... The fury Hamlet possessed for the fact of Ophelia not loving him causes him to portray an insane behaviour. Hamlet has fallen madly in love with Ophelia, and the love sickness in his heart caused an illness in his mind. In act 1, scene 3 Ophelia is warned by her brother and her father ... attractive" (III,II,107). Hamlet was referring to Ophelia as the precious (i.e. gold) metal drawing him over to her by being attractive. Hamlet's love for Ophelia is not as intensely displayed until he sees her laying in the grave at her funeral. When he hears Laertes voice talking about Ophelia's death...

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• Grade Level: High School

... of the most interesting as it portrays Hamlet as being without conscience or guilt, traits I which would be more typical of Claudius. "Why, man, did they make love to this employment. They are not near my conscience." (Act5, Scene2) However Hamlet does not attempt to hide what he ... in near madness are the driving force behind his revenge, As Gertrude is undeniably a part of Claudius' brutal world Hamlet's intense relationship with her only entangles him further. Ophelia, Hamlet's true love, is doomed in her relationship from the moment Hamlet takes on the task of revenge. Whilst ... ...

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... "son". He wants the people to accept his reign and tries to do so by winning Hamlet over. Claudius then states, "You are the most immediate to our throne; / And with no less nobility of love / Than that which dearest father bears his son, / Do I impart toward you. For your intent / ... In going back to school in Wittenberg, / It is most retrograde to our desire" (I, ii, 109-114). Claudius reinforces that he will be Hamlet's "father" and ... "Here, thou incestuous, murd"rous, damned Dane, / Drink off this potion. Is thy union there? / Follow my mother." (V, ii, 296-298). Claudius avoide...

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... Hamlet's most significant themes is the one about revenge. Throughout the play there are three central plots for revenge. Hamlet vows revenge on his uncle, Claudius. Laertes vows revenge on Hamlet. Fortinbras vows revenge on King Hamlet. There is also another minor revenge plot during the play within a play where ... be seen as a sign of Hamlet's madness. Perhaps Hamlet's state of madness provided Hamlet with the ability he required to kill his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet's relationship with Gertrude is affected greatly by the death of King Hamlet. Hamlet obviously cannot understand why his m...

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• Grade Level: High School

... Prince Hamlet is believed by everyone to have gone mad. Everyone thought that Hamlet's madness grew upon his father's death, and his mother's marriage to Hamlet's uncle Claudius. Hamlet does indeed act in madness like ways. He does things and says things that are clearly out of the ordinary. However, it is all an act that ... this point in the story everyone is mad and because of all of the killings and they all think it is Hamlets fault. Now we come to Hamlet's love life. This may be the last place where Hamlets madness is but it is a huge factor of the play when dealing with anger. Th...

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... Hamlet's quest for revenge may seem only to be brought on by his love for his father, but this is not so. He is simultaneously angry with his mother, jealous of her attention to Claudius, and desperately wishing for her love. He berates her with sharp edged comments, "you are the queen, your ... brother's wife and -would it were not so- you are my mother"; but he loves her just the same. His love for her is first expressed without ... been dismissed as a stage thrill, a device to horrify, yet secure the attentions of the audience. Obviously the ghost is used to convey the information ab...

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... he can't seem to get over the actual death of his father and still wears black, nor the fact that his mother is married to Claudius. Claudius finally notices Hamlet who is standing in black robes of mourning for his father. He tells Hamlet that it is not normal for a man to ... toward her and decides to speak to the king. The queen thinks that Hamlet's reason for going mad was caused by her marrying his uncle, Claudius. Claudius and Gertrude are aware that Hamlet has been acting strange. Polonius tells the king that he knows the reason for Hamlet's madness; he reads them ... that he ne...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... have?" (1078, line 515). In this complement to this player's acting ability, Hamlet is saying that if he were such an actor he would have killed Claudius by now. Therein, lies the struggle between acting, and actual vengeance, that persists throughout the play until the very end. At this moment, Hamlet avows to ... have no more marriages. Those that are married already-all but one-shall live" (1084, line 144). The 'one' Hamlet refers to is undoubtedly Claudius-which supports the link of vengeance and role playing. The next scene alludes to similar conflicts, but much more subtly. In this...

