... off to the graveyard after reaching Denmark. He soon starts discussing with one of the grave diggers. Hamlet, shuffling through the skulls that the grave digger has dug up, wonders who each skull belonged to. Eventually he asks the grave digger whose skull this was, picking one up. The grave digger replies that it is the skull of the court jester, Yorick. Hamlet remembers ... with the jester and how many times the jester had made him laugh. This puzzles hamlet, wondering how a man such as Yorick could end up being tossed around by a mere grave digger. Relating to this he says "No, faith...

• Word Count: 1475
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 Laertes her brother and grappling, which is very wrong as Laertes, being her brother also loved her dearly. Hamlets mother, Queen Gertrude tells us that the young Prince's behavior ... we been there" (Line 13) He later remarks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that "Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain" (line 34) Claudius also says in Act 5 Scene 1 while by the grave of Ophelia " O" he is mad, Laertes" (line 274)...

• Word Count: 2334
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and tells them that Ophelia went mad because of the death of her father and killed herself. (Prosser7) When Hamlet returns he and Horatio came across two gravediggers digging a fresh grave. Hamlet watches as the man tosses up the remaining skulls and runs and hide when he sees Laertes, Claudius and Gertrude arrive with Ophelia's coffin. When the coffin is placed ... ground, the priest refuses to say any prayers for Ophelia because she committed suicide and did not die by natural death. Laertes argues with the priest and jumps into the grave in grief. When Hamlet realizes that it was Oph...

• Word Count: 2059
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... The poison with 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 ... Barnardo and Francisco are high atop the looming walls of Elsinore, keeping watch for the impending revenge of enemy Fortinbras (I.1). Midnight strikes and Barnardo notes, subtly referring to the sentiment of Denmark, that "tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart" (I.1.8). Sin...

• Word Count: 1339
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , fall ten times treble on that cursed head. Whose wicked deed they most ingenious sense deprived thee of"(V.i.244-246), Laertes gets mad when Gertrude speaks of Hamlet at Ophelia's grave, because Laertes is so inflamed with Hamlet because he thinks Hamlet killed Ophelia. As Laert! es attacks Hamlet while screaming, "The devil take they soul"(V.i.257), Laertes hopes to kill ... for her. He also implies that his love is stronger and better than anything else. He loves her so much he is willing to be buried with her in the grave as well. It is the very idea that men were superior to women ...

• Word Count: 1273
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , fall ten times treble on that cursed head. Whose wicked deed they most ingenious sense deprived thee of"(V.i.244-246), Laertes gets mad when Gertrude speaks of Hamlet at Ophelia's grave, because Laertes is so inflamed with Hamlet because he thinks Hamlet killed Ophelia. As Laert! es attacks Hamlet while screaming, "The devil take they soul"(V.i.257), Laertes hopes to kill ... for her. He also implies that his love is stronger and better than anything else. He loves her so much he is willing to be buried with her in the grave as well. It is the very idea that men were superior to women ...

• Word Count: 1274
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... ' whereabouts while talking about the degradation that comes equally with death. "Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar." Act 5, Scene1; the infamous grave scene Hamlet is shaken with the morbid fascination of finding the skull of his fathers jester. Upon finding this abhorring thing coupled with the light heartedness that the ... grave-digger displays causes Hamlet to contemplate the tragedy "that earth which kept the world in awe should patch a wall t'expel the winters flaw!" Hamlet becomes increasingly disturbed throughout the play ... ...

• Word Count: 2354
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... mother's short almost non-existent period of mourning torments him. It is later commented on by Ophelia that neither her father nor Hamlet's were properly mourned, "which bewept to the grave did not go with true-love showers". His revulsion is so intense he thinks of suicide. Hamlet comes across as a very emotional and unstable character. He is clearly not the ... such a worthless issue. Hamlet's presentation here to the modern audience is of a sensible man but to the original audience he may have been seen as a weak leader. Hamlet witnesses the grave of Ophelia being dug; this raises l...

• Word Count: 2065
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... with all their quantity of love Make up my sum" - [Act v., sc. 1.] Nothing can be more affecting or beautiful than the Queen's apostrophe to Ophelia on throwing flowers into the grave. "Sweets to the sweet farewell [Scattering flowers] I hop'd thou should'st have been my Hamlet's wife I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid, And not to have strew ... 'd thy grave." [Act v., sc. 1.] Hamlet surely turned out to be a "hero" but to his own disadvantage, had to suffer the loss of the love of his life - Ophelia, the price he had ... ...

• Word Count: 1299
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... for being so physically close to his mother. However, Branagh interprets Hamlet as being, "much more committed to saving a soul than carrying out an execution," (Lynn and Jeff Wood, York notes 1998). This is shown by the calm, controlled and caring way Branagh [as Hamlet] says, "Confess yourself to heaven; Repent what's past," and later whispers, "I must be cruel to be ... believes, "By the end of the scene, a new intimacy is established between mother and son which carries them into the final stages of the tragedy," (Lynn and Jeff Wood, York notes 1998). The loving way in which, Mother...

