Death seems to be the biggest mystery in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. From the start of the play with the Ghost of Hamlets father appearing to avenge his death, to Hamlet’s most popular “To be or Not to be” soliloquy, and to the plays bloody conclusion; the uncertainty of death seems to always be on our protagonist mind. Death has become a recurring theme throughout this whole play. His thoughts of death range from death in a spiritual matter, the truth and uncertainty in what death may bring, and the question of his own death.
The death of a loved one can be one of the hardest things someone will have to overcome in their lives. It seems unbelievable that someone can suddenly cease to exist, that there is an end in store for all of us and no one knows what it is. It’s the greatest unknown and has haunted humans as long as humans have existed in any meaningful sense. In Doran and Olivier’s adaptations of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the madness that infects this play is an inherent part of grief, more specifically the stage of denial, seen through the complex character dynamics in act 3, scene 4; the Queen and Hamlet’s relationships with Claudius, the breakdown of the Queen and Hamlet’s relationship, and the Ghost’s appearance in this scene. To begin, Hamlet
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet struggles to cope with his late father’s death and his mother’s quick marriage. In Act 1, Scene 2, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet are all introduced. Hamlet has just finished publicly speaking with his mom and the new king, and after he is interrupted by his good friend Horatio, who reveal the secret about King Hamlet’s ghost. Hamlet’s soliloquy is particularly crucial because it serves as his initial characterization, revealing the causes of his anguish. Hamlet’s grief is apparent to the audience, as he begins lamenting about the uselessness of life.
Hamlet’s perspective causes him to stall and make excuses as to why he should wait to kill Claudius such as waiting till Claudius has sin, in order to ensure that he wouldn’t go to heaven. His perspective on life through his soliloquy “to be or not to be” allows us as readers to interpret to the development of Hamlet’s character. It reveals his inner thoughts and adds more quality to the play. In this soliloquy, Hamlet is contemplating suicide, but is haunted by the unknowns of the
Throughout Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is faced against many situations that question his mental stability and ability to make decisions. His indecisiveness comes from the way he reacts to the situations he is put in and the way his mind presents these situations to him. The most important indecisive moments are Hamlet’s suicidal thoughts, his father’s ghost, and his vengeance to Claudius. When Hamlet is told by a ghost that has a resemblance of his father that Claudius had killed him, he vows to take vengeance and revenge his father’s death.
Hamlet written by William Shakespeare follows the story of Hamlet as he tries to avenge his father’s murder. Shakespeare uses the clash of opposites to express ideas that he wants to portray. The mystery of death is explored through the contrasting themes of life and death found in Yorik’s skull, the ghost of Hamlet’s father and Ophelia’s suicide. The contrasting characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Hamlet show the importance of loyalty in friendship. Contrasting characters are also used with Fortinbras and Hamlet to empathize how inaction can lead to negative impacts.
Immediately after seeing Hamlet mourning the death of his father alone, the reader or watcher of the play feels sorry for him. When Hamlet sees his father again after months, but this time in the form of a ghost, it puts the audience in an empathetic mood. After hearing Old Hamlet’s ghost description of his murder, and how his murder was his brother Claudius, the audience is shocked and upset. The audience feels for the late King Hamlet who had his life, crown, queen, and opportunity to repent his sins taken away from him. Old Hamlet’s description of the ultimate betrayal he experienced from his blood, is a source of ethos for the audience. In Harry Potter a similar interaction occurs.
Learning his father's death was murder instead of the proclaimed accidental death, causes Hamlet to see no other way than to approve the request of his father to reap revenge. As seen is his speech, Hamlet reveals he has the motivation from his father to murder the man responsible for his death. Within the lines “Sith I have cause and will and strength and means To do ’t.”, Hamlet refers to his dead father’s last request to have him seek revenge on Claudius for his murder as sheer motivation. Further, throughout the entire play, it is evident that Hamlet looks at his father as the most gracious man to have ever walked the earth. That being said, after hearing from the ghost of his father of the crime against him, Hamlet immediately sets out
In the beginning of the play Hamlet, the main character, is struggling with events that have taken place in his life. His Father has recently died and his Uncle has now married his Mother. With sorrow and pain, Hamlet tries to understand and unravel the aberrant events that have taken place with his family. The events have amended the way Hamlet views death. After his Father’s death, Hamlet questions the afterlife; whether it offers a “peaceful slumber” or an “everlasting nightmare”.
After the king Hamlet died, his ghost still appeared in different places of the play. The ghost wanted to talk to his son Hamlet to tell him all the truth about what happened before he died. The first thing that he said was that he did not died by a snake bite, but killed by his brother Claudius. The ghost told Hamlet to take revenge of Claudius. The second thing that the ghost told Hamlet was that he should do no harm to his mother, even though she married her husband’s murderer.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet, dies in an effort to revenge his father, the King of Denmark, who was murdered and usurped by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. Hamlet’s tragic flaw, the cause of his downfall, is the reason why the play concluded with his own death. Ruled by his intelligence, Hamlet examines ideas and plans from many different angles before putting them into action. Although his thoughtfulness is an admirable trait, due to the circumstances, his thoroughness led to the inability to make and commit to decisions, the cause of his doom. This indecisiveness is physically manifested on the PostSecret the forms of text and visual cues.
Hamlet is one of the most memorable Shakespearean plays due to the focus on a young prince`s struggle with obeying the ghostly figure that we witness briefly on stage. The ghost is certainly an important figure in shaping the outcome of this revenge tragedy. Thus, we must ponder what is the ghost and how it can be interpreted in a plethora of ways. It is arguably seen as the spirit of Hamlet`s father, a figment of his imagination and being Shakespeare himself. Therefore, this essay will examine these potential answers to the question.
(Hamlet 568-82). Hamlet feels pity for himself for being in such a horrible situations with his father’s death, his mother’s quick marriage, and his depression but he is angry at himself for not doing anything about his situation, for not avenging his father against a horrible person. He does not create a revenge plan, he does not speak for his father, etc. He is frustrated and angry because wanted to avenge his father but he does not follow through with his desires. Hamlet then begins to fire up with anger and motivation for revenge against Claudius.
By motivating Hamlet’s actions, the Ghost of Old Hamlet affects the development of Hamlet through many ideas. The Ghost persuades Hamlet to avenge Old Hamlet’s death and kill Claudius by using vivid imagery and strong metaphors. Notably, when describing the effects of the poison to Hamlet, the Ghost
Petar Antovski Professor Matthew Hotsinpiller English 2 19 July 2015 The Mystery of Death Ideas, beliefs and myths pertaining to the mystery of death imbue the eternal story of Hamlet, a work of literature art that can to this day urge its every reader to question their own faith and spirituality. From the beginning we are catapulted into a world where the limits between life and death are blurred, where the worlds of the living and the dead are joined. After all, one of the first characters to appear is the ghost of Old Hamlet. Even in the opening scene Shakespeare establishes a certain fascination with the dead.
