unintentionally deceives others by not showing who they really are or how they really feel.
William Shakespeare can be argued as being one of the best writers of all time. Part of Shakespeare’s magic includes his ability to still have such a massive influence on authors and the content they create even today. Many books, films, and other forms of media are based off popular themes taken from the works of Shakespeare. Although Shakespeare has remained relevant through many years, other authors have become common household names and written pieces of writing that have taken over the world. An author that has written amazing books read and enjoyed by millions is J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling is the author of the widely-loved book series Harry Potter. The seven Harry Potter novels have each been adapted to their
In his first soliloquy, he expresses his intense grief and inner conflict of wanting to commit suicide but not wanting to be punished by God. From this the audience can infer one of Hamlet’s fatal flaws; he is indecisive. He is constantly searching for certainty, since he is unable to make decisions without it. Although Hamlet is wary of the story given to the public to explain the King’s sudden death, it is not until the ghost confirms his suspicions and he uncovers the truth that he vows to “Remember thee!”. He suspects foul play was involved, yet he never acts on this uncertainty until certainty is provided for him. Both the confirmation from the ghost and the determined vow for vengeance seem to provide him with the motivation to live and start taking action. Despite the facts, instead of following the ghost’s instructions and acting immediately, Hamlet fabricates a plan to “put an antic disposition on” in order to deceive Claudius while he plots to murder him. This plan to feign madness allows time for another inner conflict to develop in Hamlet; whether to act on the ghost’s words and take revenge or leave the situation alone and return to contemplating suicide. However, certainty cannot be achieved through overthinking and Hamlet requires certainty to act. His swaying between options and creating excuses to procrastinate causes him to lose faith in himself, those around him and his own life ultimately resulting in suffering for
Most people live their lives based on assumptions made yet, we should be wiser and figure out the true intentions behind all these masks people wear. William Shakespeare explores this idea in Hamlet, a play about the son of the king of Denmark who was murdered by his own brother, Claudius, who then married his brother 's wife, only a month after the murder and for this reason he’s not only the uncle but, also the stepfather of Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet will pretend to be crazy in order to discover the truth and revenge his father 's death. Because the characters from the play appear to be one thing while in reality they’re a whole different person, it seems that Shakespeare is arguing that we should be extremely cautious of people because they tend to wear facade and not show their authentic selves to others. Hamlet spoke to a ghost who claims to be his father 's spirit; he did consider the possibility of it being the devil, however he chose to believe the ghost was his father. The ghost informs Hamlet the real reason he died and asks Hamlet to seek revenge so he starts to act mad. Hamlet insists his friends to not tell anyone what they’ve seen by saying, “How strange or odd soe 'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on), that you, at such times seeing me, never shall—With arms encumbered thus” (1:5:58). Hamlet wants people to believe he is mentally ill or mad to use as a cover for this true intentions which is to
Like many things, Hamlet is intelligent and honorable, but his indecisiveness is the cause of his tragic downfall. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays that Hamlet is very incapable of finishing the task at hand. Throughout the drama Hamlet faces many trials and tribulations due to his late father Hamlet, who was murderously killed by Claudius. His inability to kill Claudius and himself is one grand flaw of an epic hero.
When Hamlet is told by a ghost that has a resemblance of his father that Claudius had killed him, he vows to take vengeance and revenge his father’s death. Instead of taking action and killing claudius, he questions whether the ghost was actually his father asking to revenge his death or
When you say your going to do something, you better do it. Words may indeed lie, but actions always tell the truth. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the protagonist Hamlet goes through numerous tragedies that cause him depression. His father dies, and his mother marries his uncle. This stress put on him is what essentially created his tragic flaw. Hamlets tragic flaw is his indecisiveness to make decisions. This trait is demonstrated through the entire play and causes Hamlet to his own demise. When Hamlet has immediate suspicious of his fathers murder and later proof, he delays the murder, which is puzzling because the play is about revenge, and one would expect him to have done it earlier as he had ample amount of opportunities to do so. His indecisiveness has puzzled many. Shakespeare uses the indecisiveness of Hamlet to demonstrate that human life is about acting, not thinking.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet struggles to cope with his late father’s death and his mother’s quick marriage. In Act 1, Scene 2, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet are all introduced. Hamlet has just finished publicly speaking with his mom and the new king, and after he is interrupted by his good friend Horatio, who reveal the secret about King Hamlet’s ghost. Hamlet’s soliloquy is particularly crucial because it serves as his initial characterization, revealing the causes of his anguish.
