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How Does Shakespeare Create Tension In Act 1 Scene 5 Of Hamlet

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Essay Hamlet Act I Scene 5

The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare and inspired by the Danish tale of Saxo Grammaticus, deals with Prince Hamlet’s quest to take revenge for his father, King Hamlet, on his uncle Claudius, the presumed murderer who has taken his mother Gertrude as his wife. In the scene, the guards named Bernardo, Francisco and Marcellus and Horatio, Hamlet’s best friend, are confronted by the vision of King Hamlet’s ghost and decided to tell Prince Hamlet about it. In this essay, I will concentrate on how Shakespeare in act 1 scene 1 foreshadowed the rest of the play due to different elements marking the eerie atmosphere and words linked with senses showing the confusion of the characters and explaining …show more content…

Indeed Shakespeare uses a topsy-turvy style of writing by starting the play at night and finishing it in the morning, for example: “Bernardo Last night of all, (...) Marcellus and myself, The bell then beating one”. The time in the play is reversed which explains why the play is confusing and is doomed from the beginning. It demonstrates the eerie feel of the play because it represents the night and death. Francisco says he is "sick at heart" which prefigures the tension of the ensuing tragedy. Also, the readers anticipate the tragedy because of the appearance of the crows which creates a death like atmosphere. It forebodes the fact that all the characters will perish in a tragic end. The crows symbolize death. A gloomy and cold atmosphere is set from the start of the play such as said in line 7 “Tis bitter …show more content…

The first sense we discover is hearing, indeed in the Act 1 scene 1 Shakespeare makes many references to hearing because Claudius killed the king by putting poison in his ear.”And let us once again assail your ears”. This indicates Hamlet wanting to avenge his father’s death and giving implicit proof of the king’s death. The second sense found in Shakespeare’s text is that of sight. We can make a link with sight because someone witnessed the horrible King’s murder. Continuously, at the end of Act 1 Scene 1, the ghost repeats the word “speak” thus allowing us to think that the ghost wants to make the witness speak the truth about his murder. Shakespeare may have used a pun on the word senses telling us that the play doesn't make sense. Confusion and information on the story were made thanks to all these elements, it highlights big parts of Hamlet’s

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