... of Satan. The reason for Hamlet's prevarication and ultimate confusion is that Hamlet is unsure whether his father's apparition, "may be the devil" [II.ii.597] and that, "the devil hath power / T"assume a pleasing shape". [II.ii.597-598] By this, Shakespeare creates dramatic tension through pretence of madness, as it can also be interpreted as playing with the devil, despite Hamlet's admission that the ... devil, "Abuses me to damn me". [II.ii.601] Madness is an integral part of the play, creating dramatic tension, as the audience no longer knows how the play will unfold. Arguably Shake...

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... old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum and they have a plentiful lack of wit" (Shakespeare 1634). This is a way we can see that Hamlet was pretending to be mad. He used this as a way of insulting Polonius since what he said ... wit to cause trouble. Another example is when Polonius asks if Hamlet knows who he is and hamlet replies, "Excellent well; you are a fishmonger"" (Shakespeare 1633). This is another way of insulting Polonius. If he did not know who Polonius was he could still have been nice. Hamlet probably knows no...

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... and included in the play is a hero who has a tragic flaw, which eventually causes him to make a fatal mistake. Throughout both of these plays, Shakespeare uses the leit motif of poison, death, ambition, and appearances can be deceiving. We are first introduced to poison in Hamlet in the very beginning of ... against the poison and let it pull her into insanity. Ophelia escapes the poison when she takes her own life by drowning herself. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the leit motif of poison in the same manner. Although there is no actual poison being used, the mental poison is being used f...

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... "Bangs and a scraggly beard obscure the handsome outlines of Gibson's forehead and chin" (Denby 766). Gibson's unkeptness isn't what would have been worn in Shakespeare's days. Gibson also appears to be trying to hide in the part of Hamlet. Denby adds, "By fuzzing his looks this way, he escapes, I suppose ... Denby 767). Gibson doesn't want the audience to see and realize that he is a movie star, but his unprofessional voice and appearance give it away. Shakespeare wrote Hamlet not to be recorded as a motion picture, but to be read as a poem to an audience. Gibson, who did little onstage...

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... the allusion is to the death of Julius Caesar. The ghost is also related to allusions in Hamlet. Three other Shakespeare plays have ghosts as characters: Julius Caesar Macbeth and Richard III. In Hamlet, the role of the ghost who appears in the first scene is to trigger the action by ... ; "But, look, the morn in russet mantle clad, walks o"er the dew of yon high eastward hill." Shakespeare doesn't just say, "Sun's coming up!" Instead we are given a description of the sun and it's movement. This two-part description allows the audience to visualize the image more accurately. It provides...

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... each fails because his plans are marred by very human shortcomings. It is these shortcomings that Hamlet is a symbol of ordinary humanity and give him the room he needs to grow. The Hamlet that Shakespeare begins to develop in Act I is a typical mortal, bowed down by his human infirmities and by ... unweeded garden, / That grows to seed' in order to fulfill the obligation he has to his father (I.ii. 135-6). Making Hamlet more a story of personal growth than a dark murder mystery, Shakespeare emphasizes the emotional, rather than the physical, obstacles that Prince must face in accomplish...

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... which Claudius kills King Hamlet spreads in a sense throughout the country, until "something is rotten in Denmark", as Marcellus notes (I.4.90). Shakespeare shades in words of sickness continually during the play, perhaps serving best to illustrate the ill condition of affairs plaguing not only Denmark, but the ... characters as well. Shakespeare immediately conveys the sense of cold and apathy in the opening scene. As the play opens in the cool, black night, Barnardo ... that God had not "fixed his canon against self-slaughter." He further notes of the world as being "stale and flat", ...

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... . Hamlet: "She married. Oh most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets. It is not, nor it cannot come to good." (I, II, 156 - 157) Hamlet expresses his disgust at Gertrude's sexuality. He pleads with his mother to abstain from her "sinful" relationship with Claudius and to assume ... , 31 - 32) Polonius: "Tender yourself more dearly or you"ll tender me a fool." Ophelia: ""Tis brief my lord." Hamlet: "As woman's love." (III, II, 135 - 136) Ophelia blames herself for Hamlet's apparent madness, which caused him to murder her father. Ophelia: "Oh what a noble mind is ...

