Hamlet – a 'noble' man? ACT 1 • GOOD Inspires devotion in his friends and subjects – Horatio & Marcellus follow Hamlet & are determined to protect him. BAD “I have that within which passes show, these but the trappings & the suits of woe” • Loyalty to his father's memory • Disgust at his mother & uncle's immorality “a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer” /// “oh most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets” • Remains respectful to Gertrude “I shall in all my best obey you madam” /// “It is not nor it cannot come to good, but break my heart for I must hold my tongue” [1st soliloquy – scene 2] • Certain that evil does not go unpunished on this earth “Foul deeds will rise, though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes” “My lord he hath importuned me with love in honourable fashion” [Ophelia to Polonius] • Love for Ophelia is pure “It is a custom more honoured in the breach than the observance” • Disapproves of excessive drinking • Brave: willing to risk God's wrath to speak to his father one more time “I'll speak to it though hell itself should gape and bid me hold my peace” Is this evidence that Hamlet is good? Already we see that it is possible to corrupt Hamlet – he will risk doing the 'wrong' thing if it means easing his grief & psychological suffering. His actions in speaking to the ghost show extreme bravery (it could be the devil in disguise) but also a disregard for his own safety because he is already experiencing suicidal despair “I do not set my life at a pin's fee” and does not care if he lives or dies.
We must tell him, it will cause more damage if we don’t tell him soon. Come Stylistic Techniques Shakespeare uses personification in line 78 with “his doublet all unbraced”, though unbraced is referring to his shirt it can also be directed to Hamlet himself unbracing reality. A strong image is used in line 83 when Ophelia refers Hamlet to being “ loosed out of hell” this leads us to believe that not only is Hamlet insane but now angered. Syntax is used in line 84 when again Ophelia says that Hamlet “is to speak of horrors”, this again is trying to show Hamlets hostel intentions.
Claudius, Hamlet's uncle is the most serious offender of lying and deceit. Although he has committed the most heinous acts, Claudius is the only characters who develops a guilty conscious as a result of dis devious actions. As each of the main characters develops on social, moral and psychological levels, lying and deception is an ever present theme and an integral part of the plot. From his very first scene in the play, Prince Hamlet establishes himself as someone who is morally opposed to deception. When Hamlet's uncle and mother urge him to “cast [his] nighted color off,” (Shakespeare 1.2.68) and stop acting and appearing so depressed, he replies that his “inky cloak.../ [and] river in the eye.../ are actions that a man might play” (Shakespeare 1.2.78-84).
How canst I bear welcome in my eyes, my hands, and my words? Murdering this man is a sin against our holy God, and me that also against natural order on Earth. And yet talking to this gentleman reminds me of the spiteful sin. Alas, I cannot look on the king’s face and demeanour. I shall lose my nerve and mighty ambition will take a seat to pity.
Winston Churchill * "When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him." Euripides * "Nothing is so common as the wish to be remarkable." (attributed to) William Shakespeare * "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." Harriet Beecher Stowe * "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." Confucius * "It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us."
This is a far more delicate way of saying if you end up with ignorance you were not highly favored by God, but if you have knowledge you were and will be favored by god and will end up in heaven. Ignorance is similar to a song written by Mumford and son “Babel” which is the examination of the bourgeois mindset. They comment on the pelagian nature of society, they are building their own 'tower of babel' because they see the society collapsing behind their progressive thought, "I write home laughing, 'look at me now,' the walls of my home come crumbling down." He "goes along" with this mindset; all his life his "greed and pride" has been nursed by society and he accepts this mentality for its face value. He is promised success, which they will "slip into the cloud."
Enter SHYLOCK DUKE Make room, and let him stand before our face. Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange Than is thy strange apparent cruelty; And where thou now exact'st the penalty, Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh, Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, But, touch'd with human gentleness and love, Forgive a moiety of the principal; Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, That have of late so huddled on his back, Enow to press a royal merchant down And pluck commiseration of his state From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint, From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd To offices of tender courtesy. We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. SHYLOCK I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose; And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn To have the due and forfeit of my bond: If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter and your city's freedom. You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have A weight of carrion flesh than to
Lear praises nature which he feels that is his goddess. He prays for Goneril’s sterility or if she had a child, that it might live to return the scorn and contempt upon her which she had shown to him. Apart from this, he also makes invocations for the wind to increase during the storm scenes: ‘Blow winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!’ Although the play is set in a pagan setting, Lear prays to the gods to expose criminals and later throughout the play, for the wellbeing of Cordelia and it is through these cries of help that we can notice that no matter how much the king prayed for righteous justice to be served that his prayers remained unanswered.
More than these, I think Lear is motivated by his idea that he is a good man. One thing that supports is when Kent says “I’ll tell thee thou dost evil,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 175) and Shakespeare writes the king as reacting in a frenzy, going so far as to say “This moment is thy death,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 190). By portraying the king in this way, Shakespeare causes us to judge him as unstable and mental. While his actions thus far have been rash, him reacting in this way, and him banishing his daughter saying, “Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood,” (Act I, Scene I, Lines 117-118). From these thing, it is made clear that Lear is not only rash and insecure but also thoughtless and stupid.
Antithesis: A statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced. Example: “This most excellent canopy, the air,…no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 41-42) Function: After Hamlet confirms that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were sent by the king to spy on him, he offers to honestly tell them of how he is feeling. He states that he is depressed at the moment and finds everything to be lifeless. It is then that he begins depicting the air around them as something beautiful, but turns things around when he states that to him it is merely disgusting air. When Hamlet explains,“ this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul…”, the “why” adds a tone of confusion, hinting that not even Hamlet can explain as to why he feels this way about the air.