Hamlet Critical Essay
Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark may be one of the most criticized plays in all of literature. In addition to being the most criticized of his works, it is also the longest of Shakespeare’s works. As the play progresses the character of Hamlet becomes more and more complex. Hamlet’s madness and Hamlet’s hesitation are the cornerstones of his complexity. Hamlet’s inaction is mirrored in Laertes, the son of Polonius, but what of Hamlet’s madness? The unfortunate, Ophelia serves as the foil to Hamlet’s madness; Thus both Ophelia and Laertes serve as foils to Hamlet’s character. Hamlet’s inaction is a major topic of debate, and many scholars have written papers about it. Hamlet is given many opportunities ,throughout the play, to kill Claudius, and avenge his father. Why he waits four acts to do so is often questioned. George S. Tubbes may have put it best when he stated that it would have ended the play relatively early on if Hamlet had acted naturally and killed Claudius immediately. This seemingly obvious observation is actually right on target. If Hamlet had killed Claudius right after he spoke to his father the play would have ended at the beginning of Act II and Shakespeare’s longes
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2219
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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