Olivia Lynch Mrs. Butterfield AP Lit 5/1/16 When you are ready to dive into the vast world of Shakespeare, you can begin by using what is known as a critical lens. The lens that may help you understand the background details of one of Shakespeare’s plays would be the Historical lens. Although there are many different lens that you can use to interpret a story, the Historical Lens is a great lens to dive into to find what really influenced the great ideas of William Shakespeare as he wrote Hamlet including the role gender plays, the comparison of Elizabeth Tudor, and the religious incorporation throughout the play. First, we can take the Historical Lens and dive into the idea of how gender roles were highly represented in Hamlet …show more content…
We can first talk about when the gravediggers or clowns were talking about the Christian burial. “And the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even Christian.” (V, i, 26-29)This was important for Shakespeare to include because it was very important to the Roman Catholic religion back in the Elizabethan era that the religion was always kept in order and that everyone was put where they needed to be when they reached the end of their life. Another moment was when Hamlet was watching King Claudius praying for forgiveness and Hamlet had to make the decision on whether or not to kill Claudius in this moment or if he should wait for a better chance then right after he gained forgiveness. “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.” (III, i, 83-85). This was important to include because it showed the thoughts that the characters were having when deciding what actions to take. Hamlet in this moment was considering what God’s judgement would be if he was to go through with it. In the article, ““Shortly They Will Play Me in What Forms They List upon the Stage”: Hamlet, Conscience, and the Earl of Essex” by the author Jeremy Venema, he wrote, “Whether the act …show more content…
First when can go to how religion was a huge part of Elizabeth Tudor’s life. She felt that following religion and always keeping to its laws and rules was how you were to act in life, and it ended up being the same till the end for Ophelia. “Her death was doubtful, and, but that great command o'ersways the order, she should in ground unsanctified have lodged till the last trumpet.” (V, I, 226-228) This line is when the doctor is talking about the burial of Ophelia and it is also when Ophelia is being disrespected in a way by what the doctor had to say about her not deserving a Christian burial like she was given. Another thing found similar between Tudor and Ophelia would be that they were both used as a pawn in some way. First, when Tudor became in power, France and Spain began to use their power over her kingdom and used her as a weaken pawn to get their kingdoms farther. The same went for Ophelia because she was used as a pawn for Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. “For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, that he, as ’twere by accident, may here affront Ophelia. Her father and myself (lawful espials) will so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen, we may of their encounter frankly judge, and gather by him, as he is behaved, if ’t be the affliction of his love or no that thus he
By verbally harassing Ophelia and estranging himself from her, Hamlet provides the apparent image of losing his prior care without a great amount of consideration. Additionally, Hamlet further displays his anger for his father’s death through this display. By dissolving his relationship with Ophelia, Hamlet furthers his image of insanity to further illustrate himself as incapable within Claudius’s eyes while still communicating distaste for his loss of his father. With Hamlet’s intentionally swift change of heart for Ophelia, Hamlet’s procedure warrants a certain level of sanity. Regardless of the sudden nature, Hamlet’s continual barring from Ophelia possesses procedure which causes further doubt of Hamlet’s mental instability from the audience of the
It also makes Hamlet’s death seem heroic and noble in comparison because he died fighting for what he believed
Ophelia’s madness begins as a way of getting people’s attention to make her voice known, but much like Hamlet, she gets lost in her own deception. It all starts with Ophelia’s honest desire to help Hamlet but she still
Although Ophelia is not aware of Hamlet’s madness - a saddening and very dramatic piece of irony at the time - his emotional abuse slowly leads her to a downward spiral into her own blackening hole of madness. Eventually, due to her father’s death, Ophelia snaps and loses her mind, however; her madness would not have been orchestrated as drastically if
In William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Ophelia is a loving character. Her caring personality leads her to have no personal will of her own. She spends her life obeying commands of the people she loves dearly. Ophelia is the lover of Hamlet, daughter of Polonius and the sister of Laertes. In Hamlet, Ophelia is a caring character, who is forced to be loyal because of her defenseless position in the upper-class family.
