... 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 several different points in the soliloquy, Shakespeare underscores Hamlet's feelings of depression and helplessness to communicate to readers the overlying sense of dismay felt by the play ... rather commit suicide than endure the pains of his present predicament. Fearing a strict, punishing God, however, Hamlet cannot pursue this course of action, giving reader...

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

... and crucial character in this tragedy. Claudius is the most controversial, the most mysterious and the most talked about character in this play. According to the quotation presented in The Prince, by Nicolo Machiavelli: "Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many ... balance appearances to his/her benefit, strategically using them to strengthen his/her regime. If Machiavelli was indeed correct, then Claudius, from Shakespeare's Hamlet, starts off as an ideal Machiavellian prince. In Act I, Scene...

• Word Count: 692
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate