Denis Do October 27, 2010 Period 3 Character Study Second Draft Hamlet: Before and After In William Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare shows that the spirit of vengeance lives deep down in all humans. His characters have many unique traits and readers can see many of these character traits in Hamlet. Traits such as, loving, suicidal, cruel and homicidal. Also, they can observe how these traits change. Early in the tragedy, Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, dies.
It seems that Hamlet does not want to extract revenge and he regrets promising the ghost that he will do so, “O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right! (I.v.28). Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius throughout the course of the play. Hamlet considers killing Claudius while he is confessing his sins. Hamlet then does what he is good at and reconsiders his actions.
On the hand, there lies Claudius. The reader has just learned that he was willing to kill his own brother to become king. Murder is a horrible thing, but killing your own brother for your own selfish needs is far beyond horrible. When learning this, in combination with feel bad for Hamlet, the reader is left hating Claudius for what he has done. Additionally, this is a very important scene in the play.
The personality traits of insanity and intellectuality also contribute greatly to the death of Hamlet. Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his procrastination. Without a doubt, Hamlet portrays procrastination and indecisiveness multiple times in the play. The ghost of Hamlet’s father visits him in the beginning of the play informing Hamlet that he was murdered by his own brother, Claudius: “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears the crown”(I.v.44,45). Furthermore, Shakespeare exhibits how Hamlet chose to devise a plan of acting mad, rather than avenging his father’s death immediately, progressing to his demise.
Throughout the play we can see a progression of corruption, that finally leads to death. Like a 'disease', it spreads in the characters of Polonius, Claudius and Hamlet. Polonius is perhaps the most obviously corrupt character in Hamlet. His corruption has occurred long before the play begins; the progression is in the extent to which it is revealed to us. From this courteous, almost comically long-winded member of the court, emerges a personality that is first dominating (as he instructs Laertes: 'These few precepts in thy memory/ Look thou character.'
Ibsen invokes this motif through Rank’s dialogues. In his first appearance in Act I, Rank speaks disdainfully of the ill’s wish ‘to prolong the agony [of living with an illness] as long as possible’, and scornfully states that the ‘morally diseased’, feel the same. He goes on to state that such is the case of ‘a lawyer of the name of Krogstad... [who] suffers from a diseased moral character’, (Ibsen, 1992, p. 15). We later learn that Krogstad, another character in the play, is guilty of having committed a crime many years ago. By making a vivid comparison in Rank’s dialogues between fatal illness and moral blemishes, Ibsen emphasizes his society’s intolerance of that
Hamlets secret diary Act 1 scene 5 1822 November 19th Tis thou days of days were my father's ghost walks the earth seeking my contact. is thou my farther ghost ? or tis a dark spirit which taunts the weak souls of the moaning?. Most it really be true that my fathers brother be the hand of this unjust deed.. If this was but a cruel illusion created by the tortured spirits of the damned to like them damn myself in a full blown assault on mine mothers husbands brother..
Shaneeza Rooplall 4U01 December 10, 2012 Passage Analysis Act I Scene II – King speaks to court In this passage, Claudius the new king of Denmark speaks about the fallen king Hamlet whose tragic death has become a shock to the kingdom. Shakespeare go through many themes such as, corruption, power hungry and appearance vs. reality. Firstly, I would like to show how Corruption is shown in this quote. Claudius is putting aside the death of his brother to announce the marriage of him and his sister in law and future wife Gertrude. This is corrupting the mind of young Hamlet, which they think is making him go crazy.
Max Hansen Mrs. Stokes British Literature 22 May 2011 Hamlet and Laertes Foil Hamlet is one of the most famous and studied characters throughout all of literature due to his unique and different nature. Threw Hamlet the contrast between Hamlet and Laertes allows there distinct characteristics become visible. Shakespeare displays a very clear difference between Hamlet and Laertes, even when the two are put into very similar situations you see that Laertes is more forward with his emotions were as Hamlet disguises them. Both Hamlet and Laertes fathers are murdered but Laertes, unlike Hamlet is much more set to act. After King Hamlet's death, Laertes, along with Prince Hamlet return to Denmark for the funeral services.
The play’s early scenes explore the sense of anxiety and dread that surrounds the transfer of power from one ruler to the next. Throughout the play, characters draw explicit connections between the moral legitimacy of a ruler and the health of the nation. Denmark is frequently described as a physical body made ill by the moral corruption of Claudius and Gertrude, and many observers interpret the presence of the ghost as a supernatural omen indicating that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (Act 1 Scene 4 line 67). The dead King Hamlet is portrayed as a strong, forthright ruler under whose