UNIT 4 assignment 1
Interpret Hamlet play and develop a point of view.
The play Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare. It is a tragedy play about a Danish prince who deals and fights with his father’s death and his uncle’s likelihood of betraying him. The prince intends to avenge his father’s death and the process he gets entangled in philosophical problems he cannot solve. Hamlet’s father’s ghost tells Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing his uncle, who was pronounced King after his brother’s death. Hamlet plots to seek revenge and his uncle who fears that Hamlet might kill him also plots to kill Hamlet.
The tragedy Hamlet is written in an objective third person. It is written from a dramatic point of view. With the objective point of view, the author uses dramatic soliloquy conventions to enable the readers to enter the minds of the characters. The author cannot comment directly on the feelings or their actions. Shakespeare uses soliloquy such as “To Be or Not to Be” to enable the readers to know the characters’ thoughts.
Analyze Hamlet’s antic disposition, the sarcasm and irony
Hamlet was brilliant, and he found a plan to find out whether his uncle Claudius killed his father. It was not possible for him to bust into Claudius room and ask him whether he killed his father hence he decided to use antic disposition. Hamlet has lost his father, it was reasonable that he would be crazy and seem to be losing his mind with bits of confusion hence people would not notice it is a plan to avenge Claudius who was the King. Antic disposition was an excellent idea to plot vengeance on Claudius secretly.
Shakespeare uses sarcasm in the play. Hamlet uses rude words to offend people in the play. For instance, Hamlet often used the hasty marriage between Claudius and Hamlet’s mother sarcastically to humiliate Claudius. Additionally, while Claudius was trying to cheer up Hamlet, Hamlet expresses his feelings to the King, saying he feels ‘A little more than kin and less than kind’. Is sarcastic towards the King, Claudius, as though those words, he tells his uncle that he means nothing to Hamlet even if they are related.
Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to keep his audience engaged. An example of dramatic irony in the play is Act 1 Sc.5 when Hamlet’s ghost appears to Hamlet and informs him about Claudius killing him. It is ironic as the whole of Denmark knows that King died from snake’s poison as he was bitten by a snake. Only Hamlet and his two friends know the truth that Claudius killed his father. At the end of the play, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony where the King tells Hamlet that he will send him to England to be safe, but the audience is aware that the King intends to send Hamlet to England to be killed. There is an irony when Hamlet disrespects Polonius by calling him a fishmonger and declines to talk to him directly yet Hamlet is in love with Polonius daughter Ophelia. Hamlet believes Polonius is an old fool; however, he is in love with his daughter, the daughter of a fool; hence it’s ironic.
Write an adaptation of the scene in a parody form.
To be or not to be soliloquy by Hamlet.
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether it’s honourable for me to hurt,
The pains and stitches of disgraceful friends,
Or to take heart when there are many problems,
And does going against them end them? By crying: by resting;
We can’t take it anymore, we ignore
The misery and natural traumas,
Friendship is a misery to me, not a fortune.
Sincerely I wish to relax, to disconnect from it;
To rest: give me my time; there is no trouble in being alone.
For at that time am alone, positive change may develop.
When we have gotten over the betrayal
Must give us interruption: there are the regards
That makes some friendship disastrous;
Who is strong enough to bear all-time betrayals?
Mistakes of the betrayer, how proud are friend’s insults,
Backstabbing pretentious love,
The bitterness betrayal causes and the anguish
That victim suffers yet they don’t deserve that,
They might fake how happy they are in toxic friendships.
Who would bear that burden? Being stabbed right in the back
To always suffer and cry over a painful life,
That’s the pain betrayal by those you trust causes,
What do these friends want?
No friend stays, absolutely none.
Instead, we carry the blame and those weaknesses we have
We fear making new friends; we would like preferably the toxic ones that we know of,
Conscience makes humanity; it haunts all of us;
And hence we cannot let go of our friends.
The love in our minds weakens us,
And the energy is vigorous when around them.
With their presence, we feel complete,
And that displaces the meaning of true friendship—it is hurting!
The fair girlfriend! Goddess in your pleading
Care about me as I care about you.
Unit 4 Assignment 2
When Hamlet is speaking his famous soliloquy, he is experiencing a series of combined emotions. All the video actors do very well by respectively getting into the personal feelings that Hamlet experience. However, David Jackson acts the best way by showing all of Hamlet’s emotions while speaking ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy.
