The Theme of Actors and Acting in Hamlet Essay

murder in a rash mood. It is not seen by Gertrude. It tries to urge

Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story about a king that was murdered by his brother and the prince has been asked by his father?s ghost to avenge his murder. The original story line has been altered a few times since it has been written. The original Hamlet the play and the altered Hamlet the movie are shown differently in many different ways. Hamlet the movie with Mel Gibson shows different things than the play, but there are three major differences between the two. The three major differences are in the way both of the productions start out, differences in the scene that the players put on a play, and differences in the way the productions end.

How does the use of comic relief best contrast the tragedy of Hamlet? In great works of literature a comic relief is used as contrast to a serious scene to intensify the overall tragic nature of the play or to relieve tension. As illustrated in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, intense scenes are joined with character’s banter and vacuous actions as to add a comic relief. In Hamlet, Polonius acts as a comic relief by his dull and windy personality, Hamlet uses his intelligence and his negativity toward the king and queen to create humor, while on the other hand Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a comic relief by their senseless actions and naïve natures. Polonius, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are all used as a comic relief to

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.

Hamlet is a Shakespearian tragedy that takes place in the kingdom of Denmark. The plot

In the play Hamlet, Claudius is known as the villain of the play. He is the lead antagonist who is characterized as a cunning, incestuous, and vile, usurper. Many readers and critics of the play do not dispute this perception, especially after reading how Claudius became the King of Denmark; He steals the throne by poisoning his brother, the previous king, and quickly marrying Queen Gertrude his widowed sister in law (1.5.42, 60-74). The general reading of Claudius’s character paints him to be a corrupt, cowardly politician, in addition to being Hamlet’s (the protagonist) foe. This portrait engages first-time readers to judge Claudius immediately and although this perspective of his personality is proven to be true, it is limited. Claudius

Nothing is more interesting than to analyse the behaviours of a psychotic person. In an attempt to draw the audience into the play, Shakespeare uses the physiological processes of the body and their relation to the mind and soul.3 In the Elizabethan era, many were fascinated with medicine and the psychological behaviour of others. This is shown from the play where Hamlet’s sanity level is based on the four humours- Blood, Phlegme, Choler and Melancholie; all seasons mixed and mingled together within the veins, though not alike for everyone: for even as it is not possible to finde the partie in whom the foure elements are equally mixed...there is alwaies someone which doth over rule the rest and of it is the partie's complexion named: if blood doe abound, we call such a complexion, sanguine; if phlegme, phlegmatic; if choler, cholerike; and if melancholie, melancholike (Laurentius 84)2 This explains that when one contains too much of a certain humour in his blood, they will have the characteristic traits of this humour. From

Shakespeare reveals Hamlet’s motives and sheds new light on Hamlet’s apparent madness to emphasize his sanity.

Claudius’ thirst for control leads him into carrying out the unethical method of marrying his brother’s wife, yet he justifies himself as only just following the “corrupted currents” of the world. Clearly he attempts to extend the desire for control to the whole of humanity in attempt to make his actions appear negligible. Claudius illustrates the idea that when our wish for control approaches its extremities, we always find ways to defend our unjust actions by projecting the sense of corruption outwards to a bigger scaled medium. As a result, Claudius continues to contentedly “dirge in marriage”, whilst superficially “mirth in funeral”. This has much to speak about the dark side of humanity as it reveals the things we do may appear to us as relatively insignificant and easily justified, but may be rather unprincipled and rotten. In a different instance, Hamlet demonstrates our desperateness for control in a world built upon

Madness has swallowed the entire Castle of Elsinore. In Shakespeare’s celebrated tragedy Hamlet, the event of King Hamlet’s murder spurs an unfortunate series of events that leads to the shed of excessive royal blood. Prince Hamlet, whilst plotting revenge against Claudius, his father’s perpetrator, struggles with questions of morality and identity. Additionally, he is caught up in a whirlwind romance with the beautiful, virgin Ophelia, Polonius’ daughter. A significant death, the loss of identity, and stubborn love are key ingredients for one to go mad. However, Hamlet assures us that his madness is simply an act: “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself/ As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on” (1.5.58-60). Hamlet’s feigned madness, however, can’t be more real as it drags him, and the sweet Ophelia, quite literally, down. The more Prince Hamlet believes that his madness is not reality, the more madness deteriorates his being and Ophelia – the one he claims to love most. While there is a great discrepancy between perception and reality within the play, Shakespeare elevates this to a new ground

In Hamlet's second soliloquy, Act 2, Scene 2, his speech moves through anger, self-condemnation and agonised self-accusation, impassioned fury and mocking self criticism, deep reflection and determination. He continuously points out his faults on how he cannot raise himself to adequate passion to avenge for his father's murder, he comments on how the actor showed grief for his lines, and how he cannot, even though he has great reason to. Hamlet's mood is far beyond normal and has gone into philosophical realms, continuously using metaphors to show his disgust and anguish for himself and his attitudes to the current affairs in the state of his own home.

   The legendary drama, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare is a play illustrating the theme of virtue vs. villainy. The 17th century tragedy is plagued with treachery and deceit as it opens with the news of a foul murder in the kingdom of Denmark. Prince Hamlet, by word of his late father's ghost, is informed that his uncle Claudius is to blame for his father's sudden demise. Prince Hamlet's mission is to uncover the secrets surrounding the murder and to avenge his father's death. Thus, the insidious web of disease and corruption is formed. The relationship between disease leading to the greater corruption of Denmark plays a significant role in the lives of the principle players.

In many of Shakespeare’s tragedies, the playwright draws a connection between the moral health of the kingdom and the corruption of the ruler himself. In Hamlet, he explores the extent to which corruption influences characters. By utilising animal and nature imagery, Shakespeare exemplifies how sexual and political vices corrupt characters and ultimately lead to their demise.

It develops Claudius’ character as the antagonist of the play; the audience knows Claudius is unhonourable and this action confirms this. Claudius has always hidden his thoughts of hatred towards his nephew/stepson until this moment in which he acts upon it. This develops plot as it causes the conflict between Claudius and Hamlet to heighten. Claudius wants Hamlet dead and Hamlet becomes aware of this after finding the orders from the passage later on in the play. This passage develops the theme that a nation’s health is reflective of the welfare of its people in charge. Claudius about how the King of England should still care for Denmark, and to show this care, they should “cure” Claudius of his problem. Hamlet acts as Claudius’ fever, showing the unhealthiness in the royal family that causes unrest among the state as a whole. The mention of the “Danish sword”, which refers to the harm England has endured from Denmark in the past. This is target to the Elizabethan audience as they are able to understand the relationship between the two nations and recognize how the two nations care for each

Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, is as much a mystery as a tale about depression, madness and sanity. Shakespeare reveals how the scourge of corruption and decay rapidly spread; and the emotional consequences that follow. Insanity, madness and depression are as intolerable as corruption and deceit; and just as intertwined. The play makes one ponder if it is possible to be sane in an insane world full of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption? By examining the themes of melancholy, madness and sanity in Hamlet, Shakespeare details his character’s descent from depression to madness. Additionally, Hamlet’s psychological state can be