Act 2 Discussion The play begins with a ghostly apparition of King Hamlet, the deceased father of Prince Hamlet, appearing on the castle battlements at Elsinore. Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio are the first three witnesses. The ghost's apparition in this act creates an atmosphere of mystery and ominous, “something rotten in the state of Denmark” (1.4.90). This phrase is used to evoke that there is something deeply wrong or corrupt in Denmark; furthermore, creating an atmosphere full of mystery. As this act goes on, there is a pervasive feeling of loss and sorrow for King Hamlet's death, which is especially clear in Prince Hamlet's remarks about his mother and his uncle's marriage, “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (1.2.146). In his soliloquy, …show more content…
Ophelia subsequently enters the room to speak with her father and clarifies that Hamlet appeared unexpectedly and entered her room and grabbed her "by the wrist" (2.1.87). Ophelia has been refusing to talk to Hamlet and sending him letters under Polonius' orders, "but as you did command" (2.1.106). This passage demonstrates the dominance of men over women throughout this literary era. Additionally, Ophelia's revelation to her father that Hamlet actually loves her encourages Polonius to alert Claudius of Hamlet's actions, “. Come, go we to the king. This must be known...” (2.1.117). This sequence leaves the play with an overall tone of ambiguity about the love between these two characters. This in comparison to Act 1 is more lighter and filled with less tragic events. Furthermore, in the next scene, Polonius advises the king and queen to spy on him. In the beginning, Hamlet strikes up a light-hearted and friendly dialogue with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, as Hamlet questions them, “ Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation?” (2.2.266), he acknowledges that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were sent to spy on him when they finally confess by saying “My lord, we were sent for.” (2.2.282). Furthermore, Hamlet employs repetition and parallelism to give the passage's final few sentences a guilt-tripping tone. This also
Hamlet devised this plan to take Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s lives through a letter he pretends is written by the king. He uses tools accessible to him to recreate a letter perfectly as if from the king. He schemed this well thought out using the king's power in giving orders to deceive everyone involved. Therefore, actions taken by Prince Hamlet have required his power and been used for his selfish
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are childhood friends of Hamlet that are hired by King Claudius to attempt to find out the cause of Hamlet’s strange behaviour. Hamlet is pleased to see his old friends, but recognizes that the King and Queen have sent them to investigate him as he sees right through their lie that they have only come for a visit to see Hamlet. Later on, Hamlet even refers to them as a sponge as seen in the following quotation: “Ay, sir, that soaks up the king’s countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw, first mouthed to be last swallowed.
He acts as Hamlet's spy when he watches for Claudius to react on the existence of the ghost. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are both spies for Claudius and Gertrude, though they are mostly bad at it. Their spying also gets them killed. There is also another part of spying with Fortinbras, as he prepares to fight Denmark and lies to his uncle about it. Even the Ghost appears in Gertrude's bedroom, presumably spying on how things are going between his wife and son.
further serves to highlight his grief (132). These lines all scan perfectly and have masculine endings, which confirms Hamlet’s grief. He is firm in his sorrow, truly shaken and disturbed by his father’s death. The alliterative structure combined with Hamlet’s cutting cries all add to his “weary” feeling, exhausted by “all the uses of this world” (133-134). Hamlet’s world is shaken, and his view on life has been altered as well.
King Hamlet’s ghost in Hamlet plays a very significant role in Shakespeare’s play even though he only appears briefly in the very beginning and two other times throughout the play. King Hamlet’s ghost furthers the play in many ways. He affects action by setting the play in motion, he affects the theme of revenge, and he helps develop other characters, specifically his son, Hamlet. He sets the play in motion by causing the wheels to spin inside of Prince Hamlet’s head, the ghost is the whole reason for Hamlet trying to extract revenge upon his murderous Uncle Claudius who is now the King of Denmark. The ghost affects the theme of revenge by causing Young Hamlet to be seized by vengeance, the whole play turns into a story of Prince Hamlet trying to avenge his
He’s saying that Hamlet will seduce her and use her for her body, then dispose of her once done. In the same scene Polonius also warns her not to fall in love with Hamlet because, no matter what, he will marry a princess. “His greatness weighed, his will is not his own, For he himself is subject to his birth” (1.3.16-17). He will marry someone based on their social status and how
Upon their encounter, Hamlet feels comfortable enough to lament all of his recent troubles. This verbal exchange sparks concern in the two spies for their friend’s psychological state, but their comments lead Hamlet to suspicion in their motive for initially talking to him, which adds to his ongoing perception that the world around him is an evil place that seeks to destroy him.
/ So excellent a king, that was to this…” (1.2.138-139). Everything Hamlet experiences, especially regarding his father, uncle and mother, is in itself a tragedy; he comes home already in grief and only becomes more intensely depressed and angry as the play goes
Introduction At this point in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he uses insanity to express one’s feelings when they’re in distress. Ophelia shows the most insanity throughout the play. In this scene, she is expressing her sadness to the Queen and King after her father just died. The Queen isn’t looking forward to speaking with Ophelia after Polonius. Ophelia’s opinion is overlooked and they don’t take it into consideration.
King Hamlet’s ghost in Hamlet plays a very significant role in Shakespeare’s play even though he only appears briefly in the very beginning. King Hamlet’s ghost furthers the play in many ways. He affects action by setting the play in motion, he affects the theme of revenge, and he helps develop other characters, specifically his son, Hamlet. He sets the play in motion by causing the wheels to spin inside of Prince Hamlet’s head, the ghost is the whole reason for Hamlet trying to extract revenge upon his murderous Uncle Claudius who is now the King of Denmark. The ghost affects the theme of revenge by causing Young Hamlet to be seized by vengeance, the whole play turns into a story of Prince Hamlet trying to avenge his father’s wrongful death.
So this pushes Hamlet to lead his friends to their death. As a result,Hamlet was betrayed by his comrades who works for a king that is a murderer who took another king’s
I.ii.29-30) Hamlet agonizingly groans to himself. It is clear towards the start of the play that Hamlet is damaged—internally. It makes him upset to see his mother get married not long after his father 's passing, and Hamlet feels alone since nobody else appears to feel this same torment and be grieving with him. Based on this evidence, it is safe to infer that Hamlet had an excellent and upright relationship with his now dead father whom he respected. Therefore, if one was not as courageous or as heroic as Hamlet, they would have protested
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.
We know what we are, but not we may be. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare is about disease, poison, revenge, fortune,fate, appearance and reality. Hamlet who is the main character is seeking revenge on his uncle for killing his father and marrying his mother. In the beginning of act 1 ,scene 1 there are 3 watchmen guarding Elsinore Castle in Denmark Bernardo, Horatio, and Marcellus when a ghost appears before their eyes who seems to look like the dead King of Denmark also known as Hamlet's father. The ghost has come to warn the guards of impending misfortune for Denmark.
IOC Commentaries -Hamlet- The extract given befits in Act III, scene 1 of the tragedy “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare. This extract shows an important moment in the play, when Hamlet, the protagonist, contemplates whether or not to kill himself because his mother married his uncle, after his father’s death. Throughout the soliloquy he is depicted as a complex character who seeks the profound meaning of life, yet he is followed by an inexplicable feeling of not being able to proceed with putting an end to it. Shakespeare uses a great deal of stylistic and literary devices to underscore the main themes of this extract: life versus death and action versus inaction, which, I will be discussing in the following analysis.