... It stuns me to notice this human characteristic, that for the sake of power, people will put themselves above everyone and everything else. I can't understand how and why people can become so blinded by there own wants and desires they can't see what is really important anymore. Like Claudius, he was just ... turned against Ralph and persuaded other to do the same, he said "He's not a hunter, he"d never have got us meat, he isn't perfect and we don't know anything about him. He just gives us orders and expects people to obey for nothing." (Golding, 119). Jack lured people away from Ralp...

• Word Count: 1777
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... then goes on to say, "And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep, no more, and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd! To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream, ay, there's the rub" ... sins remember'd" (III, 1, 87-93). The biggest unsaid thing in this soliloquy is that in your life you must give it meaning. That is how Shakespeare conveys an existential viewpoint in Hamlet's most famous speech. Even though it was well before Shakespeare's time, he conveyed existential thought thro...

• Word Count: 1407
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him, Together with remembrance of ourselves." – Claudius Act I, Scene II, line 1-5. He speaks respectfully and honorably ... the character leaves both options open to interpretation. However considering what hamlet says after meeting the Ghost: "..Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on, that you...

• Word Count: 1361
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... acting strange. Polonius tells the king that he knows the reason for Hamlet's madness; he reads them a letter that Hamlet sent to Ophelia confessing to her how much he loved her. The king and queen decides to arrange a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia, one that they would be able to spy on. Polonius ... Ophelia's coffin. When the coffin is placed in the 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 Ophelia who wa...

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

... in this play, Hamlet proves to be an exceedingly complex character, and functions as the key element to the development of the play. Throughout the play we see many different aspects of Hamlet's personality by observing his actions in exacting his revenge on his uncle, Claudius, who killed his father and incestuously ... this is hire and salary, not revenge. He took my father grossly, full of bread, With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; And how his audit stands who knows save heaven. But in our circumstance and course of thought "Tis heavy with him. And am I then revenged To ...

• Word Count: 1772
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Iv172), Hamlet is drawn further and further into a situation he cannot control. He is so enthralled with his own words that he fails to realize how much damage has already occurred. Hamlet is suicidal and depressed, unwilling to continue living in a world that offers nothing. He gathers strength from people ... The "Garden" of Denmark is dead, filled with weeds and decay. The "Garden" can only be reborn once the evil (Claudius) is eliminated. In Claudius we find a different sickness, the sickness of the guilty. "It hath the primal eldest curse upon't/ A brother's murder" (IIIiii37-8). Cl...

• Word Count: 1544
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... could have been his death and sends Hamlet to England. Claudius says, "Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety "Which we do tender as we dearly grieve For that which thou hast done "must send thee henceWith fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself.The bark is ready and ... she has ultimately been looking for her entire life, happiness and to rejoice. Hagar, spending most of her time reflecting upon her life, sums up how her pride has influenced her life by saying "'Pride was my wilderness, and the demon that led me there was fear. I was alone, never ... by mine? Nothing can take ...

• Word Count: 1471
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... act on his emotions; it made him procrastinate and think about things too much. Hamlet's character indicates that he is a man of thought by how he handles certain situations throughout the play. He reveals himself to be an over-analytical man who frequently procrastinates. Hamlet demonstrates his over-analytical tendencies ... that is the question."(III,i,63). He weighs out the good things about death and the bad things about it: "To die: to sleep;/ No more; and by a sleep to say we end/ The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation/ Devoutly...

• Word Count: 1897
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... controlled by Hamlet and the King, for their own selfish reasons. She killed herself after knowledge of her fathers' death. Last to die was Laertes, it is easily seen how Laertes, in the heat of his anger could conspire to murder, though he kills Hamlet he is avenging his fathers' death, an act ... pretending to be mad is a normal excuse to put off one's feelings, Shakespeare incorporates other subplots into the play. Without these subplots, of revenge we are left with a gloomy play where the ending, although necessary, is pointless. Shakespeare created this setting to tell us a story of...

• Word Count: 1486
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... entity; but also lead to the deaths of the all the play's characters, except for Horatio. In Act I Scene 5, the Ghost explains to Hamlet, how Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, murdered his father and that he wants Hamlet to avenge his death (I.v.38-90). The Ghost is directly linked to the majority of ... uk). A partial translation into modern English of the first soliloquy is given by Rubinstein and Partridge, which throws immense light on the sexuality underlying it: " How weary, stale [prostitute], flat [to copulate], and unprofitable seem [to fornicate, with additional pun on 'seam': filt...

• Word Count: 1979
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... the very comment of thy soul / Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt / Do not itself unkennel in one speech, / It is a damned ghost that we have seen" (3.2.75-82). Hamlet has devised a plan to determine his uncle's guilt and is outlining it to Horatio and asking for some assistance with complete sanity. ... The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die-to sleep, No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: "tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish"d. To ...

• Word Count: 1678
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... mind you cannot get rid of it. It takes over your life. Hamlet is only loyal to revenge and until he has 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 ... of hamlets revenge. Hamlet wants to kill his uncle because he killed hamlets father. Hamlets father comes to him in a form of a ghost and explain how claudius killed him. At first even hamlet is uncertain if he should trust the ghost and he is hesitate to just go and avenge his fath...

• Word Count: 1258
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... young Hamlet's state of mind. In the first soliloquy, Hamlet "sets the stage" for the rest of Hamlet's thoughts, feelings, and actions about how aggravated at life he is and that if it weren't for God's laws he would commit suicide. He is not really morning his fathers death in ... . O that this too too solid flesh would melt, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world (I, ii, 135-140). Through these lines it is obvious that Hamlet ... sea of troubles (III, I, 65-68)....

