Hamlet Madness Essays (Examples)

Heaven and earth! Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him as if increase of appetite had grown by what it fed on: and yet, within a month, -- Let me not think on't, -- Frailty, thy name is woman! -- a little month; or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father's body Like Niobe, all tears; -- why she, even she, -- O God! A beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer, -- married with mine uncle, My father's brother; but no more like my father Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, She married: -- O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot come to good; but break my heart, -- for I…

He questions whether he should try to clear the court of corruption or just give up and end his life now. It is this emotional doubt that drives Hamlet to act deranged at times, but he overcomes it, and almost manages to answer the difficult questions posed in his life. In Act V, when calm returns, Hamlet repents his behavior (V, ii, 75-78) (Lidz, 164).
In Lidz's book Freud is quoted as saying "that if anyone holds and expresses to others an opinion of himself such as this [Hamlet's "Use every man after his desert, and who shall escape whipping?"], he is ill, whether he is speaking the truth whether he is being more or less unfair to himself." Though Hamlet has proved his intellectual stability, he is quite obviously emotionally "ill."

This emotional illness and uncertainty is why Hamlet procrastinates in the killing of Claudius. On his way to…

Hamlet Annotated Bibliography
Cook, Patrick J. Cinematic Hamlet: the Films of Olivier, Zeffirelli, Branagh, and Almereyda.

Athens, Ohio: Ohio UP. 2011. Print. This book focuses on the many versions of Hamlet that have been made for the silver screen. The play by illiam Shakespeare is one of the most frequently filmed works and each version of the story has a unique perspective. Director, screenwriter, and of course actor each influence the overall position of the film. Each chooses which elements of the story to emphasize and which to underplay. Even films that use the complete text of Shakespeare's work still alter the original by the act of interpretation. By examining each version, focusing on the three four major ones, the author helps explain what was important to the artists and by extension to the audience who would have seen the film.

In the context of a paper, each film would…

Hamlet's Ghost has presented a problem for critics and readers since it first appeared on stage some four hundred years ago. Serving as the pivot upon which the action of the play is established -- Hamlet's father's ghost delivers him important information about his death and the throne -- one is likely to ask whether the ghost is truly the soul of King Hamlet or rather a devil appearing in disguise in order to trick (like Iago) the hero of the drama into a fatal course. This paper will examine the theology behind Hamlet's ghost and compare and contrast the Christian and unchristian, Catholic and Protestant, traits found in the play.
As Roy . Battenhouse states, "One may agree with Dover ilson that the Ghost is the 'linchpin' without which Hamlet falls to pieces, yet question ilson's judgment that the Ghost 'is Catholic,' 'comes from Purgatory,' and 'is the only…

She...handles Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with skill and diplomacy...has the accent of command with her son...witty and perceptive about Polonius...she is not stupid at her job: there she gives out and reserves herself in good proportion." (Pennington 160) Gertrude's performance in the court shows Branagh makes a commitment as a director to giving the female characters of the play individualistic integrity beyond their ability to mirror different Oedipal aspects of the central protagonist's development. "There isn't an iota of sexual energy or tension in Hamlet's confrontation with his mother," unlike Oliver's version, where a bed is featured in the confrontation scene between Hamlet and his mother in Act IV, Scene 3. (Rosenberg, 1996) Julie Christie's Gertrude is morally conflicted about what she has done, and increasingly aware that she might have married a murderer after the confrontation of the closet scene. But Oliver's Gertrude is simply infatuated with her son. She…

Dissidence for Sinfield is the element in a text that seeks to contradict the dominant ideology of the text, or of the culture in which the text was produced (Sinfield agrees with Marx that these are the same thing). Subversiveness is similar, perhaps even identical in objective; the difference is that to be subversive, a text must be successful in its dissidence. For that reason, one must consult the historical impact of a text to determine whether it was subversive or merely dissident. In Othello, one could say that Othello was dissident in his challenge of racial assumptions, where Iago was subversive in overthrowing the hierarchy that supports Othello.

3.

In his article "The Breakdown of Medieval Hierarchy in King Lear," Alessandro Serpieri locates in the tension between the hierarchical system and those who are exiled or exile themselves from that system a mirror for the falling away of the…

" This madness likely leads to Ophelia's suicide but, consistent with the entire theme of this play, the exact nature of Ophelia's demise is left to speculation.
The fascination with Hamlet is uncanny. hat provides this fascination is the fact that there is always more to what is going on in the play than what actually appears to be. Observers of the play are left with an overwhelming feeling that they do not really understand what has gone on inside the confines of the play or why. As a result, one leaves the play questioning nearly everything. Halmet, the main character, is the personification of this confusion. Throughout the entire play he is plagued by a never ending incapacity to make a decision.

This confusion continues through nearly every character in the play. Claudius is an immoral murderer but, at the same time, he is a fair and competent ruler.…

This explains the indecisiveness of Hamlet to remove Claudius and a strong barrier between Gertrude and Hamlet is made by him so as he will never express his true emotions for her. Hamlet feelings for Gertrude will be disguised by the ones for Ophelia which aren't real as long as Claudius stayed in the way. His original indecisiveness about revenge ultimately grew and he tried to defy his order after a while. hen his mother is killed, then the reason for not killing Claudius disappears and he makes the decision to kill his him and avenge his father. His indecisiveness does cost him his life and that of his mother who was the one reason for his living (Utter 137).
The tragic flaw is of Hamlet is evident in his indecisiveness to take revenge for the death of his father. Hamlet brings up several excuses for not taking action yet…

The centrality of the ghost to the play's metaphysics might be inferred from the fact that illiam Shakespeare acted as the ghost and the player king (Bloom), a strange chimera and bellerophon within the anatomy of the play. To cite Eliot again, Hamlet "is the 'Mona Lisa' of literature" (cf. Hoy 182). It is an exciting challenge to participate in this critical tradition in hopes of concluding it. However, the volumes of superb criticism on Hamlet and King Hamlet's ghost are vast, and this is a mere gloss of its character. If we obsess over it too much, we, like Hamlet, may become lost in its problems.

orks Cited and Consulted

Bloom, Harold. Hamlet: Poem Unlimited. Riverhead Books: New York, 2003.

Dodsworth, Martin. Hamlet Closely Observed. The Athlone Press: London, 1985.

Greenblatt, Stephen. Hamlet in Purgatory. Princeton University Press: Princeton, 2001.

How, Cyrus, ed. illiam Shakespeare Hamlet, Second Edition. ..…

Hamlet is by far one of Shakespeare's more enigmatic characters. e understand from the beginning of the play with Horatio and Marcellus that they think very highly of Hamlet as they decide to tell him first about the ghostly vision they saw whom they believe to be his father. However, when we meet Hamlet, we are confused. Is he depressed -- or is he simply cruel (Davies 30)? Or is Hamlet, a man who is overly sensitive, deeply melancholy, and armed with a reflective mind, simply mad? It is this dichotomy of characteristics that always leave us guessing about Hamlet's psychological state. Hamlet himself does not deny this. In fact, he says to his mother, the queen, that there is much more to him than people see.
'Seems', madam -- nay it is, I know not 'seems'.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, cold mother,

Nor customary suits of solemn…

Of course, Hamlet would then likely assume the throne, but Hamlet seems to have little interest in ruling, as he scoffs when Guildenstern and Rosencrantz say that it is his frustrated ambition that makes him melancholic. Hamlet is a rational and philosophical individual, hence his constant self-searching about the nature of the ghost, about the possibility of an afterlife that no traveler may return (if the ghost is a devil), but he also emotionally wants to avenge his father's death, as he does believe his father has been murdered. Hamlet's emotions and intelligence are often in conflict, which makes him a less effective 'adventure hero' than the ruthless and cold Fortinbras.
In contrast to Fortinbras, Hamlet has much more sympathy with Laertes' quest to avenge a murdered father, even though he is the cause of the other young man's outrage. Hamlet accidently kills Laertes' father Polonius while Polonius is spying…

Bradley describes this by saying that "Othello's nature is all of one piece... Love, if he loves, must be to him the heaven where either he must leave or bear no life. If such a passion as jealousy seizes him, it will swell into a well-night incontrollable flood" (Bradley 188). This shows how Othello goes to the extremes, especially relating to his emotions. Bradley also says that "He is quite free from introspection, and is not given to reflection. Emotion excites his imagination, but it confuses and dulls his intellect" (Bradley 188). This shows that like Hamlet, Othello is not able to consider the source of his emotions. This occurs as a natural part of Othello's character, while for Hamlet it is specifically linked to the particular situation and the particular emotion. However, the end result is the same with both characters unable to consider their emotions and rationalize them.…

[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 in general as he confides in osencrantz and Guildenstern, saying nothing really excites or delights him anymore. (II.ii.295-309).

How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of this world! (I.ii.133-4)

His negativity is also apparent on numerous occasions. For example he refers to Demark as a prison (II.ii.243) and makes bitter comments about women (III.i.111-51). He talks about death and mortality frequently and make allusions to poor sleep when he says, "were it not…

Dane Johnston gave a stunning performance in the title role of the play. In fitting with the modern interpretation of the classic, Johnston's rendering of Hamlet is akin to the "emo" youth subculture - just as Ophelia is meant to conform to the "gothic" subculture. At the same time, Johnston delivered Hamlet's numerous long monologues with sophistication and ease, proving to the audience that you do not have to fake a British accent in order to accurately capture the Shakespearean essence of the role.

Hamlet's best friends, Horatio (Kit Fugard) and Marcella (Vanessa Downs), were also portrayed as "scene kids," but obviously of an artistic and intelligent nature. Angela Donor's interpretation of Ophelia tended to be a bit melodramatic at some points during the play; at the same time, it can be said that such over-acting may be necessary, as it is part of Ophelia's true nature.

