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Fortinbras challenges Claudius openly, unlike Hamlet who merely stages a play to test Claudius' guilt and tries (and fails) to kill the King at prayer. At first, Hamlet drew inspiration from a Player King's passion. In his "How all occasions" soliloquy he draws inspiration to take revenge from a real person.
Fortinbras' actions may be one reason that Hamlet decides to arrange for the murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern upon his return to Denmark. He tries to emulate Fortinbras' lack of concern for the fates of common people. He says to Horatio:
They are not near my conscience; their defeat
Does by their own insinuation grow:
'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensed points
Of mighty opposites (V.5).
Hamlet, however, never is able to fully emulate Fortinbras' attitude. He kills Claudius only after he has become the victim of the king's plot to poison him. Fortinbras invades and takes control over the entire kingdom, not just the lands lost by his father to Old Hamlet. Although Hamlet professes admiration for...
The 'man of action' wins the war, even if Hamlet wins the audience's sympathy. This fate is prefigured in Hamlet's soliloquy about Fortinbras: Hamlet can see that people with Fortinbras' attitude are more effective in politics, even if he cannot fully embrace this sentiment while trying to make his thoughts full of blood and revenge. Although he ends his speech vowing to be more like Fortinbras, his vow seems hollow, given his previous skepticism about the Norwegian. Hamlet's admiration is similar to the admiration one might feel today when seeing someone put a great deal of passion and effort into a questionable pursuit. For example, when someone works extremely hard to make a great deal of money to buy fancy houses and cars, you might admire the effort, dedication, and determination of the individual but still question his ethical and materialistic values and goals.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Shakespeare Homepage. May 14, 2009.
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/index.html
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Shakespeare Homepage. May 14, 2009.
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/index.html
[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
(II.ii.627-32) Here we see that Hamlet recognizes his weaknesses and his depression and blames them o the ghost. It is also significant to realize that Hamlet is practically resigning himself to a damned life with this assumption. He goes on to consider life and death and considers each. He states: To be, or not to be, -- that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows
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
"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.
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