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Hamlet Literary Criticism

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Reading and writing have always been two things that I enjoy. From the time I was three years old, I was already reading books and coming up with my own stories, hugely based off of TV shows I watched at a young age. As I have gotten older, I have expanded my taste in literature, from plays to nonfiction to fantasy. Some of my favorite authors are J.K. Rowling, Agatha Christie, and William Shakespeare.

I went to a small, private Catholic school for my first nine years of education, where I was in a graduating class of 16 students. While I was there, the only papers I recall being assigned to write all included creative writing-based prompts. I was never assigned research papers, or anything other than personal narratives until it was time to apply for the high school’s …show more content…

This is why the third piece I have selected is my literary analysis of Hamlet. It is titled “To Procrastinate or to Not Procrastinate.” Although it is a spoof of Hamlet’s opening line in his “to be or not to be” soliloquy, the analysis itself takes a deeper look into impulsive action in the play. Impulsive action is still relevant today, along with the majority of themes Shakespeare integrates throughout all his plays. Although Shakespeare is one of my favorite authors, I have only read the plays that are written into our course schedules. He focuses on many issues teenagers face, even in today’s society. I, amongst many teens, can relate to Hamlet as a character as he contemplates life and its meanings. In reality, amongst all his formal language, he is an angsty teen, just like my classmates and I. He too struggles with finding reasons to be alive and to find the things in life worth living

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Act 1, Scene 1: “Let us impart what we have seen tonight Unto young Hamlet, for, upon my life, This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him” (Crowther 16). I think this quote really sets up things for the next act, and the rest of the play. The ghost would not talk to them, so they decided to tell Hamlet about the ghost because they felt it would talk to him. This sets up Hamlet to discover the ghost who is his late father, and learn about his murder. Act 1, Scene 2: “Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly” (Crowther 24).

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981 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet Journal 1 In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet, appears to be insane, but his mistrust for his uncle and desire for revenge drives him “To put on an antic disposition on— / That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,” (I.v.181). He succeeds in convincing almost everyone around him that he is truly a mad man whose only cure is execution; however, he is enigmatic and ambiguous. By having an appearance of insanity and madness, Hamlet is able to use it to his advantage to achieve his own purpose of ridding his father’s murderer.

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785 Words | 4 Pages

1) In Hamlet, pouring poison in a person’s ear had both a literal and symbolic significance. The literal meaning is that they are telling lies to people in order to deceive them. They are pouring poison or “poisonous” words into that person’s ear. The symbolic meaning of pouring poison in a person’s ear can be associated with the symbolic meaning of the snake in the story of Adam and Eve where the snake lures Eve in through lies. The characters in Hamlet were misled in the same way because they had poison poured into their ears.

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567 Words | 3 Pages

Hamlet is a powerful story of love, life, revenge, and death. The themes within the play are written to live on for eternity. It is difficult to fully and accurately represent a play as great as this one. The movie that we watched in class did not wholly represent the wonders and the magnitude of the themes within Shakespeare’s work.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

Not only did Shakespeare follow Christian theology but also Catholic and Protestant views, which are exhibited by the ghost. In the play the ghost is similar to a demon which threatens Hamlet into giving up his soul. Hamlet could have easily just promised the ghost revenge and kill Claudius but he did not because he wasn’t sure if the ghost was telling the truth. One thing that made Hamlet similar to other playwrights was that they all derived from the Greeks.

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1173 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout history, certain pieces of literature become irrelevant to the modern world. Moreover, the ability to relate to a modern day high school student is an especially difficult task that many novels of the past struggle with. However, there are a select few literary works that preach universal lessons, and stand the test of time. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the few texts that effectively relates to teenagers of the past, present, and future. The struggle to recover from a tragedy, and the repercussions of revenge are two concepts explored in Hamlet which the vast majority of teenagers can relate and sympathize with.

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1305 Words | 6 Pages

In the play Hamlet  Shakespeare stated that actors as well as theatre are “the abstract and brief chronicles of the time” (II.ii.459).  this is because often times authors will go and write plays regarding what they know about the things around them in their life. With this being said Vladimir Mayakovsky once said “Theatre is not a mirror to life; it is a magnifying glass.” Throughout the second half of the semester we sampled various theatrical plays that reflect their society of time and place, and they even are able to reflect concerns of today’s modern society.

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887 Words | 4 Pages

In William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet, the most heroic and brave character is young Hamlet. Despite the fact Hamlet is stranded amidst a court filled with dishonesty and misconduct and is confronted by the death of his father and his mom 's relatively quick marriage to his father 's brother, he is viewed as daring and bold in the minds of readers. For, it is his courageousness, fearlessness, determination and bravery that proves that Hamlet is not only a strong willed individual but also the most heroic character in the play. " But two months dead…my poor father’s body…why she married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father…But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue" (

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1844 Words | 8 Pages

Hamlet is William Shakespeare 's renowned tale of mystery, intrigue, and murder, centered on a young misguided prince who can only trust himself. Some may say that the actions of Prince Hamlet throughout the play are weak and fearful, displaying a tendency to procrastinate and showing an apathetic nature towards his family and peers. Others spin a tale of a noble young scholar, driven mad by the cold-blooded murder of his father by his uncle. In truth, I believe Hamlet is neither of these things. Hamlet is a sort of amalgamation of the two, a bundle of contradictions thrown together into one conflicting but very human mess of a character.

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782 Words | 4 Pages

Jan-Erik Aavik IB English HL B. Raid 04.11.2016 Written Task 2 Outline: Part of the course to which the task refers: Part 3 Literature - text and context Title of the text for analysis: Hamlet, William Shakespeare 1599

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1673 Words | 7 Pages

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.v.90). Hamlet is about a young prince who is mourning the loss of his father. He then tries to seek revenge on his uncle Claudius because he poisoned his father. Throughout the play Hamlet’s behavior starts to change which causes him to become mad. The theory about all this is a Psychological Approach.

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622 Words | 3 Pages

Hamlet, a greek tragedy written by William Shakespeare, is a book commonly read throughout multiple high schools in which teaches students about selfishness and some unappealing aspects that can be found within their peers in their everyday lives. As a seventeen year old highschool student that was forced to read Hamlet, I can say that I was not very motivated to do so. For me personally, it was a very difficult read; and I believe that there are multiple reasons behind its difficulty. The language itself is a very difficult barrier to cross; the culture, and the english was very different back then so of course it is going to be difficult for the people of our day and age to understand.

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1673 Words | 7 Pages

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.v.90). Hamlet is about a young prince who is mourning the loss of his father. He then tries to seek revenge on his uncle Claudius because he poisoned his father. Throughout the play Hamlet’s behavior starts to change which causes him to become mad. The theory about all this is a Psychological Approach.

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943 Words | 4 Pages

A tragic hero is a multifaceted, admirable character with a tragic flaw that turns his life from glory into suffering. Hamlet is an example. ‘Born’ personality, shifting mentality, and inevitable fate leads to its tragedy which eventually triggers audience’s pity. Unlike other tragedies where tragic heros discover the truths by their own actions at the end of the story, realizing that the reversal was brought by their own actions. Hamlet begins differently by knowing the truth from things happening to him.

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793 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet is a very diverse character that goes through several different emotional stages throughout the novel. Some think that he is depressed because of his father’s death, and some think that his breakup with Ophelia has made him go mad. Though Hamlet does seem out of control at times, it is because he is keeping a secret about his father’s death. The average person does not usually deal with the death of their parent well, and knowing that it was intentional makes Hamlet even more emotionally unstable. From the beginning of the novel, Hamlet proves to be very melancholy, and upset with his life.

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