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In the words of one of Fortinbras' soldiers, "We go to gain a little patch of ground/That hath in it no profit but the name" (IV.4). Unlike Hamlet, who is very wary about engaging in violence when he is composed, Fortinbras thinks nothing of fighting for a small patch of land. Hamlet tries to use this sight to whip himself into more revengeful thoughts but he also show little admiration for Fortinbras who: "Makes mouths at the invisible event,/ Exposing what is mortal and unsure . . . for an egg-shell" (IV.4). Hamlet is conscious of the fact that violent anger and a desire to seem powerful will result in the deaths of many people, even though he still feels bound to avenge his father (despite the fact that Claudius does not seem to be a particularly bad or incompetent king).
Throughout the play, it is not only Hamlet who suffers the effects of rebounding violence. Polonius is shown spying on his own children in an attempt to increase his reputation in the court. Eventually, he is accidentally killed by Hamlet when he is spying. Hamlet says, "I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so, /To punish me with this and this with me, /
That I must be their scourge and minister" (III.4). Hamlet does not glory in Polonius' death but rather views it as a punishment, that he is now a murderer and did not even mean to kill the man he murdered. Polonius' death also fulfills the sense of circularity in the play, of getting one's just desserts. Polonius is killed while spying as he lived while spying. This sense of fulfillment for one's meddling is further exemplified in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who, upon being charged to bear a letter to the King of England telling him to kill Hamlet instead meet their death. Hamlet says: "For 'tis the sport to have the engineer/Hoist with his own petard" (III.4). But yet again these vengeful deaths, particularly that of Polonius', simply create more bloodshed and do not…
" Hamlet seems particularly interested with this idea of holding a mirror to the reality of situations to betray their alliances with death. He uses the same metaphor when speaking to the players: "the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show Virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age
Hamlet The psychological deterioration of the title character is the cornerstone of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Consumed by a desire for revenge, Hamlet loses his already tenuous grip on reality. Starting the play with a scene in which Hamlet sees a ghost Shakespeare shows that Hamlet might not have been psychological stable to begin with, and that the emotional strain of losing his father at the hands of his uncle, and losing the
In the end, he is unable to break the bondage of his immorality, and dies permanently as a result. Death is therefore viewed in terms of the Christian duality of redemption and eternal damnation. The symbol of blood is prominently connected to this duality. Faustus uses his blood as a seal for his deal with the devil, and the blood of Jesus exemplifies the redemption that is available to
(Terry 1070) The play Hamlet therefore reflects this complex change in the honor code and the way that personal elements were being integrated into the traditional view of honor. The characters of Hamlet and Laertes also show this complexity in their motives and actions. Terry points out that there was no clear distinction between the different honor codes at the time but that there was rather an overlapping of elements
Hamlet Analysis of "Black Hamlet: Battening on the Moor" by Patricia Parker In the journal article "Black Hamlet: Battening on the Moor" (2003) in Shakespeare Studies, author Patricia Parker centered on 'blackness' as one of the emergent symbolisms in William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet." Parker used blackness as the symbolical representation of important themes that were underscored in the play. Synonymously associating blackness with impurity, malice, death, deviltry, vengeance, and melancholy, the
Ophelia's burial and funeral. At the beginning of the scene, two clowns (gravediggers) make jokes about death and also wonder whether Ophelia was a good Christian woman and worthy of burial in a Christian cemetery. Finally, the two gravediggers make a joke about the "houses" they build lasting "till doomsday," referring to the eternity and finality of death. This message about mortality continues as Hamlet enters the scene and