Hamlet Essay: The theme and the quote

Quote:
What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused

Purpose:
In an essay that demonstrates your wild brilliance and for Pete's sake avoid plot summary at all costs, please explain how this quote contributes to your understanding of the tone and theme of Hamlet. Specifically: Which character speaks the line/s? At what point in the play/point? How do the words affect the character's own understanding, the other characters' understandings (if applicable), and the audience's understanding? Top shelf responses will include definitions of these literary elements, demonstrated understanding of the play's central message, tone, and characterization, and application of the concept of Performative Utterance.

     Any man can be at a disposition at any case that concerns his feelings of the past and the unjust events that are going to happen in the future. Hamlet has accounted for such experiences that he was at the brink of meeting his revenge without further hesitation. But as Hamlet looks back at the plans and schemes he's contrived, there was no other alternative than to see eye for eye with the one killer he calls king. "What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed?" is the basic necessity of standard living that Shakespeare emphasizes when talking about all the things Hamlet thought was just normal. Hamlet realized that it's not that simple to be a man, hence asking the question and specifically claiming the right that people deserve to be man when they think they're up to any task. Shakespeare takes on the tone and theme of man and his powers that revel his actions.
     Hamlet began to say the quote/beginning of the soliloquy of Act 4 when encountering Fortinbras's soldiers and captain. To say the least, the quote signifies man's decisions on the type of output he conceives is righteous. What the quote brings about to the tone of Hamlet is that a explanation of what life may be is actually misleading and can often lead to a tragic ending. Shakespeare ties in a satirical momentum for all characters of the play who realize that their powers are so limited that any outcome they desire is mistaken to believe in. Almost everyone in the play have made up their minds to a certain point, but the only one met outside the thinking of factual decisions is Hamlet. Thoughts and thoughts build up in Hamlet; making him a dynamic character who can't understand himself until brought to deductive reasoning. The quote manages to put Hamlet in a position to be a man, to be human who struggles at the most critical points. [In continuum]

Hamlet Act IV Scene IV, V, VI, VII

Scene IV

• To battle is to protect, defend one's country
• honor, loyalty, valor, semper fi, - a soldier's true values and morals for fighting
• way of the soldier
• Hamlet: "How all occasions learn do inform against me, And spurn my dull revenge!"
• Humans - only animals that consciously learn, go back to past and future experiences; conscious reflection and communication
• Actor vs. Captain emotions
• Acts of revenge on killing Claudius

Scene V

• Ophelia is crazed out of her mind between the conflicts of death and love
• King Claudius has both Laertes and Ophelia to deal  with because of Polonius's death
• -tries to diffuse the situation through power
• -reason by saying that the he is allied and friended with Lord Polonius
• find out who the bad guy is... king is planning to have more people on his side

Scene VI

• Hamlet avoids death and warns Horatio
• wishing to come back
• ditches Rosencrantz and Guildenstern en route to England

Scene VII

• King Claudius- saying that he does not persecute Hamlet because of obvious reasons
• to keep his kingly status and not despise the loyalist of Hamlet
• -too good to be in trouble
• -to punish Hamlet in means of the fault of the king
• -doesn't want to kill Hamlet because of mother-son relationship to Queen Gertrude

Hamlet Act IV Scenes I, II, III

Scene I

• The only party that is being threatened consists of King Claudius and Queen Gertrude
• Hamlet's suspicions arise at max levels and the ones who know about the Senior Hamlet murder are all aware of each other
• The King wants to send Hamlet to England where he can send someone to do his dirty work by killing him there
• -Killing him there means that no one in Denmark would suspect the King of treasonous acts
• -If Hamlet were put on trial in Denmark, people would actually believe him
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are basically pawns playing on the wrong side of the playing field
• -have to abide by the king without losing their heads in the process
• It looks like the Queen goes along with the King, not thinking that Hamlet is her only son
• The King calls Hamlet a disease that won't go away

Scene II

• Hamlet finally acts as a prince for the first time
• He doesn't take orders from anyone of royal blood or guards in general
• Hamlet says that Polonius is with dead Senior Hamlet
• -the king is no one but an abstract idea
• Hamlet says "the son of a king" mentions his true authority

Scene III

• King Claudius says that he can do all the bad things and still become the top authority of the kingdom
• Hamlet is giving everyone in the room a hard time figuring out where the body is at
• In truth, Hamlet is tired of all the nonsense and suspects his demise soon
• Hamlet calls Claudius his mother in a sense that both of them committed a crime that is unforgivable to him