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... to deceiving the deceivers. This is seen as Polonius, although believes Hamlet mad, comments that his replies are often "pregnant" with meaning (II.ii.206). After this first situation Hamlet, with analyzation and vile thought he corrupted the purity in which he was performing his called act. He ... sign of conviction when he witnesses the deed on stage. "The play's the thing," he declares, "wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king" (II.ii.581-582). Yet even with this Hamlet begins to recognize his flaw and admires Horatio's qualities affirming, ""Give me that man / That is not pass...

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... excellent a king, that was to this/ Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother/ That he might not beteem the winds of heaven." (Shakespeare I. II. 139-141). In Hamlet's eyes Claudius is a monster and is not equivalent or even remotely close to the prestige of his father. In fact, ... on the relationship his parents shared, a relationship which Hamlet viewed to be loving and enjoyable. "Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him" (Shakespeare I. II. (143). He can not understand why his mother would marry his uncle, especially in such a rash manner. This leads him to ponder true love and...

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... are many confines, wards, and dungeons . . . Denmark's oath" worst . . . I could be bounded in a nutshell and cut myself a kind of infinite space [thought]. (II.II.243-255) A man who is a mere "prince of philosophical speculators," as F.E. Halliday puts it, would not feel at home in an incestuous tomb of politics. Hamlet is so out ... form. Most of Hamlet's thoughts, like that of many scholars, are about that of the world and those things contained within them. "Characteristic of Shakespeare's conception of Hamlet's universalizing mind that he should make Hamlet think first . . . entirely...

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... entrapped in his native land that he says " Denmark's a prisonin which there are many confines, wards, dungeons" (II. ii.264-6). These feelings of loneliness and isolation are common to those people suffering from melancholy and/or depression. "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 ... 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 u...

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... , let us see what critics say about Hamlet's heroism. In Szenczi's view, "the strength, the heroic quality of Hamlet has now been generally recognized." Shakespeare did not want to make a "model of irresolution, a case for psychopathology, or an illustration of the Oedipus complex." Arnold Kettle claims that "It is ... a fragile young man who takes refuge in daydreams and melancholy, then a loveable and weak character that is too sophisticated both morally and emotionally, then a symbol of melancholy and Weltschmerz (1995). According to an unknown author: "A tragic hero doesn't need to b...

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... felt that the "Ghost of his Father" must have been the ACTUAL ghost, and not some evil devil of sorts. The fact exists that Shakespeare's father died close to less than a year before Hamlet was written. Thus, the concept of the Father's Ghost was not only a presence within ... the text of Hamlet, but the underlying emotions felt by Shakespeare, the playwright. Also, Shakespeare's father was an underground practicer/preacher of Catholicism. In the theology of Catholicism, there is a notion that between the stages of death and ... unrest during purgatory, and thus, entered the real world ...

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... play begins. We do know that the death of Hamlet's father and his mother's marrying of Claudius are deeply troubling to this young man. Jamison describes Shakespeare's portrayal of Hamlet as being "weary and melancholic bleeding out of hope, color, beauty and belief" (20). She references Hamlet speaking to Rosencrantz and ... overhanging firmament, this majestically roof fretted with golden fire - why, it appeareth no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. (II.ii.307-317) Yet Hamlet goes far beyond melancholy and the purpose of this paper is to discuss Hamlet...

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... of madness. Later in the scene, when Polonius is confronted by Hamlet, Polonius explains to him, Through this madness, yet there is no method int. (II, II) Polonius has a suspicion that Hamlet is pretending to be mad. Hamlet describes his own thoughts pertaining to madness in a conversation with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He ... sins (especially Hamlet), Hamlet admits his madness to Laertes. Hamlet says, Roughly awake, I here proclaim my madness. (V, II) Hamlet finally admits that he does in fact have some madness. However, Shakespeare never specifies whether it is faked madness or tr...

