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. This is explained by the Ghost when Hamlet learns of his father being murdered in Act 1 Scene 5, in lines 35 -39, “’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life . Now wears his crown.”
In the Elizabethan life, this act by Hamlet who is supposed to become the new king as he is next in line since his father had been murdered, would pass over and no one would believe that he did it without any physical proof of him doing it. It could just be sign of jealousy from king Claudius and would backfire on him if he were to try and presume legal action for the death of Polonius. The motivation of King Claudius is to try and get Hamlet sent away so he can cover up the fact that he had murdered his own brother so he could marry his wife. The motivation of Hamlet is to get revenge on King Claudius for his father, but if he was sent away then thee would be no one to get revenge on him for his sins. I think Shakespeare portrayed King
Hamlet and The Great Gatsby are very similar because of their themes. Hamlet, written by Shakespeare in 1603, and The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 share the themes of madness, vengeance, mortality, murder, and disloyalty. Although the plots are not very alike, the two main characters in each have similar qualities. These characters are not exactly the same, their flaws and actions both lead them to being disloyal to others, including themselves, and in the end, their death.
In the words of Hamlet, “I am pigeon-livered and lack gall.” Hamlet (2/2 pg. 44). This statement portrays Hamlet’s continuous struggle to seek revenge on Claudius throughout the play. He knows that revenge is in order, but he doesn’t believe he will be able to carry it out. The true question is will Hamlet ever get his revenge or will he delay until it is too late? Hamlet is presented with several opportunities to pursue his vengeance, but delays each time for multiple reasons in which reveal his true nature.
Throughout the play Hamlet continues to act insane and even dies with the act continuing. Even after Hamlet gathers all the evidence that proves Claudius is the murder, Hamlet continues to behave in a strange way. When he mistakenly murders Polonius he does
Everyone has flaws and flaws are great to have as it increases diversity, but sometimes flaws some flaws can lead to destruction. In the story of Macbeth the tragic flaw of unchecked ambition that created a monstrous Macbeth and multiple murders of innocent people, leading to Macbeth’s unruly power and greed. While in the story of Hamlet the tragic flaw of overthinking and Hamlet’s procrastination resulted in a domino effect of unnecessary deaths because he was unable to think quickly and follow through with his plan. The flaw of over thinking and inaction results in a world where no one can accomplish what needs to be done and our world can no longer progress at a faster rate.
The big question is “Are Hamlet’s actions justified.” Well Hamlet was both justified and not justified. Some things he did were for a reason others were just possibly because he was pretending to have gone insane. Examples of this are the way Hamlet treated his own mother, Gertrude, and the way he treated his love Ophelia, one thing he is not justified in is delaying the murder of his uncle and his mother’s new husband Claudius. But the thing that is justified is actually killing Claudius.
At the beginning of Act V Hamlet is sad and depressed when he found out that Ophelia is dead, and compared his love to her with everyone else. Hamlet expressed his love with Ophelia by telling Laertes that he would do anything for Ophelia even if it was to be buried with her, and if Laertes “prate of mountains” Hamlet would “let them throw millions of acres” on them (V.i.259-260). Readers know this to be true because in the earlier plays Hamlet even took the time to write Ophelia letters, and sent her gifts. Near the end of Act V Hamlet is sane when he “proclaim” the reason he fought Laertes was due to “madness”(V.ii.219). Even though Hamlet said it was his mental illness that caused the fight which makes Hamlet a sane person because only sane people can point out that sometimes their actions are wrong. An insane person would not be able to think about the consequences of their actions or do not even know that they are insane themselves. At the end of the play when Hamlet murdered Claudius it is justified as an action of a sane person. The first reason is when his own mother, Gertrude, pointed out that “the drink” is “poisoned” and Claudius was the only person that told her to not drink it, which shows that Claudius knew something about the drink. Another strong piece of evidence to justify Hamlet’s action to murder Claudius is when Laertes points out that Hamlet’s “mother’s poisoned” and that “the king’s to blame”(V.ii.315-316). At the end of the play Hamlet had every reasons to kill Claudius and avenge his father’s death because Hamlet found a letter by Claudius to the king of England to execute Hamlet when he steps in England, and the most crucial evidence is from Gertrude and Laertes
Were his actions justified, that is the question. Hamlet’s father (King Hamlet) died. In less than 2 months Hamlet’s mother (Gertrude) married his uncle (Claudius). Hamlet’s friend came to him telling him that he saw the ghost of his dad. The next night Hamlet was on lookout for the ghost. The ghost told him that Claudius killed him by putting poison in his ear. Hamlet accidentally killed Polonius thinking it was Claudius; he also killed Laertes (Polonius’s son). Did Hamlet have a reason for his actions? The treatment of Gertrude, treatment of Ophelia, delaying and killing of Claudius is yet to be determined.
