A great example of Hamlet’s complicated and elaborate ways of obtaining what he wants is the plot of the “Mouse Trap” for catching the King’s conscience. Instead of asking the king violently, just like Laertes, if he had killed his father, he prefers to use subtler suggestions expressed through parallel stories that mirror Claudius’ actions and situation. There is yet one more example that displays clearly the difference between these two characters; they essentially want the same thing: to fulfill their duties and carry on with their lives. Despite their common end, each one of them
Hamlet makes sure his uncle is guilty of murder before enacting his revenge. Hamlet is not insane because; He tells people that he will pretend to be, He makes a lot of sense even when he is supposedly crazy, and He acts insane at highly convenient times. Hamlet tells his friends that he will pretend to be crazy. He says to Horatio and Marcellus: Here as before, never, so help you mercy, How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, As I perchance shall think meet To put an antic disposition on, (I, V, 171-173). In this quote Hamlet tells them that no matter how strange he is acting, they should not be alarmed because he is going to feign insanity.
A tragic hero will effectively gain our fear and pity if he is a good mixture of good and evil. Ophelia can be viewed as a tragic hero in this play. We first meet Ophelia in Act 1, Scene 3 where she is warned by her brother Laertes that Hamlet is playing with her and that she should not keep her "chaste treasure open" suggesting that his sister has no 'worth of her own except in her sex'. Ophelia hears her brother but sticks up for herself and defends her relationship with Hamlet. She even turns Laertes' lesson around to focus on him and how he is doing exactly what he is telling Ophelia not to do.
Can those who see really be the blind one? Good morning, my name is Samira Hussaini and I will be talking about Oedipus the King by Sophocles. The playwright, Sophocles, has successfully presented important ideas in the play Oedipus the King such as pride, fate and free will and also blindness by creating an interwoven plot with unique events and complex circumstances. We later discover that Oedipus’s pride and self-determination to seek out the truth relate directly to his downfall. Fate and free will shows how his parent’s choice sets his destiny and pathways without Oedipus having a say in the matter.
In the king’s monologue, Shakespeare’s use of antithesis creates a balanced contrast between Claudius’ real thoughts and lies that he is telling to the people. Such literary device not only emphasizes the contradiction in the king’s character but sets the border between the truth and the lie in his speech. When the king starts with the conjunction “though,” the reader can already be aware of the possible context of the second part of the sentence that will be contradicting with the first part. As Claudius talks about his brother, the contrast between the words “death” and “green” creates an effect of revealing Claudius’ insincerity as he talks about his brother. Also, when he talks about Old Hamlet, he does not call him “my brother.” In fact, he uses the first person plural pronoun “our” as if he tries to redeem himself from this connection to his brother.
Claudius then starts questioning the “argument” in the play and speculates if there is any “offense in [it]” against him (III. ii. 256-257). The King’s feeling of guilt is shown within itself during the play, showing his development of compassion, even though it disagrees with his image as a conspirator. Although caused by different evils, Hamlet also struggles with internal conflict, just like his uncle and stepfather.
Ominous signs (Omens) 3. Dreams Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. (1.2.9) • Even though Cassius claims men are “masters of their fates” to help persuade Brutus, there are many factors in the play which point otherwise o Omens and Prophesies that come true o As the characters struggle with questions of fate vs. free will, audience already knows what will happen, use of dramatic irony o Fate of men are predetermined It seems to me most strange that men should fear, Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come (2.2.35) • Caesar recognizes certain events lie beyond human control Quotes: 1. Beware the Ides of March. (1.2.3) • Soothsayer told
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 is a distinctive tragedy which segregates from the conventions of Shakespearean dramaturgy, continually exploring in an enduring manner the ineffectuality of vengeance through the inaction of the protagonist. The playcommunicates the futility of revenge through Hamlet’s philosophical reasoning and paralysis, and through the impulsive consequences of Laertes and Fortinbras’ own avenger destinies. Through his antithetical use of character foils, Shakespeare demonstrates the renaissance values of humanism and individual choice, which in turn critiques the traditional role played by wrath and vengeance in Elizabethan tragedies. As such, the audience witnesses that it is this examination of inaction and the inadequacy of revenge which subverts the tradition of tragedy,
Finally Hamlet had the perfect opportunity to get his revenge and yet again his indecisiveness is getting the best of him. Hamlet was procrastinating with his revenge of his father’s death because he was too indecisive on when and how he was going to do it also whether or not the ghost was right. He was over thinking everything and worrying if it was his father’s ghost or not. Hamlet was questioned, “Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, / Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, / Be thy intents wicked or charitable, / Thou com’st in such a questionable shape” (1.4. 40-43).