In 1599:A Year in the life of William Shakespeare, James Shapiro (a Shakespeare scholar and professor at Columbia University) depicts a bibliography on the mark left on four plays; Hamlet, As You Like It, Henry V and Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare in 1599 by public events. James Shapiro goes to the next level … Read more
‘A View from the Bridge’, by Arthur Miller, is a play which explores the theme of obsession. Set in 1940s Brooklyn, the play is based upon the lives of the Carbone family and, in particular, focuses upon longshoreman Eddie Carbone’s unhealthy obsession with his seventeen year old niece Catherine. A modern version of a Greek … Read more
Clip 1, “Task 2 Engaging Class Discussion,” illustrates a time during my lesson that I engaged students to construct meaning from two film adaptations of the same scene, Act 3 Scene 4, from Hamlet. I engaged the class by asking questions to draw inquiry, and it initiated a class discussion, where students were drawing on … Read more
A characteristic that made Shakespeare such an intriguing playwright is his ability to convey powerful messages to an audience in a creative and unexpected manner. When comparing act 5, scene 3 from Richard III to act 1, scene 5 from Hamlet, this niche can truly be appreciated by analyzing his usage of ghosts. Although the … Read more
If anyone is ever looking for a movie based on a Shakespeare play, poorly adapted into a modern story about high school basketball players, and complete with uninspired acting, then the movie O, directed by Tim Blake Nelson, is the perfect choice. The movie, which stars Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles, and Martin Sheen, takes place … Read more
Throughout history, a handful of authors have established character tropes and story elements that have filtered down throughout literature. To this day, the writings of Chaucer, Homer, Faulkner, and others remain influential and are often reflected in modern works. However, no writer can claim more influence on media than William Shakespeare. His dramatic and comedic … Read more
The beginning of one of the most contended soliloquies by William Shakespeare states “To be or not to be” (Shakespeare IV. iv. ), the excessive dramatists of all time. The alteration of the implication his soliloquy brings its apposite to generate a colossal quantity of adaptation to the original, affiances signification that this monologue is … Read more
Smiles that Faded Deception that Killed William Shakespeare utilized acts of unforetold love, treachery, revenge, and deception that helped to develop works that have been highly praised for centuries. In Shakespeare’s drama Hamlet, he continues to use these tools to unfold a story that reveals the questionable sanity of the main character, Hamlet. While Hamlet … Read more
Hamlet is a play written by popular playwright William Shakespeare. In the play, Shakespeare explores the theme of vengeance through an interaction of various characters. The main character of the play is Hamlet. He is a protagonist seeking to avenge the death of his father. Hamlet’s character in the play is quite dynamic. This is … Read more
Throughout Shakespeare’s work, more famously in “Hamlet”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Othello”, and “Merchant of Venice”, there are cleverly placed puns in the poems, plays, and some sonnets. A pun is a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings. These … Read more
In Act 1 Scene 2 (from the beginning to Hamlet’s soliloquy), Claudius declares his marriage with Gertrude and explains why he married to Gertrude — his brother’s widow. While Hamlet is complaining about his mother’s marriage, and he thinks his uncle is a “satyr”. At that time, his view of the world was meaningless, useless … Read more
As the final scene comes into play, we are introduced with Hamlet and Horatio in a hall in the castle. In the hall, Hamlet tells Horatio what had happened while he was away at sea. He tell him that for some time, he could not sleep due to his curiosity over Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s cabin. … Read more
Hamlet is arguably one of William Shakespeare’s best literature pieces and almost 500 years later it’s still being read and used everywhere around the world. Hamlet has been critically analyzed by prominent figures in literature and this dynamic play has taken on a larger role providing both dramatic and philosophical inspiration in our current society. … Read more
The root of the madness of Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been debated by literary scholars for centuries. There have been scholars who believe Hamlet is an ignorant child who acts based on his emotions. Others say Hamlet was actually cunning by using his madness as a cover for his revenge, or Hamlet might not have been … Read more