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... . Thus, since Hamlet cannot stop Gertrude loving Claudius, by killing her or driving her insane, as he did with Ophelia, he attempts to do it by confronting his mother with Claudius's crime: "Here is your husband You cannot call it love." Possibly he hopes that she will somehow think ... about it, realise her own and Claudius" guilt and stop loving him. Hamlet confronts her in the state of ... feigned insanity, so that she has no reason to believe that the rational Hamlet believes this, this is because the confrontation leads her to choose between he and Claudius ... is actually in a r...

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... to convince himself Hamlet is responsible for as well. With all this Laertes makes it clear to everyone that he wants to kill Hamlet. Quickly Claudius is able to cultivate this rage into a planned murder. It seems Cluadius conveniently and consistently is able to take these vengeances and point them into ... of his liking. That is all accept one. Because Hamlet keeps to himself, and "holds thy tongue" setting him apart from Laertes and Fortinbras, Claudius is unable to manipulate the situation. One reason Hamlet is so different from the other two characters could have to do with the diff...

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... times in the play, whether it is grief, hate, or love. Hamlet appears lost in a blanket of emotions that overrule his ability to think clearly. In all of his pent up anger at himself, his mother, Claudius, and everything that is "rank and gross in nature-, Hamlet ... happens to drink the poisoned wine and dies. These fortunate events finally give Hamlet enough incentive to follow through with his plan of murdering Claudius, and of fulfilling the ghost's wish. These irrational events are the most powerful and influential forces in the play. The theme of irrationality ... in the value of ...

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... Queen, your husband's brother's wife, And, would it were not so, you are my mother- (IIIiv.15-16) The marriage between Gertrude and Claudius he declares "You cannot call it love- (IIIiv.68) at the same time he tells Gertrude that her husband is a "murderer and a villain- (IIIiv.96). Although Gertrude doesn't ... 111). Despite this she obeys Polonious's instructions and rejects Hamlet. She goes even further and agrees to be involved in the attempts of her father and Claudius to spy on Hamlet. In his meeting with her Hamlet becomes suspicious, "where's your father?- (IIIi.126) then abruptly...

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... Hamlets decision to feign madness is a sane one, taken to confuse his enemies and hide his intentions. Now we come to Hamlets love life. Is Hamlet really in love? The woman in his life is the young Ophelia who is the daughter of the Kings advisor, Polonius. Their relationship certainly started out ... it.(II, I) This is really the first assumption that one can make about Hamlets madness. They assume that he is insane because he is in love. Little do they know, Hamlet has just found out that his father was really murdered by their new King. As shown, Polonius makes many assumptions conce...

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... only become more and more mentally deranged as the months pass by, and sees his offending behaviour beginning to disturb even the patience of Claudius, her happiness starts to wither. She hopes that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will be able to bring him out of his depression ("...And I ... spirits rise for a moment when she sees Hamlet's excited involvement with the play and his attentions to Ophelia, but then they immediately drop as Claudius rises from the performance in anguish. Finally she is pushed by Polonius to do the one thing that she has avoided for all these months: to ... ,...

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... frightens his mother and treats her as if she were almost as loathsome as Claudius to him. The audience certainly doesn't see Gertrude as woman who truly loved her first husband, but her love for Claudius does not seem to warrant the hate Hamlet expresses in this scene. We see ... and crowds are gathered onstage. Hamlet apologizes for wronging Laertes in his madness, and Laertes superficially accepts his repentance. As the duel commences, King Claudius toasts to Hamlet with wine and secretly prepares a poisoned chalice which is meant to kill hamlet is Laertes fails to slay him. Hamlet beg...

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... depicted in Elsinore's society. Shakespeare's Elsinore is patriarchal on many levels; the men continuously use women to their degrading advantage. As King of Denmark, Claudius not only has power over the state, but also over Gertrude. On a smaller scale, Polonius has full authority over his daughter, Ophelia. Hamlet ... that led to Ophelia's tragedy. Women throughout the play are used as pawns, susceptible to cruel intentions. Hamlet uses Ophelia to display to King Claudius and the rest of the Court that he has 'gone mad'. Hamlet enters Ophelia's room wearing disheveled clothing and ...

