Irony in Hamlet Althugh Hamlet des indeed start ut as a revenge tragedy, it quickly turns int a bizarrely entertaining play which is first and fremst abut a character wh is pretending t be crazy in the midst f a bunch f ther characters wh are nt extremely bright. Harld Blm says abut Hamlet that “n ther character in all literature changes his verbal decrum s rapidly.” r, t put it anther way: n ther authr in all literature changes the verbal decrum f a character s rapidly as Shakespeare des with Hamlet. ther than Hamlet himself, there is n fl in the play until we get t the gravedigger in Act5, wh might have been played by the same actr wh had played Plnius. (This is nt, hwever, the prevailing belief. It is generally thught that the Gravedigger in Hamlet was played by Shakespeare’s new clwn, Rbert Irwin, wh wuld presumably nt have played Plnius. But Plnius and the Gravedigger are bth cmic characters, at least in my pinin, and the Gravedigger nly appears n stage after Plnius is dead.) Many times in the play, Hamlet is making a jke, which if tld well will get a big laugh frm the audience, but at the same time he’s talking abut a murder he’s cmmitted.
In cntemprary terms, Hamlet’s lines here, and in fact much f his humr is what wuld be called a “sick jke.” In fact, ne f the things that fascinates us abut Hamlet is the cntrast between the way he charms us and enlists ur sympathies with his cnversatin and, n the ther hand, the dreadful nature f the things he des. In a cntemprary mvie, we wuld rightly regard a character wh kills peple and then make jkes abut it as a psychpath. But the fascinating thing is the way that Shakespeare sets things up s that we see Hamlet as a tragic her. There is irny in almst all f Hamlet’s cmic dialgues. What Hamlet is saying is cmic, but the feeling behind the cmedy is extremely hstile. If ne plays these scenes t emphasize the hstility and dwnplay the humr, then ne gets a serius drama, which is the way we think f Hamlet tday.
The Essay on Hamlet – Ophelia Character Analysis
Ophelia is a beautiful and simple-minded woman, easily molded by the more powerful opinions and desires of others. The thoughts of her father and her brother influenced her the most. The love letters from Hamlet also swayed her opinions and confused her mind. Ophelia wasn't able to realize herself because of all the pressures exerted on her to be something she's not. That weakness of mind and ...
The fact is that Hamlet, fr all his angst and melanchly, is an extremely entertaining persn. We knw that Shakespeare’s language is ften extravagant and verblwn by mdern standards. Hwever, nce ne gets used t it, ne learns that his language is usually very apprpriate t the character and situatin. Here the language is very exaggerated, very different frm the petic language which ne finds in. The slings and arrws f utrageus frtune; a sea f trubles. And a little further dwn: But wh wuld bear the whips and scrns f time, The ppressr’s wrng, the prud man’s cntumely, The pangs f despised lve, the law’s delay, The inslence f ffice and the spurns That patient merit f the unwrthy takes? … Wh wuld fardels bear T grunt and sweat under a weary life? He des g n and n, and that is nt the end f it.
Temp is crucial here. A lng list like this must be spken quickly if it is nt t be very tedius. Each item simply makes the same pint as befre with a slightly different example. n the ther hand, the slilquy must nt be spken s fast that sme wrds get swallwed up. Hamlet is very cnsciusly chsing his wrds in a very entertaining way. Each significant wrd here (each nun and verb) needs t have its mment in the sptlight, because each new wrd takes the speech in a slightly new and unpredicted directin. Anther example f the dramatic irny in Hamlet is in Act I Sc.5, when the Ghst reveals t Hamlet that he was pisned t death by Claudius wh spread the rumr that he died f snake bite which is believed t be true by everyne in Denmark.
Dramatic irny results because nly Hamlet and the readers knw the truth that Claudius murdered Hamlet’s father. After this revelatin, we sympathize with Hamlet and begin t hate Claudius: “Nw Hamlet hear……..Nw wears his crwn.” f curse Hamlet is nt a cmedy, despite the fact that it cntains a large number f scenes that seem t me bviusly cmedic. It seems t me that it wuld be very difficult t read Hamlet’s first slilquy, in Act I Scene 2, as being cmic: h, that this t t slid flesh wuld melt, Thaw and reslve itself int a dew! r that the Everlasting had nt fixed His cann against self-slaughter! h, Gd! Gd! Hw weary, flat, stale, and unprfitable, Seem t me all the uses f this wrld! Here, befre ever encuntering the ghst, Hamlet des seriusly mentin suicide as a pssibility. In this slilquy Hamlet speaks his heart, and t sme extent this is true f the secnd ne (“h, what a rgue and peasant slave am I”).
The Essay on Hamlet – Was He Mad?
English 30 Shakespeare Hamlet For centuries, scholars have been debating the issue on whether Hamlet - the prince of William Shakespeare s tragedy Hamlet - was mad. This question is not as easy as it sounds to answer; this is due to the fact that there are numerous arguments to support both sides of the issue. For many reasons, it is easy to believe that Hamlet was indeed mad. After all, Hamlet s ...
But “T Be r Nt t Be” has a very different quality. It is a carefully crafted speech definitely intended t be spken t an audience, nt a recrd f Hamlet’s thughts at the mment.
Hwever, frm the time when Hamlet decides t pretend t be crazy, up t the end f Act 4, almst everything can be played as cmic. Hamlet’s killing f Plnius, fr example. There is indeed smething a bit farcial abut Plnius’s very brief death scene, and it is the srt f humr that wrks because it makes sprt f very real fears that were part f Elizabethan life. Hamlet is talking t Queen Gertrude. Plnius is hiding behind the arras and listening. [An arras, incidentally, is a hanging tapestry.] Hamlet t Gertrude: Cme, cme, and sit yu dwn. Yu shall nt budge.
Yu shall nt g until I set yu up a glass T see the inmst part f yu. Queen: What wilt thu d? thu wilt nt murder me? Help, help, h! Plnius (behind the arras): What, h! Help, help, help! Hamlet (drawing): Hw nw! A rat? Dead, fr a ducat, dead! (Stabs thrugh the arras.) Plnius (frm behind the arras): h, I am slain! Queen h me, what hast thu dne? Hamlet: Nay, I knw nt. Is it the king? Queen: h, what a rash and bldy deed is this! Hamlet: A bldy deed! almst as bad, gd mther, As kill a king and marry with his brther. Queen: As kill a king! Hamlet: Ay lady, ’twas my wrd. If this is nt farce, then Hamlet’s behavir here is truly disturbing, and the jke abut wrms afterwards is even mre disturbing. bviusly, Hamlet is mre farce than tragedy.
T make sure f this, ne can simply cmpare the language used in Hamlet t that in any truly tragic death in Shakespeare, Rme and Juliet, fr instance. Works cited Shakespeare, William. Plays and Poems. London: Spring books, 1966. Taylor, Edward. Literary Criticism of 17th Century England.
The Essay on Hamlet and Horatio in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character in the play is brought into a state of melancholy and depression over his father’s death and his mother’s incestuous marriage with his father’s brother. This causes Hamlet to seek counsel in his friendship with Horatio because of his loyalty and good qualities. Other characters in the play are willing to sacrifice their friendship ...
London: Universe, 2000. Damrosch, David. Longman Anthology of World Literature. US: Longman, 2004. Greenblatt, Stephen. Renaissance Self Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare.
US: Chicago Press, 1984. .
