In Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 7, Shakespeare portrays Ophelia’s death as a metaphor of corruption through diction and literary techniques. Firstly, Ophelia’s flower crown is an extended metaphor for the royal crown. Shakespeare uses the decaying motif with this metaphor to show the king’s corruption. The maids call one of the flowers making up the crown “dead men’s fingers” (195). After this line, “weeds/weedy” and “coronet/trophies” take place of flowery words such as “fantastic garlands” (196-198).…
(Shakespeare, William 1) Who had recently been murdered. If the guards and everyone know that Hamlet has more friends such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern choose to call in Horatio instead. Horatio comes to see the ghost and does not believe in it at first, thinks its fake claiming “'tis but our fantasy” (Shakespeare, William 2 24-25) later comes to see that it is indeed there and is the old king of Denmark. Horatio was the first important person in Hamlet’s life to be informed of something so important and life changing. After Hamlets encounter with the ghost and in the longing of his father starts to become a little lunatic.…
He talks about the vile and incestuous wedding that has occurred, about suicide and about the rankness and corruption within Denmark and the world, describing the world as an unweeded garden. However, the juxtapositions give his speech greater meaning. He compares his late father (King Hamlet) to his once uncle now (step) father (Claudius), as Hyperion to a satyr (I.ii.142). Hyperion was the Greek titan who was the father of the sun, dawn, and moon. He had virtues of honour, integrity, and nobility.…
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare a prince named Hamlet lost his dad and then his mom married his uncle, king Claudius. Understandably Hamlet morns at the lost of his father but he is more upset with his mom who married his uncle after only a month since his father's passing. In the beginning of the play it starts Barnardo and Francisco talking to Hamlet's farther's ghost. A person can tell from the beginning of the play that either the ghost is actually there or everyone is going crazy. Hamlet is very depressed on the experiences he is going through he has no idea on what he is feeling.…
King Hamlet, who is the Ghost, appears more than once throughout the story in order to give Hamlet advice what to do. He also tells his son the truth behind his death and what he wants, which is to revenge for his father. After hearing the inhuman story from his father, Hamlet becomes shocked that he changes the way he usually acts, which makes the others find it difficult to understand what he says “How pregnant sometimes his replies are!” ( II.ii.211). Hamlet also declares that he was “born to set [the circumstances of his father’s death] right” ( I.v.189) and readers can easily realize how much it affects Hamlet and that Hamlet strongly loves and honors his father .…
One of Shakespeare’s most interesting, yet often forgotten about, soliloquy’s takes place at the end of Act four, Scene four in Hamlet. The soliloquy occurred near the end of the play, after Hamlet had just left his home. In this scene, Hamlet watched as the Prince of Norway, Fortinbras, lead his large army to fight for a small piece of land, ultimately worth nothing. This caused Hamlet to think about the situation he was in, being that his father was killed by his uncle Claudius, who then took the throne and married Hamlet’s mother.…
In Act II of Hamlet, french scenes, or events that are characterized by when a character enters or exits and by a change in events, are abundant as the plot is carried on after Hamlet’s previous revelations. These french scenes carry much detail and weight in the plot and helps to create more interesting conflict that makes Hamlet more dynamic in it’s structure. The first french scene begins as the act begins with Polonius and Reynaldo talking about Laertes’ behaviour in the french scene, “Investigation of Laertes’ Activities.” In this scene, Polonius is telling Reynaldo that before Reynaldo gives Laertes the message, to first inquire about his behavior from the public.…
So far as readers we know by this time alot has happen to Hamlet, his father died. And his uncle took over as king and he married the Queen. A ghost of the dead king has told Hamlet that Cladius, Hamlet's uncle killed his father, and he is having relationship problems with his girlfriend, Ophelia. In his first soliloquey we know that he does not like the marriage between his uncle and mother, he is still grieving over the death of his father and we also get this feeling that Hamlet does not like his unlce, Cladius. In his second soliloquey we get this understanding about why he is acting crazy,and his feeling toward's his current s ituation.…
A critical lens is a perspective that the reader uses to examine a piece of literature. Different lenses look for unique details and aspects in the text, and help the reader find new information that may have never been discovered had the piece only been read through one single perspective. The archetypal lens is a critical viewpoint which allows the reader to identify places in a story which follow or deviate from universal patterns, also known as archetypes. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a character who, as before mentioned, both follows and deviates from the archetype of the Hero’s Journey.…
The soliloquy of act 2 scene 2 is focused on inner struggles with revenge. Earlier in this scene, Hamlet asks the actors to recite the story of Priam. While viewing this play hamlet realized the flaw in all that he has been doing, or hasn’t been doing, to act revenge on Claudius. Claudius killed Hamlet's father and stole the crown and hamlet is the only one who knows so he hatches a plan. He has made a few attempts of Claudius' life but failed.…
Shakespeare begins with a few minor characters, Barnardo, Francisco, Marcellus and Horatio, standing guard and discussing having seen a ghost. This ghost, robed in armor, is described as being Old King Hamlet who has recently passed away. Shakespeare uses scene 1 act 1 to establish the credibility of the ghost; there must be a reason that two trained guards are palpably shaken and frightened. The audience then witnesses the ghost on stage, while one of the guards remarks that “it comes again” (I.i.49). Furthermore, Horatio, a scholar and a educated man of reason, also sees the ghost and exclaims that “It harrows [him] with fear and wonder” (I.i.53).…
Hamlet, mourning for his father, remembers King Hamlet better than anyone and it is this memory that brings Hamlet to confront the ghost. This meeting reveals the driving force of the play; Hamlet seeks to fulfill his dead father’s orders to avenge his death. At the beginning of the play the Ghost…
1. Gertrude and Claudius spend much of Act I Scene 2 (I.2) chastising Hamlet. Discuss why they are distraught with him and why he is acting this way in this scene. Use examples for illustration.…
Many scholars research Shakespeare’s plays to learn about him, his lifestyle, and the customs of that era. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare in about 1599, is read and studied by nearly every student. Even though countless scholars have researched it, the play ultimately leaves them puzzled. Each person that has studied Hamlet has come up with a unique opinion and conclusion of the play. Although Graham Bradshaw and William Empson both have different views on the way Hamlet was written and the famous “Hamlet Problem”, William Empson has a more valid argument on the new play.…
There have been many different versions of William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Recreations range from plays to movies, and each one adds its own level of darkness. One recreation is the 2000 version of Hamlet starring Blair Brown, Roscoe Lee Browne, Campbell Scott, Lisa Gay Hamilton, and Jamey Sheridan, and directed by Campbell Scott and Eric Simonson. This version of Hamlet that we watched in class gives its own twist and darkness that the story needs. The opening shot of the movie is a close up of many different statues and their faces, then the camera focuses on a statue of Hamlet, which would be considered an establishing shot.…