Hamlet (The Madman?) Essay

Since the his first appearance on Hamlet, Prince Hamlet showed his fierceness of madness at the first hearing of the king's coronation. William Shakespeare's Hamlet demonstrates a lively protagonist that nevertheless understands no one, not even himself at most times. Drawn by hate from the sight that King Claudius takes Queen Gertrude's hand in marriage, there's no way a son would not be mad at his mother for one month of mourning a father's death. The question for Prince Hamlet is whether he can overcome his madness or step over his limit of madness to the point of insanity. Act I was the first of many levels of complete and utter uncontrollable abilities that Hamlet considered justifiable. Hamlet overall is not subdued by madness, rather than emotional breakdown. For the rest of the play, Hamlet is decisive in his choices to develop a scheme to get back at his father's murderer, but the emotional capacity Hamlet must endure expresses madness externally.

Hamlet makes out his moves by baiting other characters who are most dear such as Horatio, also compared to as a guard of maybe childhood friendship, to those of the prideful antagonist troubles, King Claudius. He also gets around to people he loves off the family ties such as Ophelia, but is very unsure of himself talking to her in a crazed manner or abusive indecency of a gentlemen when it comes to the letter and the playthrough of Hamlet's play within the play. However, Hamlet in Act 1 Scene II was well-acquainted with Lord Polonius until his suspicions arise to not trust anyone close to the King necessarily. The Prince's madness isn't drawn to attention until he spoke his ghostly father, Senior Hamlet, therefore he plays along without being audacious in finding out the truth soon enough. Hamlet hasn't been concerned at the consequences of being held prisoner or being killed within his own kingdom, but his mental breakdown initiated at the thought of hearing his mother fooled by unruly lust within the other part of the family. Queen Gertrude is half the reason Hamlet wants to go after in vengeance of his father. Betrayal struck Hamlet hard no matter what the deal was, he already lost both his mother and father and gained an unwanted father in return.

Other characters of the plot don't recognize the changing of tides the protagonist has to face. Hamlet's feelings aren't taken into consideration of how he really feels truly about the whole Uncle marry Sister-in-law relationship. There's a vacuum for power that Hamlet hadn't taken the chance to obtain because his sadness wasn't anticipated until the longing of the king's coronation. At the point where Hamlet accidentally kills off Lord Polonius, he still hadn't cared about who he killed, albeit it didn't change how he perceived to kill the king with such feeling or not. This "madness" might be facing could psychologically kill him if he knew the right reasons to kill. It definitely wouldn't do anything good for one man to stoop down at the level of the same murder, if not the same case of murder. Hamlet has needed to think about change before King Claudius is aware of some plot for crime.

Latest Hamlet News in Action (Discussion about Act III)

• Hamlet puts on a play to show proof (to himself only without raising suspicions) that King Claudius and Queen Gertrude has done some heinous and wicked acts against King Hamlet
• Hamlet on Ophelia's lap
• -Humor, but also doesn't censor the truth about Hamlet's acts for expectations of a women
• -I'm thinking whether Ophelia can stand for herself and raise the bar for defending her rights as a women, but instead is denying herself due to the respects of royalty
• -Hamlet wants to see Ophelia overcome her gaudy act of "not knowing" or blindsided truth
• -Innuendos everywhere for self-righteousness 
• American culture is conservative?
• I think not!
• "The power of the words being taken out of consideration"
• Has Hamlet gone crazy yet or this his prime time for psychological progress?
• Hint hint, Hamlet drags Polonius (when he's dead) like he's nothing but a big toy bear

Hamlet Act III Scene II

• Hamlet say to the player to act naturally
• -when directing
• -just be right/correct
• -from a nonprofessional to a professional
• -knows what he's doing, not a cranky martinet, director
• [To be Continued Notes]

Hamlet Act III Scene I

• Claudius - "Hamlet is a moody brat" by what the King thinks
• -also being crafty and mad (more angry)
• Lord Polonius give (orisons) prayer book
• Claudius simply confesses his murder for the first time of the whole play when Ophelia mentions something about being guilty of such discourse
• Hamlet questions Ophelia for trust and baits her for some treasonous act against him
• -says he's a bad guy if Ophelia still loves him
• -to Ophelia's love life to go to someone else
• -angry at one person to compensate for many others who denounced him
• Ophelia thinks that Hamlet is crazy (Hamlet's plan goes well)
• Claudius says wrongful things about Hamlet
• -thinks Hamlet is a threat indeed
• -his only feelings have been taken over by cautious intuition
• -Polonius says to put Hamlet to Scotland's Yard (England's prison)

