Hamlet Essays and Term Papers
Last update: September 3, 2014-
A Critical Analysis of Hamlet
Why is Shakespeare considered to be one of the greatest playwrights of his time? Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan era and had to write for an Elizabethan audience and theater. By today's standards, this was no picnic in the park. Under those circumstances, he wrote some of the greatest works in history. These works, still popular today, prove him to be a consummate dramatist. Shakespeare knew how to craft dramatic scenes full of external and
Rating:Essay Length: 1,751 Words / 8 PagesSubmitted: December 11, 2008 -
Analysis of Hamlet's Emotional Character
Disillusionment. Depression. Despair. These are the burning emotions churning in young Hamlet's soul as he attempts to come to terms with his father's death and his mother's incestuous, illicit marriage. While Hamlet tries to pick up the pieces of his shattered idealism, he consciously embarks on a quest to seek the truth hidden in Elsinore; this, in stark contrast to Claudius' fervent attempts to obscure the truth of murder. Deception versus truth; illusion versus reality.
Rating:Essay Length: 937 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: December 11, 2008 -
Analysis of Hamlet's First Soliloquy
Hamlet's first soliloquy in Act I, scene ii, lines 133-164 is a passionate and startling passage that strongly contrasts to the artificial dialogue and actions that he portrays to his uncle Claudius throughout the remainder of the play. This soliloquy serves to reveal Hamlet's melancholia and the reasons for his dispair in an outpouring of anger, disgust, sorrow, and grief through which he explains how everything in his life seems futile and miserable. He mourns
Rating:Essay Length: 864 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: December 11, 2008 -
Death and Corruption in Hamlet
Death And Corruption In Hamlet Harold Blume said it best when he said, "Hamlet is deaths ambassador to us." Throughout Hamlet, we have the images of death, decay, rottenness, and corruption pressed upon us. The imagery corresponds with the plot of the play perfectly, all culminating with the gravedigger scene. The corruption images illuminate the actions of the people in Claudius' court, beginning with Claudius' own actions. The beginning of the play lets us know
Rating:Essay Length: 1,572 Words / 7 PagesSubmitted: December 11, 2008 -
Hamlet Analyzed in Terms of Aristotle's Poetics
Hamlet Analyzed in Terms of Aristotle's Poetics Aristotle's Poetics is considered the guide to a well written tragedy; his methods have been used for centuries. In Aristotle's opinion, plot is the most important aspect of the tragedy, all other parts such as character, diction, and thought stem from the plot. Aristotle defines a tragedy as "…an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind
Rating:Essay Length: 974 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: January 11, 2009 -
William Shakespeare's Play Hamlet
In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the concept of cultural identity is explored through Hamlet's isolation which is created by the conflict between his duty to his father, and his duties to the monarchy and society. Hamlet is isolated from his society due to his turbulent emotions which result from his indecision on how to respond to his father's murder. Hamlet's duty as a son is to avenge his father's death and he would be supported
Rating:Essay Length: 1,872 Words / 8 PagesSubmitted: November 9, 2009 -
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet - Ophelia the Victim
Ophelia the Victim In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the character of Ophelia is being portrayed quite like a victim. This simple, innocent young woman falls victim to many things. She is the victim of Hamlet’s harassment, the victim of manipulation by many, the victim of her own flaws of being obedient, indecisive, and weak both mentally and eventually physically. Ophelia is unfortunately not very strong willed and is placed in the crossfire between many things
Rating:Essay Length: 1,552 Words / 7 PagesSubmitted: November 9, 2009 -
Hamlet - an Insane Man
Without any doubt Prince Hamlet is insane towards the end of his life. This is further exposed throughout Hamlet’s soliloquy. The theme death, his suicidal thoughts and exaggeration of the imperfect world are all techniques which illustrate his insanity. Hamlet is an insane man, especially in his soliloquy. The theme of death expresses his insanity. Throughout Hamlet’s soliloquy he mentions items which relate to death. For example, “With a bare bodkin?” This shows that he
Rating:Essay Length: 485 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: November 9, 2009 -
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the ghost of hamlet’s father appears with a vengeful task for Hamlet. The ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death by killing his murderer Claudius, the new king. Hamlet accepts this task but becomes too obsessed with finding a way to kill Claudius with satisfaction. Throughout the story Hamlet transforms from intelligent and cunning to irrational and ill tempered as a result of his dead father’s expectations.
