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Hamlet Archetypes Essay

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The Roles Archetypes can be considered recurrent symbols or motifs in literature. Archetypes are also common characters, actions, themes, symbols, and situations that can represent the patterns of human nature and can shape the entire structure of a story. In this case, there are three main ways that archetypes can be shown; character, situational, and symbolic. William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a play that was written around 1599-1601 and takes place in Denmark during the Medieval period. It tells a story about a son attempting to carry out revenge against his uncle, Claudius. This is because Claudius murdered his brother so that he could marry Hamlet’s mother and take over the throne. Shakespeare also uses …show more content…

“The Task '' archetype can be described as an act that the hero must complete to fulfill his quest. The task that is being portrayed to us is to trust the Herald. This can be difficult because if it happens to be that the ghost is not Hamlet's father, killing Claudius would have meant that Hamlet would have been sent straight to hell instead of heaven for committing a murder that was not vengeful. This leaves Hamlet with the task of putting an insane amount of trust in the ghost. Continuing forward, Hamlet is still in denial if he should trust the ghost. To find out if the ghost is trustworthy of his accusations, Hamlet fabricates two plans. He first decides to act “mad” for others to start to ignore his ways and how he acts “To put an antic disposition on” (Shakespeare I.v. 192). He then decides to add a few more lines to an upcoming play that is performed in the kingdom. He makes Horatio watch to see if there was any reaction from King Claudius. After Hamlet executes his scene of the possible murder, Claudius reacts in an unmannered way letting Hamlet confirm the Ghosts' acquisitions. It can be interpreted that if I was unsure about situational archetypes, I would not have been able to connect the information that I was given at the time that I read this play. If it happens to be that if Shakespeare's use of a task is not interpreted correctly, it could lead to possible distractions and put one in a state where there might be a fatal accident that is upon

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In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the Ghost's use of cynical diction and vicious imagery in his speech emphasizes his contempt for Claudius and Gertrude, aligning the reader with Hamlet's vengeful feelings towards them. The Ghost's description of Claudius as "incestuous" and Gertrude as a seemingly-virtuous queen creates a negative perception of them in the reader's mind. The imagery of the serpent and garbage used by the Ghost reinforces this negative perception, creating a vivid picture of Claudius and Gertrude's actions that aligns the reader with Hamlet's disdain for them. Act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare's Hamlet is Prince Hamlet's first encounter with his deceased father who exists between the borders of life and death, presenting himself as a ghost

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Claudius doesn’t confess and puts on quite a show during the murder scene that one would be puzzled as to why no one could see past his fake, friendly exterior. Claudius failing to confess just illuminates his truly malicious spirit. The ghost is also a character that sparks many questions within the play. Hamlet himself questioned whether the ghost was actually his father or the devil in disguise, trying to tempt Hamlet in committing a crime just as wicked as his step-fathers. However, Hamlet quickly dismisses that thought and convinces himself he needs to murder Claudius for revenge.

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When the actors come to town Hamlet asks them to put on a special play that he has written, one that will reveal if the King is truly guilt. The play is reenacting the death of King Hamlet as the ghost describes it; as murder. His plan is to get a reaction from the King to assure the ghosts is telling the truth about King Hamlet’s death. When the actors get to the scene of the murder, King Claudius exits the theater. Hamlet now knows that the ghost was being truthful.

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Throughout the play Hamlet most of the conflict comes from Hamlet's internal struggle of deciding whether he should trust the words and appearance of the ghost of his father. Just like a student trying to finish an essay, his procrastination has made him more eager to carry out the act but that dire obligation he so badly wants to fulfill can't be done without any sound proof that he strives to find. This comes to show Hamlet's inability to trust the Ghost because he didn't believe that the existence of the ghost of his father would be possible, he believed that the apparition might be a devil trying to lure him in to committing an unjustified act, and he needed to rely on Claudius’s reaction to the play to validate his trust with the Ghost. At the start of the play, Hamlet is awestruck and dubious about the Ghost because during his first meeting with the apparition, he was so stunned of the supernatural sighting that he felt skeptical if it was even possible for such an episode to happen.

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Thus the idea that Hamlet chooses to follow the Ghost despite the protest of Horatio can allude to the fact that Hamlet, perhaps viewed the Ghost in a catholic perception since he decides to not only follow the Ghost away from the safety of Horatio, but also to listen and take to heart all of the information he gives to Hamlet regarding his fathers death. When the Ghost discloses this information Hamlet reacts and a very impulsive and enraged way. Hamlet states that, “Haste, haste me to know it, that I with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thoughts of love/ May sweep to my revenge”(Shakespeare I. iv. 33-35).

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Instead of taking action and killing claudius, he questions whether the ghost was actually his father asking to revenge his death or the devil resembling his father to try to tempt him into murder. In No Fear Shakespeare from Sparknotes, Hamlet talks about his doubts to believe the ghost is actually his father or not by saying “May be the devil, and the devil hath power T’ assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me (Act 2 Scene 2 Page 24). This shows how Hamlet was indecisive and how the ghost of his father was one of the major reasons why he was indecisive.

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He starts to believe that the spirit may be the devil or some sort of demon that was sent to tempt young Hamlet into a destructive existence. The appearance of the ghost causes Hamlet to mistrust his own perceptions of things and doubt the validity of his father’s ghost and the malicious claim that he states. Hamlet decides to stage a play in which the plot very closely resembles the events that the ghost describes as his death. Hamlet feels that if King Claudius is indeed guilty, it will be written all over his face. “The play’s the thing/Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” (II, ii, 566-567).

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The ghost informs Hamlet the real reason he died and asks Hamlet to seek revenge so he starts to act mad. Hamlet insists his friends to not tell anyone what they’ve seen by saying, “How strange or odd soe 'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on), that you, at such times seeing me, never shall—With arms encumbered thus” (1:5:58). Hamlet wants people to believe he is mentally ill or mad to use as a cover for this true intentions which is to

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Or it can be seen as the ghost being some type of evil spirit trying to destroy hamlet through bad advice. The ghost is simply trying to free its spirit from purgatory and not trying to destroy hamlet, this is evident due to the fact that we know that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father in cold blood before he could pray for his sins. The ghosts role in the play is to tell Hamlet how he truly died. The nature in which the ghost appears in the play changes from appearance to appearance.

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Horatio and Hamlet agree that the Ghost was right. Hamlet uses the play to test King Claudius. Through the play, King Claudius has shown to Hamlet that he kills his father. Appearance and reality in the book of Hamlet play an important role, starting with Polonius who was meant to trust his son but sent a soldier to spy on him. And Hamlet who act insane in order to find out who kills his father.

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