... resolve itself into dew!", using suicide as a means to relieve himself of such a burden. His tone is one of lament, showing his inner conflict, but emphasising Hamlet's will to take his life should his conscience allow it. The fratricide of his father at the hands ... our modern society, reflected in contemporary Beyond Blue campaigns. The famed "to be or not to be" soliloquy, although relating to Hamlet's inner conflict, foreshadows the Gravediggers' profound discussion of Ophelia's sin of "self slaughter". Despite the fact Ophelia "drowned herself ... a greater insight into the scen...

• Word Count: 1105
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... an infectious root for corruption, further expounded as Marcellus illustrates with visual imagery "something is rotten in the state of Denmark." The state of dystopian Denmark sets the tone and melancholic mood for the entirety of the play, Shakespeare's timing of establishing the play in the opening acts as "rotten" and "unweeded" serves as ... at the timing of his mother's marriage by comparing her to "a beast" and negating Gertrude's initial grief as "unrighteous tears." Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to contrast Hamlet's feelings of disgust and inadequacy with Gertrude's sudden hap...

• Word Count: 782
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... opening scene of Hamlet Shakespeare introduces us to vital background information that evokes the action of the main plot. The action begins when Marcellus asks the others "has this thing appear"d again tonight?" and ... , with his life, all those lands/ Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror" and now young Fortinbras plans to reclaim the Norwegian lands his late father lost to king Hamlet. Bernardo replies if it is really the late king's spirit why has it come back from the dead? "A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye" says Horatio about the ... the ghost responded to the rooster...

• Word Count: 466
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to quality writing in his many plays. In the classic revenge tragedy Hamlet, he certainly puts these skills to good use. Throughout Hamlet's soliloquy in Act I, Scene 2, Shakespeare manifests several harsh, specific images depicting Hamlet's feelings of both helpless depression and angry frustration to convey to the audience a tone of despair and misery in the young Prince of Denmark. At ... , my heart, for I must hold my tongue." Presenting the prince as a trapped, depressed young man in a very unenviable position, Shakespeare uses imagery to enhance the soliloquy's somber tone. All thr...

• Word Count: 548
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... forms of program music. Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869) was a truly gifted composer who was most definitely inspired by literature; mainly Shakespeare. His composition Lelio is a correspondence to the renowned play Hamlet. Probably his best known piece though, Symphonie Fantastique was written about a woman that Berlioz was madly infatuated with. The Irish Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson, was the Bent 3 object of his ... help the audience along with the story line. In the second to last scene, Don Giovanni is carried off to Hell. Before the curtain opens, the orchestra begins incor...

• Word Count: 775
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

William Shakespeare's King Lear: Film production by Richard Eyre or Michael Elliott? King Lear today rivals Hamlet as the most frequently performed William Shakespeare play. King Lear is a timeless tale of human greed, lust for power and lost loyalties. Directors" Richard Eyre and Michael Elliott have produced ... division of Lear's kingdom. Ian Holm plays up the dominating, hot tempered, selfish Lear that is a victim of his own self-importance. In the final scene, Holm shows through his tone and delivery of lines that Lear's anger and inner torment is directed towards whomever is around him...

• Word Count: 1073
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate