ipl-logo

Morality Vs. Savagery In Shakespeare's Hamlet

833 Words4 Pages

Shakespeare's play Hamlet is a collective piece of internal and external conflict. From the moment we meet the crestfallen prince we are enraptured by his elegant intensity. Acting blindly through his anger and emotions, Hamlet takes on the responsibility of avenging his father's death and maintaining his role as the Prince of Denmark. His unwavering desire for vengeance drives the plot and sets the tone for a compelling story of morality vs. savagery. Shakespeare utilizes the reoccurring themes of revenge, deceit, and violence to take us on Hamlets continuous search for happiness, love and answers. The characters he encounters as well as the mental and physical battles he faces help illuminate the vengeful characteristics of this tragedy. …show more content…

He is reckless yet cautious, courteous yet uncivil, tender yet ferocious. Hamlets life involves loads of tragedies, poisons, swords, and suicides, including the death of his father, mother's incestuous marriage madness, and his own death at the end. When Hamlet exclaims, "that it should come to this," he'd just finished describing how the world has gone to fodder. Then Hamlet goes on to say how he cannot believe his mother would marry her husband's brother. This quote shows Hamlet's fury and shock at his mother's remarriage. He uses innocent Ophelia is now an outlet for his irritation towards the queen not realizing that his vicious words have caused her to go insane. It is unfortunate that the actions of Claudius and Queen Gertrude have tainted the way Hamlet's thinks and feels now towards women. Coming from the letters and gifts Hamlet gave the woman he once loved , it is obvious that he did love the girl, and likely felt those feelings of sweet devotion that his father felt had once for this mother. The recognition of his love for Ophelia can only come when Hamlet realizes that she is dead, and free from her tainted womanly

Show More
Related

How Is Betrayal Justified In Hamlet

828 Words | 4 Pages

Although Hamlet is plotting to murder a king which is the highest form of treason any person could commit in his time, is made to seem like an honorable and justified action. Through the ghost of his father demanding that Hamlet avenge his untimely death by the hand of his brother, the audience disposes of this idea that plotting against and killing a king is treason. The audience understands Hamlets rage and desire for revenge and is encourages it although Claudius is the new king of Denmark and father to Hamlet. This betrayal Hamlet commits against his former uncle now his adoptive father would disgust the audience had it not been that Claudius was guilty of murdering Hamlets father and plotting to murder Hamlet. By having this double crossing it establishes how not even the bonds of family can quench the thirst for power and

Read More

Examples Of Moral Ambiguity In Hamlet

165 Words | 1 Pages

The Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, stands out as a morally ambiguous character due to his conflicting morals and indecisiveness, making it more apparent that Hamlet’s intentions are unclear. Hamlet’s intentions to avenge

Read More

Agent Fortinbras In Hamlet

1001 Words | 5 Pages

In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, the play tells a story of Hamlet the young Prince of Denmark mourning the death of his father and also trying to tolerate the marriage of his mother and his new step-father, his uncle. Hamlet goes through a transformation in order to find out the truth about his father’s death and get revenge on those who killed his father. Therefore, when Hamlet tries to finally get his revenge it is too late because everyone who he has loved is dead and he has become a victim of his own vengeance. This play is written in 1603, to show his audience the true consequences of revenge this play has been rewritten in various ways. Hamlet even being rewritten in many ways ,even animated in The

Read More

How Does Shakespeare Create A Ripple Effect In Hamlet

1902 Words | 8 Pages

While all great works of literature often include a main character who encounters a conflict requiring action, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” portrays the ultimate story of a quest to resolve conflict while struggling to execute action. Crippled by his tendency to overthink, Hamlet learns the truth about his father’s murder through his father’s ghost, which interrupts interrupting his grieving process and gives him a new task to complete: kill his uncle who now wears the crown. Although other Shakespeare characters such as Othello or Macbeth might complete this revenge immediately and ask no questions, Hamlet’s complex character requires many scenes of unwillinging to act on his quest for revenge until Act V where he finally discovers the understanding

Read More

Cruelty In Hamlet

692 Words | 3 Pages

Revenge comes in all types of cruel, menacing actions. Hamlet’s theme is surrounded by cruelty and the cruelty progresses the play throughout. During the play the main perpetrator is King Claudius and the victim that is affected through most of his actions is Hamlet. Cruelty functions in the work two ways, it causes a chain reaction full of conflict and it helps develop a greater theme inside of the work. Hamlet is a tragic play that combines revenge with cruelty to develop a timeline of barbaric events that result in utter disaster.

