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Hamlet seems particularly interested with this idea of holding a mirror to the reality of situations to betray their alliances with death. He uses the same metaphor when speaking to the players: "the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show Virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure."
The play which Prince Hamlet stages is vitally important not only in that it is a mirror and reflection of sorts, but also because it is in itself art. A great deal of fuss is made in the text about the proper form of the art of playing, as if to highlight that it's artistic merit were important to the story. This may be because putting the death of the king into play form is meant, within the story, to represent the way that death is turned into art as part of the Memento Mori ideology. Indeed, the "death as art" aspect of this ideology is, quite literally, embodied in every part of the story because Hamlet itself, as a play, is ars moriendi. In fact, it appears that to some degree Hamlet is aware of himself as just a character in a grand piece of death art. In the final scene, he seems to speak directly about this role, as he is dying an looking out at both the on-stage and off-stage audience: "That are but mutes or audience to this act, / Had I but time (as this fell sergeant, Death, /
Is strict in his arrest) O, I could tell you- but let it be. Horatio, I am dead..."
Additionally, references to the genre of death art are made through-out the play. Even the scene with Yorick's skull is actually a reference to a tradition in Renaissance painting at the time: "The contemplation of a skull is a common motif in paintings of the period. Often a saint is depicted with a skull, suggesting his awareness of the vanity of human endeavor... Cavarozzi's painting of St. Jerome, for instance, [has] in the foreground a skull facing outward..." (Triggs) it was common in this era for young, even foppish, romantics to be painted with skulls over which they brooded or considered their time on earth, while mystics tended to be consumed more with their spirituality, as Jerome who "pursues his characteristic work, which involves primarily the contemplation of divinity." (Triggs) it is important to recognize that painterly theme coming to the foreground in this scene, as in a couple others, because it highlights the connections between this as death art and that which exists in the external/non-literary world.
The final theme vital to the ideology of Memento Mori was that of the death dance. According to Jacobs, the point of the death dance was to illustrate that, through the universality of death, no man was above any other. The king or pope only led the rest of the world down into death, and he was not exempt from it himself. This is actually one of the most important themes in Hamlet, as the boy tries to reconcile himself...
For Oedipus to be considered successful, then, he would have had to challenge his own fate and succeed, rather than enact it entirely according to what was set out for him. In Hamlet, on the other hand, the enemy is tangible and human in the form of Hamlet's uncle, and thus Hamlet is able to confront and vanquish him. Thus, Oedipus represents a kind of ignorant struggle against the
He does however, have a reason for his treatment of these people. In the case of the king's courtiers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they can be seen as plotting against Hamlet and being 'two faced' in their treatment of him" (Hamlet). From the above evidence, it is clear that due to the consequences of the actions of characters, lives are destroyed, which can be seen from the direction of the stage.
He never sees things from the perspective of other people or overthinks the moral implications of his deeds. Fortinbras challenges Claudius openly, unlike Hamlet who merely stages a play to test Claudius' guilt and tries (and fails) to kill the King at prayer. At first, Hamlet drew inspiration from a Player King's passion. In his "How all occasions" soliloquy he draws inspiration to take revenge from a real person. Fortinbras'
He questions whether he should try to clear the court of corruption or just give up and end his life now. It is this emotional doubt that drives Hamlet to act deranged at times, but he overcomes it, and almost manages to answer the difficult questions posed in his life. In Act V, when calm returns, Hamlet repents his behavior (V, ii, 75-78) (Lidz, 164). In Lidz's book Freud is
Hamlet is by far one of Shakespeare's more enigmatic characters. We understand from the beginning of the play with Horatio and Marcellus that they think very highly of Hamlet as they decide to tell him first about the ghostly vision they saw whom they believe to be his father. However, when we meet Hamlet, we are confused. Is he depressed -- or is he simply cruel (Davies 30)? Or is
" This madness likely leads to Ophelia's suicide but, consistent with the entire theme of this play, the exact nature of Ophelia's demise is left to speculation. The fascination with Hamlet is uncanny. What provides this fascination is the fact that there is always more to what is going on in the play than what actually appears to be. Observers of the play are left with an overwhelming feeling that they
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