"Shakespeare represents Hamlet's melancholy as genuine rather than stereotypical."5 Shakespeare did not attempt to have Hamlet conform to any criteria of the time, and with his non-conformity Hamlet appears as a true character and not someone who has been forced to be a certain way in order to generate a fixed response from the audience. Even though it is presumed to be unintentional, "Shakespeare's portrayal of Hamlet closely follows contemporary ideas of the passion of melancholy. ... Hamlet responds with Seems, madam? ... Drawing on Biblical allusions, Hamlet redefines the posit...

• Word Count: 4821
• Approx Pages: 19
• Grade Level: High School

39 Time to turn back and descend the stair, 40 With a bald spot in the middle of my hair -- 41 (They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!") ... S. ... dying fall: love-sick Duke Orsino's opening line in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, "That strain again! ... Prince Hamlet: not Shakespeare's noble prince, who resisted the temptation to commit suicide in his "To be or not to be" speech (alluded to at line's end), but instead characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (cf. 112-16), Polonius (cf. 117), and Osric (cf. 118). ... the Fool: Shakespeare's plays...

• Word Count: 6460
• Approx Pages: 26
• Grade Level: High School