[Bradley: 121]. According to Beck (1997) depressive symptoms include consistently low mood, pessimistic thoughts, loss of excitement and decreased energy. These symptoms are found in Hamlet as well as he calls himself melancholic (II.ii.597) and confirms his condition further by saying: But I have that within which passes show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe. (I.ii.85-6) Hamlet also tells us that he has lost excitement for life and people

Even the lighter moments of the play, such as Hamlet's advice to the players, is full of negative language. The advice is largely what not to do, with the only positive direction to get a "smoothness" rather than the rough and choppy negative habits of many actors (III, ii, 8). Hamlet's later soliloquy in Act IV, scene four, is also full of negative admonitions, this time of himself: "How all

Though Hamlet can, and does, clearly make a difference in the situation on the physical plane, he may or may not have achieved any change in the world beyond the grave. Hamlet's death at the end of the play ensures that, though Hamlet will inevitably answer all of his metaphysical questions by entering the realm of the dead himself, he is unable to provide any comfort or information to

While Macbeth also appears to see ghosts as a result of killing his friend and the king, it is very probable that his visions are caused by his conscience, as he is unable to get over the fact that he murdered his best friend and the king. Lady Macbeth also yields to hallucinations: "Here's the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little

"So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr" (Shakespeare, William) is a Shakespearian juxtaposition used to compare Old Hamlet with Claudius. Hamlet alludes to Hyperion, the God of Light who represents not only honor and virtue, but also nobility, which are all traits Hamlet saw in his own father. The half-human, half-beast satyr creature represents hedonism and excess, similar to the way Hamlet regards Claudius.

Hamlet and Revenge Hamlet -- Prince of Denmark -- is considered to be one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. (Meyer, 2002). It is also one of his most complex plays. It is about the evolution of a character within the context of a revenge drama -- that of Hamlet in Hamlet. In keeping with the revenge-theme of this drama, this thesis of this essay will aver that Shakespeare exalts Hamlet as a