Hamlet

Sarah**

yeah randomfella appears to be so calm, the only one who isnt panicing here!! fairplay to ya on your answers to ppl's Q's!!

JackKelly

Randomfella, at least give credit

Sarah**

tut tut tut random fella!

randomfella

damn it timay, i nearly got away with it there!

yea but the essay i typed up in history was my own stuff, judge it by amount of mistakes grammatically.

Sarah**

yeah yeah!! hehe you character!! id say ur ego was close to exploding there with our complients!! nutter!

randomfella

ok bring on the compliments after about my 5next post

Analysis of Hamlet as a Character
by William Hazlitt
1817
This is that Hamlet the Dane whom we read of in our youth, and whom we may be said almost to remember in our after years; he who made that famous soliloquy on life, who gave the advice to the players, who thought "this goodly frame, the earth," a sterile promontory, and "this brave o'er-hanging firmament, the air, this majestical roof fretted with goldenfire," "a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours;" whom "man delighted not, nor woman neither;" he who talked with the grave-diggers, and moralised on Yorrick's skull; the school-fellow of Rosencraus and Guildenstern at Wittenburg; the friend of Horatio; the lover of Ophelia; he that was mad and sent to England; the slow avenger of his father's death; who lived at the court of Horwendillus five hundred years before we were born, but all whose thoughts we seem to know as well as we do our own, because we have read them in Shakespeare.
Hamlet is a name; his speeches and sayings but the idle coinage of the poet's brain. What then, are they not real? They are as real as our own thoughts. Their reality is in the reader's mind. It is WE who are Hamlet. This play has a prophetic truth, which is above that of history. Whoever has become thoughtful and melancholy through his own mishaps or those of others; whoever has borne about with him the clouded brow of reflection, and thought himself "too much i' th' sun;" whoever has seen the golden lamp of day dimmed by envious mists rising in his own breast, and could find in the world before him only a dull blank with nothing left remarkable in it; whoever has known "the pangs of despised love, the insolence of office, or the spurns which patient merit of the unworthy takes;" he who has felt his mind sink within him, and sadness cling to his heart like a malady, who has had his hopes blighted and his youth staggered by the apparitions of strange things; who cannot well be at ease, while he sees evil hovering near him like a spectre; whose powers of action have been eaten up by thought, he to whom the universe seems infinite, and himself nothing; whose bitterness of soul makes him careless of consequences, and who goes to a play as his best resource is to shove off, to a second remove, the evils of life by a mock representation of them - this is the true Hamlet.
We have been so used to this tragedy that we hardly know how to criticise it any more than we should know how to describe our own faces. But we must make such observations as we can. It is the one of Shakespear's plays that we think of the oftenest, because it abounds most in striking reflections on human life, and because the distresses of Hamlet are transferred, by the turn of his mind, to the general account of humanity. Whatever happens to him we apply to ourselves, because he applies it so himself as a means of general reasoning. He is a great moraliser; and what makes him worth attending to is, that he moralises on his own feelings and experience. He is not a common-place pedant. If LEAR is distinguished by the greatest depths of passion, HAMLET is the most remarkable for the ingenuity, originality, and unstudied development of character. Shakespear had more magnanimity than any other poet, and he has shown more of it in this play than in any other. There is no attempt to force an interest: everything is left for time and circumstances to unfold. The attention is excited without effort, the incidents succeed each other as matters of course, the characters think and speak and act just as they might do if left entirely to themselves. There is no set purpose, no straining at a point. The observations are suggested by the passing scene - the gusts of passion come and go like sounds of music borne on the wind. The whole play is an exact transcript of what might be supposed to have taken place at the court of Denmark, at the remote period of time fixed upon, before the modern refinements in morals and manners were heard of. It would have been interesting enough to have been admitted as a bystander in such a scene, at such a time, to have heard and witnessed something of what was going on. But here we are more than spectators. We have not only "the outward pageants and the signs of grief;" but "we have that within which passes show." We read the thoughts of the heart, we catch the passions living as they rise. Other dramatic writers give us very fine versions and paraphrases of nature; but Shakespeare, together with his own comments, gives us the original text, that we may judge for ourselves. This is a very great advantage.
The character of Hamlet stands quite by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can well be : but he is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from the natural bias of his disposition by the strangeness of his situation. He seems incapable of deliberate action, and is only hurried into extremities on the spur of the occasion, when he has no time to reflect, as in the scene where he kills Polonius, and again, where he alters the letters which Rosencraus and Guildenstern are taking with them to England, purporting his death. At other times, when he is most bound to act, he remains puzzled, undecided, and sceptical, dallies with his purposes, till the occasion is lost, and finds out some pretence to relapse into indolence and thoughtfulness again. For this reason he refuses to kill the King when he is at his prayers, and by a refinement in malice, which is in truth only an excuse for his own want of resolution, defers his revenge to a more fatal opportunity, when he shall be engaged in some act "that has no relish of salvation in it."
"Now might I do it pat now he is praying;
And now I'll do 't; - and so he goes to heaven;
And so am I reveng'd? - that would be scanned:
A villain kills my father; and for that
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
O, this is hire and salary, not revenge...
Up sword; and know thou a more horrid hent,
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage." [Act iii., sc. 8.]
He is the prince of philosophical speculators; and because he cannot have his revenge perfect, according to the most refined idea his wish can form, he declines it altogether. So he scruples to trust the suggestions of the ghost, contrives the scene of the play to have surer proof of his uncle's guilt, and then rests satisfied with this confirmation of his suspicions, and the success of his experiment, instead of acting upon it. Yet he is sensible of his own weakness, taxes himself with it, and tries to reason himself out of it:
"How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast; no more.
Sure he that made us with such a large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unus'd. Now whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on th' event, -
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom,
And ever three parts coward, - I do not know
Why yet I live to say, This thing's to do;
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
To do 't. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd,
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument;
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw,
When honour's at the stake. How stand I, then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? - O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth." [Act iv., sc 4.]
Still he does nothing; and this very speculation on his own infirmity only affords him another occasion for indulging it. It is not from any want of attachment to his father or of abhorrence of his murder that Hamlet is thus dilatory; but it is more to his taste to indulge his imagination in reflecting upon the enormity of the crime and refining on his schemes of vengeance, than to put them into immediate practice. His ruling passion is to think, not to act: and any vague pretext that flatters this propensity instantly diverts him from his previous purposes.


