"So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr" (Shakespeare, William) is a Shakespearian juxtaposition used to compare Old Hamlet with Claudius. Hamlet alludes to Hyperion, the God of Light who represents not only honor and virtue, but also nobility, which are all traits Hamlet saw in his own father. The half-human, half-beast satyr creature represents hedonism and excess, similar to the way Hamlet regards Claudius. Finally he compares the two men as Hercules to himself, a mortal man. He truly believes that Claudius does not represent his mother's best intentions and that he could never live up to his father's image and character.
To Hamlet, Claudius represents the fall of his mother. He says, "She married. O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (Shakespeare, William) He sees Claudius as an impure tempter, and believes that his mother lost her purity in his incestuous sheets. Claudius is Hamlet's uncle, but it is not out of the question to wonder if Hamlet's protective nature is somehow driven by some sort of oedipal desire for his own mother (Lacan, Jacques; Miller, Alain; and Hulbert, James, 11), no matter how non-sexual in nature that desire may be. In Hamlet's time, the church frowned upon incest, yet in the royal circles, it was common for one family member to marry another in order to keep the throne and chain of command in the family blood line. Even so, Hamlet is disgusted by his mother's marriage to his father's brother, and anguishes at the haste with which the marriage is conducted.
The soliloquy is extremely important to the plot of the play, and gives the audience a look inside Hamlet's mind. It shows the contempt that he holds for Claudius and his mother's relationship, and the high esteem and...
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'
" Calling their marriage incestuous and wicked draws attention to the depth of feeling gnawing away at Hamlet, the complex emotions that drive his actions throughout the course of the play. Hamlet perceives their union as being against divine law by using words like "incestuous" and "wicked." The use of several mythological allusions during the soliloquy also underscores Hamlet's detachment from reality: Hamlet refers to Hyperion, satyrs, Niobe and Hercules. Furthermore,
Hamlet In the first act of Shakespeare's Hamlet, the title character delivers a powerful soliloquy expressing his anguish and suicidal ideations. Hamlet is coming to terms with the death of his father; and the tragedy that his uncle might be the murderer torments him. At this point in the play, Hamlet remains in touch with his emotions without being totally consumed by them. His anger is growing; he has not yet
Hamlet Comparison Hamlet is arguably William Shakespeare's most famous of his many still existing plays. Even people who have not read the play know the basic plot of the story. Prince Hamlet of Denmark is in mourning over the death of his father who, as it turns out has been murdered by his uncle so that Claudius can take over the throne and marry the queen, his brothers' widow. Hamlet decides
This explains the indecisiveness of Hamlet to remove Claudius and a strong barrier between Gertrude and Hamlet is made by him so as he will never express his true emotions for her. Hamlet feelings for Gertrude will be disguised by the ones for Ophelia which aren't real as long as Claudius stayed in the way. His original indecisiveness about revenge ultimately grew and he tried to defy his order
Polonius' concerns are different -- he warns her that Hamlet is "out of her star" and that she should not give too much weight to Hamlet's "tenders" of affection. What does the Ghost tell Hamlet to do and not to do? Why does Hamlet believe he needs independent proof about the validity of the Ghost? The Ghost tells Hamlet to take vengeance upon his uncle for his death, but not to
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