Hamlet Act II Scene II

• Inside the castle room, mainly of the two royalties
• King Claudius and Queen Gertrude seek to find information from Hamlet by using characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
• Both people abide to the King's side
• King Claudius knows of Hamlet's disposition with his father's death and suspicions about breaking through
• Hamlet's mother has intentions about her son, but always sides with the king because of some complications
• The King intends on paying the men for the benefit of knowing what Hamlet is up to, deceptions
• Lord Polonius enters the castle room saying that Hamlet is crazed out of his mind
• Voltimund and Cornelius come back with news of future war with Norway, but also infers that Fortinbras has to pass by the king's country to be at peace
• When Lord Polonius explains the letter given from Hamlet to Ophelia in stating that all the expressive statements were in interest not madness
• The king agrees no matter what to Polonius's matters and conflicts even though its obvious to define the real relationship and plot of Hamlet in Hamlet
• Hamlet comes in to say that old men are weak in comparison to Lord Polonius
• Hamlet makes a lot of mockery and schemes against Polonius, knowing that he is acquainted with the man, still makes judgments based on keeping Hamlet's cool.
• The king's spies come in to talk to Hamlet as his friends at the same age or so
• Hamlet talks about his dreams, but doesn't give it away to his companions
• Hamlet knows about the suspicions of info takers
• The actors come to the scene in favor of Prince Hamlet
• Hamlet makes his own soliloquy about speaking and the treachery of murder 
• The first player also contrives a speech of some length as Hamlet's for practice

Hamlet Act II Scene I

• At the Polonius Household
• Lord Polonius hires sir Reynaldo to spy and chat around with Laertes because of trust and dishonesty
• A father and son relationship isn't close in the Polonius household, especially around the whole family like Ophelia
• Lord Polonius thinks that he's all that and confident that he can obtain information doing so.
• Reynaldo has to try to be a friend who actually cares about Laertes problems
• Making familiar and cool conversations and stuff
• Lord Polonius is weary about Laertes lifestyles
• Ophelia comes in to say that Hamlet cares but only in some other meaningful way
• (Hamlet cares that Ophelia shouldn't be in his way of revenge)
• Polonius thinks that the letter is a sign of love, but fakes it in his own way

To Be or Not To Be

Hamlet: Act III Scene I

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd? To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub
For in  that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled odd this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
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,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. --Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in the orisons
Be all my sins remember'd

What the soliloquy means from class discussion bit by bit:

• To live to die
• -Integrate soliloquy into our lives
• to act or not to act
• refrain old ways of thinking
• "whether tis noble..." suggests bad things happen to good people
• -external conflicts affecting Hamlet
• -war over opulence/wealth/luxury
• Death can be:
• metaphorical/literal
• to leave life from the productive way
• lack of enlightenment
• -"consummation":ending
• "there's the rub"-dilemma
• Something not known isn't good compared to know
• "curiosity killed the cat" - take the risk to know
• -become relieved or not but better to know them not to know
• "oppressor's wrong" - more power of us
• -more authority
• -"contumely"-rude speech
• -"insolence"-arrogance
• -"spurns"-scorn, to reject
• tragic - living a long life not doing anything that reveals who you are
• literal to metaphorical concerns of "bare bodkin:
• Murder = guilt
• Guilt = great way to treat one's behavior
• Hamlet is personally human by himself, with a company; he speaks different;y to other people
• -He tells more of his truth and hides his true character
• Struggle within himself to express himself
• "orisons" -prayers
• "mortal coil" - lost our mortal body
• "sins remembered" - being a man or not a man
• confidence in decisions

Hamlet: Act I Scene V

• Ghost Hamlet and Prince Hamlet meet in another part of the platform of the castle
• The ghost hints that it will later go to hell for the things he did in the previous life, kingly ways are wicked and subject to sins and such
• King Hamlet: " The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears the crown"
• Uncle seduced mother of Hamlet from King Hamlet, stand alone carry all those virtuous moments away from the prior relationship
• Lust has taken Queen Gertrude, her guilt will consume her, eventually leading up to her death
• She'll be sent to heaven, dealt with the main man upstairs, a judgement to determine everything
• Hamlet knew there was something already sketchy with how things happened to be
• Ghost was poisoned in the ear by quicksilver by the King Uncle
• Ghost gives advice to Hamlet that Royalty should be determined by reason not emotion (in connection to Laertes, Polonius, and Ophelia)
• That it should not be his downfall to have his feelings defeat him on his journey to the throne
• Hamlet is thinking about the stuff he can do all these things now and then
• It's easier said than done
• Marcellus and Horatio now have to swear that something is going down between Hamlet and the King Claudius
• Hamlet: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy
• Hamlet is going to act "nuts" so to say, knowing what's going on and has to keep a stable and diligent mindset; no lack of authority, mollify those in concern
• "The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!"