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... depicts a story of a young Dane Prince contending with feelings over the sudden death of his father King Hamlet, the rapid succession of his Uncle Claudius to the thrown which peculiarly bypasses the Prince, and the new King's swift marriage to Hamlets widowed mother Gertrude. Other issues that are portrayed as the ... her father, Hamlet clearly loved her as shown in Act 5 Scene 1 " I loved Ophelia, forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up the sum-what wilt thou do for her?" (lines 271-273) Hamlet says this after diving into Ophelia's grave with Laerte...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the movie, I do not recall the Act this quote occurred in.) Hamlet's words are directed towards his widowed mother and his her new husband Claudius. Their action of marriage during this difficult time in Prince Hamlet's life is very disheartening to him. But with strategically worded quotes like this, the ... the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father's spirit, and the ghost concludes that he was killed by Claudius. The ghost recommends to Hamlet to seek revenge. This is the conflict or the problem in the play. Prince Hamlet must decide to seek ... occ...

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... the death of Hamlet's father to create a sense of national solidarity. In the beginning he does present the impression of being a good king. King Claudius, as seen in the film Hamlet, is both intelligent and well-spoken, two traits that, put together, complement his manipulative and dangerous nature. In fact ... though, it is his conscience that makes Claudius such a complex villain. Despite his rise to power seeming to have been carefully planned and executed, he nevertheless encountered certain things that he did not ... the play to highlight the tragedy of what happens to Ophelia (and...

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... examples that show of his soundness of the mind. Hamlet warned his friends he intended to fake madness, but Gertrude as well as Claudius saw through it, and even the slightly dull-witted Polonius was suspicious. His public face is one of insanity however, in his private ... "Shakespeare,"" that Hamlet's "antic disposition- is used "as a device for seeming mad- (162). This strategy gives Hamlet a chance to find proof of Claudius' guilt and to contemplate his revenge tactic. Although he has sworn to avenge his father's murder, he is not sure of the Ghost's origins: "The ... 's suspicions ...

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... mother. Superficially, his quest for revenge may seem only to be brought on by his love for his father, but this is not so. He is simultaneously angry with his mother, jealous of her attention to Claudius, and desperately wishing for her love. Scolding, "you are the queen, your husband's brother's wife; and -would it ... instead of returning to college simply because she asks him to. Hamlet's strong love for his mother is a cause for the events in the end of the play. It is not evident whether Hamlet would or would not have killed Claudius that day if his mother hadn't died, but whateve...

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... mother. Superficially, his quest for revenge may seem only to be brought on by his love for his father, but this is not so. He is simultaneously angry with his mother, jealous of her attention to Claudius, and desperately wishing for her love. Scolding, "you are the queen, your husband's brother's wife; and -would it ... instead of returning to college simply because she asks him to. Hamlet's strong love for his mother is a cause for the events in the end of the play. It is not evident whether Hamlet would or would not have killed Claudius that day if his mother hadn't died, but whateve...

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... he has for his mother. This is best portrayed when he is shattered by his mother's repugnant decision to marry Claudius so soon after her husband's death. Gertrude's decision is not entirely based on love, rather the need for a dictator. Hamlet, in his soliloquy, says, "With which she followed my poor father ... Hamlet is angry and disgusted with his mother, as well as jealous of the attention Claudius receives and desperately desires her love. However, because women act as tools, Claudius uses her to devastate Hamlet. As a woman in the play she allows Claudius to instill his views in her...

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... Claudius is praying. This is very typical of Hamlet. He has resolved to avenge his father's "foul and most unnatural murder- (I.v.25), but before committing the defining act, he pauses in thought. After the visit from his father's ghost, Hamlet vows to take immediate and vengeful action. "I with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love ... Lines 348-351) These hardly sound like the dying wishes of a madman. He realizes that he won't be able to take the throne, and that Claudius and Gertrude are both dead. It is his duty to ensure stability and order for his nation. The fact th...

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... completed this task he cannot die. Revenge is negative and it triggered an almost chain reaction of deaths because hamlets mind was so set on killing Claudius. Polonius, Ophelia, Laertes, Guildenstern Rosencrantz and Gertrude deaths are all because of hamlets revenge. Hamlet wants to kill his uncle because he killed hamlets ... telling the truth after a play is put on reenacting the events that occurred the night his father died. Hamlet has many perfect opportunities to kill Claudius but he always counteracts with a doubt or reason not to. We know that it is not because he feels bad. H...

• Word Count: 1258
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• Grade Level: High School