:cool:

randomfella

The moral perfection of this character has been called in question, we think, by those who do not understand it. It is more interesting than according to rules; amiable, though not faultless. The ethical delineations of that "noble and liberal casuist" (as Shakespear has been well called) do not exhibit the drab-coloured quakerism of morality. His plays are not copied either from the "Whole Duty of Man," or from "The Academy of Compliments!" We confess we are a little shocked at the want of refinement in Hamlet. The neglect of punctilious exactness in his behaviour either partakes of the "licence of the time," or else belongs to the very excess of intellectual refinement in the character, which makes the common rules of life, as well as his own purposes, sit loose upon him. He may be said to be amenable only to the tribunal of his own thoughts, and is too much taken up with the airy world of contemplation to lay as much stress as he ought on the practical consequences of things. His habitual principles of action are unhinged and out of joint with the time. His conduct to Ophelia is quite natural in the circumstances. It is that of assumed severity only. It is the effect of disappointed hope, of bitter regrets, of affections suspended, not obliterated, by the distractions of the scene around him! Amidst the natural and preternatural horrors of his situation, he might be excused in delicacy from carrying on his regular courtship. When "his father's spirit was in arms," it was not a time for the son to make love in. He could neither marry Ophelia, nor wound her mind by explaining the cause of his alienation, which he durst hardly trust himself to think of. It would have taken him years to have come to a direct explanation on the point. In the harassed state of his mind, he could not have done much otherwise than he did. His conduct does not contradict what he says when he sees her funeral,
"I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers
Could not with all their quantity of love
Make up my sum" - [Act v., sc. 1.]
Nothing can be more affecting or beautiful than the Queen's apostrophe to Ophelia on throwing flowers into the grave.
"Sweets to the sweet farewell
[Scattering flowers]
I hop'd thou should'st have been my Hamlet's wife
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not to have strew'd thy grave." [Act v., sc. 1.]
Shakespeare was thoroughly a master of the mixed motives of human character, and he here shows us the Queen, who was so criminal in some respects, not without sensibility and affection in other relations of life. - Ophelia is a character almost too exquisitely touching to be dwelt upon. Oh rose of May, oh flower too soon faded! Her love, her madness, her death, are described with the truest touches of tenderness and pathos. it is a character which nobody but Shakespear could have drawn in the way that he has done, and to the conception of which there is not even the smallest approach, except in some of the old romantic ballads. Her brother, Laertes, is a character we do not like so well: he is too hot and choleric, and somewhat rhodomontade. Polonius is a perfect character in its kind; nor is there any foundation for the objections which have been made to the consistency of this part.
It is said that he acts very foolishly, and talks very sensibly. There is no inconsistency in that. Again, that he talks wisely at one time and foolishly at another; that his advice to Laertes is very excellent, and his advice to the King and Queen on the subject of Hamlet's madness very ridiculous. But he gives the one as a father, and is sincere in it; he gives the other as mere courtier, a busy-body, and is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent. In short, Shakespear has been accused of inconsistency in this and other characters, only because he has kept up the distinction which there is in nature, between the understandings and the moral habits of men, between the absurdity of their ideas and the absurdity of their motives. Polonius is not a fool, but he makes himself so. His folly, whether in his actions or speeches, comes under the head of impropriety of intention.
We do not like to see our author's plays acted, and least of all HAMLET. There is no play that suffers so much in being transferred to the stage. Hamlet himself seems hardly capable of being acted. Mr. Kemble unavoidably fails in this character from a want of ease and variety. The character of Hamlet is made up of undulating lines; it has the yielding flexibility of "a wave o' th' sea." Mr. Kemble plays it like a man in armour, with a determined inveteracy of purpose, in one undeviating straight line, which is as remote from the natural grace and refined susceptibility of the character, as the sharp angles and abrupt starts which Mr. Kean introduces into the part. Mr Kean's Hamlet is as much too splenetic and rash as Mr. Kemble's is too deliberate and formal. His manner is too strong and pointed. He throws a severity, approaching to virulence, into the common observations and answers. There is nothing of this in Hamlet. He is, as it were, wrapped up in his reflections, and only thinks aloud. There should therefore be no attempt to impress what he says upon others by a studied exaggeration of emphasis or manner; no talking at his hearers. There should be as much of the gentleman and scholar as possible infused into the part, and as little of the actor. A pensive air of sadness should sit reluctantly upon his brow, but no appearance of fixed and sullen gloom. He is full of weakness and melancholy, but there is no harshness in his nature. He is the most amiable of misanthropes.

