Essay on William Shakespeare's Hamlet

In different scenes with Hamlet’s mother it seems that he forgave her about marrying too soon and then becomes fixated with her sex life and how she should abstain from her now husband. Then in act III scene iv lines 10-11 Gertrude said “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended” and Hamlet in reply said “Mother, thou hast thy father much offended.” When he said that, he alluded to when she married so soon and was said to mock her. He also said in lines 15-17 “You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, and, would it were not so you are my mother.” In Hamlet’s rage he attacked his mother and made it seem like he was about to murder

To be, or not to be; that 's the question” (Act III, Scene 1, P.1127) is of the most widely circulated lines. As we all know, it is also the most important part of the drama, “Hamlet”, which is one of the most famous tragedy in the literature written by William Shakespeare between from 1599 to1602. The drama was written at the age of Renaissance that reflects the reality of the British society in sixteenth century to early seventeenth century. During that period, Britain was in the era of reverse confusion, and "Hamlet" is just about the epitome of this era. The tragic play happened in Kingdom of Denmark dramatizes the revenge that Prince Hamlet intended to revenge his uncle Claudius who had murdered Hamlet 's father King Hamlet, subsequently seized the throne and married Hamlet 's mother Gertrude. In this drama, “Hamlet”, William Shakespeare unreservedly wrote about the betrayal, revenge, incest, and the affection of religion. Through reading and studying of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, I would like to claim that we need to overcome the gap between the ideal and the reality.

The queen obviously considers her son’s dejection to result from his father’s demise. Angela Pitt considers Gertrude “a kindly, slow-witted, rather self-indulgent woman. . . .” (47). She joins in with the king in requesting Hamlet’s stay in Elsinore rather than returning to Wittenberg to study. Respectfully the son replies, “I shall in all my best obey you, madam.” So at the outset the audience notes a decidedly good relationship between Gertrude and those about her in the drama, even though Hamlet’s “suit of mourning has been a visible and public protest against the royal marriage, a protest in which he is completely alone, and in which he has hurt his mother” (Burton “Hamlet”). Hamlet’s first soliloquy expresses his anger at the quickness of his mother’s marriage to Claudius, an “o’erhasty marriage” (Gordon 128), and its incestuousness since it is between family: “Frailty, thy name is woman! . . . .” Rebecca Smith interprets his anti-motherly feelings: “Hamlet’s violent emotions toward his mother are obvious from his first soliloquy, in which 23 of the 31 lines express his anger and disgust at what he perceives to be Gertrude’s weakness, insensitivity, and, most important, bestiality” (80).

He has always believed that his father and mother have had the perfect relationship full of love for one another, however Hamlet finds out that thing aren’t as they seem because Gertrude remarries very shortly after the late Hamlet’s death. Hamlet is very upset and feels betrayed by his mother because she remarries his father’s uncle, Claudius. This can be seen in “… things rank and gross in nature/ Possess it merely. That it should come to this! / But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:” (1. 2 146-148).

Act I, Scene II introduces Prince Hamlet, his mother Queen Gertrude, and his uncle Claudius. Due to the recent death of King Hamlet there have been two notable changes in the kingdom. First, Claudius is the new King of Denmark. Act I, Scene II begins with King Claudius expressing appreciation for the support he is receiving from his court and subjects. The second change is that Claudius has married Queen Gertrude. Claudius presents the immediate marriage as a method of overcoming the grief that the community has felt since the death of their King. With the Norwegian troops advancing and the country on the verge of war, Claudius claims that the grief for King Hamlet’s death would be interpreted by the enemy as weakness. Claudius claims he has married Queen Gertrude to overcome the grief of the kingdom and elicit his subject’s joy (Hamlet, 1.2.10-23).

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, begins with the mysterious death of King Hamlet in Denmark; as a result, his son, Prince Hamlet, is overwhelmed with grief and undergoes an existential crisis when his mother, Gertrude, quickly moves on from mourning. To make matters worse, King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius, hastily takes over the kingdom by marrying her. The purpose of Hamlet’s first soliloquy is to introduce his troubled thoughts, which significantly contrast his subdued tone during forced conversations with Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet astutely expresses his tremendous sorrow by attributing his feelings of helplessness to Claudius’ abrupt assumption of power. After dwelling through his pain, he rationalizes that his tormented mental state is

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet play Denmark’s Prince Hamlet, Jr. initially was struggling with the grief of recently losing his father, King Hamlet, Sr. and was struggling to cope. Without warning, his life was then catapulted into even further disarray and feelings of out of control with an untimely announcement from the newly crowned King of Denmark, his deceased father’s brother, Claudius. King Claudius informed the court that he just married his former sister in law, Gertrude, less than two months after Hamlet, Sr.’s death. Young Prince Hamlet, Jr. was awe struck and began to see his mother in a light he had never imagined before, one of great disdain and disgust. “O God, a beast

which he knows that he does not like, and so does so to anger him.