Overall, the technical…

Hamlet decides to play at being mad in ways that seem calculated. This is evidenced in his verbal dueling with Polonius, the courtier of the play who in contrast to the blind prophet of the Greek tragedy is truly a foolish old man, rather than merely seeming so. But even Polonius admits that Hamlet's madness seems to have a verbal sense to it -- although the reason for Hamlet pretending to be mad vacillates. At first Hamlet accepts the ghost's words, then tests those words, and then uses purgatory as an excuse not to kill Claudius while the king is praying after the staged play "The Mousetrap."
Hamlet's brilliance lies mainly in his acceptance of his fate with a clear head and his recognition of moral ambiguity. Finally, he says to Horatio, in the fifth and last act of the play, to let be, and the readiness is all --…

The play was the thing wherein I caught the conscience of the king -- that means I knew he was guilty.
San: Even if he was guilty, what did killing him serve? All there was left was a court in total disarray and a lot of dead bodies. You say your revenge had a purpose, but it didn't really. Revenge is only undertaken for personal motives -- being drunk and angry because you think someone took your sister's virginity, for instance. It has nothing to do with anything loftier. Indeed, it is this very perspective which produces the type of collective bloodlust that would seize my life. You have made yourself an executioner, perhaps as mad with assurance of his deeds as were those first committed some wrong.

Ham: That's not true! There was a method to my madness. I needed to make a point -- a very long point…

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 love and respect of his mother too, might have been too much for the delicate prince to handle. Coupled with Hamlet's lack of ability to sincerely court Ophelia, his emotions related to his family issues eat away at him until he behaves in criminal ways. The madness of Hamlet is a central theme of the play, naturally contributing to the essential meaning of the work as a whole. As he succumbs to madness, Hamlet becomes a classical tragic hero.…

Hamlet act3 sene3 Machiavelli chapter 7-15-25-26 Lens Machiavelli concept Hamlet Intro - text author, content, method Paragraph1- Machiavelli concept explain applied hamlet compare Hamlet act3 sene3 Machiavelli chapter 7-15-25-26 work enables misunderstand play's ending significant relevant divergence hamlet Machiavelli Second essay compare Hamlet act 4.
First essay

Unlike Prince Hamlet, who is a man who is concerned with the morality of kingship as well as is an aggrieved son avenging his father, King Claudius of Shakespeare's Hamlet is primarily concerned with holding onto his power. Claudius does have some moral qualms about his actions, but not enough to repent. This is seen when Claudius tries to pray for forgiveness but is unable to do so: "O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven" (3.3). However, the political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli would diagnose Claudius' problem as being insufficiently ruthless up to this point in his dealings with his nephew. Claudius…

Hamlet" by William Shakespeare
The play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare has a story that revolves around the main themes of revenge and search for the truth. Shakespeare's male characters, in particular, are portrayed somewhat villainously because of the element of revenge inherent in each character's motivations in the play. Among the male characters in the play, the characters of Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras emerge as the most remarkable among the numerous character in Shakespeare's piece. Many characteristics are shared among these three primary male characters. The first characteristic is that they possess the vitality of their youth, and the second one is that all of them face the world in an idealistic and somewhat naive perspective. Their being young, naive, and idealistic are the main reasons why, throughout the play, they have resorted to radical actions and behavior that will cause either their victory or downfall.

This paper will conduct…

In Act 1 Scene 4, as Hamlet, Horatio and Marcellus talk about the ghost, Horatio says:
What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,

or to the dreadful summit of the cliff

That beetles o'er his base into the sea,

And there assume some other horrible form,

Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason

And draw you into madness? think of it:

This sets the reader or play viewer to wonder about Hamlet's sanity as the play progresses. In fact the concern over Hamlet's sanity is foreshadowed in scene iv. When Hamlet tells his friend he will follow the ghost and hear what he has to say, Horatio says, "He waxes desperate with imagination" (I.4.87). However, in Act I scene 5, we see Hamlet's extended conversation with the ghost of his father. In this discussion Hamlet remains emotional but rational. He realizes that what the ghost tells him…

(arlow 45 -- 57) ("Hamlet")
How should Readers Account for his ehavior throughout the Play?

The way that readers should account for his behavior, is that a series of events began to influence the way Hamlet and the different characters were reacting to a host of events. As the ghost that he saw, caused him to believe that he should do everything to try to avenge the death of his father. This is dysfunctional, in that the majority of people do not let a spiritual being influence their actions in such negative ways. Instead, they will use this to help to motivate them to accomplish a much higher purpose. For example, if Hamlet had decided that he would avenge his father's death by becoming the King one day. He could focus on areas that would help him to live up to the ideals and values that he was known for.…

He tells Laertes to keep his good friends close to his heart, but Polonius' definition of friendship is not so much of fellowship, but who can prove politically advantageous to the young man.
Question

Two examples of sublime reasoning in the play are when Hamlet says to his old school friends before the arrival of the players that Denmark is a prison, simply because he feels that it is -- in other words, place and quality of place is a state of mind, rather than having an extrinsic reality. and, in regards to the players, Hamlet says they must be treated better than they deserve, in Act 2, because if they did not, who would escape "whipping." However, for faulty logic, Laertes is unparalleled, as he blames Hamlet alone not only for Polonius' death, but for Ophelia's madness as well, and willingly goes along with Claudius' underhanded plans to kill…

Then he embraces Ophelia and weeps, indicating he is sad because he knows that it is unlikely that he will ever have a normal relationship, given his enforced role as an avenger.
Of course, there are moments in the text where Hamlet does seem completely out of control, as in the case Hamlet's accidental homicide of Polonius, but Jacobi's performance underlines the wisdom and intelligence of Hamlet's character. When Jacobi's Hamlet does lash out, he reproaches himself for it, in body language as well as in his use of the text. Jacobi is never irrational. Even when at emotional extremes, he does not descend into a dissociative state. Hamlet still seems to have the most secure grip on reality of all the major characters: he sees the darkness of Denmark and the fact that he is likely doomed, and in this sense he is even more clear-eyed than his friend…

illiam Shakespear - Hamlet
Hamlet's responsibility for crimes occurring in "The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"