randomfella

Analysis of Major Characters
Hamlet
Hamlet has fascinated audiences and readers for centuries, and the first thing to point out about him is that he is enigmatic. There is always more to him than the other characters in the play can figure out; even the most careful and clever readers come away with the sense that they don’t know everything there is to know about this character. Hamlet actually tells other characters that there is more to him than meets the eye—notably, his mother, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—but his fascination involves much more than this. When he speaks, he sounds as if there’s something important he’s not saying, maybe something even he is not aware of. The ability to write soliloquies and dialogues that create this effect is one of Shakespeare’s most impressive achievements.
A university student whose studies are interrupted by his father’s death, Hamlet is extremely philosophical and contemplative. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, evidence that any other character in a play would believe, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle’s guilt before trying to act. The standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” is simply unacceptable to him. He is equally plagued with questions about the afterlife, about the wisdom of suicide, about what happens to bodies after they die—the list is extensive.
But even though he is thoughtful to the point of obsession, Hamlet also behaves rashly and impulsively. When he does act, it is with surprising swiftness and little or no premeditation, as when he stabs Polonius through a curtain without even checking to see who he is. He seems to step very easily into the role of a madman, behaving erratically and upsetting the other characters with his wild speech and pointed innuendos.
It is also important to note that Hamlet is extremely melancholy and discontented with the state of affairs in Denmark and in his own family—indeed, in the world at large. He is extremely disappointed with his mother for marrying his uncle so quickly, and he repudiates Ophelia, a woman he once claimed to love, in the harshest terms. His words often indicate his disgust with and distrust of women in general. At a number of points in the play, he contemplates his own death and even the option of suicide.
But, despite all of the things with which Hamlet professes dissatisfaction, it is remarkable that the prince and heir apparent of Denmark should think about these problems only in personal and philosophical terms. He spends relatively little time thinking about the threats to Denmark’s national security from without or the threats to its stability from within (some of which he helps to create through his own carelessness).
Claudius
Hamlet’s major antagonist is a shrewd, lustful, conniving king who contrasts sharply with the other male characters in the play. Whereas most of the other important men in Hamlet are preoccupied with ideas of justice, revenge, and moral balance, Claudius is bent upon maintaining his own power. The old King Hamlet was apparently a stern warrior, but Claudius is a corrupt politician whose main weapon is his ability to manipulate others through his skillful use of language. Claudius’s speech is compared to poison being poured in the ear—the method he used to murder Hamlet’s father. Claudius’s love for Gertrude may be sincere, but it also seems likely that he married her as a strategic move, to help him win the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the king. As the play progresses, Claudius’s mounting fear of Hamlet’s insanity leads him to ever greater self-preoccupation; when Gertrude tells him that Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius does not remark that Gertrude might have been in danger, but only that he would have been in danger had he been in the room. He tells Laertes the same thing as he attempts to soothe the young man’s anger after his father’s death. Claudius is ultimately too crafty for his own good. In Act V, scene ii, rather than allowing Laertes only two methods of killing Hamlet, the sharpened sword and the poison on the blade, Claudius insists on a third, the poisoned goblet. When Gertrude inadvertently drinks the poison and dies, Hamlet is at last able to bring himself to kill Claudius, and the king is felled by his own cowardly machination.
Gertrude
Few Shakespearean characters have caused as much uncertainty as Gertrude, the beautiful Queen of Denmark. The play seems to raise more questions about Gertrude than it answers, including: Was she involved with Claudius before the death of her husband? Did she love her husband? Did she know about Claudius’s plan to commit the murder? Did she love Claudius, or did she marry him simply to keep her high station in Denmark? Does she believe Hamlet when he insists that he is not mad, or does she pretend to believe him simply to protect herself? Does she intentionally betray Hamlet to Claudius, or does she believe that she is protecting her son’s secret?
These questions can be answered in numerous ways, depending upon one’s reading of the play. The Gertrude who does emerge clearly in Hamlet is a woman defined by her desire for station and affection, as well as by her tendency to use men to fulfill her instinct for self-preservation—which, of course, makes her extremely dependent upon the men in her life. Hamlet’s most famous comment about Gertrude is his furious condemnation of women in general: “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (I.ii.146). This comment is as much indicative of Hamlet’s agonized state of mind as of anything else, but to a great extent Gertrude does seem morally frail. She never exhibits the ability to think critically about her situation, but seems merely to move instinctively toward seemingly safe choices, as when she immediately runs to Claudius after her confrontation with Hamlet. She is at her best in social situations (I.ii and V.ii), when her natural grace and charm seem to indicate a rich, rounded personality. At times it seems that her grace and charm are her only characteristics, and her reliance on men appears to be her sole way of capitalizing on her abilities.

randomfella

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Characters
Hamlet Characters guide studies each character's role and motivation in this play.Hamlet: Son of the late King Hamlet of Denmark and nephew to the present King. Famous for the graveyard scene where holding the skull of deceased jester Yorick, Hamlet realizes man has little lasting control over his fate and also for describing man as the "paragon of animals!" Educated in Wittenburg and introduced to us in Act I, Scene II, Hamlet resents his mother Queen Gertrude marrying King Claudius within two months of his father King Hamlet's death to which she was previously married. Distrustful of King Claudius, Hamlet is equally weary of the King's spies, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz who attempt to know his true intentions. When Hamlet meets King Hamlet's Ghost and learns that King Claudius murdered his father, Hamlet changes from a distrustful, disillusioned young man to one driven to avenge his father's death. To this end, Hamlet distrusts and rejects all those around him whom he believes are spying on him for King Claudius.Fearing that his intentions could be revealed, Hamlet invents a madness to distract and hide his true intentions from King Claudius' many spies. This includes Ophelia, the women he loves whom he bitterly rejects when he learns she has betrayed him. Cunning and inventive, Hamlet changes the lines of a play performed before King Claudius to divine whether King Hamlet's Ghost told him the truth about his father's death. At the end of the play, Hamlet kills both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (indirectly), Laertes and finally King Claudius before dying himself from a wound inflicted by Laertes.Horatio: Friend to Hamlet and the one person Hamlet truly trusts. Witnesses King Hamlet's Ghost in Act I. At the end of the play, Horatio wishes to commit suicide to join Hamlet in death but Hamlet convinces him to live so he can tell his story, restoring Hamlet's name.Claudius: The present King of Denmark, King Claudius took Queen Gertrude whom he loves as his queen and wife, much to the consternation of Hamlet who believes his mother has betrayed him and his father's memory by doing so. Cautious and suspicious, Claudius has courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Hamlet's love interest Ophelia spying on Hamlet for him since as he says, the great ones must be watched. Distrustful of Hamlet and his "madness", King Claudius has Hamlet deported to England to be killed when he fears he has become a threat.Instead, Hamlet returns to Denmark, and King Claudius manipulates Laertes into killing Hamlet for him. Unfortunately, King Claudius' plan to poison Hamlet backfires, killing his beloved Queen Gertrude instead. In Act III, Scene III, King Claudius reveals his inner guilt and the knowledge that he cannot avoid God's judgment of him... Dies at the end of the play to the poison tipped sword of Hamlet.Gertrude: Queen of Denmark and mother to Hamlet, Queen Gertrude is resented deeply by Hamlet for marrying King Claudius within two months of his father, King Hamlet's death. Hamlet makes this bitterly clear throughout the play especially in his first soliloquy in Act I, Scene II. Queen Gertrude loves her son but when she sees a play mocking her actions, she famously says of the female character who vows never to forget her husband, "The lady doth [does] protest too much, methinks [I think]", (Act III, Scene II, Line 242) in an attempt to justify her own actions in remarrying so quickly. Clearly loving of Hamlet, she realizes her wrong when Hamlet scolds her mercilessly in Act III, Scene V. She agrees to no longer share King Claudius' bed, and aids her son by hiding Hamlet's true mental state from King Claudius. Dies in Act V, Scene II, to a poisoned cup of wine meant for Hamlet.Polonius: Lord Chamberlain. The father of Laertes and Ophelia, Lord Chamberlain Polonius dutifully serves King Claudius. When news of Hamlet's madness circulate, Polonius is certain that his daughter Ophelia is responsible, having made Hamlet lovesick. Worried that Hamlet's intentions for his daughter are dishonorable, Polonius orders Ophelia to keep her distance. Later when King Claudius needs information, Polonius uses his daughter to spy on Hamlet. He even has Reynaldo, a servant spy on his own son Laertes in Paris. An enthusiastic spy for King Claudius, Polonius is killed by Hamlet when he attempts to listen in on a conversation between Hamlet and Queen Gertrude in Act III, Scene IV. His death leads to Ophelia's madness and later drowning brought on by grief and also to Laertes' alliance with King Claudius to kill Hamlet, to avenge Polonius, his father's death.Reynaldo: Servant to Polonius, Reynaldo is instructed to spy on his Laertes in Paris in Act II, Scene I.Laertes: Polonius' son, Laertes is held in high esteem for his fencing skills. Famous for the advise, "to thine own self be true," (be true to yourself) and the advise to "Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;" in Act I, Scene III. Laertes' role in this play is minor until the death of his father Polonius. From this point on, Laertes emerges as rather more assertive, confronting King Claudius personally to know his father's whereabouts, arguing with a Priest for being disrespectful to his sister, fighting Hamlet above his sister's grave and ultimately conspiring to and killing Hamlet with the help of King Claudius. We see little of Laertes' inner character however since he responds to events continuously. Loving of his sister Ophelia, he must watch his sister's cruel decay into madness helplessly following his father's death. Dies in Act V, Scene II, the victim of a wound inflicted upon him by Hamlet with his own poison tipped sword.Ophelia: The daughter to Polonius, Ophelia is loved by Hamlet. Unfortunately as Queen Gertrude laments at Ophelia's funeral, Ophelia never marries Hamlet. Dutiful to her father, she ignores Hamlet's romantic overtures when instructed to ignore them by her father Polonius. Receives advice on how to live from brother Laertes in Act I, Scene III. Though loved by Hamlet, Ophelia ultimately betrays him by spying on him for King Claudius. As a result Hamlet mercilessly insults her virtue during the play "The Murder of Gonzago" in Act III, Scene II. A dutiful daughter, Ophelia descends into madness from the grief of losing her father Polonius and later drowns in circumstances that suggest a possible suicide. Her funeral is the location of a fight between Hamlet and Laertes that centers on which loved her more; Hamlet believes he did, resenting Laertes exaggerated emphasis of his sorrow...Fortinbras: Prince of Norway. The son of King Fortinbras, who was defeated by King Hamlet, Young Fortinbras has raised an army to reclaim the lands lost by his father to King Hamlet and Denmark. Convinced into attacking the Polish instead, Young Fortinbras displays all the noble, honor driven qualities, Hamlet wishes he had. At the end of the play, Young Fortinbras is recommended by Hamlet to be the next King of Denmark. Parallels Hamlet's character in that like Hamlet his father was a ruler (King of Norway) and that both are now nephews to the current rulers of their lands..Rosencrantz, Guildenstern: Courtiers to King Claudius, both these men grew up with Hamlet. As a result King Claudius recruits them to spy on Hamlet for him. Neither man has a problem trading in their friendship to betray Hamlet; they serve the King. Both die when the instructions they bear from King Claudius are altered by Hamlet to instruct King Claudius' English associates to kill those bearing his commission immediately (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern).Voltimand, Cornelius, Osric and a Gentleman: Courtiers.A Priest: Introduces at Ophelia's funeral, the Priest insults Laertes by expressing his personal opinion that Ophelia does not deserve a proper Christian burial for ending her life by suicide, which was considered a sin unworthy of proper burial.Marcellus and Bernardo: Officers who initially spot King Hamlet's Ghost in Act I, Scene I.Francisco: A soldier. Famous for the lines "'tis [it is] bitter cold, / And I am sick at heart" which sets the tone of this tragedy. A Captain, English Ambassadors, Players, Two Clowns (Gravediggers), Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and Attendants.

randomfella

Throughout the play we can trace a progression of corruption, that leads to death, through 'disease' in the characters of Polonius, Claudius and Hamlet.

Polonius is perhaps the most obviously corrupt character in Hamlet. His corruption has occurred long before the play begins; the progression is in the extent to which it is revealed to us. From this courteous, almost comically long-winded member of the court, emerges a personality that is first dominating (as he instructs Laertes: 'These few precepts in thy memory/ Look thou character.' [Act I, Sc. iii, 63]), clearly abusive towards Ophelia:
Affection? Pooh!
You speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance,
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
. . .
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
have you so slander and moment leisure
As to give works or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you. Come your ways. [Act I, Sc. iii 106 - 140]
then meddling and subversive, as he sets spies on his own son, and finally irredeemably and ultimately fatally corrupt and subversive, as he schemes and plots around Hamlet. His death - physical corruption - is a precursor, signifying to the audience the ultimate fate of all those characters exhibiting signs of corruption.

Polonius may be the most obviously corrupt character, but the centre of evil of the play's plot and of the kingdom is Claudius. When Marcellus states, 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.' [Act I, Sc. iv, 90], it could be interpreted that he is speaking of a threat of war, but when looked at as symbolic, nothing could better sum up Claudius' corrupting effect on the kingdom which is brought on by his unpunished crime. His evil deeds carry him to the throne and pollute the people around him causing chaos, sorrow and death. The image of rotting along with the released odour permeating far and wide symbolizes the infectious quality of sin. The suggested transformation of a beautiful human into a disgusting, purposeless mass symbolizes the effect of sin on the human soul.