David Jackson performance illustrates in the best way the “dark and troubled workings” that Hamlet’s mind is facing by showing and communicating the anguish, anger, the confusion, and how undecided Hamlet is. David Jackson’s performance best captures the troubles and struggles that Hamlet’s thoughts are undergoing in comparison with the other actors.” Hamlet possesses many characteristics that define him. Hamlet is stressed and grieving at the same time because of his father’s death and his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle Claudius. The two incidences happened too fast, and Hamlet is trying to process them. David Jackson illustrated a combination of traits that Hamlet possessed.
Robert Projansky fails to project and act the pain that Hamlet was in when he spoke the soliloquy, ‘the slings and arrows’, he is did not launch the anger and pain that Hamlet had in his voice. He fails to show how confused and hurt Hamlet was. Also, Lindsay Klein though she shows Hamlet’s pain in her voice and facial expressions, she fails to express the indecisiveness, a state that Hamlet is in. Besides, Ben Farmer, who has also done an excellent job in acting and speaking Hamlet’s soliloquy, fails to bring out Hamlet’s struggles as he says.
Although all the actors did a good job, David Jackson was the only actor who brought out the misery and anger that Hamlet had. He was the only one who brought out Hamlets traits ultimately.
Unit 4 Assignment 3
Artistic work is meant to pass the message to the readers to entertain them and offer them lessons. Different authors use different forms of writing to educate the audience and as a source of entertainment. This paper will address two artistic works, “To be or not to be”, a soliloquy by Shakespeare and Life Lessons from Tuesdays with Morrie. Although Shakespeare does not seem to agree with Morrie’s ideas, they both have some similarities in their arguments.
According to Morrie, “Death ends a life” while according to Hamlet’s soliloquy, Hamlet compares life to a little sleep. He does not know what happens after death. From Morrie’s quote, death ends a person’s life entirely, different from Shakespeare ideas. Hamlet does not know what happens after death; hence there is a possibility that Hamlet thinks after death there might be another life or experiences that dead people have when they die as reasonably, after a little sleep, people wake up. Therefore, Shakespeare and Morrie disagree about whether death ends a life entirely or another life after death.
Shakespeare work in “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet seems to be letting go too soon. He looks confused and undecided on whether he should commit suicide and end his life and leave the agony of being alive behind while after a short period he sees that is not the right thing because he does not know what happens after death. He seems undecided and let’s go off things too quickly, one minute he assumes death is the solution to all the problems and the next he fears what life after death is like. Unlike Morrie, who states, “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long”. With Morrie’s ideas, it would be wise to hold on and don’t think of suicide.
Besides the differences that Morrie and Shakespeare have in their artistic work, they have similarities too. Both Morrie and Shakespeare agree on “Love always wins”, one of Morrie’s ideas. Hamlet found himself torn between committing suicide and continuing to live, but due to the fear of what happens after death, he decided not to commit suicide. He feared what might happen after death, and because he loved himself enough not to make himself suffer, he did not commit suicide. Therefore, despite the many differences Shakespeare and Morrie had, they agreed on love always wins.
Artistic work is used to express the author’s emotions and concerns about specific things they write and talk about. Shakespeare and Morrie disagree on most of their ideas, but they also have various similarities.
Unit 4 Assignment 4
The Lady Of Shallot & the Fate of Women in Shakespeare
Writers use characters, both male and female, to pass information to their audience. Authors such as Shakespeare and John William Waterhouse used characters of both genders in their works. They have used female characters who have undergone almost similar circumstances. Ophelia in Hamlet and The Lady of Shallot in The Lady of Shallot characters are designed to perform almost identical activities. This paper will evaluate and analyze the roles and position of women characters in Hamlet. The Lady of Shallot plays as although women characters are essential to make the play more impressive, women are misperceived.
Women are perceived to have less freedom in comparison to male characters. Women from the plays are perceived to be owned by men whether their fathers, their lovers, or even men. For instance, in Hamlet, Ophelia is owned by her father Polonius, who wants to help King Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle and stepfather) discover what Hamlet is up to. He asks Ophelia to use her relationship with Hamlet to find out what is Hamlet’s problem. It portrays how owned women were in these plays. Besides, Hamlet’s mother is married by Claudius hastily after Hamlet’s father’s death, which represents her as “possessions” to be passed between men. In “The lady of Shallot play”, the lady is only allowed to see the outside world through a mirror or else she would suffer an unnamed curse. She has no freedom to see the outside world. Therefore, in both dramas, women are not allowed to have their liberty which conforms with the seventeenth-century European notion that women should be obedient.
