An Analytical Review of corruption's ability to induce death and mortality In Hamlet For centuries, humanity has been intrigued by the profound discussion about death and the undefined inevitable state of mortality it presents. Death is often foreseen as the separation between the soul or spiritual being, and the biological compound of the human body. Factors which cause death can derive from the gradual onset of natural physical deterioration of the surrounding anatomy and mental capacity, much like the progressive evolution of corruption in a diseased state. Vulnerability can also lead to exterior instances of mortal exacerbation such as murder, suicide and accidental killings that are caused by a third party. In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the theme of corruption to metaphorically represent the deterioration of each Character’s physiological well being and state of mind when exposed to corruption that ends in death.
Like all tragic heroes Macbeth demonstrates he is doomed to make errors in judgment when he allows Lady Macbeth to convince him to commit murder in order to gain the crown. In addition we know that at the beginning Macbeth is good. He was rewarded the respected title Thane of Cawdor after the execution of the previous Thane. It is easy to identify with Macbeth as he is pushed by Lady Macbeth to commit the murders and faces the external and internal conflicts typical of a tragic hero. Another aspect of the tragic hero is that they are responsible for their own fate.
The Handling of Grief in Hamlet An ever present feeling in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is grief. Brought about by many different character’s deaths, grief is an emotion that turns toxic to the characters who struggle with it the most in Hamlet. According to dictionary.com, grief is defined as keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret. With the untimely deaths of people close to the hearts of the play’s main characters, as readers we observe how they deal with grief in their own way. The play’s main protagonist Hamlet lets his grief over his father’s murder fuel his thirst for revenge, Ophelia lets the grief over the murder of her father Polonius drive her to apparent suicide, and Ophelia’s brother Laertes is pushed to conspire with Claudius to kill Hamlet as a result of his grief.
Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold: and so by degrees – very gradually – I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” The Narrator again proves his madness through his apparent lack of solid intent coupled with his explanation of the rage within him. He proves his malice and forethought into the manner and admits it was a murder of the first degree to stop his chills brought upon by an old man’s diseased eye. Through his madness, the Narrator seals his doom by being tempted into taking the life of an old man. After the deed is done and the Narrator had chosen to commit a
An image of Hamlet’s dying body is produced, followed by a picture of a beautiful garden corrupted by disastrous weeds that will destroy the good life. At this moment the audience can grasp Hamlet’s true emotions as they are able to feel the pain and his yearn for death. Thus, the real imagery about the way Hamlet feels is brought forth. Furthermore, when Laertes comes to the castle to get information on his father’s murder, the hysterical Ophelia pretends to give him different flowers that represent something, but when she comes to the violets, which resembles faithfulness, she says that “They have all withered when my father died (Act 4, Scene 5).” In this quote, the imagery of death is present because both her father and the flowers have died. This quote is significant to the play as a whole as it is a metaphorical image of corruption and moral death plaguing not only the characters, but the whole area of Denmark as well, thus foreshadowing the eventual collapse of the nation.
Through the title Owen displays men that were in their prime turn into wrecks. The men in the poem are stripped from humanity as the opening references them as ‘these’ and ‘they’ representing them as one, not individuals. The rhetorical question in the first line already initiates an intellectual response from the reader. Their nameless state establishes those whose mental health was crushed by the experiences endured during the wartime. ‘Who, wherefore’ and ‘why’ utilises a questioning tone demanding a response and showing the similarities between the terrors of mental break down and war.
In Hamlet, the passionate and hasty Laertes and the vengeful Fortinbras are foils for Hamlet's introspective personality and provide a basis for comparison of the hero's course of action. Laertes and Hamlet share a common goal of revenge for the murder of their father. Though their situation and the circumstances of their father's death coincide, their individual responses to the fatalities differ greatly, and serve to highlight Hamlet's tragic flaw. Upon hearing of his father's death, Laertes becomes totally preoccupied with thoughts of revenge. While Hamlet scrutinizes and evaluates the consequences of his actions, Laertes acts without forethought, saying, "Let come what comes only I'll be revenged / Most thoroughly for my father" (IV.v.138).
‘Victor Frankenstein is condemned from the start of the novel as he chooses to play God’ in the light of this comment, discuss how Mary Shelley chooses to portray death in the novel. Of the many running themes in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the theme of death is potentially the most prominent as the story within the novel essentially begins and finishes with the death of the creature. In fact, by the end of the novel the only remaining (notable) character is Walton. Shelley adds irony to the theme of death by writing ‘Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!’ from Victor’s perspective near the begging of the novel, adding an ironic foreshadowing from the start. It can be argued that Victor sees himself at a higher power than others due to his own arrogance, interfering with the natural process of life and death, bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.
The main symbol of Hamlet Hamlet is a tragedy with the main character Hamlet wanting to seek revenge for his father’s murder. His father’s ghost comes to him to tell him that his brother Claudius was the one who murdered him. So the tragedy formula then ensues and main characters start to drop like flies when Hamlet is thinking of his plan to kill Claudius. The symbols in Hamlet are what to me keep the story somewhat interesting and the fact that Hamlet ages a lot in this play. The biggest symbol that portrays to the play and even is the symbol for the play itself is Yorick’s skull.
The idea of blood in other works and novels typically evokes the idea of slaughter and massacre. However, in this play the blood symbolizes the guilt that will forever stain the palms of Macbeth and his wife. The simple act of murder that was once looked at as indifferent led to a devastating past. Macbeth expresses his guilt when he remarks, “And with thy bloody and invisible hand/ Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond/ Which keeps me pale” (3.3.48-50). Macbeth is scared by the blood of Duncan.