• Word Count: 1824
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... . 1 Corinthians11:1-3). Thus King Hamlet, "by a brother's hand, of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch'd" (1.5.74-75). In short, the initial world of the play is a fallen world. Hamlet notes the cosmic dimensions of his predicament with his famous line, "Thetime is out of joint" (1.5.189). The question that presses the action forward is whether or not Hamlet should, as ... foundations of the revenge tragedy in the course of writing a revenge tragedy, and that he does it without violating the conventions of the genre. In this sort of play, Girard notes, "all eloquence must be on the...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... 's] fair and unpolluted flesh May violets spring! churlish priest, A ministering angel shall my sister be" (V.i. 241), while at the next he springs into attacking her beloved for revenge in her grave shouting, "The devil take thy soul!." Although time passed since his anger was first incited, Laertes does still not reconsider his actions or reevaluate his emotion, as can be seen ... ...

• Word Count: 1975
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... man placed in the same circumstances. Shakespeare was known to have a humorous side, and a bit of it is shown in Hamlet. When Hamlet approaches the gravedigger and asks him whose grave it is. The gravedigger, taking every word literally, replies, "Mine sir" (1532 100). In a Discussion with the gravediggers as to how long a body in the earth lasts, the gravedigger commented ... ...

• Word Count: 1642
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... if he had not continuously delayed the killing of Claudius (Coleridge). It is a shame that Hamlet ended up the same way as his father, both of them sent to their grave by the same evil person. Every tragedy has a tragic hero that possesses certain characteristics. Hamlet had many good traits such as his intellect and loyalty to his father, but it ... ...

• Word Count: 1397
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... this time has just gotten back from England, is speaking with a gravedigger. He speaks of how this man so happily does his unfortunate job, not knowing that he digs the grave for his love, Ophelia. King Claudius also uses this ironic chance to manipulate Laertes when it is found out that Hamlet in fact killed his father. Claudius is able to ... ...

• Word Count: 1335
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... mad: "O, what a noble mind is here o"erthrown." Finally, hamlet's behavior in the graveyard scene calls his sanity into question. When he realises that Ophelia is dead, he leaps into her grave, insisting that his love is greater than any brother's: "I loved Ophelia Be buried quick with her." It may well be true that Hamlet loved Ophelia but his actions in the ... ...

• Word Count: 2036
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... 's attitude to, and empathy towards him. Hamlet's madness can be reviled as the provenance of Ophelia's death, or pitied as he does confess to having, "loved Ophelia"[V.i.266] at her grave. Hamlet's mad rage causes him to kill Ophelia's father Polonius, which in turn instigates Ophelia's descent into madness and suicide. Ophelia's madness is through misfortune, and can be argued as ... ...

• Word Count: 1550
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a procrastinator, that when he finally got up enough courage to take action, it does not work out as he plans. " this counselor / Is now most still, most secret and most grave, / Who was in life a foolish prating knave." (III, iv, __) Hamlet speaks of Polonius in this quote after he commits the act of murder. Hamlet, thinking that it was the King ... ...

• Word Count: 1428
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... stepfather, but not really his kin or kind at all. Shakespeare uses several hyperboles throughout the play. For example, at the burial of Ophelia, her brother Laertes leaps into her grave and asks that the earth be piled on both of them "Till of this flat a mountain you have made"; at which Hamlet then outdoes Laertes figuratively by calling for "millions ... ...

• Word Count: 1564
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... doesn't really believe that he is mad. We then learn of Ophelia's descent into madness, and later, suicide. The last evidence to consider is Hamlet and Laertes fight in Ophelia's grave. All the onlookers are shocked by the spectacle - "This is mere madness; and thus awhile the fit will work on him" His mother says, trying to protect him. So is ... ...

• Word Count: 1952
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... a relative as in a sense he is now Hamlet's father but also that despite this Hamlet is not very kindly disposed towards him.5 Other comical characters in the play are the grave diggers who were originally, in the early editions of the play called the clowns. These characters partake in conversations of the slapstick style and bring comic relief after the distressing ... ...

• Word Count: 1478
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... , the skull is real, it is in his hand, it is not a ghost, and it reveals the true person underneath without any make up or lies. Thus, just as the grave digger takes language down to it's essential meaning and speaks the truth without realizing it, Hamlet is able to strip the murder of his father to its brutal meaning. Hamlet ... ...

• Word Count: 1900
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... into acting. However, this does not mean that Hamlet is not able to act out on his impulse for revenge. In Act V when Hamlet and Laertes both jump into Ophelia's grave is evidence to the fact that Hamlet can indeed act impulsively. Despite the insidious actions of Laertes in proposing the challenge of a duel with Hamlet, Laertes is without cruelty and ... ...

• Word Count: 1938
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... dreaded the thirteenth of Friday (May 35-38). They believed that all supernatural elements were at work. The Elizabethans had always been susceptible to belief in the supernatural. As May notes, these people more that other people questioned matters beyond their vision (39). Shakespeare was clearly influenced by his race. He had an inquiring mind that refused bondage by the limitations ... ...

• Word Count: 1725
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... dreaded the thirteenth of Friday (May 35-38). They believed that all supernatural elements were at work. The Elizabethans had always been susceptible to belief in the supernatural. As May notes, these people more that other people questioned matters beyond their vision (39). Shakespeare was clearly influenced by his race. He had an inquiring mind that refused bondage by the limitations ... ...

• Word Count: 1725
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School