Additionally, Shakespeare often underestimates women characters in his dramas. In Hamlet drama, for instance, Ophelia is underestimated by Hamlet, yet she is innocent. Ophelia behaves innocently and has no intentions of trying to use her feminine nature to control or deceive a man as Hamlet suspected. Hamlet does not believe Ophelia is lovely innocently, which is underestimating her.
My cultural background has its expectations for women. They are expected to be pure, obedient and perform specific roles that are meant for them. Many women in my country complain about social media platforms how they are expected to be and behave. Although these beliefs about women are getting better with women claiming gender equality, some parts of my country experience these challenges entirely. The government is working towards improving this situation. In some instances, such as political issues, women are biased, which happens openly—men in power disrespect and disregard women in power. I have seen it in the news how politicians in my country address women leaders with disrespect. Some parents fail to take their young girls to school, assuming that they are training them to be good wives in future.
Unit 4 Assignment 5
New Words in Hamlet Oral presentation
Shakespeare has a choice of unique words as some of the words he uses made their first appearance when he used them, such as ‘avouch’. He knows how to drive to his central idea in Hamlet with the choice of words he uses. Among his central ideas is madness, as Hamlet is displayed to be mad since his father died. He is depicted as a mentally disturbed person and mad. The choice of words to be used is significant as through them, the author can pass the message to the audience.
“Hamlet is the supreme example of Shakespeare’s delight in and command of fresh and forceful words.” Through Hamlet play, Shakespeare has shown his ability to create new vocabularies which he uses for the first time. Words such as basements, avouch, gibber, fanged, strewments etc. He also used expressions such as ‘Gods bodkin’ meaning ‘God’s dear body!’.
One of the most used words in Hamlet play is ‘Lord’. The most often used term, “Lord,” is because everyone refers to all of the male characters as “lord”. The word is significant as it portrays the respect that male characters are offered in the play. The play involves characters such as the King, a prince hence the word Lord is essential to show respect.
The word Lord evolved from Old English word hlaford which came from hlafweard whose meaning was bread-keeper or loaf-ward. Initially, it meant a person who provides food for his followers. It reflected Germanic tribal custom. Therefore, the use of the word Lord in the play meant the breadwinner and men were perceived as breadwinners in their families.
Polonius refers to Claudius as his Lord. “What’s the matter, my Lord?” Use the Lord here would have meant bread-keeper, which still relates to the respect granted to a King as he provides leadership to his followers.
In conclusion, Shakespeare was creative and brought ahead many vocabularies through Hamlet drama. Although some words are not used in English, Shakespeare contributed significantly to the English language’s growth.
Unit 4 Assignment 6
Our eulogies (video)
Today we come together to respect a lady we all loved deeply, Ophelia. She was a loving, joyful and a playful girl, who had a loving spirit that will always be with us. Ophelia is entitled to a decent Christian burial, although many people believe she committed suicide, which insinuates that she should not have a Christian burial. Unfortunately, we lost such a great soul, yet Gertrude was close enough to watch her drown, she would have saved Ophelia. It is still unclear what happened to Ophelia in her last moments and what her intentions were. Whether Ophelia committed suicide or not, her death brings grief to many, and we will surely miss her.
Before her demise, Ophelia was dealing with various issues. It is said that due to the problems she was facing, she had become ill mentally. She treasured those close to her, and that’s why it broke her up when her father died. Also, Ophelia was broken by the heartbreak she got from her relationship with Hamlet. As a teenage girl, Ophelia was caught up between being loyal to her father Polonius or her love, Hamlet. The love between Ophelia and Hamlet was strong, although it was forbidden. Her father stopped her from seeing Hamlet, which broke Ophelia’s heart, and sadness and misery began to strike her. Later, Hamlet, Ophelia’s love, murdered Polonius, which made Ophelia feel guilty for her father’s death. Hamlet, who had sworn that he would eat a crocodile for her, broke her heart by killing her father. Ophelia must have been undergoing a lot of misery and struggles in her last days.
Ophelia was a loving soul who loved the close people in her life. She loved her father Polonius, and her love, Hamlet. She was very caring to her friends and family, and I can remember how she would get upset when her brother was sad. The world has lost such a caring and obedient soul which can never be replaced. It is unfair how death is cruel and took Ophelia at a very young age. Nobody expected it would be this tragic. If only somebody were able to save her beautiful soul. Her goodness did not deserve what happened to her.
