... His passion makes him blind to his rash actions, frenzied with a need to avenge his father, he disregards all around him, and any potential threats. Hamlet is so troubled with his inability to kill a single man, that he considers suicide, and questions his right to live. To be, or not to ... for change. " To what base uses we may return" (Vi166). The graveyard scene serves to show the seeming meaninglessness of life. Throughout the play, Hamlet struggles for the meaning of life, a life that returns us to our basest natures. "Your worm is your only emperor for diet" (Iviii21), illustrat...

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

... can take a relatively normal revenge story and turn in to a classic for all-times is rather remarkable. In my opinion, the title of Hamlet is the best title for this playwright. I think that the title is more significant to the reader after the completion of the playwright. The title ... works of art included Othello, Julius Cesar, Romeo and Juliet, and Mac Beth to name a few. After much debate within myself, I have concluded that Hamlet should be considered a tragicomedy. It is quite obvious why it would be considered a tragedy. The King of Denmark is killed and the murderer resumes pow...

• Word Count: 1576
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... heartache that has befallen him. Living means he must fulfill his duty to his father by taking revenge against his uncle Claudius who is responsible for King Hamlet's death. He also has to restore the order in Denmark. Claudius is the main source of corruption and disease flooding the country. In this soliloquy ... a positive outlook on humankind, because he realizes now that it is his obligation to bring peace and honour back to Denmark, and punish the sinful. Hamlet's world had been disrupted by Claudius" sins: killing his father and sleeping with his mother, and he will no longer stan...

• Word Count: 1261
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... it were hell?"[10] The dissonance in the ghost's speeches indicates that he is not what he claims to be. Rather, he has come as a tempter to pour 'poison' into Hamlet's ear. Hamlet is a revenge tragedy, a common genre in Shakespeare's day. As with other theatrical genres, the revenge tragedy had certain conventions that could not be flouted. As Rene Girard has noted ... not enough, he rejects Ophelia, sending her into a pitiful emotional spiral that eventually leads to her death. Laertes, Polonius's son and Ophelia's brother, thus has a double motive for revenge against Hamlet, an oppor...

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

... strikes and Barnardo notes, subtly referring to the sentiment of Denmark, that "tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart" (I.1.8). Since the beloved King Hamlet has died and the Queen remarried, the morale of the people is low, and cold. The act continues, and the Ghost appears out of the dark ... canon against self-slaughter." He further notes of the world as being "stale and flat", further examples of the pale images Shakespeare conveys. Later, Hamlet adds how "some vicious mole of nature" (I.4.24) can destroy the reputation of a nation or individual. He concludes how a tiny amount of e...

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

... helps to further develop the theme that chaos in Denmark is because of the break in the Elizabethan order of the universe. In a soliloquy Hamlet says that his mother's crying is hypocritical. Even before the redness from the crying could go away from her eyes she remarried. He is ... command of the ghost. This command with the clinical account of his sexual mother, renders him incapable of a reasoned correction of others." (Jorgensen, 53). Hamlet confronts his smother and says that her relationship with his is a form of incest. The bed they make love on is filthy and disgusting. While ...

• Word Count: 1647
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the emotion, and even the characters. It helps the reader gain a better understanding of what the underlining feelings and happenings are in the play. Hamlet's motif is that of both rotting matter and painted faces. These two topics may not seem to be related but there is a connection made in ... it through the same metaphors. Many other characters used the decaying matter to describe different aspects of the decaying morals of the people of Denmark. Hamlet himself described the situation of his mother's marriage almost immediately after his father's death as an " unweeded garden that gro...

• Word Count: 1359
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... taught it in school. Or perhaps it is because of the diversification of these themes, and thus the diversification of responses it invokes, that makes Hamlet so well received by both students and scholars alike. Of these themes, the strongest theme, or rather, the most obvious, is that of revenge. ... (IV.vii.127). This being an unthinkable crime in itself it shows Laertes' willingness to do anything to avenge his father. So Claudius suggests a duel with Hamlet and, if left here, his honour would still hold merit. It is not, however, and Laertes suggests the poisoning of his foils to furt...

• Word Count: 2387
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... the state of the nation. In the first scene, the guards are on duty outside of the castle when the ghost of the dead King Hamlet appears. Horatio asserts that the ghost brings words of caution to the men that the county is headed for some sort of struggle, which probably ... and turmoil in Denmark. In Scene ii, the newly crowned King Claudius makes a speech to the royal court and then talks with Hamlet and his mother. King Claudius" words to Hamlet and the court show instability in Denmark. King Claudius" address to the court contains contradictory statements, such as "With one auspici...

• Word Count: 1520
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School