William Shakespeare’s Hamlet Essay

The tone of William Shakespeares small t aver is set by the root word of madness and deception. The remnant of settlements male parent and the appearance of his ghost to his son sets into motion a series of events that end in leads to the near gibe destruction of the Danish court. No one proves to be safe from the pervasive nature of their experience guilt, real or imagine, as the characters fall out victim to settlements madness and the kings deception.Revenge and fear, in particular, play central roles in the eventual conclusions of the play, as it get outs a vehicle for the concepts of madness and deceit, as well as the bloody and darkening shadow that falls upon Denmark itself. Even before he sees his fetchs ghost among the rook walls, the seeds of suspicion and disgust have already grown to fruition within small towns mind. All that is needed to touch off this dark imprint into full-blown action is a spark. This spark comes in the pretend of the deceased king, wh o gives voice to his sons suspicions.Its interesting, given the full blown form that Hamlets madness later takes, to consider that the conversation between father and ghost whitethorn have been a delusion. Though its problematic to write off the apparition itself as false, since it is the guards who first see the ghost walking silently, the conversation between father and son is private and serves to provide confession for Hamlets later actions. In this way, its possible that this conversation was simply the starting line point for Hamlets growing insanity. From this first act, the opposite events fall in quick succession as though predicted.Death becomes a central al approximately fated result of the lethal mixture of Hamlets growing insanity and the guilt of the king on that point is a fine line between Hamlets realities and his delusions, as shown in the truth of his uncles deceit. Its outstanding that the tragedy of Hamlet begins and ends with death, providing a full-circ le to the powers murder of his brother and Hamlets own revenue and death. This is ascribable in part to the larger significance of death both as an ending and a beginning. The tragedy of Hamlet itself begins and ends with death while the dead themselves provide witnesses.Its important to note that even as the death should be released by the chain of events, they are not allowed to truly rest. From Hamlets father the king, to Ophelias drowned memory, they are allowed little reprieve. Instead their deaths act as cataclysms for more tragedy and death. It is Ophelia and Poloniuss deaths that cause Laertes to meet his death at the end of Hamlets poison-tipped blade. Connected to the idea of revenge, the dead are fuel to the fire and darkness that seep into the minds and actions of all involved.Given the heavy presence of death, it is no wonderment that the images of darkness and the adjective black is repeated throughout the book. It seems to be almost an eternal night in Hamlets Denm ark. There is no comfort. There is no look forward to, only sadness and death. Revenge, madness, and presumption are connected in Hamlet through their common dark designs and darker endings. The need for revenge, which is bred from Hamlets incur with his fathers ghost and eventually drives his madness, is not justice. This revenge is part duty, part self-preservation.Hamlet is lost in his new role in his family, with his nonpluss marriage to his uncle and the usurpation of the crown from Hamlets own head. In taking action against his uncle, Hamlet is defending the honor of his family and attempting to reclaim his own self which has been lost (I. iv. ll. 21). With the new developments, Denmark itself has become a prison (II. ii. ll. 241), and he is a prisoner to the awareness of his position and the growing need to exact revenge. It is important to make the distinction between the two, revenge and justice.Hamlet is seeking to right the wrong of his fathers death, at first through revelation tho then when this fails through violence. There is not the sense that Hamlet expects to escape his own death in the process of exacting revenge but at the same time there is the maddened sense of invincibility near him. He hopes to regain part of himself in destroying his uncle, however, he is already lost to his own fear and insanity. The concept of blood is important throughout the play, both in literal form in showing the brutality of Hamlets actions, and as representative of family.The physical presnece of blood is seen throughout the play in the deaths of even those who do end in bloodshed, like Ophelia. The final scene in transaction V is the bloodiest, with the deaths of Laertes and Hamlet, the wounding of the King, and the poisoning of the Queen. That final scene is also a good example of the power of blood, in the family sense, as Hamlet finally gains resolve in the deception of his uncle and his mothers marriage and Laertes himself is able to avenge his si ster and father.However, the concept of family goes much farther back in the play, to the very beginning with the first appearance of the dead king, still linked to his son and the tragedy of his blood, who himself is heard by Hamlet to call for revenge. For Hamlet, the concept of blood is perhaps the most sensitive and the core root to his own madness. A chief source of hurt pride for Hamlet is the marriage of his widowed mother to his uncle. In Hamlets eyes, not only has the new king usurped the role of his dead (murdered) brother but he has also taken over his brothers position in the Queens bed.This is not a difficult idea to understand Hamlet obviously feels a strong loyalty to his father and to the idea of his own succession. However, Hamlets constant condemnation of the King and Queens marriage being incestuous shows more about Hamlet than his mother, who is constantly condemned by her son for the marriage. The king is Hamlets paternal uncle and therefore, unrelated to the Qu een except through the marriage of his deceased brother, Hamlets uncle. Therefore there is no real incest going on between the newly married couple but rather a joining of recent and present.Instead Hamlet is showing an intolerance to change, that when divorced of his uncles treachery, is not quite as damning. However, true to the form of the play, the marriage has been built upon the dark industrial plant of the King. Their marriage is a deceptive continuity, the Queen herself innocent to the dark deeds of the King. She is not wholly innocent, as she ignorantly believes in the innocence of the new King. sequence she obviously loves her son, in sensing and fearing Hamlets growing restlessness and insanity, she does in a manner turn away from him.Seeing only death in her sons countenance, it is understandable that she would ally herself with the calm presence of the new king. However, there is something of a resolution between mother and son. When the queen drinks the poison, the King has prepared for Hamlet, she joins the ranks of the innocent dead. Like Ophelia, the Queen becomes a kind of martyr to the ulterior motives of royal ascendency and the revenge of her only son. Though the King may have had larger ideas of their marriage, the Queens tragedy seems to be a belief in hope.In remarrying she is hoping to continue her life and in Hamlet she sees hope for her love and affection, even as he rejects her. Without the morality of justice, Hamlets revenge fails to provide any resolution. While death is certainly an end and a recurrent theme throughout the play, the persistence and skewed senses of madness prevent the carnage of the Danish court from representing an absolute ending. Instead, there simply seems to be no one else to truly die, no one else to suffer within this narrative of tragedy.Hamlets madness had acted in a way to bring about the complete destruction of all hed ever held dear, it spent not only the resolve of its master but everything which it touched. The court of Denmark is shrivel up but no longer a prison to Hamlet as he can depart in death as he was neer able to in life. Though Hamlet finds his revenge and his end, he does not find true peace. Fueled by his own depression and anxiety, the injured pride of a fallen son, Hamlet instead creates a cycle of violence and fear which in the end even he falls prey to.