Advice that is constantly given to people is to listen more than they talk. In the Christian faith it’s also talked about how God gave humans two ears and one mouth, suggesting he wants people to listen more. Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a case of this. Characters were constantly trying to get the upper hand on each other; Hamlet by acting crazy and using people, Claudius by having others spy on people, and Laertes by wildly hunting whoever he wanted. However, some strategies were more successful than others. One quote that demonstrated the way to be successful is to “give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; / take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment” (I.iii.74-75). This quote is explaining that listening and observing people
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Hamlet knows that if he were to directly attack Gertrude about her marriage of Claudius it would make him more of a target. So he attacks Gertrude through the play he has put on for her and Claudius and with Ophelia. When performing the play, the queen in the play says “if, once a widow, ever I be wife” (III.ii.246), telling her husband that she will never remarry after he dies. This is Hamlet using the play to express how he feels a loyal wife should act in this situation and since Gertrude did the opposite, she is disloyal. He also uses his conversation with Ophelia to attack Gertrude. Ophelia after a prologue tells Hamlet that the prologue was brief and he responds by saying, loud enough that Gertrude can hear him, “as a woman’s love” (III.ii.175). Along with commenting on how quickly Gertrude fell in love again, he shows how mad he is about how fast Gertrude stopped grieving Hamlet Sr.’s death when Ophelia asks Hamlet why he is so happy he tells her, again with Gertrude able to hear him, “what should a / man do but be merry? For look you how cheerfully / my mother looks, and my father died within ‘s two / hours” (III.ii.132-135). Hamlet’s use of displacement demonstrates how he used reason to come to this method of attacking Gertrude. He decided that using others to get his point across was better because this way he doesn’t have a bad public image of someone who verbally attacked their mother. If he had acted with passion and confronted her, he would have gotten a bad reputation, allowing Claudius to get rid of him easier if he needed to because people won’t become suspicious as to why he was removed from the
Hamlet knows that if he were to directly attack Gertrude about her marriage of Claudius it would make him more of a target. So he attacks Gertrude through the play he has put on for her and Claudius and with Ophelia. When performing the play, the queen in the play says “if, once a widow, ever I be wife” (III.ii.246), telling her husband that she will never remarry after he dies. This is Hamlet using the play to express how he feels a loyal wife should act in this situation and since Gertrude did the opposite, she is disloyal. He also uses his conversation with Ophelia to attack Gertrude. Ophelia after a prologue tells Hamlet that the prologue was brief and he responds by saying, loud enough that Gertrude can hear him, “as a woman’s love” (III.ii.175). Along with commenting on how quickly Gertrude fell in love again, he shows how mad he is about how fast Gertrude stopped grieving Hamlet Sr.’s death when Ophelia asks Hamlet why he is so happy he tells her, again with Gertrude able to hear him, “what should a / man do but be merry? For look you how cheerfully / my mother looks, and my father died within ‘s two / hours” (III.ii.132-135). Hamlet’s use of displacement demonstrates how he used reason to come to this method of attacking Gertrude. He decided that using others to get his point across was better because this way he doesn’t have a bad public image of someone who verbally attacked their mother. If he had acted with passion and confronted her, he would have gotten a bad reputation, allowing Claudius to get rid of him easier if he needed to because people won’t become suspicious as to why he was removed from the