Hamlet: Act I Scene IV

• At the platform again where the three guards meet the ghost, fireworks and ornaments are going off as the high density of the air bites at the warmth of Hamlet, Marcellus, and Horatio
• Hamlet thinks of this "celebration" as wrongly presented and weak
• -the country shows that it can't take seriousness toward other kingdoms by celebrating a coronation over a dead king with the new king
• Hamlet's bad intentions are suspicious about the new changes around the kingdom and looks to the ghost for some last resort
• He comments about how the kingdom is not acknowledging its accomplishments, acknowledging a new era of corruption
• In this scene, the ghost comes in but speaks no word to the men
• Hamlet recognizes the Ghost, his father, the fallen king
• Basically saying "Hey dad, where have you been and what happened to you."
• Ghost asks Hamlet to come along and speak to him
• Marcellus hints at the fact that "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
• Hamlet wants the ghost to speak about the current situation
• Horatio worries about the Prince because this ghost can be deceitful

Hamlet: Act I Scene III

• Polonius Household - Laertes (Son of Polonius) and Ophelia (Daughter of Polonius), basically brother and sister
• In this scene, I thought that Ophelia just had to follow orders from both her father and brother
• -It seemed that she had no say in most of the say, when will her time come to talk to Hamlet?
• Laertes gives advice to Ophelia about Hamlet and his royal status
• -He says that she must accept Hamlet if he confesses his love to her, but beware of how his decisions might incur around the subject
• Ophelia takes on the lecture nonetheless, so calm in the text she is.
• Something is going on in her mind
• Polonius comes in telling his son that he should keep his thoughts only in his and not speak of it
• He mentions to beware of the words that come out of his mouth since judgement hath follow up
• Polonius states that men in France become opulent for doing stuff out of a stable nonchalant mind, no speech in doing so
• After Laertes leaves, Polonius asks what Ophelia and him were talking about.
• Polonius has intuitive skills with youngsters and their decisiveness at love
• He orders to not think of Prince Hamlet at a no reason to call or see to him

Hamlet: Act I Scene II Notes

• A switch for King Hamlet's concerns turns to other matters in a happier tone
• King Cornelius is making a speech about his brother's death
• On that note, I think the reason he got in power than the young Hamlet is by marrying Old Hamlet's wife
• Cornelius mentions Fortinbras, not the one who died, but the young son
• Suspicions arise because Cornelius claims that young Fortinbras has something to do with it and also talks about how his life and riches were taken away by old Hamlet
• The King also talks to his comrades about their presence
• 
  

Hamlet: Act I Scene I Notes

• Four guards in total are taking shifts at the castle of Elisnore
• Francisco is the first guard to appear and has guarded the platform since the striking of midnight
• Bernardo enters the scene to take on the night shift, while at the same time Horatio and Marcellus march in
• The characters mention their ethnicity to be Danes, which meant that this play is based in Denmark.
• Marcellus and Bernardo talk about a certain silhouette that has been haunting their presence
• Horatio doesn't believe them at first and then realizes what they are mentioning
• The ghostly figure resembles the old King Hamlet, even though the Old King Hamlet is still alive at the time
• Bernardo and Marcellus encourage Horatio to demand the ghost to talk, but instead (thinks) the ghost leaves in offence
• The ghost appears at the most audacious moment during the night which meant something in the future, a foreshadowing
• The two other guards want to hear the story of the Old King Hamlet by Horatio
• -  At first the play was in simple conversations, transitions to fret, and then a long monologue by Horatio for explanations
• Ghost re-enters the scene and still does not say anything
• The guards demand the ghost to speak until the rooster crows to indicate that its morning
• The ghost disappears without a single word even when the guards try to strike at it
• The guardsmen worry about the ghost's presence because if it didn't speak to them, it must talk to his son Hamlet.