"The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" is one of illiam Shakespeare's greatest works and an inspiration for the world for the last four centuries. The play generates much controversy as audiences are encouraged to get actively involved in interpreting it as a consequence of the multitude of emotions it contains. Considering ideas like blame or responsibility in this play can be a very intriguing act, taking into account the ease with which one can falsely attribute them to a character. hile the easiest thing to do is to believe that Hamlet is to blame for much of the suffering that occurs across the tragedy's duration, the reality is that the play is too complex for that, with the Prince actually being a victim -- he was unable to understand the situation he…

Of course, the last thing on Hamlet's mind would be marriage since he is wrestling with the tragedy of his father's death and his mother's betrayal. In light of all of these facts it is very unlikely that Polonius would be wrong, and it seems that his observations and expectations of his daughter are quite astute.
On the opposite end of Ophelia's situation is Hamlet, who is very much the Id. Hamlet himself is extremely emotional and impulsive, allowing his Id to overcome him in many situations. He wrestles with his own conscious, and as a character, he is truly one of the most fully developed, showing evidence of the inner conflict that Freud set out to illustrate with his components of personality. However, when it comes to his relationship with Ophelia, he is very much her Id. Though she has convinced herself that Hamlet loved her, he himself states…

Hamlet Soliloquies
Act I, Scene ii, 129 - Hamlet

Hamlet in this particular soliloquy is lamenting the poor state of things he finds upon returning home. Just before his emotional speech, Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, announces the sudden death of Hamlet's father, the late King of Denmark. In the same mourning speech, Claudius also declares his taking the throne and marrying the widowed queen, Gertrude. Because of this, there is a festive tone to the atmosphere, and Hamlet, it appears, seems to be the only one in mourning.

The main points in Hamlet's speech revolve around his father's cruel end and his mother's sudden marriage to Claudius. Keeping in mind that Hamlet had been abroad until the recent news hit, hearing about his father's death becomes a gigantic blow to Hamlet's well-being. Upon arriving and discovering that his mother is already remarried, Hamlet further breaks down and laments over the fickleness…

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 hero -- justifiably, though within reason. Indeed, Hamlet is a hero. He rights a horrible wrong. The reader of the play hopes against hope that his quest for vengeance is successful. This vengeance takes the form of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The reader of the play is taken to emotional upheavals when the failure of Hamlet's quest almost becomes a certitude but for a quirk of fate -- the exchange of swords.…

Hamlet
The play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare contains a rich diversity of issues and relationships, some of the greatest of which concern those between father and son. These relationships, most notably those between Hamlet and the late King Hamlet, Fortinbras and Old Fortinbras, and Polonius and Laertes, demonstrate a number of significant, unique characteristics as well as several themes that are both timeless and universal.

The first evidence of father/son conversation occurs when the Ghost appears to Hamlet in Act One Scene V. The father's spirit imparts essential information to Hamlet about the circumstances of his treacherous murder at his brother's hands, which in turn precipitates Hamlet's long agonising and plotting. Despite the initial dramatic impact of Hamlet being addressed by a ghost, the conversation reveals that the relationship is effectively typical, in that the father enlightens and guides his son. However, it is also exemplary and exceptional in that…

This sudden tragedy occurs, no less, just as Ophelia is to happily crown the hanging boughs of the tree, which symbolically represents the happy instance that must have occurred just prior to the play's opening -- Hamlet's engagement to Ophelia. As on the bank of the brook, so too with Hamlet -- an "envious sliver broke"; the "rash" and "intruding" Polonius interjected himself and denied Ophelia what her nature so plainly made her for: to love. He teaches her, rather, to doubt and to suspect. Ophelia falls victim to the plague of Elsinore, which may be stated as the conflict between truth and falsehood.
The Man's Nature

Hamlet engages in this conflict in an altogether different manner, however. If Ophelia and Gertrude approach it from the direction of love, Hamlet approaches it from the direction of reason. Gertrude and Ophelia intuit; Hamlet rationalizes. Ophelia, for example, appreciates Hamlet's predicament immediately…

Since he himself cannot directly accuse the King, he will use the actors to do so silently.
Other critics argue that the King does not see the dumb-show. Because there is no text in the play which describes what Claudius is doing at the moment that the dumb-show is being enacted, it is impossible to say one way or the other. The "second tooth" theory is the more widely accepted theory, and it fits with the theme of silent representation of support being taken away. Just as Hamlet silently displays for Ophelia his loss of sense, structure and support; just as the ghost silently displays for the watchmen his loss of primacy in Elsinore by wandering without purpose along the battlements, so too does Claudius silently react to the dumb-show, attempting to swallow this sudden and startling depiction of the horrific claim he has been attempting to hide for the…

Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Why Does Death Prevail
William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark begins and ends with death. The play begins with the ghost of Hamlet's dead father, haunting the battlements and urging his son to avenge his foul murder; the play ends with the death of Hamlet himself. The play also famously is driven by a quest for death, namely the desire of Hamlet to avenge his father's murder. But much as Hamlet burns in hatred for his uncle, the play also shows acute consciousness of the fact that violence merely begets more violence. Even though Hamlet's revenge may be justified, particularly after Claudius seeks to take Hamlet's life through secretly poisoning Laertes' sword, the act of murdering anyone, justly or unjustly, will never have a good end. Although the play suggests that revenge may be morally necessary (even Hamlet doubts this at…

Hamlet lives vicariously through the devices that he uses to capture or replay reality. However, those devices actually serve to separate Hamlet from the very world he is seeking to capture. This concept is dramatically displayed by Hamlet's use of headphones. Though headphones generally provide a listener with music or other entertainment, Almereyda's makes it clear that they also serve a secondary purpose: to shut out the external world. Therefore, although Hamlet appears connected all the time, Almereyda makes the point that Hamlet uses technology and technological devices to shut out the other characters in the movie.
While Hamlet's use of the headphones displays his overt attempts to block out society, they are not the only way that technology interferes in interpersonal relationships. In fact, Almereyda consistently has technology, whether the hum of a jet or the ringing of a phone, interrupt human interactions. These constant interruptions cause a variety…

illiam Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are several distinct characteristics of misery and madness that abound in both Hamlet and Ophelia. Their lunacy each stems from similar sources of grief, but the true evolution of their madness is methodically different due to their gender and their status in Elizabethan society.
Throughout Hamlet, Ophelia appears in a mere five scenes and is only one of two females present in the play and therefore stands not to pose as a prominent member of the play. Ophelia's father, Polonius, whom is the chief advisor to the new King Claudius, and a highly respected man, demands that his daughter tell Hamlet that she can no longer be with him even though she desperately is in love with him.

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth have you so slander any moment leisure as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look…

Theatre:
English-speaking versions of Hamlet vs. European versions

The many contemporary interpretations of Shakespeare enacted on the modern stage underline the fact that Shakespeare was a playwright for the ages, not simply a man of his own time. However, in the ways in which Shakespeare has been adapted to modernity, it becomes apparent that modern directors are just as intent upon revealing their own personal preoccupations as well as revealing the nuances of Shakespeare's plays. This can be seen when comparing British interpretations with European and other non-English language stagings of Hamlet. Although the most obvious difference between these two categories is that British interpretations are in the original language of Shakespeare while European stagings are enacted in translation, the difference runs far deeper. English productions tend to emphasize the psychological, internal conflict of Hamlet and view the play in terms of its psychological drama. In contrast, European interpretations of…

Characterization of Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet
In illiam Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the character of Ophelia is perhaps the most tragic, as her wishes and desires are constantly sublimated in favor of the scheming characters around her. Essentially she is used as bait for Hamlet, and when her father dies, she is left to her own madness and death (a death whose circumstances leave open the possibilities of accident or suicide). By examining the characterization of Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet, it will be possible to see how the play uses her conversations to heighten the tragedy of her death and subsequently implicate the other characters, and especially Polonius and Gertrude, more fully in her breakdown and death, thus revealing the destructive nature of gender stereotypes and the social roles they reinforce.

Before examining the character of Ophelia in more detail, it will be useful to briefly examine previous critical work on…

Hamlet's Character
Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a complex character full of intrigue and non-linear dispensation. He is well aware of it though, for he starts his quest by pretending to be confused, a cloak, he cannot always easily shed or even distinguish his real self from the assumed role-playing as he himself observes in Act 1, 13-14 "Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly." Hamlet insists on having a multi-psychological facet notwithstanding that he demonstrates difficulty in understanding and accepting all his layers.

Aspects of Hamlet's Character that are Admirable

Hamlet is not reckless or impulsive. He weighs his action and thoughts through all perspectives. He is…

Shakespeare Write Hamlet?
One of the most striking aspects of the play Hamlet as well as the character of Hamlet himself is the play's self-reflective quality. Hamlet is about putting on a play, and not simply the play which Hamlet stages to dramatize Claudius' guilt before the rest of the court. From the very beginning of the play, Hamlet is obsessed with the idea of being versus seeming and what is real and unreal. Alone of all members of the court, including his mother, Hamlet still wears black in mourning for his father and insists that he does so out of real sentiment, saying he does not even know what seems means:

For they are actions that a man might play:

But I have that within which passeth show;

These but the trappings and the suits of woe (I.2).

Hamlet believes that his grief is real, in contrast to 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 that seem so elegant in its formulation, in my opinion raises three fundamental problems: At a time when we are witnessing the emergence of new expressions of colonialism (colonialism, cultural, political and economic globalization, neo-colonialism nestled in the relationship between the hegemonic colonial past and their old colonies, colonialism in disguise that structure the relationship between international institutions and developing countries, institutions from the rest behest of the former colonial powers according to their interests), speak of post-colonial era…

McCombe agrees, observing that Zeffirelli's film "links Hamlet's hesitancy to his unnaturally strong bond with his mother" (McCombe). Crowl believes that Gertrude is at the center of the film, or "at the center of Hamlet's fractured consciousness, rather than the ghost or Claudius. The film is much more about sons and mothers than fathers and uncles" (Crowl). hile this may be true, we should also consider how this interpretation is much more emotional this way. Hamlet's troubles are predominantly linked to his mother in one way or another. Zeffirelli captures the complexities of this relationship by making it complicated and a sensitive issue for Hamlet in the long run. In the final scene of the film, we see the depth of the emotions Hamlet feels for his mother. Ophelia is another woman that allows us to see the extremity of Hamlet's emotion. She is beautiful and seems quite innocent. hen…

The script eliminates one of Ophelia's major monologues, when she details to Polonius how Hamlet came to her, after seeing the ghost, when she first fears he is mad. Instead, the movie script shows this seen as action, in the real time of the play. Yet the silent reactions of Ophelia speak volumes, even though Hamlet is the most active character in the room.
hat do you feel was the peak point, dramatically, of the play? hy?

