"To be or not to be that is the question" (Hamlet. III. i 56) is one of the most famous quotes in English literature. This quotation is the opening line from Hamlet's most famous soliloquy in which he is contemplating his fate, as he debates ... Hamlet's indecisiveness, grief, revenge, and insanity. While all seven reveal parts of Hamlet's character there are three soliloquies in particular that are vital to the reader's understanding of Hamlet's motivation leading to his fatal end. Hamlet's first soliloquy appears in Act I of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, where he ... himself might his quietus...

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... sadistic in their attack on him: "Why, we shall make him mad indeed." "The house will be quieter" (III, 4, 131-2) This would be humorous as an empty threat, yet the action is something that they genuinely attempt. It backs up Broom's statement about sadism and therefore tests the bounds of the Romantic Comedy genre. Their saying such things in retaliation for Malvolio's comments that they ... -2) would be fine had they not made a genuine attempt to drive him to insanity. Comments such as these and the retort "Go hang yourselves, all." (III, 4, 121) do back up Levin's "officious snob" sta...

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... cause of Hamlet's constant feelings of deep melancholia throughout the play. Basista 2 Melancholia is a mental condition characterized by extreme depression, bodily complaints, and often hallucinations and delusions. Now although Hamlet and his friends do see the ghost of his father at the beginning of the play, the third time the ghost appears, (Hamlet III, 4, 117-156) no one sees the ghost but Hamlet. After an extremely emotional and ... distressing conversation with his mother about her affair with the king, he sees his father's ghost. In Hamlet's Revenge by Eleanor Prosser ... in h...

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... has such rich and varied incidents, characterization, subject matter and use of language. One of the main techniques is how Shakespeare represented characters. He manipulated audience's minds by changing the way characters behaved in certain situations. Act III Scene 4 plays a very important role in the play "Hamlet" because it reveals aspects of Hamlets" and Gertrude's characters which help us understand ... how Shakespeare manipulates the audience's feelings about these characters by changing the way the characters act and react in different situations. This is ... future lover, when i...

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... A ghost is also not visible for everybody. In the last appearance of the ghost in the Queen's closet it is only Hamlet who can see and hear him. The Queen is wondering: "Alas, he's mad!" (III.4.119), "to whom do you speak this?" (III.4.146) This changes her whole attitude towards Hamlet. She ... now thinks that he is "mad" and who would trust somebody who is out of his mind? Hamlet looked up to his father because he felt that he was a great leader and the bravest ... with. The appearance of the ghost in the first act changes the fate that has struck Denmark with the sudden death of Old ...

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... spying and killed by their ignorance. Both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were childhood friends of Hamlet, and attended school with him. The third act of Hamlet opens with a remark by the king, Claudius, who instructs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to discover why Hamlet "puts on this confusion,/ Grating so harshly all his ... days of quiet/ With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?" (Shakespeare III, i.) The King and Queen called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet who ... was easily persuaded to do so by bribery of money. This act of theirs helps emphasize the fact that they are two...

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... through affection; madness through misfortune. It is through devotion for his mother and the effect of his father's ghost's revelations that causes Hamlet to feign madness. Hamlet unwittingly destroys Ophelia, by his pretence of insanity, which results in Ophelia being blamed for "the happy cause of Hamlet's wildness". [III.i.39] It is presumed that Ophelia is a tool used by Shakespeare to ... reveal Hamlet's true feelings, and also as a test of the reader's attitude to, and empathy towards him. Hamlet's madness can be reviled as ... role in Hamlet's madness, but makes limited appearance...

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... father's death and recover his father's lands. The ends of the various vengeful sons dramatically challenges the revenge ethic: Laertes, the hot-blooded avenger, falls into the trap he made for Hamlet; Hamlet, the reluctant avenger, has fallen victim to Laertes's revenge; Fortinbras, who has disavowed vengeance, inherits the kingdom. In this bloody tragedy, Fortinbras's history alone has a comic trajectory. III. Hamlet thus presents a negative typology of redemption ... . Denmark is a fallen world, needing to be set right. Instead of showing us the redeemer, however, Shakespeare shows us...

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... a project, unless one wishes for the conservative completism of Branagh) or the reorganisation, it is the interest provided by the synergy of Shakespearean verse (regardless of the quality of the speaking of that verse) and the modern context, which make this version worthy of analysis. With obvious influence from the stylistically modern Richard III (1996) and the audacious Romeo + Juliet (1996), ... Almereyda creates both a media saturated world and media-obsessed prince. The influence of the ... media and of technology provide a modernised context to certain allusions in the text, su...

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... more emotion when dealing with her, "Come, come and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you-(III:iv). Hamlet's anger stems from his mothers hasty remarriage to his uncle and her incestuous acts. It's this emotion/anger that drives out Hamlet's deep suppressed feelings of ... make an assumption that Hamlet is not crazy and is thinking clearly throughout most of the play. Yet towards the end his thoughts appear to move away from the rational. This is shown in the same scene, after Hamlet slays Polonuis through the cu...

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... ;Good night. But not go to my uncle's bed. Assume a virtue if you have not Refrain and that shall lend a kind of easiness to the next abstinence," (III. iv. 180-188). Additionally, the Ghost is indirectly related to the theme of Hamlet's procrastination, which is considered his chief weakness. This weakness was copied from Thomas Kyd's earlier play Spanish Tragedy; who also wrote ... a few weeks, Hamlet's indecision led to doubt, and more absolute proof was needed. This was acquired as a result of the play on the 'murder of Gonzago' (III. ii. 175-265): in Act III, scene i, the King ...

