This will mean concentrating on Hamlet's battle of wits with Claudius. Tragedies about revenge were fairly popular in Shakespeare's time-see Thomas Kyd- The Spanish Tragedy. 1. Consider the causes of Hamlet's desire for revenge, and the manner in which he pursues it. Some things that influence the course of Hamlet's revenge would be: • his attitude to Claudius; • his encounters with the ghost; • the Murder of Gonzago; • his relationship with his mother; • Polonius and his children; • Rosencrantz and Guildernstern.
While the people in the play believe the veil of lies that the king has spread, the audience knows that in reality, Claudius was the one to kill Old Hamlet. We learn this when the Ghost appears before Hamlet and tells him, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown.” This ignites Hamlet’s desire for revenge which in turn fuels the play. The main theme can be seen here as well, “How strange or
Theme Presentation Sanity vs. Insanity Theme Statement: Madness is a useful tool for Hamlet as it helps them reveal the truth. In the play Ophelia and Hamlet ignore all social boundaries as a result of madness. Introduction: When the ghost of his father appears initially triggers his madness. He then harnesses his madness to trap Claudius. This act of madness unfortunately leads to the unintentional death of Polonius.
However, the most incredible of all these passages is found in Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 164-177, where Macbeth contemplates his inner thoughts to himself. Here, Macbeth speaks to time, providing the audience with a more in depth image of its importance. Also, Macbeth’s diction is short and fierce, further pushing the play’s theme of insanity slowly taking over Macbeth’s mind. Lastly, the passage faultlessly illustrates Macbeth’s fatal flaw of ambition slowly ruining his inner being. With these things taken into account, it will be effortless for one to show just how lovely this passage is
Shakespeare had to make recourse to a wholly artificial device in order to show Hamlet in action, or inaction – the soliloquy. Another strain that goes through Hamlet, and a disturbing one, is the abuse by Hamlet of his former beloved and his mother, Ophelia and Gertrude. In his scenes with Ophelia, Hamlet is relentlessly cruel, charging her with a lustful nature, a dishonest heart, a dissembling appearance, and so on. He builds up, in scene three, to an utterly misogynistic rant, beginning, “I have heard of your paintings well enough.” Men in the English Renaissance were obsessed with women’s make-up, which they took to be a symbol of feminine wiles, excuses, manipulations, artifices, and hypocrisies. Shakespeare, especially, has a long rhetorical history with this line of vitriol; it shows up in many of his plays and features strongly in his Sonnets.
His organization of the players' performance of "The Murder of Gonzago" shows this well; only after seeing Claudius' reaction to the play does he prepare to act on the Ghost's plea for revenge. In Hamlet's madness he makes a few mistakes some small and some monumental. The biggest mistake Hamlet makes in his madness was accidently
Is Hamlet Insane? The topic of whether Hamlet is insane or not insane has become a very controversial dispute. Some say he Hamlet actually started to progressively become insane as the play went on (thoughts of suicide, etc.) and some say that he just put on an act to gain an opportunity to avenge his father’s death., who was murdered my Claudius, his brother. I believe that Hamlet was completely aware of the words he spoke and the actions he made and acted in a way that could be considered “insane” for vengeance.
Then at the end, Hamlets says “These tedious old fools” which is calling Polonius directly an old fool without trying to hide it as he did before. In Act 3 Scene 2, Polonius returns to Hamlet to inform him that the Queen is very upset about him and wants
This is also shown with Polonius’s un-trust worthiness for Hamlet. As to with Laertes who feels the exact same way as his father. Paolo Feliciano Mr. McCarthy A.P. Lit Examination Act 2 Open Ended Questions 1. After the slow transition from Hamlet’s mournful state, to his ever growing state of madness, does his madness itself become his primary mode of communication with the other characters?
Hamlet’s sanity is an arguable debate as it can be discussed both ways. It can be easily said that Hamlet was indeed insane as the pressure and emotional tension between his mother, Claudius, and himself, and the grief his father’s death led him to that state. These emotional and stressful situations can cause any normal person to become crazed, however though this situation is traumatic there is more evidence supporting that Hamlet is indeed sane, this is because of his sharp and conceivable trait displayed throughout the play. Though Hamlet was faced with many tragedies, he was able to form many different plans and continued to communicate normally with the characters, he trusted and was close with such as Horatio, Bernardo and the players. Hamlet believed in his sanity at all times, never doubting his control over psyche throughout the play as he was trying to get revenge for his father.