In contrast to Carter's believable restraint during the 'mad scene' Gibson's most emotionally truthful scene is the apocalyptically emotional 'closet scene' with Glenn Close as Gertrude. Hamlet's anger at his mother's perceived betrayal is conveyed through intense physicality. This is Hamlet's most irrationally violent scene in the play, on paper, and the explosive anger that is consistently shown in Gibson's performance seems most appropriate in this scene.

Evaluate how well the costume designer…

The Oedipus complex suggests that every son wants to marry his mother and kill his father -- and that is precisely what Claudius does. "Sex and the life instincts in general are, of course, represented somewhere in Jung's system. They are a part of an archetype called the shadow. It derives from our prehuman, animal past, when our concerns were limited to survival and reproduction, and when we weren't self-conscious" (Boeree 1997). Hamlet's intellect and rationality are suppressed by his philosophical knowledge, as exemplified in his desire to return to ittenberg at the beginning of the play. Claudius, in contrast to Hamlet, takes what he wants. Before he learns of Claudius' crime by the ghost, Hamlet does not seek bloody revenge, or construct a plot like Claudius may have done -- he merely mourns that his mother has remarried and been 'stained.' Thus, Claudius' skillful wielding of power, his open…

e know from the text that Ophelia is innocent and there is no reason for Branagh to include this scene in his film. The two films depict the two leading female characters in a very different light.
Both directors illuminated Hamlet in different ways. Once scene that is significantly different in both films is Hamlet's famous "to be or not to be" scene. In keeping with the dark, melancholy mood, Zeffirelli shoots this scene in a crypt with hamlet wondering among the tombs of those who lived before him. This scene is powerful because it places Hamlet in the very place where he contemplates going. As he questions life beyond, he is standing around the remains of those who know exactly what lies on the other side - if only he could speak with them. Branagh's version of the scene shows Hamlet looking in a mirror. Branagh's Hamlet does appear…

Role?
King or Madman? The Art of the drama in Shakespeare's drama of Henry IV, Part I Henry IV and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Shakespeare is of course a dramatist, that is, he was an author of plays with fictional characters in them, portrayed by real people known as actors. Yet quite often Shakespeare's fictional characters are themselves 'actors' in their own life stories, creating personas that they play in addition to acting out their true, 'real life' struggles of the plot as defined by the author. For instance, Prince Hal, of Henry IV, Part I and Hamlet are two such individuals -- the first pretends to be a rouge, even though he is really a skillful prince and politician destined to be a king, the second is an avenging son who assumes madness as a truth-telling device, and also as protection for his eccentric actions and behavior in a…

A broader music discourse of English culture of early modern is reflected in the use of music dramatically with unrelenting relations between excess, music and feminine (Dane 435). Christian and platonic thought presents music ideologies which are conflicting and are being contented by the British writers of the early modern: Semantic indeterminacy and sensuous immediacy are presented by music and also the divine order earthly embodiment presented by music. A feminism depiction is seen here whereby the Pythagorean harmony is the positive aspect of music or its masculine aspect and the cultural dissonance is the negative attribute or the feminine aspect. The marginalities are expressed through the singing of Ophelia which is allowed to be not only literal but also dissonance figuratively. Jacobean and Elizabethan stages gender types inspires Ophelia representation. omen's song cultural constructions is problematic through Ophelia singing which lets the 'woman out', her disturbing feminine energy must…

Shakespeare
Final Opportunity for Reflection and riting

Identifications:

"Stand and unfold yourself"

This quote comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Francisco and Bernardo are two guards standing watch in the middle of the night at the castle Elsinore. This is the second line of the play, spoken by Francisco in response to Bernardo's question of who goes there. It is an important part because it sets the tone for the rest of the play. Much of the story involves secret presences and the knowledge that people are being watched. This happens with Polonius as he is stabbed by Hamlet and with Hamlet when he is being watched by his uncle/stepfather. Uncertainty about being alone and who or what may be around lends to the overall confusion and mania of the characters which invariably leads to the tragedies which each of the characters then experience.