Rating:Essay Length: 563 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: November 11, 2009 -
Hamlet and Revenge
Revenge. Revenge causes one to act blindly through anger, rather than through reason. It is based on the principle of an eye for an eye, but this principle is not always an intelligent theory to live by. Young Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet were all looking to avenge the deaths of their fathers. They all acted on emotion, and this led to the downfall of two, and the rise to power of one. Since the Heads
Rating:Essay Length: 1,109 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: November 11, 2009 -
Character Duplicity in Hamlet
In Act I Scene II of Hamlet, Gertrude asks Hamlet, “Why seems it so particular with thee?” Since death is common to all, she asks, why does Hamlet seem to be making such a particular fuss about his father’s death? He replies, “Seems Madam? Nay it is. I know not seems.” It is not a question of seeming, but being: His black mourning clothes are simply a true representation of his deep unhappiness. With this
Rating:Essay Length: 4,191 Words / 17 PagesSubmitted: November 11, 2009 -
Foils in Hamlet
Hamlet The different characters with various characteristics make the play with more color and plots. In the play there are several foils exist within the characters which are interesting to look into. Hamlet and Horatio, Hamlet and Fortinbras, Hamlet and Claudius and Hamlet and Laertes are all have more or less some qualities that are opposite. Compare to Hamlet’s irrational action Horatio is more rational which can be shown in act1 scene4, where Horatio stops
Rating:Essay Length: 680 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: November 11, 2009 -
Foils in Hamlet
Night and Day Many authors use foils to better illustrate the nature of the character. Foils are characters who compliment yet contrast the main character. With the use of foils the reader can get a better understanding of the main character through the dialogue of the foils. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we find Prince Hamlet foiled by many characters. Each foil revealing something different about Hamlet. One such foil in this play is undoubtedly Laertes,
Rating:Essay Length: 813 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: November 12, 2009 -
Nature of Humanity Portrayed in Hamlet
"The destiny of man is to become progressively less human and more humane, less compulsive and more creative, less instinctive and more intuitive, less material and more spiritual. Man's destiny is to always become more fully divine." Hamlet shows human nature to be greedy, self-involved and vengeful. Claudius is driven by his own greed to commit murder. Polonius is always looking out for himself. Hamlet thinks of vengeance from the moment he finds out about
Rating:Essay Length: 592 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: November 12, 2009 -
Hamlet: Act III Scene II
Hamlet: Act III Scene II In this scene, taking place in a castle hall, Hamlet devises a plan to reinforce his beliefs of his uncle’s treachery by having a play acted out for him. This play tells the story of a nephew who murders his uncle, the king, and marries his widowed wife, mimicking Hamlet’s real life circumstance with Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet tells Horatio that they should both keep watch over Claudius for any
Rating:Essay Length: 315 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: November 13, 2009 -
Woman Roles in Hamlet
Shakespeare incorporates several different, reoccurring themes throughout his well-known play Hamlet. Misogyny, the hatred of women, is one of these themes. The only two female characters, both of significant importance are mistreated and disrespected by several male characters. Queen Gertrude is mostly under attack from Hamlet and Ophelia is mostly controlled by Polonius. However, Ophelia does receive ill-treatment from her brothers Laertes and Hamlet, as well as her own father, Polonius. All of these men
Rating:Essay Length: 1,260 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: November 13, 2009 -
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet
I am not a big fan of the 1990 movie version of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson. I feel that while it stands alone as a very well made movie and contains great acting performances throughout, I think that it strays too far from the original text and layout of the play. The omissions and transposing makes the play weaker, and while it is a great screenplay, it fails in comparison to Shakespeare’s original
Rating:Essay Length: 743 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: November 13, 2009 -
Machiavellian Evaluation of Hamlet
Niccolo Machiavelli is undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic figures in the long evolving history of political thought of modern Europe. No other doctrine of any other political theorist has been so intensely dissected, read, reread and researched upon even after five hundred years. Machiavelli has been accused and accepted, revered and rejected, celebrated and condemned…very few political theorists have actually managed to cause such diverse reactions in the minds of people all over the
Rating:Essay Length: 3,023 Words / 13 PagesSubmitted: November 14, 2009 -
Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1
Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1 (Lines 227-266) Act 5 scene 1 depicts burial ritual of Ophelia, the main women character of the play, who committed suicide. The scene under analysis portrays psychological burden and pressure caused by her death. Shakespeare describes that death of Ophelia is heavy for her relatives and Hamlet. The passage has an important meaning for the whole play unveiling traditions and values of the society, and confrontations between Hamlet and Laertes.