To be or not to be morally ambiguous is to have the lack of coherence in making moral life decisions. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet goes through a great transformation. Hamlet seeks revenge toward Claudius who he believes killed his father for the throne. In many of Shakespeare’s play there is always a hero and a villain, but in Hamlet, Hamlet plays a pivotal role because he can be viewed as both the hero and the villain. Hamlet is seen as a morally ambiguous character due to the decisions he makes throughout the plot of the novel that ends up leading him to his demise. In this paper, the audience will understand how Hamlet’s moral ambiguity is significant to Shakespeare’s play as a whole.
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. The ghost of
Hamlet is one of the most memorable Shakespearean plays due to the focus on a young prince`s struggle with obeying the ghostly figure that we witness briefly on stage. The ghost is certainly an important figure in shaping the outcome of this revenge tragedy. Thus, we must ponder what is the ghost and how it can be interpreted in a plethora of ways. It is arguably seen as the spirit of Hamlet`s father, a figment of his imagination and being Shakespeare himself. Therefore, this essay will examine these potential answers to the question.
The ghost of Old Hamlet fuels “Hamlet” as gasoline fuels a car. The importance of the death of Old Hamlet appears evident, for it receives recognition in the first scene of “Hamlet.” The Ghost also appears in the first scene, but his actions remain limited throughout the play. Even though he owns a limited role, the Ghost makes a major impact on “Hamlet” through several ways. Furthermore, without the Ghost, no action would take place in the play. By motivating Hamlet’s actions, the Ghost of Old Hamlet affects the development of Hamlet through many ideas.
The ghost’s appearance has a significant impact on Hamlet’s behaviors and forms his decisions through the play. Hamlet, who is suffering from depression since he is dealing with his father’s death and the hasty marriage of his mother with Claudius, his uncle, became obsessed with the concept of life and death after seeing his father’s ghost. In the first appearance of the ghost, he reveals the truth about the how the king has been murdered, which drives Hamlet to seek revenge, and by revenge killing his uncle. The ghost establishes a dilemma and gives Hamlet time to think about his father’s request. But Hamlet has an uncertainty about the existence of the ghost as he notes “the spirit that I have seen may be the devil, and the devil hath power T ' assume a pleasing shape” (2.2.561–563) here, Hamlet is concerned that the ghost may be the devil and questions the motivation of the ghost for killing Claudius. He has a doubt about what the ghost told him and instead of acting instantly to ravage his father’s murder, he starts to figure out about whether Claudius was guilty or not, as he says “I’ll have grounds more relative than this” (2.2.565) which shows that he is looking for enough evidence to kill Claudius. But Hamlet is a great
He starts to believe that the spirit may be the devil or some sort of demon that was sent to tempt young Hamlet into a destructive existence. The appearance of the ghost causes Hamlet to mistrust his own perceptions of things and doubt the validity of his father’s ghost and the malicious claim that he states. Hamlet decides to stage a play in which the plot very closely resembles the events that the ghost describes as his death. Hamlet feels that if King Claudius is indeed guilty, it will be written all over his face. “The play’s the thing/Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” (II, ii, 566-567). In the eyes of Hamlet, Claudius proves his involvement in the death of Hamlet Senior with the look of sheer guilt and horror on his face. Still, it takes a rather long time before young Hamlet carries out his revenge on his uncle. This is in part due to his tendency to over analysis events. Hamlet could have easily listened to the ghost the very first night and killed his uncle out of revenge immediately. Since he took his time to think things through, it gave the audience a chance to reflect the events through the eyes of Hamlet and become one with his thought
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 father’s wrongful death. The ghost of King Hamlet helps to develop his son’s character by setting him on a path, he doesn’t tell Hamlet exactly what to do, but he tells him enough of the story to make Young Hamlet rageful and hate filled.