"tis the sport to have the enginer /…

Shakespeare's Hamlet, Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and Saxo Grammaticus's The Historia Danica have so many points of resemblance that it is hard to comprehend that these three stories were written by three separate writers. The stories of Hamlet and The Spanish Tragedy introduce to the audience a theme of revenge and hatred. The plots found in Hamlet are very much similar to The Historia Danica. Hence, Shakespeare's Hamlet contains an allegory and this suggests that Shakespeare was very well aware of the astronomical revolutions of his time and the time before him. All three novels enjoy the essence of dramatizing the triumph of the heroes of the plays towards the end.
In The Spanish Tragedy, the villain makes use of murder to fulfill his evil motives. He very much acknowledges that the "end justifies the means" (Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy). The villain successfully hides his evil from the…

Shakespeare Never Read Aristotle?
Or, the dynamic forms of catharsis and tragic flaws in Shakespeare's plays

Shakespeare's most beloved plays are his tragedies. If one were to list his best and most popular plays: Othello, Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, and so forth, one would find the list comprised almost entirely of tragedies. So it would not be amiss to say that much of the modern literary conception of theatrical tragedy is shaped and influenced by Shakespeare. At the same time, the definitions of the tragic form as understood at the roots of theatrical history (in Greco-Roman times) continue to be part and parcel of the official comprehension of tragedy. Many critics have sought to fore Shakespeare into the mold of tragedy defined in Aristotle's Poetica, and many others have rightfully protested that he was not cast from that mold, and that in fact he owes little to it.…

Obscurity of Real Feeling and Intentions in King Lear and Hamlet
"Nay madam, I know not seems," says Hamlet to his mother Gertrude. (Act 1.2) By this he means he is not pretending to mourn his beloved father. Hamlet's mourning suit of inky black fabric truthfully expresses his feelings. However, Hamlet does deploy language later in the play to both obscure and reveal his true feelings. After he learns the truth about Claudius, he pretends to be mad to apparently divert suspicion from himself. However, although his madness is a simulation, he often uses the cover of madness to tell the truth, such as when he calls Polonius a fishmonger, or a pimp, as Polonius 'pimps' his daughter Ophelia for his own political gain.

In contrast, Claudius' display as a king is always a lie -- he pretends to love Hamlet in Act 5, even while he has arranged the…

This is why wars are fought with bloodletting, why torture takes place, and why neither violence nor war is limited to the physical carnage of the battlefield.
Nordstrom 59)

The early death of Clifton's mother, as a result of having to powerlessly rely on a liar and a letch who could not provide for his family, is the ultimate example of self-inflicted violence, as is Gillman's character resorting to an expression of madness to resist her powerlessness. It was only slightly more "appropriate" for a women to realize madness as it was for her to throw herself from a three story window.

orks Cited

Clifton, Lucille "forgiving my father" in Schilb, John & Clifford, John. Making Literature Matter 3rd Edition. New York: Bedford, St. Martin's, 2005, 314.

Gelfant, Blanche H., and Lawrence Graver, eds. The Columbia Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Short Story. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Gillman,…

Most Elizabethans believed their self-identity was wrapped up in a cosmic paradigm of fate and destiny, and were somehow controlled by the stars and planets and had a power over the baser side of man -- tools of God, but with certain amounts of free will. Thus, a very central idea in Shakespeare is this central view that an individual's identity is set by God, the Planets, the Universe, the Gods, and Nature. But in contrast, the idea of free will for the individual -- or even a single utterance or decision, can change forever the destiny of the individual. A superb example of this is in Romeo and Juliet.

Fate and chance surround the identities of the major and minor characters in RJ almost from the opening scene. Because the audience already believed that their destiny was predetermined, they saw the characters as having very little choice in their…

3.47-51). hile Ophelia clearly is intelligent enough to take care of herself as well as offer her own rebuttals against the male characters' altogether creepy insistence on controlling her sexual life, she suppresses this intelligence and ability out of deference for her father. Thus, her eventual fall is inevitable and largely her own fault, because by allowing her relationship to her father to overshadow everything else, including her own thoughts and desires (revealed explicitly when she says "I do not know, my lord, what to think"), she sets herself up to be utterly devastated following her father's death (and abandonment by Hamlet) (1.3.104).
The circumstances surrounding Ophelia's death are somewhat murky, as they are only related second-hand via the Queen, and the reasons for Ophelia's madness are only ever truly "explained" by the king. Although Ophelia does state that she "cannot choose but weep" at the thought that her father…

room in the castle.
Enter OTHELLO, LODOVCO, DESDEMONA, EMLA and Attendants

LODOVCO

do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.

OTHELLO

O, pardon me: 'twill do me good to walk.

LODOVCO

Madam, good night; humbly thank your ladyship.

DESDEMONA

Your honour is most welcome.

OTHELLO

Will you walk, sir?

O, -- Desdemona,

DESDEMONA

My lord?

OTHELLO

Get you to bed on the instant; will be returned forthwith: dismiss your attendant there: look it be done.

DESDEMONA

will, my lord.

Exeunt OTHELLO, LODOVCO, and Attendants

EMLA

How goes it now? he looks gentler than he did.

DESDEMONA

He says he will return incontinent:

He hath commanded me to go to bed,

And bade me to dismiss you.

EMLA

Dismiss me!

DESDEMONA

t was his bidding: therefore, good Emilia,.

Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu:

We must not now displease him.

EMLA

would you had never seen him!