• Word Count: 1492
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... the killing of her husband but it is only fully apparent to the reader in act 5. At the beginning of the play we see Hamlet very disturbed by the death of his father. He does not understand how his mother could marry his uncle so soon after his father's death "but two months dead-nay, not so much, not ... the king "Do not forever with thy vailed lids/seek for thy noble father in the dust/thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die/Passing through nature's eternity/" (act I, sc II, l. 72). She sounds very calm and is clearly affectionate towards her son in trying to reassure him tha...

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

... he loves and respects her so much. In the opening scene we can see Hamlet and Gertrude engaged in tender, loving behaviour. But as the play develops we see this relationship suffer some great dents. Gertrude's role in Hamlet is to show us how Hamlets insanity develops, her actions are a big part of what ... . But Ophelia is also important to give us insight into Hamlets behaviour towards everyone else. She is just a nave, innocent young girl who doesn't really understand how to help her lover. "If she had been an Imogen, a Cordelia, even a Porita or a Juliet, the story must have taken an...

• Word Count: 1861
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... moral right and ability to bring up her children. Bitterness. A mother in the society of to-day, like certain insects, (ought to) go away and die when she has done her duty towards the continuance of the species. Love of life, of home, of husband and children and kin. Now and then a ... describe the stage and the characters' movements. Once again, it is important not to interpret that as a weakness in Hwang's writing, but as another perspective on how to tell the reader about the secrets. Instead of doing it through the narrator, Hwang does it in a clever way through the conversation bet...

• Word Count: 2132
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... (Hamlet. I. ii 159)." Hamlet's heart is breaking, he wants to confront his mother; conversely, he wants to keep quiet or "hold his tongue" for the time being because he knows how much his true feelings will hurt his mother. In conclusion of Hamlet's first soliloquy, Hamlet exposes his true feelings of grief, sorrow, anger, and disgust. These emotions reveal that Hamlet ... recites seven soliloquies throughout the play. Each soliloquy revealing a piece of his identity. In what would be the most powerful and famous soliloquy, Hamlet questions whether to live or to die by saying, "To be or...

• Word Count: 2110
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... not decide his course of action until he discovers the action taken place by Fortinbras. Hamlet derides himself for being unable to kill Claudius while the men of Fortinbras" army die for a far less justifiable cause. Once again Hamlet scorns his own lack of action because of his over thought of each situation. It is not until Hamlet begins to act ... of out smarting those who would try such a deed. In consequence, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to their deaths in England even though they were victims of deception as well. We witness the outcome of Hamlet's entire quest, which wa...

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

... through his long, drawn out soliloquies. Hamlet is a static character whose thoughts never dramatically change throughout the course of the play. For this reason, we can examine the first of his soliloquies and use the language in it to predict the substance of his future soliloquies and actions and to gain an ... ,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fix"d/ His cannon "gainst self-slaughter. O God! God!/ How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/ Seem to me tall the uses of this world!" (Shakespeare I. II129-134). Through these lines, we can see that Hamlet is in the midst of a deep depressi...

• Word Count: 1324
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... in a reasonable way. Claudius believes that Hamlet should remove his emotions from his father's death, as seen from the quote: For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? (1,2 102-105) It is of importance to note that Claudius, a character concerned with ... scene of the play really concretizes this notion by displaying the raw power of passion. It can be argued from a nave standpoint that Shakespeare made the entire cast of characters die in a tragic and irrational way to point out the pointl...

• Word Count: 1742
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... . In Hamlet's first soliloquy (Hamlet I, 2, 133-164), he states his disgust at his mother for marrying Claudius, the new king, in no less than a month after his own father's death. "We sense his genuine grief but are more painfully aware of his revulsion at his mother and loathing for Claudius" (Prosser 128). This is Hamlet's first sign of jealousy towards his ... his Basista 4 position on him being with his mother when he shows her the pictures of his father and his uncle. Hamlet's secret meaning behind this in layman's terms is, "How could you fall in love with Claudius, you should be ...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... Claudius expressing guilt for murdering King Hamlet. When the players arrived, they put on a play that resembled the actions of Claudius. First, the King would die of poison by his brother. Then after the brother became King, he would marry the Queen (his sister-in-law). Prince Hamlet would watch Claudiuss actions ... out his plan throughout the whole story? 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 K...

• Word Count: 1318
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... reenact the Murder of Gonzago, a play resembling the story of the King and his father. "For I mine eyes will rivet to his face- (III, ii, __) Hamlet explains in this quote how he will watch the King very closely for his reactions to the play. He believes he will finally know the truth after all this planning. Being too noble to kill ... , from whose bourn / No traveler returns- (III, i, __) Hamlet asks himself if it would be wiser to live his life as a procrastinator and for the mind to suffer, or to just die. He also speaks of death being an unknown place that no one has ever come back ...

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

... 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 the play. King Hamlet is killed when his brother, Claudius, pours poison into his ear while King Hamlet ... when he killed the king she would come to him so he could have a queen. When he talked in front of everyone he gave a great speech about how much he missed his brother and how great he was, but in reality in all of the...

• Word Count: 1312
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 the play. King Hamlet is killed when his brother, Claudius, pours poison into his ear while King Hamlet ... when he killed the king she would come to him so he could have a queen. When he talked in front of everyone he gave a great speech about how much he missed his brother and how great he was, but in reality in all of the...

• Word Count: 1310
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School