Hamlet himself strives to separate his noble qualities, which we have seen throughout the play, from the circumstance and treachery against which he has struggled, and in which he has been entangled. As a prince Hamlet cannot not rule, but he too has become corrupted, not in mind, but by history, by becoming the focus of the ancient revenger's dilemma. Any action he takes will be morally dubious. Not taking revenge will reduce him and make him unfit for rule by his own standards, and taking revenge will do the same.

Though Hamlet retains our sympathy at the end of the play, he has murdered five people and caused the suicide of one. But Hamlet can still decide Denmark's future, by effectively appointing a successor. Thus, the corruption dies with him; all the inevitable justice is carried out; and Hamlet's legacy remains. From a morally dubious situation, Hamlet is able to wrest an honourable death, and the chance of stability for the future of his country.

From the fates of Polonius, Claudius and Hamlet we see that corruption originating from 'disease' leads to death. Hamlet and Polonius' emotions clouded their judgement and led them to their death. Furthermore we see that those who killed others in the play were motivated by the stagnant disease that infected their minds and bodies. Hamlet, for example, was overcome by the disease and unintentionally killed Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius. Killing another character was clearly not the correct path to solving problems; there was no clear judgement behind rash behaviour that included secrecy, lies, deceit, and murder. Corruption such as this could only lead to death.

As an aside, we can note that Fortinbras was an intelligent young man who made his mark through the play quietly and honourably because he was a character whose mind was never infected with the 'disease'. A stagnant disease, with no cure, that inevitably leads to death: corruption
In the play ‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare, the integrity of some characters are all challenged with honesty and deceit. The King of Denmark is deteriorating and rotting the state and its people. Many images of corruption, spying, and decay compound as the play moves on, because Claudius is trying to find out what his nephew, Hamlet, is planning. A description of some of the points of defilement in detail and what they mean follows. As the scene opens, there is a party, and a party-pooper. The party is somewhat of a classy type, where all the people are dressed in fancy dresses and nice suits and one person in black. That person is Hamlet. Claudius, the late kings’ brother, is marrying his widow, Gertrude, less than 2 months of his brother’s death. This is a sign of corruption. Claudius tries to make it seem like nothing big has happened. He describes that he is sad, everyone should be sad, but it is best to think of the dead king with “wisest sorrow”. That is, life goes on and doesn’t stop for a single person’s death. Claudius also adds “With mirth (gladness) in funeral and dirge (grief) in marriage”. This is one of many paradoxes in this paradoxical play, but the king doesn’t mean it as a paradox.

randomfella

The second sign of decay is that Hamlet wants to avenge is fathers death, and bring justice to the murderer. Marcallus, Horatio, and Barnardo notify Hamlet of a ghost that appears before them, one who looks like King Hamlet. Horatio adds that the appearance of the Ghost reminds him of what he has read in portents in Rome, just before the assassination of Julius Caesar, when “The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead / Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.” Hamlet listens to his loyal friends, and decides to see what this is about. The ghost speaks to Hamlet, and tells him he is “thy father’s spirit,” and must soon return to the prison of purgatory and its flames. Ghost: “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder… “Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural… “A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused: but you know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.” Hamlet: “O my prophetic soul! My uncle!” Yes indeed Claudius killed Hamlets father. This is a great sign of corruption. Hamlet must have revenge on Claudius and avenge is fathers ‘most unnatural murder’. Claudius becomes suspicious of Hamlet and sends for Rosentcrantz and Guildenstern. He immediately greets them and gets down to business right away. He wants to find out why Hamlet is acting weird, and needs to be assured that it is only because of his fathers passing away. Claudius: “Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern! Moreover that we much did long to see you, The need we have to use you did provoke Our hasty sending. Something have you heard Of Hamlet's transformation; so call it, Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man Resembles that it was. What it should be, More than his father's death, that thus hath put him So much from the understanding of himself, I cannot dream of: I entreat you both, That, being of so young days brought up with him, And sith so neighbour'd to his youth and havior, That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court Some little time: so by your companies To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather, So much as from occasion you may glean, Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus, That, open'd, lies within our remedy.” Claudius asks the two men to hang out with Hamlet and see what is wrong with him. He says, “I cannot dream of” what might be wrong. We suspect is that what the King really wants to know is what Hamlet knows or suspects, or what he may do. He has the whole state in his hand. The king not only uses some of Hamlets best friends as bait, but also uses his last love. The King, Gertrude, and Polonius influence Ophelia to help them find out what is wrong with Hamlet. They hope her “virtues” (sweet, kind, loving) will help figure out what Hamlet knows and planning. From out of the blue when Hamlet and Ophelia are talking, he asks the same question as he did with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, if they were “sent for”. Hamlet notices Polonius behind the curtain and explodes in rage. “I say, we will have no more marriages: those who are married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are.” Now the King knows of Hamlets odd behavior. The corruption has not stopped yet. Polonius suggests that: Polonius: Let his queen mother all alone entreat him To show his grief: let her be round with him; And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear Of all their conference. If she find him not, To England send him, or confine him where Your wisdom best shall think. Now they are dragging Hamlets mother into this. She probably has been in it from the start, the murder of King Hamlet, because why would she marry again so quickly after his death? Polonius gives the queen directions to talk to Hamlet and chew him out, and even threaten him. Polonius says, “He will come straight. Look you lay home to him: Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with”. She starts off offending Hamlet: Queen: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended. Queen: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. Hamlet cannot trust anyone, except the Ghost and Horatio. Hamlet knows that everyone is spying on him, and he must end what is rotting in the state of Denmark. If I were Hamlet I would trust no one, avenge my fathers’ death, and bring peace to Denmark. The integrity of some characters is all challenged with honesty and deceit. Claudius starts the deteriorating of Denmark, and it slowly seeps down the chain.