DESDEMONA

So would…

The concept of dividing a mass market into homogeneous segments and targeting one or more with a distinct product offering and unique marketing communication is a fundamental precept of marketing theory. Market segmentation recognizes that different customer groups have different wants and needs that justify the development and offering of different products and services. The process of segmentation theoretically results in a much better understanding of users' needs, their decision criteria, and their approaches. Although much of the theory of market segmentation is appreciated and understood by sport marketers, it remains one of the more difficult marketing concepts to turn into profitable reality.
Consumer segmentation can help the sport marketer in the following areas. First, it allows an analysis of the marketplace, including a knowledge of competitors as well as how and why customers buy. Second, it can contribute to the strategic management of an organization in that it allows…

Shakespeare used Music in his orks
illiam Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, is recognized all over the world as the greatest dramatist of all times. His plays have been performed more times than those of any other dramatist and have been translated in almost every major language. (Kastan) hile many aspects of Shakespeare's plays have been discussed and analyzed, it is perhaps not so widely known that music has also played an important role in many of his plays. In this paper we shall review the historical background of music in the Shakespearian era and discuss how and why music was used in Shakespeare's works. The type of music used by the playwright as well as some examples of music in specific plays shall also be described.

Historical Background of Music in the Shakespearian Era

The 16th century in which Shakespeare was born was a period when England was…

Pissarro took a special interest in his attempts at painting, emphasizing that he should 'look for the nature that suits your temperament', and in 1876 Gauguin had a landscape in the style of Pissarro accepted at the Salon. In the meantime Pissarro had introduced him to Cezanne, for whose works he conceived a great respect-so much so that the older man began to fear that he would steal his 'sensations'. All three worked together for some time at Pontoise, where Pissarro and Gauguin drew pencil sketches of each other (Cabinet des Dessins, Louvre).
Gauguin settled for a while in ouen, painting every day after the bank he worked at closed.

Ultimately, he returned to Paris, painting in Pont-Aven, a well-known resort for artists.

X...for pic

Le Christ Jaune (the Yellow Christ) (Pioch, 2002) Still Life with Three Puppies 1888 (Pioch, 2002)

In "Sunny side down; Van Gogh and Gauguin," Martin…

Existentialism Contextualized by Schizophrenia
The article analyzed in this assignment is Stadlen's "The simple words the people speak." This article deals with the phenomenon and question of existentialism. However, it does so from a viewpoint that considers this topic from the point-of-view of schizophrenia. In this article, the author is attempting to denote whether schizophrenia actually exists and what causes it (Stadlen, 2015). The article begins with the author quoting from a notable book about schizophrenia and existentialism, Sanity, adness and the Family, that serves as an overview of the work as a whole. The basis of the article is a review of an evening in which certain case studies were read aloud from this book, in addition to selected excerpts from Hamlet in which the prince's mother is questioning his sanity. Sanity, adness and the Family was comprised of the first-person narratives from young women who were diagnosed as…

"(Bloom, 41) Any act of evil is seen thus to change the basic structure of the universe and to transform nature into a desolated chaos.
It is not only the natural, physical environment that becomes extremely chaotic through evil, but the human nature as well. All through the play, Lady Macbeth calls upon the forces of evil to keep at bay the "compunctious visitings of nature." It is thus plainly shown that there can be no enactment of malignancy without a reversal of human nature: "The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements. Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; / Stop up the access and passage to remorse, / That no compunctious visitings of nature /…

"(Weis 9)
It is doubtful that the model for Falstaff was an actual highwayman, but it is possible he was not as well behaved as would have been expected by his family, perhaps a black sheep.

Falstaff appears in several of Shakespeare's plays, but there is contention whether he is the same in all. Goddard finds a rather schizophrenic portrait of both Falstaff and Henry IV.

A colossus of sack, sensuality, and sweat -- or a wit and humorist so great that he can be compared only with his creator, a figure, to use one of Shakespeare's own great phrases, livelier than life? One might think there were two Falstaffs he truth is that there are two Falstaffs, just as there are two Henrys, the Immortal Falstaff and the Immoral Falstaff, and the dissension about the man comes from a failure to recognize that fact. That the two could inhabit…

Adultery and any sort of infidelity turns out to be a different story for men as Rosenthal stresses: "prohibition against adultery is not about property, pregnancy, misdirected male desire, or bloodlines, as one might have thought, but about the prevention of female comparison" (Rosenthal, 2008) as sharing men would be established by the size of their sexual organs.
A recurrent theme in the play from a gender perspective relates to the fact that the play is generally a patriarchal type of play in which paternal figures are predominant and the evolution of the other characters is a direct result of this way of using power. The women in this play, especially Doralice and Melantha are victimized as women had lesser rights to speak their minds or act according to their decisions. The paternalistic environment is also observed in the way Palamede and Rhodophil behave, as all four of them find…

Chassidic fundamentalist environment in a part of Williamsburg in Brooklyn NY. She lives with her parents but has often been thrown out of the house and has other times tried to run away. She is 19 years old, and works fulltime as a nursery teacher, a job that she detests and that her mother forced her into. She has minimal independence skills, little social maturity, i.e. developmentally behind her age in comparison to 'normal' American society, although has an IQ that I suspect is quite high. Given her lack of secular subjects, all of Ellie's knowledge comes from books that she acquired from the library when she, benign thrown out of the house, found her refuge there at night. Ellie is totally ignorant therefore of some subjects, such as math and geography, but has a knowledge of others, such as Latin and Greek that others her age would not have.…