Preview

Characters in Hamlet Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
690 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Characters in Hamlet Essay Example
study in the Victorian era. However some believe Ophelia to be stricken by alternative conditions including infantile regression, sexual repression or schizophrenia stated by RD Laing, due to the absence of herself, the essential person. The ideas of Hamlet and Ophelia’s insanity are effectively represented by Shakespeare through the use of Imagery and dialogue. Insanity is seen as a result of the complexity of man whether that be directly or indirectly affected.
Within Hamlet, Shakespeare also explores the causes and consequences of revenge mainly through the use of two main characters Hamlet and Laertes. Revenge is the basis for the plot of the story, without it there would be no play. The play revolves around Hamlet deciding whether to avenge his father’s death or not. Both Hamlet and Laertes delay their revenge however Laertes acts much more swiftly in avenging his father than Hamlet does. As a result of both their actions and inactions negative consequences are incurred. Hamlet drives himself and others around him to insanity due to his revenge while Laertes is embroiled in all of Hamlets destruction due to him desiring revenge. Shakespeare represents Hamlets revenge through the use of soliloquies. The audience gains a greater understanding and connection to the revenge by the personal soliloquies. It is in these soliloquies where we really see the desire of Hamlet to avenge his father. In Act 2 scene 2; lines 531-534, Shakespeare uses enjambment in a soliloquy to show Hamlets desire for revenge, “Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles, villain!/ Oh vengeance!”. Enjambment of negative images is used, to show emotion and Hamlet’s desire to seek revenge. As a result of this desire Hamlet and other innocent people surrounding him are harmed, Polonius and Ophelia are two innocent people affected by his desire for revenge. The consequences of his revenge are negative. Laertes consequences of his revenge are also negative, Laertes also wished to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare crafts the play so Laertes can have an illogical need and desire for revenge. Laertes is determined to make Hamlet pay: “I am satisfied in nature, / Whose motive in this case should stir me most / To my revenge". Laertes’s need for revenge indicates his desire for closure and his wish to find inner peace. Laertes believes that the solace he desires will come through revenge: "But in my terms of honor / I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement / Till by some elder masters of known honor / I have a voice and precedent of peace.” Again, this demonstrates the need for closure and shows the reasoning behind Laertes’s thirst for justice, reinforcing Shakespeare’s theme of…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Essay

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, through his protagonist, he explores ideas relating to conflict. Using detailed textual evidence, how has your personal response to Hamlet been shaped through the composers use of dramatic techniques?…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the theme of revenge is very palpable as the reader examines the characters of Hamlet himself, as well as Laertes, son of Polonius, and Fortinbras, prince of Norway and son of the late King Fortinbras. Each of these young characters felt the need to avenge the deaths of their fathers who they felt were untimely killed at the bloody hands of their murderers. However, the way each chose to go about this varies greatly and gives insight into their characters and how they progress throughout the play.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    <center><b>Assignment 1: Explication from Hamlet (1.3.111-137) ("My lord, he hath importuned me with love" … [end of scene].</b></center>…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This Essay is about the similarities and differences of Hamlet (a play by William Shakespeare) and the Lion King (a Disney film) and that argues Hamlet is very similar to the Lion King. The following points will be discussed in this essay:…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Essay

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Hamlet is a very popular example of a revenge tragedy, yet still a very extreme case of a revenge tragedy, extreme in the sense that the web of revenge spiraled out of control, and caused a vary tragic ending with the lives of many key figures throughout the play lost due to revenge. Shakespeare may have tried to teach a lesson throughout the play using the theme of revenge, he may have tried to show that revenge is…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Like many tragedies, Shakespeare’s Hamlet does not fail to provide readers with tales of fervent, bloody revenge which satisfies the primal impulses of characters in the play, wrought on by unjust murder and a desire for vengeance. With a temperamental demeanor and mercurial mood, Laertes is portrayed in many instances as a brash, near irrational son whose desire to avenge his father’s death leads to both verbal and physical conflict. Even Hamlet himself enjoys his own moments of frustration, slandering his duplicitous and incestuous uncle in private scenes and soliloquies. Unlike many traditional revenge tales, however, Hamlet also illuminates the question of the morality of revenge itself: whether or not the adage of “an eye for an eye” may…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, one of the main themes is revenge. Revenge is an powerful weapon which can cause extreme side effects. Throughout the play, several of the characters are compelled to restore family honor and regain pride. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, wants revenge on his uncle who killed Hamlet’s father and Laertes wants to avenge his father and his sister by enacting revenge upon Hamlet. Each character in hamlet is driven by the desire to get revenge.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hamlet Character Analysis

    • 1996 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In Hamlet, many think of Hamlet as being the main or only tragically flawed character within the play. However, in actuality, the play contains many other characters that possess varying severities of imperfection, some of which put the shortcomings of Hamlet, the title character of Hamlet, to shame. Despite the tragically flawed nature of Hamlet’s character, other characters in the play are clearly more flawed in comparison to Hamlet. As a result of this character’s imperfection, many of the characters within the play Hamlet are considered tragic; however, those in which this trait is predominant are Claudius, Laertes and Gertrude.…

    • 1996 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Insanity’s instigator is a blurred line in Shakespeare’s novel. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, focuses on Hamlet’s erosive desire to avenge his father’s death. It is critical to look at not only the protagonist of the play, but also at the instrumental characters who contribute to the dynamic nature of the story; the progressive contagion of insanity throughout the court. One such character is the young noblewoman Ophelia. Often overlooked whilst residing in Hamlet’s shadow, Ophelia and her eventual madness is a tragedy in itself. Although, this unhealthy balance is perhaps only one of the many circumstances that lead to her demise. Ophelia is the subject of much more than just an unstable relationship, which makes her death the…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Essay

    • 1408 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During the second scene, the information that Horatio foreshadowed proves to be correct. King Claudius received a message from Fortinbras demanding Denmark to give up their lands. Claudius sends…

    • 1408 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Why Is Hamlet Mad

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The tragedy of Hamlet was a very interesting play with many very interesting characters that did a great many heroic and disappointing things despite the complexity and difficulty to understand the true personality William Shakespeare intended for each. Ophelia, one of the minor characters, represents one of the two women captured between men set out for revenge. Despite the minor role this character played, her impact on the play was quite significant. However, one of the most important questions to analyze, and the question this paper will explore below is why she went mad. This paper will delve into the kind of person Shakespeare portrays her as, why she is so easily affected, the factors causing her madness and the importance…

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Analytical Essay

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare is a tragic story about a prince named Hamlet attempting to get revenge for his father's murder. As Hamlet only to slowly destroy his life in the process. As Hamlet attempts to get revenge, he ultimately ends up destroying himself and the people around him. But before his death, Hamlet slowly decides what he wants to do with his life. Hamlet goes from thinking the world holds nothing for him but not wanting to kill himself because he fears god in the first Soliloquy, to living to avenge his father if needed in the second Soliloquy, to fearing death in the third Soliloquy. Hamlet slowly decides what he wants to do with his life, through his first three Soliloquies in the play…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Speech

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Theodore Lidz said that “Whereas Shakespeare is ambiguous about the reality of Hamlet’s insanity and depicts him as on the border, fluctuating between sanity and madness, he portrays Ophelia as definitely, one might even say classically, insane.”…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    3. Hamlet is actually going crazy and just hearing or seeing things that would cause him to go crazy.…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays