Even with Hamlet’s vast experience and a “motive and cue for passion,” his “native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought.” Like a slave, he is chained to his “godlike reason” and tendency toward melancholy reflection. Through his overuse of words to interpret reality, Hamlet is deceived and delayed. Consequently, his plans tend to “turn awry and lose the name of action.” Even his famous line, “I will speak daggers to her, but use none” relies on words and logical cowardice rather than direct confrontation.…
The difference between the two characters is that Hamlet wasted time and did not act immediately, but Fortinbras took immediate action. Fortinbras could summon up the the passion and courage to fight for virtually no gain, simply to carry out his plan to avenge his father. Hamlet even swears that now he will finally do it and declares that “from this time forth,/[his] thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth” but incredibly, still succumbs to inaction (4.4.68-9). In the end, Fortinbras lives, and Hamlet dies, and we are left to modify the theme of action over inaction to conclude that immediate, righteous action surmounts both inaction and vengeful, poorly thought out action or…
In Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 7, Shakespeare portrays Ophelia’s death as a metaphor of corruption through diction and literary techniques. Firstly, Ophelia’s flower crown is an extended metaphor for the royal crown. Shakespeare uses the decaying motif with this metaphor to show the king’s corruption. The maids call one of the flowers making up the crown “dead men’s fingers” (195). After this line, “weeds/weedy” and “coronet/trophies” take place of flowery words such as “fantastic garlands” (196-198).…
However, Hamlet waits to till the right moment, which unfortunately happens at the very end of the play. While spending all this time planning, Hamlet could have spent his time helping the country and helping the people around him. Hamlet is constantly distracted as well. While fighting against Laertes to regain his honor, Hamlet is completely unaware that Fortinbras and his men have…
Dial R for Revenge Revenge is a model embedded in our society since the earliest of times. It is a justice that evades the bounds of formal law and almost always undertaken responding to a grievance. To break revenge and its justice down to its simplest terms would be to illustrate the act as a cycle imposed with the result becoming an alliance with power. One character loses control, eventually taking this affair into their own hands, performing the act of revenge, which causes the one whom revenge is enacted upon to deem the desire for revenge contrary the revenger.…
Act three, scene four also known as the bedroom scene is important to the play because it is another very emotional scene. Polonius hides behind the arras in Gertrude’s room to listen in on Hamlets and Gertrude’s conversation. Hamlet bursts into his mother’s room and ask her why she has sent for him. Gertrude’s tells Hamlet that he has offended Claudius very much. Hamlet responds back with “mother, you have my father much offended,” ( 3.4.11).…
Act 3 Scene 1, interaction between Hamlet and Ophelia. The setting of this scene is wildly different in the two versions. Kenneth chose the setting to be a large room in the palace, full of doors that are decorated by full size mirrors. Hawke chose the setting to be a small room, presumably in Hamlet’s apartment, and as opposed to doors with mirrors there are windows.…
Kodiak Fisher Death and war. Each word has one thing in common, they result in the other side wanting revenge. Whether it is a small act or the need to shed blood for blood, revenge is necessary. Revenge is a theme that is used throughout Hamlet. There are three acts of revenge within the play that develop the plot greatly.…
“No place indeed should murder sanctuarize; / Revenge should have no bounds” (IV.vii.140-141). Here, King Claudius justifies the act of revenge while he is ironically oblivious to Hamlet’s plans of vengeance. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the theme of revenge closely surrounds each character, whether the character is one to deliver it or feel the consequences of it. In this particular story, the characters directly involved in vengeance reside in close father-son relationships and therefore seek to exact revenge on their fathers’ offenders. Fortinbras’s direct actions are mainly unseen until the final scene but end in a sorrowful acceptance of great fortune.…
Act 1 Scene 1 We are introduced to four new characters. Francisco, Barnardo, Marcellus, and Horatio. Francisco leaves and Barnardo takes his place in the night shift as a guard. Marcellus talks about the ghost they saw.…
Act 1, Scene 1 SUMMARY: It was midnight when Barnardo relieved another guardsman, Francisco, from his duties. Barnardo heard a cry but it turned out to be Marcellus. Marcellus brought Horatio, a scholar and Hamlet’s friend, with him to observe the appearance of the ghost. All of a sudden, the ghost appeared but it did not speak with Horatio.…
Critical/Analytical Response To Hamlet Does how we view ourselves have an effect on how we react to unfairness? If there is a lack of self-respect is there a change in how people react? Hamlet, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is the perfect example of this. Hamlet shows his low opinion of himself through how he speaks of himself and his life. His reaction to Gertrude remarrying and to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also show how drastically he reacts to things he thinks are wrong.…
Take thy fortune. Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger” (Act III, Sc. IV) or even when he knows that he could die battling with Laertes, “If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now; yet it will come. The readiness is all” (Act V, Sc. II). His new perspective towards deception and understanding of the limitations of his perception puts him in a place of a mere mortal who is guided by a higher power, and by humbling himself like this is what turns Hamlet into a hero. In addition, Hamlet’s new understanding of deception…
Jacob Vore Advanced Poetry Mr. Dranginis 2/15/16 Hamlet; An Existential Character One of the most common and cliche questions you hear people ask is, “What is the meaning of life?”. This question has never been answered and has been pondered by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham. Philosophers have also contemplated over the value of life, as is seen in ethical theories such as utilitarianism, to help answer existential questions. Merriam-Webster defines existentialism as a “philosophical movement… centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free”. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we see Hamlet struggle to answer questions regarding the true meaning of humanity, the meaning and value of life, and who Hamlet is as a person.…
His hesitation crops in to reveal his determination to adopt means and his intent to consummate a given course of action. In other words, Hamlet confidence in taking revenge begins to shake when he is left alone in thought. He begins to drag into the rhythm of a new conflict because his analytic planning brings the shadows of death to him. His desire to fulfill the plan “with wings as swift as meditation” begins to break down with the skepticism because of his mother and uncle. Though skeptical, does not back away from his mission of revenge.…