The scene that best captivates Hamlet’s arrogance as his hamartia is when he confronts Gertrude and unknowingly murders Polonius. This scene marks the beginning of Hamlet's tragic downfall. Some could say he acted out of fear, or that his state of mind was unclear; but it is evident upon further analysis that he acted out of his own hubristic nature. To begin, Hamlet’s arrogance is demonstrated by rudely lashing out at his mother, blaming her for marrying Claudius and begging her to leave him.
Denmark’s Demise through Foil Characters in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet In his quest for revenge in order to retaliate the responsible party for the death of his father, the character of Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s famed play Hamlet is coincidentally supported by a range of characters through their actions that emphasize the protagonist’s idiosyncrasy of inaction – thus, justifying the conclusion of the play. His lover, Ophelia, emphasizes Hamlet’s hypothesized lack of masculinity which makes him subject to the “female-like” decision making process. Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, brings light to Hamlet’s inability to act promptly enough as intended. Lastly, his opposition, Fortinbras, draws attention to Hamlet’s lack of presence within the
Emily Dickinson once said “Much madness is divinest Sense— To a discerning Eye—“. This type of madness can be found in the play “Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Though many characters show madness throughout the play, Ophelia’s madness is the most prevalent. Ophelia has good reason for this irrational behavior because of the trauma she has gone through. First, her boyfriend dumps her, then he calls her vulgar names, and lastly, he kills her father.
The story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story of betrayal, revenge, and intrigue. Hamlet, the title character discovers that his uncle killed his father and married his mother effectively stealing the throne. Hamlet decides he must kill his uncle Claudius as revenge for what he had done. However, as the new king, Hamlet isn't sure how to get to him, so he decides to fake madness, but his plan backfires as Claudius doesn't trust him and makes sure he is always watched. In his fumbled plan for revenge, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, forces Polonius's son Laertes to seek revenge against him, and drives Ophelia crazy causing her to kill herself.
Consequently, this brings into question Hamlet’s true “feelings” towards
Hamlet is a play full of questions and mystery causing many of the characters to change as it progresses. But they all seem like a minute change when compared to the immense change of Hamlet. One of the characters that changes a lot throughout the play is Ophelia. At the beginning of the play she is presented as a beautiful naïve young lady who is in love with young Hamlet. She is a very obedient girl as she will do anything her father tells her to, for example: in act one scene three, Ophelia speaks about her love towards Hamlet to both her brother, Laertes, and her father, Polonius.
Hamlet encounters Ophelia, his estranged lover, after mulling over his own melancholy during the first scene of Act III. It is the first time that Ophelia and Hamlet have seen each other since Hamlet frightened Ophelia by her intruding upon her privacy and barging into her closet while she was sewing. Neither party is particularly pleased to see one another and they are both vocal about their discontent. Their interaction revolves around honesty and its importance to Hamlet, drawing comparisons between his own honesty and the honesty of other characters such as Ophelia and Gertrude. It establishes tension between Hamlet’s values and his own actions and the appearance on one’s intentions versus the reality.
Misogyny has been a societal issue, which was exceptionally prominent during the Shakspearean era. Particularly, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, may be interpreted in various ways to analyze and dissect the play. Delving into the play from a feminist perspective, sexism is evident. The representation of women in the literature clearly distinguishes the patriarchal society present. Turning its focus onto Ophelia, who falls victim to the denigration received from numerous male leads.
In “Hamlet” William Shakespeare uses the character Ophelia to get to the men around her. She’s portrayed as a weak, trusting woman that tells her father and brother everything. They see her as a virtuous, unsuspecting, loyal daughter. Hamlet sees her differently. He sees her as an object, easily disposable.
In many of William Shakespeare’s plays, women are depicted as strong-willed and powerful characters. However, Hamlet is quite the opposite. While Hamlet is depicted as a willful, intelligent hero, Ophelia is limned as compliant, silent, and is constantly manipulated by her father, brother, and fiancé. Even her brother, who is her peer, treats Ophelia as inferior and incapable of independent thought. Ophelia’s dialogue, or lack thereof, creates a monumental difference between herself and Hamlet.
Hamlet: “...I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my, lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me... I loved you not.”
Convinced that the love was real, Ophelia is slapped in the face with some harsh reality. "You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not" (Hamlet 160) exemplifies the external conflict she is facing and how she had been fooled all this time thinking their love was real. Now she is in conflict with herself because she feels as if she could have conserved her time and maybe listened to her father. Shakespeare includes this encounter to show the readers yet again that the challenges Ophelia is facing is interfering with her.
This is encapsulated in Hamlet exclaims, “frailty, thy name is woman!” about his mother’s hasty marriage to her deceased husband’s brother (Shakespeare 1.2.150). In this quote, Hamlet is dismissing all women as weak-willed like he believes Gertrude to be, which affects his interactions with Ophelia also. Hamlet is cruel to her because of this anger he has towards women in general, so when pretending to be mad, he goes “full force in the misogynist rage” when telling her he used to love her, but now she should go to a nunnery (Traub 192). Ophelia can be seen as weak in this scene because she protests little against Hamlet and only hopes that his insanity will end.
Hamlet is once again struck by tragedy when the one that Hamlet is presumed to love dies. The queen proclaims simply, “Your Sister’s drowned, Laertes” Hamlet (IV, vii, 88). It seems that Hamlet’s one love in the play has died from falling into the water and drowning. This is also right before Hamlet concedes that fate is out of his hands. This would also be the moment that Hamlet decides to finally go through with his plan to kill his Uncle.
Hamlet does not value Ophelia 's feelings he belittles her. In Hamlets defense this is the way he was brought up to treat women, during that time this was a common way to treat a women. Even though in today 's society it is not at all ok to treat women with such disrespect. He also likes for everything to go as planned and this may result in why he can not have a stable relationship with a woman. This also causes him to have many stumbling blocks in his life that causes some emotional pain
