Hamlets Characterisation Essay Example for Free

Hamlets Characterisation Essay The aspect of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that is most interesting to me is the playwright’s intimate depiction of Hamlet’s daily struggle againt the world. Through soliloquies and characterisation, we see that Hamlet’s world is a cold, political one, unreceptive to his grief, and this fundamental incompatibility is ultimately what creates and drives the play’s great drama behind his struggle, his murderous plot, uncertainty, and finally his thoughtful, accepting resolve at the end of the play. Early in the play we see this great incompatibility between Hamlet and his society emerging, as he, stricken with grief, is surrounded by cold political plotters. Shakespeare revels in his use of irony, as Claudius utters the oxymoron â€Å"lawful espials†, and Polonius, evangelising that â€Å"this above all else: to thine own self be true†, endeavours with â€Å"this bait of falsehood† to â€Å"by indirections find directions out† and thus â€Å"take this carp of truth†. Hamlet continues this tradition of fish-related metaphors in accusing Polonius of being a â€Å"fishmonger†, a claim which reflects his own struggle to comprehend how cold and contriving his society is. Hamlet even wonders how â€Å"a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer† than his mother, Gertrude, the â€Å"pernicious woman† whose â€Å"salt of most unrighteous tears† falls from merely â€Å"galled eyes†. That she could be â€Å"like Niobe† is a twisted classical allusion which adds to the sentiment of tension which Hamlet feels against his society, which, in the disillusioned wake of his grief, he has found is superficial and immoral, especially as â€Å"one may smile, and smile, and be a villain†, while â€Å"virtue itself of vice must beg† and â€Å"rank corruption†¦mining within†¦infects unseen†. Thus this great tension forms an integral part of the early part of the play and drives the drama which underlies Hamlet’s characterisation, and his struggle to find where he belongs in this morally void society. Hamlet’s soililoquy at the end of Act II reveals how this tension has acted upon his soul. He questions his own sanity, asking if it is, in fact, the â€Å"pleasing shape† of the devil, which â€Å"abuses me to damn me†. This particular tension between Hamlet and his world is what reveals several important character elements in Hamlet. That the Player could invoke such passion in such a superficial â€Å"fiction†, and â€Å"for Hecuba† at that, while Hamlet sits statically racked with indecision, is reflective of the superficiality which frustrates him and drives him to see imself as a â€Å"dull and muddy-mettled rascal†. It drives him inwards to consider what kind of person he is, and how best to resolve the tension which has evolved as a result of his society’s immorality. Yet as the soliloquy changes tone dramatically, and marked by Hamlet’s cry of â€Å"Oh, vengeance! †, the apostrophic appeal to Nemesis herself reve als an early attempt to break free from these chains of indecision and uncertainty set upon him due to his struggle. Thus the tension between him and his immoral peers is what ultimately produces this first change of heart, from â€Å"pigeon-livered† to the successful invocation of the mythical figure, the â€Å"rugged Pyrrhus†, out to â€Å"drink hot blood†, whom he struggled to portray and rehearse earlier in the scene. That the tension is so central to this first episode of self-realisation, and subsequent ascents to personal conviction, reflects how truly crucial his struggle and journey towards self-understanding is to Hamlet’s textual integrity. Hamlet’s obsession with death, beginning with the Act III soliloquy not long after, is another seeming affliction brought on by this grievous tension with the world around our hero. That the world could so easily forget a human life, and that this life was that of a king, brings on a deep sense of aporia for the young prince, as he struggles to reconcile the significance of life with the great ease with which it is forgotten when lost. His turn to â€Å"what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil† forms part of the plaintive introspection revealed by this soliloquy as he searches for truth, away from the â€Å"pangs of disprized love† for which he was informed that â€Å"to persever in obstinate condolement is†¦unmanly grief†. His obsession with death throughout the play and in this soliloquy is hence marked as a decided escape from the constant tension with his society and its many unknowable uncertainties, as portrayed by a play whose opening line is â€Å"who’s there! †. Death plays the role of the only certain, pure truth, as symbolised by the memento mori of Act V, the skull held in Hamlet’s hand which in all its graspable physicality and feeble perishability becomes a source of finality, and certainty for the young prince. His tension with society is characterised by great inaction and uncertain angst, but in death, all souls return to absolute dust. Whether they bear the â€Å"pate of a politician† or the â€Å"skull of a lawyer† is insignificant in this regard, for â€Å"e’en so†, even the great Alexander â€Å"looked o’ this fashion i’th’earth†. He finds great solace in the promise of this finality away from the contrarious moods of his â€Å"comrades†. This characterises the self-reckoning which ultimately leads him to his final resolvel and faith by which he stands ready to once more face his society and his fate, whatever it may be. With this sentiment he remarks â€Å"there is Providence in the fall of a sparrow†¦let be†. Lastly, Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship with the world reveal analogous tensions which manifest in different ways and provide interesting insights into the dramatic consequences of this tension. Ophelia and Hamlet’s relationship is torn apart by Polonius’ meddling. Hamlet’s proclamation that â€Å"frailty, thy name is woman! † foreshadows the way that we soon see Ophelia being influenced to a great extent by her filial, obedient devotion to Polonius, so much so that, struggling to reconcile her personal integrity and her duty to her family, she descends into her own madness, â€Å"divided from herself and her fair judgment, without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts†. Polonius, the â€Å"fishmonger†, tells her that her love is that of â€Å"a green girl†, and her submission to such worldly expectations is what begets her destruction. Yet even in her insanity she finds a resolve which, though markedly more frenzied, mirrors Hamlet’s own. Her flowers are each symbols of denouncement of the court’s treacherous figures, whose â€Å"rue with a difference† Ophelia insists they must acknowledge for their most distressing actions. There is thus a great tension which arises out of the persistent degradation of the lovers’ relationship, and their final destruction at the hands of Laertes for Hamlet, and in the river for Ophelia. These elements are undeniably integral elements of the play which drive its enduring drama and converge to form a crucial part of Hamlet’s textual integrity. Thus we can see that the tension of the world, manipulative, cold and immoral, as it acts on the fundamentally honest, if perhaps naive prince, is the source of the great drama which underpins Hamlet’s struggle through the play to pit his own psyche against that of his peers. This tension time and time again proves to be central to a true consideration and understanding of Hamlet’s episodes of character evolution which sees him descend into the murky depths of his world’s uncertainty. It is only with the realisation and grasping of truth, whether he finds this in the finality of death or the power of fate, that Hamlet ascends once more to the safe anchorage of sanity and resolve, and finds the courage and conviction needed to face his society once more, and finally his death.