Rating:Essay Length: 608 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: November 15, 2009 -
Male/ Female Relationships in Hamlet
Male/Female Relationships In Hamlet Hamlet is involved in intense emotional relationships with both Ophelia and Gertrude, the only two female characters in the play. While these relationships are for the most part very rocky and full of distrust, there is still hope for healthy relationships among men and women. The reasons for how these characters acted is understandable, and their reactions are quite typical. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is one that has been
Rating:Essay Length: 1,415 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: November 15, 2009 -
Hamlet
Hamlet is the play and Hamlet is the character. The play starts out with the death of the king, Hamlet’s father. Only a month later Hamlet’s mother re-marries the king’s brother. She does not even seem to be disturbed at the fact her husband had died not too long ago. The night castle guards later came to Hamlet to tell him about a ghost appearing late at night at the castle top three nights in
Rating:Essay Length: 608 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: November 18, 2009 -
Hamlet
Select one of Hamlet soliloquies (preferably not "To be or not to be. . .") and by a detailed attention to the poetry discuss the nature of Hamlet's feelings as they reveal themselves in this speech. What insights might this speech provide into the prince's elusive character? Confine your attention strictly to the soliloquy you have selected. 2. Discuss Hamlet's treatment of and ideas about women. How might these help to clarify some of the
Rating:Essay Length: 342 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: November 19, 2009 -
Hamlet Leadrship Essay
Hamlet Leadrship Essay Hamlet is an indecisive leader, who lacks focus and the ability to delegate effectively. His inability to act showcases the numerous flaws in his character exposing him as a poor leader and an ineffective strategist. His main character flaw is his indecisiveness. Throughout the play he chooses to procrastinate instead of making firm decisions. This is first illustrated when he sees his father’s ghost in the opening Act. Following his conversation with
Rating:Essay Length: 2,612 Words / 11 PagesSubmitted: November 21, 2009 -
The Poetics by Aristotle & Hamlet by Shakespeare
Poetics and Hamlet Centuries ago, Aristotle laid down guidelines for criticizing dramatic works in his Poetics. This paper considers whether that structure is adequate for analyzing William Shakespeare’s Hamlet that was composed after Aristotle. The Poetics is too short to go into great detail, so we’ll have to use only the most basic of his definitions and guidelines for what dramatic works should entail. He begins by discussing poetry, then moves to tragedy, which he
Rating:Essay Length: 396 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: November 22, 2009 -
William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet William Shakespeare’s Hamlet was first performed around the year 1600. Since then, it has proven to be one of the most enduring stories ever created by Shakespeare. This epic tragedy has been adapted to film dozens of times and has seen legendary actors such as Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier take the lead role. In 1996, another version of Hamlet made its film debut under the direction of Kenneth Branagh who also plays the
Rating:Essay Length: 986 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: November 22, 2009