was caused due to the backlash of Hamlet and Claudius feud and the responsibility for her death should be placed on both of

Ophelia later relays this meeting to her father, telling him that Hamlet was not properly dressed, "and with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors-he comes before me." (2.1.82-84). This scene is directly after Hamlet learns of his father's murder. It seems that Hamlet is looking to Ophelia for help, his feelings were crushed and he needed consolation. I extract the estimation that prince Hamlet adores Ophelia, and that she is one the few loved ones he has left to turn to. I am sure he loves his family, but his father is dead, his mother is unconcerned with his father's death and his uncle is the murderer of his father.

Upon observation, it seems Claudius’ soliloquy reveals another perspective to the audience. Instead of the cold and heartless impressions created by Hamlet, Claudius appears vulnerable and uncertain, evidently worried about his consequences of the murder of Old Hamlet. However, in truth, this soliloquy reveals his hypocritical nature as he searches for forgiveness, raising questions concerning his sincerity of his speech and desires.

Hamlets thoughts are constantly consumed with the idea of revenge for his father’s murderer, Claudius. Revenge is the initial motivation for Hamlet’s transformation into anger and madness (Bitesize). If “conscience makes cowards of us all” (3.1. 83), Hamlet shows signs of hypocrisy here as this conscience makes him a coward. Hamlet contemplates whether he should take revenge on Claudius to the point of obsession; his overthinking and continual contradicting leads him to his madness. When given the opportunity to murder Claudius his uncertainty confuses the matter making him incapable and doubtful of the deed. He hesitates considering the Elizabethan belief, if Claudius dies while praying he will go to heaven, which Hamlet does not want. However in act three, Hamlet blindly stabs Polonius to death with absolutely no hesitation, thus, changing his mindset completely where his thoughts are “bloody or nothing worth”(4.5. 65-66). The dark side to Hamlet has now been identified, and from this point on Hamlet no longer hesitates or questions himself. After the murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern he states, “they are not near my conscience, their defeat does by their own insinuation grow” (5.2. 58-59). Hamlet undoubtedly does not feel guilty and believes

It starts out in one direction, but can quickly change into something different. Hamlet goes through many different feelings throughout the play and they are all shown in this soliloquy. “Three basic approaches to the ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy prevail in commentary on Hamlet: one of these explains the speech as a consideration of either acting or not acting against King Claudius; the second reads the speech as a contemplation of suicide; and the third is some kind of compromise between-or fusion of-the first two, explaining, for example, that Hamlet thinks first about his revenge against Claudius, then examines the idea of suicide, and finally rebukes himself for losing ‘the name of action.’” (Petronella) Hamlet considers if he really should or should not kill his uncle Claudius. He does not know for sure if the ghost is legit or is trying to corrupt Hamlet. Another view is the fact that Hamlet is considering killing himself. Which he would do if it weren’t against the beliefs of the