In a shocking turn of events, by the grace of God, director and actor Kenneth Branagh made a two hundred and forty-two minute Shakespeare movie watchable.

After his mother commits adultery, Hamlet gains a new conception of women which corrupts his love for Ophelia. When Hamlet is finally alone in act 1, scene 2, he compares his mother’s marriages with both Claudius and his father. Hamlet notes how the more time Gertrude spent with his father, the more she fell in love with him: “Why, she would hang on him, as if increase of appetite had grown” (1.2.143-144). He says then that in comparison, “My father’s brother, but no more like my father, than I to Hercules,” or in other words, that his father has ideal characteristics that are not evident at all in Claudius (1.2.153-154). What troubles Hamlet, then, is how his mother can leave a pariah of a husband for the opposite in a matter of a month, but

"O woman , your name - treachery ! " - Hamlet exclaims , lamenting the fact that his mother was very quickly forgotten his father and married his brother. However, one can hardly rightfully call Gertrude treacherous - rather frivolous . Know this woman the truth about the death of her first husband , she would , of course, hardly dared to link its fate with his killer. However, this lack of knowledge does not justify the act of women. "In the summer, like yours, do not live by storms and head " - Hamlet 's mother rebukes , indicating what kind of man she forgot obscenely fast and traded on those who "like ear , struck corruption ." But despite the levity, which does not befitting the mother having an adult son , and especially the queen , Gertrude is not devoid of decent quality . So , it is doubtless sincere love

Early on in the play, Shakespeare establishes a tone of decay after Hamlet’s death when Marcellus says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I. iv. 90). These distinctive words continue to be proven time and time again throughout the course of the play. To begin with, Gertrude and Claudius’s incestuous relationship starts up the chain of strange events. Hamlet recalls in a soliloquy “She married. O most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! / It is not nor it cannot come to good” (I. ii. 156-158). Claudius is supposedly the messenger of God on Earth; however, his actions are that of an immoral and dishonourable man. Gertrude is quick to forget her husband and enters into an incestuous relationship, suggesting

William Shakespeare is a writer of tragedies—the tragedies within common everyday relationships. Of these various relationships, Shakespeare reveals his interest in the relationship between the mother and son within Hamlet. The mother: Queen Gertrude, and the son: Prince Hamlet is unique within the play because Hamlet’s relationship with his mother is rare in the sense that Gertrude is one of two women within Hamlet. And like the other woman, Gertrude is submerged into the middle of the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius. The unique and rare relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is facilitated by Shakespeare’s ability to effectively characterize both characters directly and indirectly and develops the theme that how the world views woman is coerced by what man says about other women and the image can affect the actions of others.

Horatio and Marcellus exit the ghost-ridden ramparts of Elsinore intending to enlist the aid of Hamlet. The prince is dejected by the “o’erhasty marriage” of his mother to his uncle less than two months after the funeral of Hamlet’s father (Gordon 128). There is a post-coronation social gathering of the court, where Claudius insincerely pays tribute to the memory of his deceased brother. Hamlet is present, dressed in black, the color of mourning, for his deceased father. His first words say that Claudius is "A little more than kin and less than kind," indicating a disapproval of the new king’s values. Hamlet’s first soliloquy is quite depressing; it emphasizes the frailty of women – an obvious reference to his mother’s hasty and incestuous marriage to her husband’s brother:

Regardless of a person’s age or literary preference it is undeniable that William Shakespeare had a flair for composing dramatic tragedies. Tragedy is a powerful underlining theme which portrays the qualities of the human capacity. In one of Shakespeare’s most brilliant plays, Hamlet, tragedy is portrayed through the protagonist’s constant contemplation of suicide. Shakespeare often alludes to powerful images of death by using pathos and bereavement in life to be inconsequential. In the play, Hamlet, William Shakespeare produces a tragedy which illustrates the suggestion of suicide and the imagery of death as solutions to problems through Ophelia’s demise, the minor characters reflection upon death, and most importantly the protagonist