Sarah**

my god does your brain ever stop!?! :eek:

Waltons

exiztone wrote:

That's a well written piece, Randomfella. But just one thing, I don't think Hamlet Sr and Fortinbras Sr fought over that small patch of land in Poland. I thought Fortinbras was only claiming that because he was intercepted by his uncle (because of Volitmand and Cornelius) in his plan to attack Denmark directly.

Taking the army against Poland was Norway's idea to sate Fortinbras. He didn't want Fortinbras to take his army against Denmark so he gave him money for the soldiers to attack Poland. I doubt this has anything to do with Old Hamlet and Old Fortinbras's fight as Claudius allows the army passage through Denmark in order to attack Poland. (Besides, Old Hamlet beat Old Fortinbras and the new land was under Danish control, not Polish)

Edit: Randomfella, just finished reading the Hamlet stuff. Nice work! Loads of good points in there!
I just have a few minor qualms with parts of the register you use. I don't think it's appropriate to be saying that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to "hang out" with Hamlet, etc.
You have a question in the last paragraph - She probably has been in it from the start, the murder of King Hamlet, because why would she marry again so quickly after his death? - but it's probably better to state your own belief here rather than pose the examiner a question. You're the one being examined, not them. Anyhow, it is not everyone's belief that Gertrude was part of Old Hamlet's mother. I, for one, believe that she may have been seeing Claudius before Old Hamlet's death but, under pressure, she does not reveal that she knew about the muder.

[Act 3, Scene 4. Lines 29 - 31]

Hamlet: A bloody deed, almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother.
Gertrude: As kill a king?

Lines 39 - 41

Gertrude: What have I done, that thou dar'st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me?

etc

If you believe she was involved, that's ok as long as you can back it up with evidence. Present the evidence and you'll get the marks but it's probably better to present it in a statement rather than a rhetorical question.

Anyway, just small points. Great stuff all in all though. I'll have another read later.

Call Me Jimmy

hey guys, I have to admit, I have never really done much work on hamlet at all simply because ... well I'm lazy AND cause I just don't know how to go about studying it, it's so daunting! What did/do you guys do to study it when you studied it on your own at home? Like is it a case of opening up the book and going through each scene, extracting major quotage and just knowing the basic story? Any help would be really appreciated

JackKelly

Nah, go through possilble questions, writing a page of notes on each, with quotes you can use, points you can raise etc.

So have a page of notes on "Laertes as a foil to Hamlet" or "The role of women in the play" etc. Thats what i do anyway.

baby*cham*bell

you could sit down and think of what in the play stood out to u most(or just anything you remember!) that way you'll know how much you know, then start lookin at the
questions
Timays way looks like a good idea (swipes idea and runs off)

randomfella

Does Hamlet Hesitate?

The nonsense about Hamlet being "unable to make up his mind" begins with his own speeches after hearing the Player King's speech on Hecuba (he berates himself for hesitating), and especially after talking to Fortinbras's soldier ("thinking too precisely on the event" -- i.e., people who obsess a lot are the ones who do the least). Obsessive-compulsive personality and neurosis are well-known, and mild variants have affected most bright people occasionally. Bradley points out that Hamlet seems depressed ("melancholy") and that this will slow a person down; early 20th century writers influenced by psychoanalysis talked about a mother-fixation causing the depression.
But the truth is that Hamlet has no opportunity to kill the king and then justify his action, until the final disaster, when Laertes reveals "The king's to blame". In the case, "providence" provides the opportunity. Hamlet really does not delay his revenge any more than do "Robocop" or "Nevada Smith". Heroes of earlier revenge plays soliloquize about having to delay, and criticize themselves for it. But revenge plays require that the revenge take time and planning -- or there would be no play.
Sam Coleridge (an obsessive who blamed the failure of his grandiose projects on his opium habit) talked about Hamlet thinking too hard. Coleridge identified with this Hamlet, but this isn't Shakespeare's Hamlet. Schlegel called Hamlet "thought-sick". Goethe found Hamlet "lovely", "sensitive" and "without strength of nerve".
Now, when Hamlet expresses regrets that he's not completed his revenge, he compares himself unfavorably to the Player King (who has just recited a ridiculous, bombastic speech) and to Fortinbras (who is getting thousands of people killed for no good reason at all -- I first became interested in Shakespeare during the Vietnam war). It is no coincidence that both the Player King and Fortinbras are pursuing stupid, vain goals.
What is Shakespeare trying to tell us?
Hamlet's "revenge" isn't so much simply the killing of the king, as it is the purging of all the rottenness in the the Danish court. And although it costs him his life, he succeeds.
At some time, we all consider how much wrong there is in the world. "Hamlet" gives us a chance to watch an ordinary person consciously choose to say "No!" to the world's wrong, and to strike back with intelligence and power. From the bare-bones of an old revenge story, Shakespeare has held up the mirror to something in us which is precious.
I hear Hamlet saying, "So many people put so much effort into doing things that are not worthwhile. It's a bad world, and I am far from a perfect human being. And we all end up dead in the end. But I am going to do something worthwhile, and do it right."
Think about it.
More on whether Hamlet has a "tragic flaw." I believe that the whole "there has to be a tragic flaw" business was dreamed up by Aristotle, who got paid to tell young people that if they were really good, then bad things couldn't happen to them, and that people went to sad shows just to have a good cry ("purge the emotions of pity and fear"). If it is helpful, point out the obvious. Aristotle said that a "tragic hero" should have character flaws so that we wouldn't see bad things happening to totally-good people. Maybe the heroes of Shakespeare's tragedies are not all-virtuous because Shakespeare wants to show us life as it really is.

randomfella

Fortune, Fate, and Providence

Horatio cries out to the Ghost, "If thou art privy to thy country's fate, / Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, / O, speak!" (1.1.133-135). This suggests that fate isn't inevitable. A little earlier, however, Horatio seems almost certain that the appearance of the Ghost is a terrible portent, similar to that time in Rome, just before "the mightiest Julius fell," when "The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead / Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets" (1.1.115-116). In any case, Horatio conceives of "fate" as a disaster that threatens a whole country. [Scene Summary]