Death is a common tragedy used in stories; from B.C. to now, movies, books and even songs are based on death. This may convey the impression of emotions being dark or dreary, but it seems to be a fan favorite, not only among adults, but children. In Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the story is based around death, and the same could be said for The Lion King, but it is the audience that separates how deep or complex the story line can be. In the story written by Shakespeare, King Hamlet is not in the story line at all because he was murdered before the story began.
Ophelia was the daughter of polonius, the love interest of hamlet who was brutally torn up mentally throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel all was well for her as well, her boyfriend was off at college and she was perfectly fine at home with her father. It was until her father took away a note from hamlet to her that things started going downhill. She was a weak person not like hamlet who when faced with injustice takes thing into his own hands to seek justice or revenge. She was a quite simple girl who had a gentler soul.
Ophelia Cromwell considered herself to be quite an intelligent, if not a touch cynical, young lady. However, as young ladies were wont to be, Ophelia was predisposed to lapses of passion and curiosity which, coincidentally, were traits chaperoned by temerity. Such attributes emerged when she fled the comfort of her warm abode and its slumbering inhabitants and into the arms of her paramour at the stroke of midnight. Thoughts of her parents' wrathful ire and subsequent disappointment, although profound, did not adequately hamper Ophelia from departing, and was promptly cast aside.
hamlet swears that he will kill the king and let his father's spirit rest in peace. The critique Phillip Edwards says “The idea that Hamlet's problem is somehow to punish Claudius and yet transcend the sheer human violence and vindictiveness which such punishment entails goes back to 1839 and the once famous but now forgotten 'conscience' theory of Hermann Ulrici. ' It cannot,' he said, 'be an entirely innocent and heavenly spirit that would wander on earth to demand a son to avenge his death.'” This helps us understand his anger towards the king and the violence hamlet has within
That does not help the fact that Ophelia needs guidance and wisdom. Her father never her gave that to her during his lifetime. He was so infatuated with making sure his children do not mess up his agenda, that he totally threw their needs as humans to the side. Ophelia never learned how to cope with struggles that come up during one’s lifetime. Ophelia also lets her relationship with hamlet dictate her self worth.
Jan-Erik Aavik IB English HL B. Raid 04.11.2016 Written Task 2 Outline: Part of the course to which the task refers: Part 3 Literature - text and context Title of the text for analysis: Hamlet, William Shakespeare 1599
From the beginning of the film, Laurence Oliver tells us how we should interpret Hamlet. He tells us that hamlet was a tragedy of a man who couldn’t make his mind up. Although I find this to be reductive and imprecise, I listened to the point he was trying to make. However, through his broad and ruthless editing of the film, Olivier appeared to have bestowed upon us a Hamlet who applies very little time in making up his mind. In fact, almost every decision the director made seems to take the watchers away from the interpretation he acquired.
In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare attempted to manifest the emotions often connected with the uneas iness of living for the unknowable future. Most can agree that the world is a troubling place, not to mention the personal faults each of us must bear. The vocabulary and interactions between the characters and the inner turmoil experienced by the archetypical Hamlet reflect both the societal bounds of Shakespeare’s time and the metaphysical struggles that dominate our l ives. Though Shakespeare wrote of th ese dynamic s especially well, he would not be the last to capture the attitude portrayed by the younger Hamlet.
Throughout the play, Shakespeare expresses Hamlet’s own ponderings to reveal just how tortured, doubtful, and depressed Hamlet’s inner struggles run over this act of revenge. Application of this format to develop the characters
Ophelia, he declares, speaks things in doubt That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing, Yet the unshapèd use of it doth move The hearers to collection. (4.5.6-9) Similarly, Shakespeare’s Claudius accurately places Ophelia’s madness within the larger tragedy of the play, rather than merely dismissing the news as unfortunate: O, this is the poison of deep grief!