GCSE: Hamlet
- Marked by Teachers essays 11
- Peer Reviewed essays 9
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Personal Responce to Hamlet
5 star(s)Here, he again gives the audience the impression that he is aware of his flaw. His wish to commit suicide is expressed clearly, but he knows he can't do so as it goes against the laws of God. "That the Everlasting had not fixed his cannon 'gainst self-slaughter." Life has become a very futile exercise for him, where nothing seems to be holding his interest anymore. It has becomes very colorless and meaningless. We notice all this when he says, "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of the world!"
- Word count: 1062
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What are your first impressions on Hamlet in Act I scene II?
4 star(s)His mood shows how misanthropic he can be, but also can be seen as sensitive by other people, as he has taken the 'forms, moods, shapes of grief' which are true for him. Though his emotions may seem to be those of an actor due to Gertrude's viewpoint, he is not acting at all, unlike Claudius or even Gertrude to some extent. Everything in this scene tries to discriminate appearance from reality, but this becomes more definite when Horatio tells Hamlet about the appearance of the Ghost.
- Word count: 1198
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What is the importance of the Soliloquies in Hamlet? Do they show any development of his character?
4 star(s)This is how dreadful Hamlet's psychological state is in the beginning of the play. Hamlet finds the vision of suicide tempting: 'Or that the Everlasting had not fixed his Canon 'gainst self-slaughter' Act 1-2-131/132 Here Hamlet wishes God had not disallowed suicide as he desires to commit it. I believe the audience at this stage would truly believe Hamlet is a feeble character as he is supposed to be a Prince, who are traditionally seen as brave. This could prove that Hamlet is frail but we must view Hamlet under ethical light; he is held up by Christian conscience which is why he decides against suicide as a cure for his desolation.
- Word count: 2366
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'The ghost is a useful dramatic device but for a modern audience its effect is to diminish rather than enhance the play's impact'
4 star(s)He speculates, 'The spirit I have seen may be a devil, and the devil hath power'. Therefore one of the various attributes of the ghost in Hamlet is its ambiguity, which would have certainly engaged and involved a Shakespearian audience, who would be intent on discovering its nature. The ghost, who first appears in Act 1 Scene 1 but does not encounter Hamlet until Act 1 Scene 4, is intent on recalling to Hamlet the details of his murder, and commanding him to avenge his death. Throughout the first three acts Hamlet continually worries whether the apparition he has seen is really his father, or an evil spirit from hell, sent to tempt him into committing heinous deeds.
- Word count: 1783
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Is Hamlet a coward or someone driven by his conscience?
4 star(s)To seek this revenge he would have to kill Claudius and his mother, for they are both guilty of having impure souls. But one of the very first internal conflicts Hamlet has is when the Ghost tells him (Act I scene IV) "nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven...". This leaves him in great turmoil, as he can justify to himself the killing of Claudius, but not letting his mother live. He is so overcome with a sense of purity and morality, especially with concern to women, it does not seem right to him that something so tainted should be allowed to carry on in the world.
- Word count: 1685
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How do Hamlet's Soliloquies reveal his Changing thoughts and Moods throughout the play?
4 star(s)"O, this too too solid flesh would melt........his canon 'gainst self-slaughter." Hamlet continues to tell 'us', the audience, about how he is irritated (or you could even say maddened) with life and how purposeless everything in this world seems to be. "...weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seems to me all the uses of this world!" As well as how the world is corrupt. He expresses this by comparing his immediate world to a garden overrun, polluted by foul-smelling weeds. "....'tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature posses it merely."
- Word count: 2737
