Similarities Between Hamlet And Machiavelli

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. The quote, "We admire Hamlet as much for his weaknesses as for his strengths", aptly describes my feelings towards this troubled young prince. It is simply impossible to characterise Hamlet as good or bad, strong or weak. It is my aim to show the depth of Hamlet 's personality and to explain to the best of my ability the traits which make him who he is. Hamlet is the neither the hero nor the villain of his story- he is simply a victim, a young man slowly losing his grip on sanity over the course of the play.

Hamlet, a Shakespeare play, is a classic tale featuring revenge, ambition, tragedy, and deceit. The main character, Prince Hamlet, son of King Hamlet who was recently murdered is contemplating whether or not to avenge his father's death and kill Claudius who is now king and also his uncle and the murderer. The whole play evokes a terrible tragic end in which everyone is slain. Foil characters are used to constantly compare the actions of Hamlet and the possible actions of other characters if they were put in his situation. This helps makes Hamlet's character more three-dimensional and makes it more appealing to the audience.

Claudius is then compared to the internal organs of slaves and a man without morals, remorse or kindness (Ham.2.2.607-608). The powerful metaphors and adjectives used to describe Claudius not only express Hamlet’s intense contempt and disdain towards him, but also serve to convince Hamlet to commit murder. However, Hamlet depicts himself as a whore, a prostitute, and a swearing kitchen maid (Ham.2.2.614-616), reiterating the notion that he is worthless, as well as weak for expressing his emotions through words rather than actions. The shift from metaphors to similes indicate Hamlet’s failure to move past his cowardice and proceed with an act of revenge that would inflict

This first seed of deception planted by the new king causes almost the entire chain of events that take place in the Tragedy Hamlet to happen. All in all Claudius’s deception plays a major role in the the layout and plot of Hamlet. Claudius is a deceptive power hungry foil character in this Shakespeare play who has a great influence on the of the actions and events that led to the climax and falling action of the play.

In the play, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet as a dynamic character to cause a mental state conundrum among the audience and explore the themes of suicide, spying, friendship, madness, providence, love, hate and humour. Furthermore, by utilising literary devices such as soliloquy, characterisation, dialogue, personification, metaphor, dramatic and situational irony Shakespeare exploits these themes and questions Hamlet’s sanity. In the beginning, Hamlet is portrayed as an overthinking person, claiming to act an antic disposition. However, as the play advances his manic rage and irrational acts such as Polonius’s murder and

Hamlet Comparison Essay There are many qualities that make an effective and powerful leader. Some leaders strive for greatness; others strive to make history. Though their goals may differ, all can agree that the most important component of leadership is earning the respect of those who follow you and being responsible with the power you earn. There are many strong leaders in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, though not all are effective.

The personality of such characters as Hamlet from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is much remarked upon. However, it is even more meaningful to analyze changes in Hamlet’s character throughout the play. As Hamlet becomes more driven in his revenge, his actions lose morality and gain consequences. In fact, Shakespeare uses the relationship between a character’s cruelty and the meaning in the pain they cause to comment on the cyclically destructive nature of cruelty.

The uncle of the boy then marries his mother and becomes more greedy throughout the entire play. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare the mysterious character Claudius has a craving for power which leads to events showing his lack of emotion for his actions, and family. Claudius’ apathy is shown throughout the play, although in Act I scene ii Claudius is portraying his lack of sympathy towards his son and

Due to himself being too idealistic and restrained, he does not take decisive actions even after using the planned play to test the Claudius's conscience that could possibly expose himself and left himself in unfavorable circumstances. Hamlet’s inability to act is caused by his overanalysis of the situations that further render him from not carrying out actions in response. If Hamlet is not indecisive, he would not be uncertain about the evidence regarding to his uncle’s crime, he would not be delaying his revenge, he would not be having emotional breakdowns and become a tragic figure. Hamlet’s personality ‘borns’ and develops under his royal position and the growing

Machiavelli argues the perfect prince will be both feared and loved by his people, and if unable to be both he will make himself feared and not hated. Machiavelli believes it is much safer to be feared than to be loved because people are less likely to offend and stand up against strong characters, also people are less concerned in offending a prince who has made himself loved. Accordingly, Machiavelli believes generosity is harmful to your reputation and the choice between being generous or stingy, merciful or cruel, honest or deceitful, should only be important if it aids the prince in political power. All in all, Machiavelli believes the ruler must be a great deceiver and do what is essential to uphold power over the

Deception is an action driven with the motive to employ one purpose which can be to mislead another individual in order to gain knowledge, to get revenge, or to reveal a plan unknown to the public eye and keeping it that way for the dutiful well-being of the Kingdom of Denmark. In the tragedy Hamlet by William Shakespeare, deception develops into the character trait that initiates the actions, heartbreak, and revenge driving this play. This attribute held by Hamlet is the leading cause of this same flaw development in Ophelia, King Claudius, and many others in an attempt to reinforce the theme. This theme is one of heroism, but the deceptive notion each action reveals challenges the perception the reader has on each of the main characters. In order to be able to fully analyze the part Hamlet’s deception plays in driving the plot and storyline of this tragedy, one must understand that a foil character juxtaposes each character to illuminate their shortcomings.

Turning now to the absurd world of the two plays. To begin with, Hamlet finds himself in a world of actors where no one is who they seem. Claudius is playing the role of the king though his betrayal would suggest he is not meant to be king. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are playing the role of Hamlet 's friends while secretly working for Claudius. Even fair Ophelia, who Hamlet thought honest deceives him in Act 3 scene 1.

In Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, he maintains a harsh perspective on reality. His advice on how to maintain power leaves no room for compassion or generousity. While some may believe that these are qualities of a good person, Machiavelli believes these qualities lead to the downfall of rulers. He acknowledges that, in reality, it is impossible for someone to have qualities of a good person and simultaneously a good ruler. Machiavelli’s realistic outlook causes him to emphasize that it is better to maintain power through fear, rather than compassion.

Machiavelli wrote about a fictitious prince, describing how he is a terrible being who has no respect for people who have a lower status than him. He is described as being selfish and untrustworthy. His writing about this prince was supposed to replicate princes and kings that were ruling and open he reader’s eyes to real issues occuring. In Document 1 there is an excerpt from The Prince, written by Machiavelli, telling about how terrible the Prince of England. Document 1 states, “For all men in general this observation may be made: they are ungrateful, fickle, and deceitful, eager to avoid dangers, and avid for gain, and while you are useful to them they are all with you, but when it [danger] approaches they turn on you”.

William Shakespeare was well versed in the English language, whether it be poetry or playwrights. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and Hamlet are playwrights that entail odd, but heavy struggles for both characters. Using Brutus’s and Hamlet’s interaction with their female counterparts, their thirst for vengeance, and specific character traits, Shakespeare develops two tragic heroes of different time periods.