Hamlet

T.S. Eliot's 1921 essay, Hamlet and His Problems, continues to challenge perceptions of Shakespeare's most famous tragedy as a literary masterpiece. Eliot's argument surrounding the disparity between dramatic action and emotional reaction provides the basis for his rejection of the play as a structural and "artistic failure". Eliot's commentary, however, also provides us with an important opportunity to objectively evaluate Hamlet and its drivers for revenge. An analytical evaluation of Eliot's main arguments, illuminated by a critical comparison of other…...

“Hamlet," one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, was written in London around the beginning of the 1600s. The various characters at different times are presented as having symptoms of depression and various other mental illnesses, which appears to catalyze the actions that Hamlet proceeds to commit and the downfall of both his character and the narrative itself. This play comprises one of the formative pieces of literature in the English language and helped to catapult the development of Shakespeare's career…...

Scholarly critics have long regarded William Shakespeare's seventeenth-century tragedy, Hamlet, as perhaps the single greatest piece of English literature ever produced. In his Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom calls the phenomenon of Hamlet's character "unsurpassed in the West's imaginative literature" (384), and the play itself "the Mona Lisa of literature" (391). Written almost entirely in iambic pentameter, Hamlet's flowing poetic rhythm, utilized in conjunction with deeper thematic elements and outstanding character depth (particularly Hamlet's), separates itself from…...

It might be hard reading the original text of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but the modern translation might not be any better. The initial prose of the play is ancient English, written circa 1595. Due to this, in 2003, a publishing company named SparkNotes Publishing created No Fear Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. This transcript of the play includes a more modern translation alongside Shakespeare’s original words. This might be useful for the average reader, say, a high schooler trying to…...

Although William Shakespeare was married to a woman, his sexuality has been a controversial and long discussed topic. In Shakespeare’s time, a man having relationships with another man was punishable by death. Therefore, it makes sense that he would hide his true sexuality from the public to keep a pristine record. Many readers speculate that his sonnets and plays allude to him romanticizing about a man. After reading Romeo and Juliet, it is apparent that it acts as a metaphor…...

Romeo and Juliet: the world's greatest love story, or at least that’s what people think, but with further investigating, come to find that Romeo and Juliet were anything but two star crossed lovers bound to be together. Not only was Romeo still going through the heartbreak of his last so-called loving not reciprocating the same emotion, but was also under constant stress for being so emotional, and being teased by his friends for not “manning up” and getting over his…...

Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare, between the years of 1599 and 1601, under the reign of King James I. The play, set in the kingdom of Denmark, recounts the tragic tale of how Prince Hamlet enacts revenge on his Uncle Claudius, for murdering his father, (King Hamlet), marrying Gertrude, (his widowed mother, King Hamlet’s wife), and succeeding to heir of the throne. The tragic flaw, (Hamartia), of the protagonist Hamlet, is arguably his procrastination in the enactment…...

Shakespeare's tragedy 'Hamlet' is the most famous play by an English playwright. The themes are same in the movie and play, namely humanism, humanity, that is, the values of each person, each human life in itself. According to many highly respected art connoisseurs, this is one of the most profound creations of the human genius, a great philosophical tragedy. It was written by Shakespeare in the Renaissance In the play of Shakespeare, the eternal theme of being is raised, how…...

This paper will discuss the issue of confusion in Hamlet by dealing with the issues that develop in view of Hamlet's undertaking to counter for his father's passing. One of the central issues is the contention between Hamlet's staggering need confidence in the ghost of his father, who is the conclusive figure in his life, and the care that he needs correct learning of reality. In endeavoring to achieve this learning, Hamlet sets out on a mixed mission of charge,…...

In the play “Hamlet” William Shakespeare uses the character of Prince Hamlet to pose conversant existential questions. Existentialism is defined as “a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.”, this definition holds its validity when considering the ideas brought up in “Hamlet”. Existential philosophers since the late 17th like century Soren Kierkegaard have been studying questions like “How should we…...