In the course of commenting about how just one fault can ruin a man's reputation, Hamlet says that the fault can be "nature's livery, or fortune's star" (1.4.32). In other words, the man can either be born with the fault or pick it up later. Hamlet's thinking seems to be that the fault is something that happens to the man, rather than something that he deliberately chooses.
A little later in the same scene, when his friends are trying to keep him from following the Ghost, because the Ghost may be an evil spirit, Hamlet exclaims, "My fate cries out, / And makes each petty artery in this body / As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve" (1.4.81-83). He is saying that it is his fate to follow the Ghost, and that gives him great courage. [Scene Summary]

Hamlet asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern how they are doing, and Guildenstern answers, "Happy, in that we are not over-happy, on fortune's cap we are not the very button" (2.2.228-229). Of course, the button is at the top of the cap. Hamlet then guesses that they not the soles on Fortune's shoes, either, and this leads to Guildenstern's joke that he and Rosencrantz live in Fortune's "privates." Hamlet responds, "O, most true; she is a strumpet" (2.2.235-236). None of this banter is very funny or very original. It was a common idea of the time that Fortune is a whore; she's always likely to screw you over. [Scene Summary]
Later in the same scene, the idea that Fortune is a whore comes up again, but not as a joke. First Player is reciting a piece that Hamlet has requested, about the death of "old grandsire Priam" at the hands of "hellish Pyrrhus." After First Player has described the merciless killing, he comments:
Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,
In general synod take away her power;
Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
As low as to the fiends! (2.2.493-497)
He's asking the gods to break up Fortune's wheel and roll its hub ("nave") down to hell. In pictures of Fortune and her wheel, the wheel is upright, and Lady Fortune stands beside it, keeping it spinning. People, often with asses' ears, are trying to jump on to the wheel, so that they will rise up, but those on the top of the wheel are about to be thrown off the other side. The idea is that our destinies are merely random, and we are fools to thinks otherwise. The First Player's speech asks the gods to change all that, so that the world will be ruled by justice, not chance

randomfella

Frailty

"Frailty, thy name is woman!" (1.2.146). Hamlet says this in the middle of his first soliloquy, as he is expressing his disgust at the speed with which his mother went from his father's grave to his uncle's bed. [Scene Summary]

"A violet in the youth of primy nature" (1.3.7). This, says Laertes, is how Ophelia should think of Hamlet's feelings for her. Laertes is willing to concede that Hamlet may be sincere, but his "favor" is like the violet--quick to bloom, quick to die. [Scene Summary]

"Pyrrhus stood, / And like a neutral to his will and matter, / Did nothing" (2.2.480-482). So the First Player describes a momentary pause in a killer's killing. Later in the scene Hamlet will bittery accuse himself of doing nothing.

randomfella

Hamlet" is the first work of literature to look squarely at the stupidity, falsity and sham of everyday life, without laughing and without easy answers. In a world where things are not as they seem, Hamlet's genuineness, thoughtfulness, and sincerity make him special.
Hamlet is no saint. But unlike most of the other characters (and most people today), Hamlet chooses not to compromise with evil.
Dying, Hamlet reaffirms the tragic dignity of a basically decent person in a bad world.
"Hamlet" is the first work of literature to show an ordinary person looking at the futility and wrongs in life, asking the toughest questions and coming up with honest semi-answers like most people do today. Unlike so much of popular culture today, "Hamlet" leaves us with the message that life is indeed worth living, even by imperfect people in an imperfect world.
Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is full of talk about death, dead bodies, murder, suicide, disease, graves, and so forth. And there is no traditional Christian comfort or promise of eventual justice or happiness for the good people. But the message is ultimately one of hope. You can be a hero.
Aristotle wrote that in a tragedy, the protagonist by definition learns something. Whatever you may think of Aristotle's reductionist ideas about serious drama, Shakespeare's heroes all develop philosophically. (You may not agree with everything they decide.)
As you read the play, watch how Hamlet -- who starts by wishing he was dead -- comes to terms with life, keeps his integrity, and strikes back successfully at what's wrong around him.
So far as I know, it's the first time this theme -- now so common -- appeared in world literature.

randomfella

Hamlet is without question the most famous play in the English language. Probably written in 1601 or 1602, the tragedy is a milestone in Shakespeare's dramatic development; the playwright achieved artistic maturity in this work through his brilliant depiction of the hero's struggle with two opposing forces: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father's murder.

Shakespeare's focus on this conflict was a revolutionary departure from contemporary revenge tragedies which tended to graphically dramatize violent acts on stage, in that it emphasized the hero's dilemma rather than the depiction of bloody deeds. The dramatist's genius is also evident in his transformation of the play's literary sources—especially the contemporaneous Ur-Hamlet—into an exceptional tragedy. The Ur-Hamlet, or "original Hamlet," is a lost play that scholars believe was written mere decades before Shakespeare's Hamlet, providing much of the dramatic context for the later tragedy. Numerous sixteenth-century records attest to the existence of the Ur-Hamlet with some references linking its composition to Thomas Kyd, the author of The Spanish Tragedy. Other principal sources available to Shakespeare were Saxo Grammaticus's Historiae Danicae (circa 1200), which features a popular legend with a plot similar to Hamlet, and François de Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques, Extraicts des Oeuvres Italiennes de Bandel (7 Vols.; 1559-80), which provides an expanded account of the story recorded in the Historiae Danicae. From these sources Shakespeare created Hamlet, a supremely rich and complex literary work that continues to delight both readers and audiences with its myriad meanings and interpretations.

In the words of Ernest Johnson, "the dilemma of Hamlet the Prince and Man" is "to disentangle himself from the temptation to wreak justice for the wrong reasons and in evil passion, and to do what he must do at last for the pure sake of justice.… From that dilemma of wrong feelings and right actions he ultimately emerges, solving the problem by attaining a proper state of mind." Hamlet endures as the object of universal identification because his central moral dilemma transcends the Elizabethan period, making him a man for all ages. In his difficult struggle to somehow act within a corrupt world and yet maintain his moral integrity, Hamlet ultimately reflects the fate of all human beings.

randomfella

Hamlet Quotations to Learn

Act 1

Scene 1
“Who’s there?”