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... play, quickly puts his father in perspective: HORATIO I saw him once; a was a goodly king. HAMLET A was a man, take him for all in all: I Shall not look upon his like again. [I.ii.186-188] Though the murder of Hamlet's father motivates Hamlet's actions through the play, Hamlet still stands above this passion and no other characters in the play gain this objective ... has revealed to us? Hamlet's power of mind exceeds ours: we haven't the authority to regard him ironically. ( Bloom 144) Without a worthy contrary to challenge Hamlet's intellectual and rhetorical mastery, Shakespeare uses ...

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... unfortified, a mind impatient, and understanding simple and unschooled; fie, its a fault to heaven, a fault against the dead, a fault to nature," (I.ii.92-102). The uncertainty of life in general is personified in Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. Countless questions are not answered in the play about her: Was she ... Was she an accomplice in her husband's murder? Is she a victim or an accomplished manipulator of men? Does she intentionally betray Hamlet? (Shakespeare 'Introduction', 13) Each one of these speculations can lead to numerous controversies. Hamlet's disgust with Gertrude's mo...

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... forces the rest of the poisoned drink down his throat, "Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion: is thy union here? Follow my mother"(V.ii.333-335), Hamlet's sanity snaps and all of his pain, anger, and grief are let loose because Claudius has just killed his mother, his love and his best ... is very much afraid when she sees Hamlet, his "doublet all unbrac"d; No hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ankle"(II.i.87-89). She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he doesn't love her and doesn't want to marry her. Say...

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... forces the rest of the poisoned drink down his throat, "Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion: is thy union here? Follow my mother"(V.ii.333-335), Hamlet's sanity snaps and all of his pain, anger, and grief are let loose because Claudius has just killed his mother, his love and his best ... is very much afraid when she sees Hamlet, his "doublet all unbrac"d; No hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ankle"(II.i.87-89). She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he doesn't love her and doesn't want to marry her. Say...

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... that was to this Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly-. I.II The Ghost voices an idea about Claudius when it says: "that incestuous, that adulterate beast-. Hamlet's metamorphosis from a grieving son to a ruthless man, ... hell-bent on performing his revenge, stems from his encounter with the Ghost. Alex Newell addresses the question of Shakespeare's ambivalent handling of the revenge issue, arguing that "the play's view of revenge is rendered not by explicit reflections on the ethics of revenge by ... audien...

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... ghost, Hamlet begins to act strangely as if the trauma of his father's death has caused him to descend into madness. "I am to much in the Sun." the ghost's appearance may be partly to blame for Hamlet's "madness" even though the ghost warns Hamlet "taint not thy mind". The ghost does however ... does his daughter. Hamlet however obviously cares for Ophelia even when he is "mad". He even tells Polonius to "let her not walk I'th'sun." Polonius takes things at face value and assumes that Hamlet is mad because he thinks his love for Ophelia is unrequited. The audience however, knows ... of ...

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... the constant uncertainty and conflict that he feels. Hamlet admits that he is not a warrior when he contrasts Claudius to his father and himself to Hercules (I.II.153). Hamlet is grief stricken in the early parts of the play and the appearance of the ghost of his dead father throws him into a pit ... is convinced that he did murder his father. He is ready to "do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on- (III.II.364), but delays this action apparently because he wants Claudius to suffer further. It is after the episode in the confession booth that Hamlet really starts ... t...

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... known revenge tragedy was "The Spanish Tragedy," by Thomas Kyd, which was first performed around 1592. It is often considered the inspiration for William Shakespeare's most famous revenge tragedy, "Hamlet." Kyd's play predates Shakespeare's by at least six years if not longer as the exact publishing and performance dates for each are not absolutely certain. It is therefore plausible ... victim's ghost, the violent murder/suicide scenes, and the declining mental state of the protagonist. I. Seneca and the history of revenge tragedy a. One paragraph does not have to be long II. Metatheatr...

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... Shakespeare, each of the characters is consumed by two kinds of poison; a physical and spiritual one. In the physical sense, at the end of the play, each character dies either by reason or accident. Laertes died by accident when he and Hamlet switch swords, however he realizes this when he says, "I am killed with mine own treachery" (V:ii ... know what do to with his last minutes so he quickens the process by drinking the wine. The death that surrounds Act V in Hamlet shows Shakespeare's great use of irony and physical revenge. The other type of poison found in Hamlet was spiritual poiso...

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