The Mythology of Star Wars Essay -- Movie Film Essays

The Mythology of Star Wars This essay is dedicated to the idea of displaying the true epic of Star Wars. From the hero's journey in the unknown forests, to the goddess and spirtual revelations, this site will show Star Wars in a way many have not seen--a great mythological tale of sorrow and amazements that has lived through our history as long as the human race has lived on Earth. Even as George Lucas has explained as the reason why he created Star Wars, "I wanted to make a kid's film that would strengthen contemporary mythology and introduce a kind of basic morality" (Pollock I44). Introduction: Science Fiction Vs. Myth In 1977, George Lucas created a film that so inspired the public, its name is commonplace to, not just the United States, but several countries of the world...

Poverty and Horse Film Essay

This is a story of two tribal Armenian boys who belonged to the Garoghlanian tribe. For their family, even at times of extreme poverty nothing could match the importance of honesty. They never did anything wrong and never lied or never even stole anything. The story talks about an incident that revolves around two cousins Aram who is nine years old and Mourad who is thirteen. The world, for Aram, at that time, seemed to be a delightful and extremely joyous yet mysterious dream. People believed in every imaginable kind of magnificence. Mourad was considered to be crazy by everybody he knew. The story opens with Mourad coming to Aram’s house at four in the morning one fine day. He tapped on the window to Aram’s room. When Aram looked out of the window, he was taken aback and startled to see Mourad riding a beautiful white horse. In fact, he was so dazed that Mourad had to say â€Å"Yes, it’s a horse. You are not dreaming.† All this was too unbelievable because Aram knew that they were too poor to be able to afford to buy a horse. The only way Mourad could possess it could be by stealing. They were too honest to lie and yet too crazy to ride a horse. Thus, they kept the horse for two weeks, enjoying its ride in cool air and singing to their heart’s content on the country roads. They hid it from the rest of the world by keeping it in a barn of the deserted vineyard. Meanwhile, Aram came to know that the horse was stolen from John Byro. They planned not to return it to him so soon although it pricked their conscience to steal, which was completely their ethics and tribal norms. One fine day they came across John, the farmer. Such was the boys’ family famous for their honesty that the thought of his horse being stolen by the boys never crossed John’s mind. He was just amazed at the resemblance and said: â€Å"I would swear it is my horse if I did not know your parents.† This moving experience led the boys towards John’s vineyard the very next morning. They left the horse in the barn after patting it affectionately. Later that day, John seemed to be very pleased and shared the news of the return of his horse with Aram’s mother. The story teaches us the importance and necessity of honesty even in the face of greed and passion.

Globalisation Process Essay

The business world is becoming increasingly global. As a result of this, many companies, such as Costa Coffee and Dyson, have changed their strategies in relation to the markets they target or where they produce. Does the increasingly global nature of business mean that all organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits? Justify your answer with reference to Costa Coffee, Dyson and/or other organisations that you know. Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming progressively interconnected as a result of significantly increased trade and cultural exchange. It has also increased the production of goods and services. The biggest companies (such as McDonald’s, Starbuck’s, Costa Coffee, Tesco, Dyson) are no longer national firms, but multinational corporations with subsidiaries in many other countries. The aim of this essay is to justify whether organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits as a result of the increasingly global nature of business. As a result of globalisation, the world has become a smaller place; however this is a potential benefit for companies that are looking to expand because communication, trade and travel are becoming increasingly easy. Many countries, especially the ‘BRICS’ economies are undergoing industrialisation, giving Western companies the cheaper infrastructure they need to expand. If the business does the market auditing efficiently and they target the right market, with the cheap infrastructure and more potential customers, there are minimal reasons why the business would not achieve higher profits. So having said that, businesses like McDonald’s are a perfect example that higher profits are a result of changing their strategy to relate more to the market they target. Originating from America, McDonald’s are currently market leaders in 96% of the markets they do business in; they operate in 119 countries on 6 continents, with over 33,000 restaurants worldwide, employ ing over 1.7 million people. (http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en/contact_us/faq.html) They first expanded internationally when they opened in Canada in 1967. The international section of McDonald’s has become increasingly more important to the company’s overall success. As of this past year, non-US based restaurants account for over half of the company’s $40 billion in revenues. Foreign restaurants now account for about 60% of McDonald’s total profits. Since coffee has become a necessity in a person’s every day routine rather than a luxury, McDonald’s has recognised this is an opportunity to increase their product portfolio. With the majority of McDonald’s customers being business men and women, coffee is an increased purchase amongst their sales, therefore they have recently announced they will be opening up a â€Å"McCafe† in the UK, having already been opened in Australia since 1993, they’ll be selling a variety of coffee’s other than your standard black, white, latte and cappuccino. As a consequ ence, for companies like Costa Coffee and Starbuck’s, this means that McDonald’s will continue to add to the markets they are in and become increasingly intense competitors. So the increase use of necessities globally definitely has an impact on a businesses strategies. McDonald’s have had to identify a person’s every day need, and cleverly made it as sort of a luxury item because it’s ‘new’ it will be new to McDonald’s. As a result of their new investment, the McCafe generates 15% more revenue than an ordinary McDonald’s. On the other hand, Globalisation is proven to have had a negative effect for some other businesses such as Tesco. This is a business that has strived to expand internationally, and as a result, they struggled/failed as they couldn’t easily adapt to the market change. Tesco has expanded into many other countries over the years, but as the â€Å"BRICS† economies are becoming increasingly attractive, an opportunity to venture into these economies seemed to be a ‘rising star’ for Tesco. Tesco’s ‘eye on the prize’ meant that they took their eyes off what made them successful in the first place- their UK stores. Ultimately, expansion into China, India and Thailand has left what was their ‘cash cow’ UK stores to currently become their ‘problem child’. Losing focus on their original investments meant that they â€Å"slipped behind in terms of stores, service and innovation.† http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-177 67565 In addition to their struggles to maintain the success of their UK stores, focus on China, Thailand and India had a massive impact on their competitors such as Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi. During the time that Tesco focused on the new move, it was an opportunity for its competitors to steal Tesco’s 30% market share – Sainsbury’s brought in â€Å"By Sainsbury’s† and Asda brought in â€Å"Chosen By You†. When Tesco realised their mistake and focused their attention on their UK stores, they invested in the â€Å"Big Price Drop Flop† but the  £500m campaign only damaged their branding image, as customers thought the quality of their products had dropped. It was a clear step by step process for Tesco losing its place in the market. All of this is a result of changing their strategy by expanding overseas into a better economy, and that is a result of Globalisation. Overall, Globalisation has so far cost Tesco to invest in a new economy, invest in strategies to save their place in the market, and has now cost them a  £1bn investment making their UK stores a â€Å"warmer look and feel†. It’s safe to say that Gl obalisation has definitely not achieved higher profits for Tesco, only slandered them. Overall, Globalisation has effect on all businesses whether positive or negative, but it does not necessarily make them achieve higher profits due to a changed strategy. In my opinion, it’s not Globalisation itself that makes a business achieve higher profits, it’s how the business takes advantage of the situation, and there are other internal factors involved that make a business achieve increased profits. Tesco could have easily become more successful if they balanced out their investments, keeping the UK stores as a ‘cash cow’ while they invested in their ‘rising star’ in China, and also kept their attention on their main rivals: Asda and Sainsbury’s. Sometimes a business does not need to change its strategy, an investment into the ‘BRICS’ economies could potentially mean more money is required. Having said that, some businesses already have the infrastructure they need to maintain their businesses over in the UK and it would seem moronic to expand overseas, especially if the business is maintaining profits. Although McDonalds has taken advantage of Globalisation, and used their strategy efficiently to become successful and to be as big as they are now – they are one company in a million. They are not proof that just because they managed to successfully adapt to the market, expansion into other countries is not guaranteed success, as proven by Tesco. So no, not all businesses need to change their strategy significantly due to Globalisation, in fact, some businesses don’t need to change their strategy at all.