“This bodes some strange eruption to our state”

Scene 2
“nor have we herein barr’d
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along.”

“A little more than kin, and less than kind”

“Seems, madam? Nay, it is; I know not ‘seems’”

“O! That this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on ‘t! O fie! ‘tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely”

“Frailty, thy name is woman!”

“Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral bak’d meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.”

“I shall not look upon his like again.”

Scene 3
“the apparel oft proclaims the man”

Scene 4
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

Scene 5
“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.”

“Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.”

“one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

“The time is out of joint; O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!”


Act 2

Scene 1
“By indirections find directions out”

Scene 2
“I doubt it is no other but the main;
His father’s death, and our o’erhasty marriage.”

“I’ll loose my daughter to him”

“for there is nothing
either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”

“What a
piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how
infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express
and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension,
how like a god! the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is
this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me;
no, nor woman neither, though, by your smiling you
seem to say so.”

“I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is
southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.”

“O! what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”

“A dull and muddy-mettled rascal”

“I am pigeon-liver’d”

“The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”



Act 3

Scene 1
“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises with great pith and moment
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”

“O! what a noble mind is here o’erthrown:
The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down!”

Scene 2
“now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on.”


Scene 3
“O! my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;”

“Pray can I not”

“May one be pardon’d and retain the offence?”

“Now might I do it pat, now he is praying”

“Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge”

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thought never to heaven go”

Scene 4
“wretched, rash, intruding fool”

“Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty, -“

Act 4

Scene 4
“How all occasions do inform against me;
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.”

“I do not know
Why I yet live to say ‘This thing’s to do;’”

“Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour’s at the stake”

Scene 5
“O Gertrude, Gertrude!
When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions”

Scene 7
“To cut his throat I’ the church”


Act 5

Scene 1
“Now get you to
my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let her paint an
inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her
laugh at that.”

“This is I,
Hamlet the Dane”

Scene 2
“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will”

“Why, man, they did make love to this employment;
They are not near my conscience”

“If your mind dislike anything, obey it”

“we defy augury; there’s a special providence
in the fall of a sparrow. 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”

“incestuous, murderous, damned Dane”

“If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story”

“The rest is silence”

“Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy res

baby*cham*bell

could Hamlets procrastination be due to the fact that he has a deep sense of conscience? we see he is capable of flying of the handle in the Nunnery scene, showing what i refer to as "evil Hamlet", or the bad side of his character. But there also is good Hamlet, the phillosopher, the prince "loved by the distracted multitude", ect, ect...........
so is his hesitancy in murdering Claudius, in the Prayer scene especially, caused by his good and bad side coming into conflict??

Sarah**

your hurting my brain with all ur knowledge or your cut copy paste jobs!!! seriously!

randomfella

obviously they are not ALL my own work. Most are typed up previous in Word. :cool:

Johnerr

Thanks *Angel* for that essay on Fortinbras and others who responded, I understand now where to place him and his importance,

Waltons

baby*cham*bell wrote:

could Hamlets procrastination be due to the fact that he has a deep sense of conscience? we see he is capable of flying of the handle in the Nunnery scene, showing what i refer to as "evil Hamlet", or the bad side of his character. But there also is good Hamlet, the phillosopher, the prince "loved by the distracted multitude", ect, ect...........
so is his hesitancy in murdering Claudius, in the Prayer scene especially, caused by his good and bad side coming into conflict??

I don't think his hesitance in killing Claudius in the Prayer scene is due to anything other than his desire (perhaps even need) for complete vengeance. There is a good Hamlet in the play but we don't often see him because he has a task; a task that involves killing somebody.
There was a good point on a site I was reading, that randomfella posted, which said that Hamlet gave in to hatred. I'd be inclined to go with this view.
As I've said though, it's perfectly ok to argue good/bad side conflicts as long as you back it up with evidence!

the smiley one

Def agree with that, Hamlet only struggles with his conscience with matters of why he can't kill Claudius - -ie. why is he such a wimp, why does he over -analyse everything until the meaning is gone
We can see a great love for his father throughout the play "I shall not look upon his like again" "hyperion to a satyr" and that he was does want to exact his revenge "that I with wings...." "I could drink hot blood" and how he addresses Claudius "mildewed ear" "trecherous lechterous villain" "bloody bawdy villain" etc.
So, he is very unsympathetic towards Claudius because of the crimes he has committed (regicide, fratracide, side-stepping "primo-genitur" etc.)
It is literally the thought od Claudius going to heaven after he is killed by Hamlet that disgusts him. This is in stark contrast to his own father's death - "no reckoning made".

Hamlet seems ultimately quite selfish - everything always comes back to him...however, obviously there are many more dimensions to his character... etc etc..

oops, that was a bit of a rant.....

randomfella

really don't think an essay on fortinbras is likely. Maybe they could combine him with somebody. He really doesn't warrant more than 1 or 2 paragraph.

Waltons

the smiley one wrote:

Def agree with that, Hamlet only struggles with his conscience with matters of why he can't kill Claudius - -ie. why is he such a wimp, why does he over -analyse everything until the meaning is gone
We can see a great love for his father throughout the play "I shall not look upon his like again" "hyperion to a satyr" and that he was does want to exact his revenge "that I with wings...." "I could drink hot blood" and how he addresses Claudius "mildewed ear" "trecherous lechterous villain" "bloody bawdy villain" etc.
So, he is very unsympathetic towards Claudius because of the crimes he has committed (regicide, fratracide, side-stepping "primo-genitur" etc.)
It is literally the thought od Claudius going to heaven after he is killed by Hamlet that disgusts him. This is in stark contrast to his own father's death - "no reckoning made".

Hamlet seems ultimately quite selfish - everything always comes back to him...however, obviously there are many more dimensions to his character... etc etc..

oops, that was a bit of a rant.....

There's something to be said about Hamlet's view of religion in there as well. If Hamlet believes that he can't kill Claudius in the church while praying because he'll go to heaven, that says a lot about not only how much he wants revenge but that he doesn't trust in God/Religion enough to punish Claudius justly for his sins.