Read More

Examples Of Personality Disorder In Hamlet

1598 Words | 7 Pages

The main character of William Shakespeare’s tragedy is actually a confused person that’s stuck between two choices. Some may argue that he feels guilty for his father’s death and so it’s his duty to avenge it. While others may disagree and conclude that he is just a maniac who is both violent and dangerous. Hamlet passes through the lane of hesitancy, where he hesitates to kill King Claudius. As a matter of fact, the main conflict of Hamlet is that he feels both the need to solve the crime and punish the responsible.

Read More

How Did Hamlet Really Love Ophelia

542 Words | 3 Pages

Hamlet not only sees the world with a pessimistic attitude, but also is the feeling suicidal. Hamlet shows his inner thoughts on the value of life. Nonetheless, the main reason for his anger and irritation was due to the quick marriage of his mother and uncle, Claudius. Instead, what turndowns him the most seem to be his mother's actions as Hamlet angrily calls out, “frailty thy name is woman!” ( 1.2.146).

Read More

Research Paper On Hamlet

1013 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet In Class Essay Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare around the 1600s that highlights what vengeance can do to people and how it changes the soul. Much like any other series that has come to life on the big screen, there are noticeable differences between the book and the film such as how they dress, speak, and much more. Compared to the text, the film made reader's imaginations of how the play is interpreted into reality, though with noticeable changes, helped readers visualize how the play would actually have looked like during the time it was written. To start off, the emotions felt during some scenes in the text can be interpreted differently from person to person while the film clearly shows how the characters felt

Read More

Examples Of Justice In Hamlet

734 Words | 3 Pages

Shakespeare's primary contradiction and ideology is brought into sharp relief in this death: that, despite the fact that exacting revenge brings about real justice, doing so is immoral and leads to the victim's own death. The entire Hamlet narrative is given an entirely new significance in light of this. The drama as a whole sheds light on a more general truth about the pursuit of true justice. It is clear by looking at the lives of Shakespeare's characters that genuine justice is unpredictable and that everyone

Read More

Hatred And Corruption Revealed In Shakespeare's Hamlet

1078 Words | 5 Pages

It's also in this act that, Hamlet rescinds his love for Ophelia in saying, “I loved you not” (3.1.129). It is in his selfishness that Hamlet was able to forget the love he has for Ophelia and could personally attack her like this. The breaking of this relationship represented Ophelia’s tragic downfall. “...thus the denial of his love for her must have been more heart-breaking than his insults” (Gürcü, 2016, p.48). The last straw of Ophelia's innocence was broken when Hamlet denied his love.

Read More

Archetypal Hero

727 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel just as any archetypal, hamlet sets out to accomplish a noble task which in this case was to avenge his father’s death; however unlike an archetypal hero, Hamlet allowed his thirst for revenge get the better of him and this subsequently lead to his death. Throughout the play Hamlet struggles to make a decision as to whether he should avenge his father’s death. Although his questioning is understandable it was still his fatal flaw as his indecisiveness was a key factor to his death. The strong messages imbedded in this play are relatable to readers and portray the problems in modern society. Hamlet is certainly not a character for readers to look up to however he is a character that the readers can learn from.

Read More

Hamlet Is Dead Essay

527 Words | 3 Pages

Instead, characters find themselves wrapped up in Hamlet the Younger’s plot for revenge, whether intentionally or not, destined to be killed in this web of deceit and despair. But what does that say about King Hamlet’s role in all these horrible things that come to pass? There’s two answers to this question: His actions mean nothing, he’s already

Read More

How Is Hamlet A Hero

1241 Words | 5 Pages

The play Hamlet by Shakespeare tells a tragic story of a prince avenging the death of his father. In the play, the main character Hamlet shows how he changes from a hero into a villain through his immoral and repellant actions.

Read More

An Analysis Of Hamlet's Weaknesses

995 Words | 4 Pages

In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the death of the King Hamlet caused many problems amongst the royal family. This death allowed Claudius to seize King Hamlet’s throne and take Queen Getrude’s hand in marriage. It also caused Hamlet to despise both his mother and uncle. The death of the king also caused Hamlet to undergo thoughts of contemplation, fearfulness, and indecision. There is no doubt that Hamlet possesses many strengths which we admire, which are his nobility, bravery and intellect.

Read More

William Shakespeare Hamlet Research Paper

1267 Words | 6 Pages

William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, is a play about revenge and how the characters handle their various situations. Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras all seek revenge and have pent up anger they do not understand or know how to handle. Within the play, revenge is an overarching theme that extends to every corner of the play. Every character in the play is somehow pulled into the different plots that are carried out by the three men, along with other characters seeking revenge. The beginning of the play is the revelation of a crime committed by Hamlet’s uncle through a conversation with King Hamlet’s ghost.

Read More

More about Morality Vs. Savagery In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Open Document