Not all people respond with hate and revenge, some people let themselves get walked over but not hamlet. Hamlet does not respond to injustice too kindly. He wants revenge for his father's death, wants to set things right, help out whoever is in charge of people receiving karma by taking things into his own hands. His main goal in the novel is to seek revenge on his father's death, this started when he was visited by the ghost of the old king. The ghost said to him “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” the ghost of the old king wanted Hamlet to seek revenge on claudius for his ‘unnatural” murder of the kind. Hamlet at first was a little bit weary of the ghost but when the ghost told Hamlet that he was stuck in purgatory until revenge was sought out, hamlet was on board. Hamlet adored his father so when the ghost asked him to seek revenge, and when it told him to murder claudius it's all he focuses on for the majority of the novel. The effect seeking justice had on Hamlet was profound. He became obsessed with finding a proper way to kill the king. His first attempt was to put on a play where he hired actors to recreate the old king's murder to see how the queen and Claudius would react. Hamlet then accidentally kills Polonius the king's right hand man by accident thinking it was the king himself. When he sees that who he just killed wasn't in fact Claudius he figured he was just doing
In the Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, some of the most significant events are mental or psychological events that make the audience feel and have an emotional connection with the characters. These significant events can be awakenings, discoveries, and changes in consciousness that set off a mental or psychological effect to the readers. The author, Shakespeare, gives these internal events to characters such as Ophelia, Gertrude, and Hamlet throughout the play to give the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action.
Where hamlets actions justified? Did he really avenge is father? Well I don’t think so. Because of him Gertrude was treated very poorly and because of the got her killed, the treatment to Ophelia was not justified and it made her go crazy, he delayed the killing of the king which caused a lot of bad stuff to happen, but the killing of Claudius was justified because he avenged his father. So, the question are his actions justified?
Marxist lens came from the theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, where they both believed that “the working class were deprived of fair share by the higher rank” (Willette, 2010). From the famous play Hamlet, of William Shakespeare, that was published in 1603, it focuses more on social barriers between ranks. Social ranks is so important during the time period Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, that the whole play is based on how higher ranks abuses their power and were treated a lot better than the lower ranks.Through the vision of Marxist critical lens in Hamlet, an observer were able to see the strong boundary between the different social classes in the story. In Act 2 scene 2 from the book, showcases one example of viewing through the lens of
Redemption, is the action, regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing debt. In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, redemption is a common focus for the protagonist Hamlet, followed by Old King Fortinbras’ son, Fortinbras, and Laertes. These ambitious men embark on a quest for truth and redemption because of the loss of their father’s. In spite of the fluctuations in their quest, their journey for truth and redemption is successful because Fortinbras, Laertes and Hamlet all avenge their fathers’ deaths. Through Active Reversal, Fortinbras’ quest was successful, by Laertes’ Fear of Betrayal his quest to kill Hamlet was successful. Finally, by Hamlet controlling his psyche and destroying his core issue of
Hamlet returned to Elsinore and received some shocking news that Hamlet’s mother had married his uncle. His expression was sad and upset all at once in his disgusted face of anger. There the door opened with the new king and the old queen entered and Hamlet standing like a tall tree and not moving like a stonewall. In the play Hamlet,by Shakespeare, Hamlet the prince of Denmark was listening to his uncle Claudius about his marrige and and him exhibiting happiness about it while Hamlet looks ashamed. As his uncle advised him to stay in his home he grows into rage about everything that happened when he came back because Claudius was having a party while he was stuck in his own house waiting for them to return. Hamlet is justifiably