Insanity: a derangement of the mind. Coward: someone who lacks courage and bravery in the face of danger, difficulty, hardships, opposition, or pain. Hamlet: a character that rapidly loses his sanity after a strange encounter with his father’s ghost and acts indecisively out of fear for his own fate. In Act 1 of Hamlet, the … Read more
The world is constantly destroyed externally by environmental factors, yet it is also destroyed internally by acts of evil. While there are only so many ways humans can mend what those external factors inflict on the world, there are concrete measures humans can take to restore what evil does to this world. One of those … Read more
Throughout ‘Hamlet we have the images of death, decay, rottenness, and corruption embedded in the story. The imagery that Shakespeare uses in hamlet relates directly with the plots of the play perfectly. The corruptions images are illuminated in the beginning with Claudius own actions. The characters use metaphors of disease in the connection to sickness … Read more
A corruption of the faithful, an exploitation of the angelic, a destruction of the young, blanketed the earth in the fall of 1941. The gift of innocence, so blameless and pure, but at the presence of absence, eradicates life. The righteous and the sinful, the just and the unjust, produced social barriers of uncertainty. In … Read more
The playwright Our Town features a wide range of philosophizing that one would not usually expect from such a traditional and classic play. The play’s author, Thornton Wilder, does an exceptional job characterizing his characters, with many seeming completely normal yet others clearly extraordinarily wise. The two main characters, characters George and Emily are both … Read more
The large body of work attributed to William Shakespeare shows education, experience, creativity, and wisdom far beyond what many people are willing to accept came from a single author. This is due to the scarcity of facts concerning his life, speculation rose about whether or not Shakespeare became more common. In turn, some have chosen … Read more
First of all, a quick summary of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Anything. In the beginning of this story a respectable noblemen named Leonato, his daughter Hero, and his clever niece Beatrice are waiting on the arrival of friends from the war. The group of friends include prince Don Pedro, and two of his fellow soldiers; … Read more
Hamlet is based on a young prince of Denmark that must uncover the truth about his fathers death. Hamlet a play that tells the story of a young prince who’s father recently died. Hamlets uncle Claudius marries his mother the queen and takes the throne. As the play is told Hamlet finds out his father … Read more
What is Hamlet’s flaw? …’;Nor to any one is he known to have defect. No one ever ventures to speak of him slightingly or critically. Why does not the King, Laertes, or Fortinbras despise him for a scholar and a dreamer, at least, instead of taking him as they all do for the worthy son … Read more
Hamlet is seen as one of the most complex literary character of all time. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude can be interpreted in many ways. Hamlets motivation for killing Claudius is not to avenge his fathers death, but because of his love for his mother Gertrude. This is where the Oedipus complex comes into … Read more
In the tragic play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, a particular deterrent in Hamlet’s quest to be rid of his regal uncle is his procrastination. This act of murder intended to set the future right is Hamlet’s sole responsibility, ordered by his deceased father. Hamlet’s main target throughout the play is for Claudius to commit suicide. … Read more
“I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” (2. 2. 338-9). This is a classic example of the “wild and whirling words” (1. 5. 133) with which Hamlet hopes to persuade people to believe that he is mad. These words, however, prove that beneath his “antic … Read more
Arguably the best piece of writing ever done by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the is the classic example of a tragedy. In all tragedies the hero suffers, and usually dies at the end. Othello stabs himself, Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, Brutis falls on his sword, and like them Hamlet dies by getting cut with a … Read more
The tradition of literature includes many genres. One of the oldest and most important of these genres is tragedy; one of the foremost Elizabethan tragedies in the canon of English literature is Hamlet by William Shakespeare and one of the earliest critics of tragedy is Aristotle. One way to measure Shakespeare’s work is to appraise … Read more
In the play Hamlet by Shakespeare, the integrity of some characters are all challenged with honesty and deceit. The King of Denmark is deteriorating and rotting the state and its people. Many images of corruption, spying, and decay compound as the play moves on, because Claudius is trying to find out what his nephew, Hamlet, … Read more