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... his father, who is wallowing in purgatory. "[Claudius] took my father grossly, full of bread, With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May- (III.iii.81-82). Hamlet doesn't see any reason in allowing the murderous king to go to heaven while his father remains in purgatory. If Hamlet were more decisive and rash and did not rationalize his every move ... quickly. "Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent: When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, At gaming, swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation it't:- (III.iii.89-93) Ham...

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... and that your grace hath screened and stood between much heat and him. I'll silence me even here. Pray you, be round (with him."" (III, iv, 1-7) In this quote Polonius is convincing Gertrude to try and uncover the genuine motive of Hamlet's erratic behaviour. Gertrude agrees, unaware of Claudius and Polonius' actual intentions. When Hamlet enters he tries to urge his mother ... progresses, her resistance is weakened by Hamlet's condemnation of her behavior. Gertrude says, "O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain,"" she continues, "What shall I do?."" (III, iv, 177, 202) This quote s...

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... his battles is if he should live and avenge his father's death or if he should die and get rid of all the pain and troubles: "To be, or not to be, 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 ... writ in/ choice Italian. You shall see anon how the murderer/ gets the love of Gonzago's wife."(III,ii,257-260). Also in some way it is a warning to the king because after seeing this scene the king gets mad and stops the play. The king suspects that Hamlet has something planned...

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... 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" (III, 1, 61-66). In this passage Hamlet is still talking about that death he wishes to impose on himself. McCoy also says "Living is, in effect, a kind of slow death, a ... continues with, "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the respect that makes calamity of so long life."(III, 1, 67-70). Hamlet is pondering what dreams he may have in his afterlife. When ...

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... . Being obedient to her father, Ophelia avoids Hamlet, assenting "I shall obey, my lord" (I, iii, 136). Women were constantly seen as instruments in the city of Elsinore, never defending themselves. Ophelia reflects the nature of woman in a patriarchal society, demonstrating how females are hugely influenced by the men in their lives. Ophelia does not even realize that her father and her brother destroyed ... 't feel any sexual desires, proclaiming: "You cannot call it love, for at your age The heyday in the blood is tame, it's humble, And waits upon the judgment; and what judgment Would ...

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... to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect." (III, iii, 36-43) An admission of guilt appears to be a prayer for repentance. Hamlet wants to make sure that Claudius experiences the eternal purgatorial walk that his father must wander through. In order spark interest, Shakespeare added a ... kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge." (III, iii, 76-79) To murder Claudius in this state would be not only sending him to heaven, but would be condemning Hamlet to Hell....

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... 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 who was listening in on his conversation with his mother, becomes edgy and acts out of character, stabbing Polonius ... of better and less harmless ways of getting revenge. "That would be scann"d; / A villain kills my father, and for that / I, his sole son, do this same villain send / To heaven." (III, iii, __) Hamlet decides against killin...

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... this plan, Horatio informs Hamlet, that if his plan does not succeed, Horatio himself will sacrifice himself, and expose The King for what he has done. " Well my lord. If" a steal aught whilst this play is playing And scape detecting, I will pay the theft." (III, ii, 86-88) Again, Horatio proves that he does care for Hamlet. He is willing to sacrifice himself ... position as King that drives him to do the immoral things that he does throughout the play. "Of those effects for which I did the murder-/ My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen." (III, iii, 54-55) Here, Claudius states the ...

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... piece of advice saying, "This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." (I, iii, 78-80). Polonius wants Laertes to be honest and live with honor. The advice is sound and Laertes accepts it as he departs for France. At first glance, it is seen that ... talked to each other and the queen says, "Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended." (III, iv, 9). Hamlet responds. "Mother, you have my father much offended." (III, iv, 10). She does not understand her son's feelings. She only understands the feelings of h...

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... to perform the revenge. Seeing the opportunity, Hamlet says, "Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; And now I'll do't: and so he goes to heaven: And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd: A villain kills my father; and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge."" (III, iii, 74-80 ... . He says to his mother, "Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!/ My father, in his habit as he lived!/ Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!- (III, iv, 136-138) There is another reason for Hamlet to fake his madness in ...

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... deed he committed. However, Hamlet does nothing but wonder why he is forced to deal with this awkwardness. The longer Hamlet delays his initial vow to avenge his father, the weaker his character appears and the more cowardly he seems. In Act III, Hamlet is presented with an ideal opportunity to kill Claudius that he fails to capitalize on. Hamlet justifies his inaction by ... claiming that his uncle was praying, thus it would have been immoral to kill him during the act of prayer: "now might I do it pat, now a is a-praying" (Act III, Sc III). This obscure logic troubles most readers who...

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... honest and fair, should admit no discourse to your beauty." (III.i.107-108). Ophelia's excellence is the reason Hamlet first felt affection for her, the reason her father, Polonius, had the capacity control her sentiments to Hamlet. Her father needed this control over her adoration either for headway inside the court through picking up the support of the lord, or, if one were to think all ... 's sure character characteristics, her dutifulness. Her submission is shown most clearly when she says, "I think nothing, my lord" (III, ii, 113). This feature is an extremely important and necessar...

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... 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 were not so!- you are my mother"(III.iv.18-19), Hamlet berates his mother with sharp edged comments showing his lack of respect and his ... disapproval of her marriage. Angrily thinking, "Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears had left the flushing in her galled eyes, she married. O, most ... in Denmark instead of returning to college simply because she asks him to. Hamlet's strong love for his mother is a cause for the even...

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... 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 were not so!- you are my mother"(III.iv.18-19), Hamlet berates his mother with sharp edged comments showing his lack of respect and his ... disapproval of her marriage. Angrily thinking, "Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears had left the flushing in her galled eyes, she married. O, most ... in Denmark instead of returning to college simply because she asks him to. Hamlet's strong love for his mother is a cause for the even...

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