hamlet character analsis
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: The character of Hamlet dominates Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, yet Hamlet at the start of the play is not a commanding figure. Indeed, when we first see the Prince, his posture is defensive, Hamlet taking a passive, if resentful, stance toward the events that have befallen him. Slow to the conviction that the ghost is his dead father and that Claudius is guilty of regicide, Hamlet does not go straight to the task at hand. Hamlet's delay or procrastination is something about which critics have wondered and that the character himself agonizes, his self-reproach reaching an apex in Act IV, scene iv. which concludes with the words "O, from this time forth, My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!" (lines 65-66). The question remains: Why doesn't Hamlet act?One response to this question stresses Hamlet as a man of thought and words, as opposed to deeds. Shakespeare's Danish prince is one of the most intelligent protagonists in tragic drama. Unlike many other Elizabethan revenge tragedy heroes, Hamlet is given to philosophy and abstraction. At times, it seems that the play is less about Hamlet takin
Gertrude: Just how deeply Gertrude is involved in her second husband's plot to kill Old Hamlet is unclear; by the final scene, it seems that the Queen was ignorant of the crime. Nevertheless, she marries her brother-in-law only a few months after her husband's death. Clearly, while he is directed by the Ghost to refrain from harming his mother, Hamlet views her (and women at large) with contempt. Far more so than her consort, Gertrude has "redeeming" qualities; she appears to be truly concerned by her son's depression and madness, and she displays a deep (if ill-placed) love toward Claudius. Polonius: The aged minister of state makes a smooth transition from one master to the next, and he abets Claudius's efforts to control Hamlet. Polonius is capable of subterfuge, but he is also a somewhat ridiculous figure, a "doting" father who hands down well-meaning platitudes like "To thine own self be true," to his son. We have the sense that Polonius is a stock comic character misplaced in a bloody tragedy. There are, however, good reasons for Hamlet to avoid acting precipitously. The story of Old Hamlet's murder is known to him only through the agency of a
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 782
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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