Upon reading the sampling of “Hamlet” criticisms in John Jump’s “Hamlet (Selections)” I disagreed with a few of the critics, but my analysis was the most different from Wilson Knight’s interpretation. He labels Hamlet as “a sick, cynical, and inhumane prince” (Jump, 124) who vitiated a Denmark which was “one of healthy and robust life, … Read more
What does Shakespeare say about the righteousness of revenge? In the play, Hamlet, Shakespeare uses different kinds of plots. The main plot is the righteousness of revenge. This element is used to discuss morals and immoral. Thus, characters wanting revenge on other characters. Shakespeare uses several characters to explain righteousness of revenge. Shakespeare believes in … Read more
Insanity is an ever growing black hole which envelopes the pitiful mind of the its victim. The mental condition of Hamlet has been well debated throughout the years even though in Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet does admit that his madness is an elaborate scheme. Many see this fact as a way to discredit the idea of … Read more
Hamlet has been praised and revered for centuries as one of William Shakespeare’s best known and most popular tragedies. Based on its popularity, critics alike have taken various viewpoints and theories in order to explain Hamlet’s actions throughout the play. The psychoanalytic point of view is one of the most famous positions taken on Hamlet. … Read more
An exploration of why Hamlet delays the act of revenge Hamlet is a human being, and he is an emotional human being. He feels guilt, remorse and has responsibilities, yet at the same time he feels pride and a sense of duty. He is quick, in Act one, scene five to take on his role … Read more
Hamlet’s delay in seeking revenge directly correlates to the age in which the play was written along with the notion that Hamlet is brilliant but impatient, these are the reasons for Hamlet’s procrastination. His impatience leads to his death in the end. In Elizabethan times, a ghost was generally believed to be a devil that … Read more
Hamlet and Rosencratz and Guildenstern essay In class, we have studied both Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead (Ros and Guil) and through this time my understanding of both these texts have been transformed and reshaped in a number of ways. I have realised that each text, whether old or new, can be told … Read more
Hamlet a critical analysis HAMLET Hamlet by William Shakespeare is the tragedy of a young man named Hamlet. His fragile idealism shattered by his fathers brutal death causes him to laose faith in humanity. When his late father’s phantom visits him, he persuades Hamlet to take revenge against his uncle Claudius, his fathers true executioner. … Read more
Dear Kylie, I noticed your submission to Culture Magazine, regarding Shakespeares great play Hamlet. Having recently studied Hamlet in Year 12 English, I think I can help answer one of your questions. You asked why is Hamlet regarded as a tragic hero and the play a classic tragedy? Before I can answer your question, you … Read more
To Act or Not to ActSomething was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark: the king was dead of a murder most foul, a betrayal from his own brother, and young Hamlet was thrown out of the frying pan, which was his fathers passing, and into the fire of revenge. One would think that an … Read more
Summary: Hamlet is upset with his mothers hasty marriage to his King Uncle Father, Claudius following his fathers death. He suspects foul play which is later confirmed by the ghost of his father. Now, Hamlet is set on avenging the death of his father as a favor to him. At the same time, he must … Read more
Hamlet went through various emotional states because of different unfortunate circumstances that confronted him. Yet Hamlet never went so far over “the edge” so as to not come back from reality, yet for reasons psychological, he procrastinated actions that he should have taken, until it was too late. I will first discuss Hamlet, the origins … Read more
Samuel Johnson writes “Hamlet is through the piece rather an instrument than an agent.” This statement is true, it is exhibited in several ways. The manner in which Hamlet’s father manifests himself is an indication of his true intentions. Hamlet acts as an earthly means of revenge, he is the output for actions directed by … Read more
In examining Hamlet and Oedipus Rex we are confronted with the notion of heroism and tragedy. In these plays the protagonists are tragically heroic. The question is, what is it that makes them tragic heroes. A big part of being a tragic hero is suffering. In the context of these tragedies the hero meets their … Read more
Arguably the best piece of writing ever done by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the is the classic example of a tragedy. In all tragedies the hero suffers, and usually dies at the end. Othello stabs himself, Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, Brutis falls on his sword, and like them Hamlet dies by getting cut with a … Read more