As we all mourn in our ways, I pray that we can spread Ophelia’s care and love towards our families and friends. We can never replace her, but we can imitate her and am sure she would love that from wherever she is. Every single word with Ophelia made one feel like there will never be a goodbye, but unfortunately, here it is. I believe she is in a better place with her dad, and she has no stress at all. Together let us give a heartwarming farewell to this kind soul who went too soon—hoping to meet again someday. Rest in peace kind-hearted girl, Ophelia.
Unit 4 Assignment 7
Authors use themes and central ideas in their work to ensure they deliver the information they intend to clear. Once the audience reads the literature work, they must examine and evaluate that work to get a deeper understanding of what the author meant. A literary analysis essay involves dealing with the different types of images, analyzing the author’s themes, and using them. This paper intends to explore madness theme in Hamlet drama literally and how the actions of Shakespeare’s “mad” characters “divinest Sense” or whether they are merely exhibiting “eccentric “behaviour as well as how Shakespeare uses descriptive language to enhance the visual possibilities of a stage production such as Imagery.
Shakespeare has used the madness theme in his work, Hamlet dominantly. Hamlet, one of the characters exhibits madness signs after the death of his father. His grieving way makes him appear as a sage, philosopher, a mad, and mentally disturbed person (Clemen, 2013). Hamlet’s madness behaviour is exhibiting eccentric behaviour as he feels that people do not understand the pain and anger. Things happen too fast for Hamlet as one minute his father is dead and the next his mother is hastily married to his uncle Claudius. Hamlet is mentally disturbed as after losing his father, and he would expect that they should mourn him together with his mother. Instead, the mother gets married, and she seems to have moved on from Hamlet’s father death.
Additionally, Hamlet gets confused as he does not understand whether his dad’s ghost tells him that Claudius killed him. Hamlet also claims that there is a “method in my madness.” This shows that he is mad but just in his pretensions to show his pain to others. Hamlet wanted the other people to see and understand that it was hard for him to bear loss and betrayal, especially in a short time. It’s the very reason that King Claudius fears his madness as it seems to be some pretention to expose his crime of murdering Hamlet’s father. Besides, Hamlet was mad around specific people, Claudius, Ophelia, Polonius and Gertrude, which makes it possible to question whether he was furious.
The other character who depicts madness is Ophelia. She becomes insane after she loses the men she cares about (Clemen, 2013). Ophelia’s insanity comes in when Hamlet kills her father Polonius, and Ophelia blames herself. Besides, Hamlet, whom she loved dearly, also breaks up with her. She is sorrowful over her father’s death and her broken relationship. Ophelia gets insane and ends up committing suicide.
Shakespeare uses Imagery to show madness theme in the play. Following Polonius murder, Gertrude expresses Hamlet’s madness by comparing it to the sea beneath a storm. According to Spurgeon (1935), “mad as the sea and wind when both contend/ Which is the mightier”.
Shakespeare’s use of Imagery gives the reader a chance to connect with Hamlet’s situation, thus leading to a deeper understanding of Hamlet’s madness.
Additionally, in Laertes speech of Ophelia’s madness, Shakespeare uses Imagery. The audience is fully aware of his anguish, as Laertes cries, “O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt, burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!” According to Shakespeare, the salted tears that Laertes feels could burn his eyes out, enabling the audience to connect to Shakespeare’s work and understand Laertes’ pain and sorrow as he witnesses Ophelia’s madness. Desperation and misery feelings are developed through the Imagery provided in the piece of work. Laertes then goes on to say; “By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, Till our scale turn the beam” (Shakespeare, 1909). Shakespeare uses Imagery again to allow the reader to picture and understand the quantity of revenge for the madness that Ophelia suffered from, which will be found in heaven. Madness theme is brought out through Imagery that Shakespeare used, which enables the reader to understand and connect to how the characters are feeling while showing how the dominant madness theme is in Hamlet’s drama.
Shakespeare depicted the theme of madness in his work, Hamlet. He has used Imagery to make the audience connect and understand the desperation, anguish, fear, and tension the characters face.
Reference
Shakespeare, W. (1909). The tragedy of Hamlet. Cambridge University Press.
Spurgeon, C. F., & FE, S. C. (1935). Shakespeare’s Imagery and what it tells Us (Vol. 53). Cambridge University Press.
Clemen, W. (2013). The development of Shakespeare’s Imagery (Vol. 9). Routledge.