Charlie Chaplin essays

Charlie Chaplin essays Charlie Chaplin was an English motion-picture actor, director, producer, and composer. He was one of the most creative artists in the film history. He was the first to achieve worldwide fame through his performances in silent films. Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England in poverty on April 16, 1889. His parents were Sr and Hannah Chaplin. They were both music hall performers. His father was an alcoholic. He left shortly after Charlie was born, leaving Hannah to provide for the children. Charlie got his first taste of the spot light when he was very young. He debuted in the place of his mother because she was hoarse. His childhood was filled with horrible poverty. His mother, Hannah became a chronically psychotic woman who was in and out of mental institutes. When Hannah could no longer take care of Charlie and his siblings, they were admitted into Lambeth Workhouse and later to Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children. His father died when Charlie was only 12 years old. As a young child Charlie had been forced to sleep on the streets of London and he had to look for food in garbage pails. It was this same poverty in which he would develop his identification with the little person. He used the misery of his childhood to create his own style, which was a combination of comedy and melodrama. This is known as pathos. He achieved his ambition when he joined a dancing group called the Eight Lancashire Lads. This eventually led on to parts in Sherlock Holmes and Caseys Court Circus. His half brother Sydney joined the Fred Karno Company and managed to get Charlie involved also. He soon became a Karno star. In 1910 Charlie toured the United States with the Karno group and returned for another in 1912. On this tour he was hunted by Mack Sennette and his Keystone Film Company. Charlie was then introduced into the medium of film. His first film, 1914, was title...

Recent Earthquake Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recent Earthquake Analysis - Research Paper Example American Plate (moving towards west) encounters the Caribbean Plate (moving towards east), causing a relatively active zone of subduction and systems of volcanic island-arc. The Antilles zone of subduction is in the southeast direction of this. In the same manner, the South Sandwich Islands which are located in the southern Atlantic also indicate an active zone of subduction. In this case, the Atlantic Plate undergoes subduction under the Antarctic Plate, leading to the creation of the volcanic South Sandwich Islands (Salkey, 59). The majority of highly destructive tsunamis in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean were caused by either the result of volcanic eruption or seismic (earthquake) activity. A considerable proportion of these led to localized death and damage, but no regionally catastrophic scale damages beyond the Caribbean. There are numerous unconfirmed and confirmed tsunami events that led to localized flooding, particularly in the Caribbean Islands and South Sandwich Islands. There have been slightly over 50 confirmed tsunamis, differing in size, around the Caribbean Islands and South Sandwich Islands since the year 1530 (Selinus,

Analyzing a news article from a geographical perspective on Latin Research Paper

Analyzing a news article from a geographical perspective on Latin america using geography journals - Research Paper Example The politics of the location and the place are addressed in the political geography of the social movements. The widespread insensitivity to the push by the social movements in these nations and the outright downplaying of the quest for recognition and respect is also made mention of. This is an idea I am going to apply in analyzing a journalism article. The journalism article in focus is â€Å"The Racism and Racial Divides in Venezuela† by Gregory Wilpert. This article addresses issues of political geography in an evidently racist Venezuela. This paper analyses and reports on how the author of the political geography article would respond to the journalism article. In the journalism article, there are a great deal of issues on international order and the perceptions that are largely accepted and internalized by certain sections of the world’s population. Key among these and widely explored in the journal article is the concern for racism in the world in general and in Venezuela in particular. As reported in the journalism article, it is evident that the mindset of most of the Venezuelans, humans from different geographical locations of the world are and will never be equal. On the face of it, Venezuelans would say that there is no racism in the country, but the opposite proves true. They would say that it does not matter whether one is dark, brown or white since they all consider themselves to be â€Å"Mestizo† or â€Å"brown† (Wilpert 2). The journal article gives an account of how the opposite of this statement is proven during the visit by the Trans Africa Forum to the nation of Venezuela. This position of reality of racism in Venezuela was made clear by the very delegation in their final press conference in the country. The delegation mentioned the Venezuelan news commentators who referred to their trip as a ‘burned’ tour. This statement was