Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
" It is the contrasts between these three characters which give significance to the parallelisms. The intelligent, sensitive Hamlet and the hot-headed Machiavellian Laertes perish on the same poisoned foil, leaving the kingdom to the cool-headed Norwegian, who has been a shrewder contriver than either. To drop the Fortinbras scenes from the play, as is frequently done in modern productions, is to destroy Shakespeare's dramatic plan.
(Holzknecht 253)
Holzknecht hints at the dramatic plan of the work and also gives us the missing final peace in the puzzle of Shakespeare's message. The constant and literal brutality that is derived from ambition and even righteous revenge could end in the loss of the kingdom, thus leaving the contriver, no matter how good, with nothing and the masses without a nation, or with one so foreign that their lives will never be the same.
Shakespeare annihilates the ideals of a good ruler by making clear, without a doubt that the evils that drive man are within reach of anyone who has any real power. Describing Hamlet's antithesis as Machiavellian makes it even more clear as the despotic designs of a prince in times of need are just as dangerous as the intellectual soft hearted Hamlet's madness, to the nation as a whole. They both lose everything,...
Yet, in an intriguing point for further research, the patron class may well have been aware that the even bad press is good press and been reluctant to subvert the subtle message because they would then have to both explain it and acknowledge their fear of the truth, that would be so bloodily represented in the future of renaissance rebellions and revolutions.
Works Cited
Hibbard, G.R., ed. Hamlet. Oxford: Oxford University, 1998.
Holzknecht, Karl J. The Backgrounds of Shakespeare's Plays. New York: American Book Co., 1950.
Levy, Eric. "The Problematic Relation between Reason and Emotion in Hamlet." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 53.2 (2001): 83.
Linton, David. "Shakespeare as Media Critic: Communication Theory and Historiography." Mosaic (Winnipeg) 29.2 (1996): 1-15.
Works Cited
Hibbard, G.R., ed. Hamlet. Oxford: Oxford University, 1998.
Holzknecht, Karl J. The Backgrounds of Shakespeare's Plays. New York: American Book Co., 1950.
Levy, Eric. "The Problematic Relation between Reason and Emotion in Hamlet." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 53.2 (2001): 83.
Linton, David. "Shakespeare as Media Critic: Communication Theory and Historiography." Mosaic (Winnipeg) 29.2 (1996): 1-15.
(Shakespeare 1994) The play stands out from many aspects. However, there are some elements which make it one of the most important of Shakespeare's works and one of the most acclaimed. The tragedy comes from the eventual incompatibility between true love and the code of honor. Convinced by Iago's evil plan that his wife was unfaithful, Othello the Moor of Venice becomes blind to any explication and swears revenge. In
Shakespeare's Play "All's Well that ends well" -- a Critique Conflict between generations is a theme prevalent in many of Shakespeare's tragedies, histories, and comedies. Romeo and Juliet struggle against their parents' feud and values. Hamlet battles within himself to deal with the ethics of his father's order for revenge. Hal and his biological father, Henry IV, work out an uneasy coexistence, while the Prince simultaneously resolves his relationship with his
Reflecting the greater audience sympathy stirred in Five Kings and its cinematic incarnation Chimes at Midnight, the Welles saga ends with Hal pardoning Falstaff for disturbing his coronation, thus showing a more loving tribute to Falstaff than utterly rejecting him, as in the original Shakespeare. Falstaff's potentially seditious views of honor and the importance of the individual's life over sacrificing it for the collective are thus validated very clearly in
Introduction William Shakespeare and Robert Burns are both iconic figures in the UK. Also known as the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare is often regarded as England’s national poet. Shakespeare is also considered the world’s greatest English writer and dramatist. During his time, Shakespeare authored tens of plays, over a hundred sonnets, and several narrative poems and verses (Marche, 2012). Shakespeare’s work has been translated into virtually all major languages of the
Yes, the Oedipus complex aspect of Shakespeare it gives us and which in turn invites us to think about the issue of subjectivity, the myth and its relation to psychoanalytic theory. (Selfe, 1999, p292-322) Hemlet and Postcolonial theory Postcolonial theory was born as a result of the publication of the famous work of Edward Said, Orientalism (1978). This theory claim that some authors (Paul Gilroy, Achille Mbembe, Francoise Verges, etc.) and
Hamlet's Insanity Hamlet's sanity has been questioned by critics of the play for centuries: is the Dane merely acting in order to fool the spies following him around the castle? -- or does he actually lose his mind? Part of the difficulty is that both seem possible (Davis 629). The other part is that critics tend to think it an either/or proposition -- as in, either Hamlet is acting or Hamlet