Action trumps Thought

From his very first soliloquy, Hamlet's character can be depicted as that of a philosopher and a thinking man, pondering whether life itself is worth living and carefully plotting his revenge against Claudius. While the above statement is in no way incorrect, it is very optimistic and sheds Hamlet in a very positive light. Personally, I think he needs to get over himself and stop whining. He makes no attempt to tell anyone about the truth of his father's murder and puts the burden of revenge upon his own shoulders, which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't take his precious time in fulfilling said revenge. He could have confronted Claudius mere minutes after learning the truth, and while this certainly wouldn't make for very captivating play writing, Hamlet would have saved Polonius' life, as well as Ophelia's, Gertrude's, Leartes', Rosencrantz's, and Guildenstern's. Hamlet certainly didn't know in advance he would cause so much death, but he couldn't have thought that just waiting around while an unworthy monarch sat in the throne would bring good things. All this would not be half as bad if Hamlet didn't cry to himself about how hard his problems are and contemplate ending them by suicide-which would be extremely selfish of him, especially after he decided it would be best to make his father's revenge his own little personal quest when it affected the entire nation. Three of his four soliloquies are pity parties filled with "Why me" and "It's so hard". In the How All Occasions Do Inform Against Me soliloquy, he says that everyone is against him and blames his own inaction on others. All this argues towards the prevalent theme of Thought vs. Action, leaning heavily towards Action. Just look at Fortinbras, while Hamlet succeeds in taking revenge on one man, at the expense of his mother, friends, and the one he loved, Fortinbras manages to conquer the whole damn country. Fortinbras is a man of Action, and he succeeds by it, and while Hamlet does reach his end goal as well, he pays a much higher price.

Death in Hamlet

As shown in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the presence of death equalizes the social hierarchy. The gravedigger scene displays a peasant conversing with prince Hamlet. Hamlet is shocked at the man’s lack of respect for his status but also fairly interested in the things he has to say. Next to the grave lies the skulls of seven people, and the gravedigger tosses them around as if they were not of any importance. Contrary, one of the skulls belongs to the jester that Hamlet grew up with. Holding his skull, Hamlet’s eyes fill with tears as he remembers his memories with the lively jester.
Once full of energy and of great amusement to the royal family, the jester is now nothing but a pile of bones. Stripped of their heart, soul, and brain, the dead are no longer distinctive people. Their status no longer matters and everyone is thought of as equal. Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, or a peasant who accomplished nothing will only be admired for what they did while they were living…
After death, some may say everything is over. They argue that people are nothing but a pile of rotten remains in the ground and have not gone to another place. However, others believe the afterlife is when a person can truly succeed. It is like a blank slate; everything they did in their past life is irrelevant and in the afterlife everyone has an equal opportunity for happiness. Going back to the scene of the graveyard in Hamlet, the gravedigger’s cavalier attitude towards the human remains shows that even a man like himself, at the bottom of the social ladder, does not treat the dead differently according to their living status.
So, if death is inevitable, what does it matter what you do in your lifetime? Well, the life you live defines who you are but death puts an end to your existence. Hamlet died a hero, while Claudius the King died a murderer. These people will be remembered for how they died and the choices they made while they were living. Hundreds of years later, people are still going to remember Hamlet, Claudius, and former presidents because their social status was higher and they were of more importance than the average person. With that being said, in the world of death status has no meaning attached to it. Their skulls are unrecognizable; there is no special treatment for anyone.
Because the gravedigger is immersed in the presence of dead bodies, he sees nothing wrong with jokingly insulting a prince. His perspective is much different than that of Hamlets since he digs up skulls, all of which look alike and have no soul attached, on a regular basis. The graveyard scene depicts death as a mere occurrence that even the most respected hierarchies are fated to.

Hamlet Insane

I'm thinkg about writing about if Hamlet is just faking insane or if he is actually mad. I believe that he is faking maddness the whole time in order to kill his uncle. He tells Horatio and the guard that he will be faking madness afther all three of them see the gohst and he seems to be able to slip into logic out of maddness pretty easy, something that no true mad person would be able to do, like Ophelia. There is no evidence that she comes back to logic even momentarily after her father's death, and in the end she kills herself. Even though Hamlet does contemplate killing himself he never does because he has to kill his uncle first and because he can think what would be waiting for him after death. This makes me think that it is more depression then maddness because he can think on a stratigic level, like not killing his uncle while praying and how to get his uncle to show guilt. Polonius say there is method to this maddness, meaning there is a reason behind it. But the reason isn't love sickness, so even if Polonius doesn't know it, maybe the audience is suppose to see it as he is pretending to be mad as a reason.

Emilys Ideas

I have two ideas that I am stuck between.

My first idea is to write about Ophelia and her madness. However I have not narrowed it down yet, but I would like like to mainly focus on Act 4, Scene 5. This is when Gertrude reports that she is in fact mad, and she sings about death and portrayal. I could explain the songs meaning in my paper and interperate the lines to better understand. Then I could incorporate, this to the idea of Shakespeare's portrayal of women.

My other idea is wither or not Hamlet's madness is real or feigned or both. When I was watching the movie, at one minute I thought Hamlet was definitely mad. At other times I thought he wasn't, or he was just faking it. I think it would be cool to find the different scenes that fit in both categories and explain them. Then at the end of the essay state wither he is mad or it is feigned.

To revenge or not to revenge, does that make him crazy?

For my essay, I want to try and combine the two prompts: Is revenge a worthy goal? and Whether or not Hamlet’s madness is real or feigned (or both).

Throughout the story, Hamlet only thinks about his father's death and revenge. I'm going to attempt to link both prompts together by explaining Hamlet obsession over his father's revenge, his crazy act turns into reality. He pretends to be insane but after his uncle's reaction to the play he really OBSESSES over the idea of revenge.

I can also talk about how revenge is such a high risk scenario (much to high of cost). Even though Hamlet gets his revenge in the end, so many extra lives where lost. Instead of killing only the king, due to Hamlets actions, five more people died ,including himself.

Now that I think about it, it may be a challenge to really link the two prompts but I will still give it a shot. Any extra thoughts will be appreciated.

Davis's not so grand idea

I am quit3 unsur3 of what to writ3 about for my HAMl3t 3ssay. A major th3m3 that I follow3d throughout th3 book was Haml3ts thoughts vs. his actions. I cannot think of anything 3ls3 to writ3 about, b3sid3s th3 id3a that Shak3sp3ar3 gav3 Haml3t a p3rsonality that is compl3t3ly opposit3 from b3ing impulsiv3, wh3r3 h3 t3nds to f33l that h3 has to think 3v3rything through too much b3for3 h3 can tak3 any action.

The Significance of Death

Death is present throughout Hamlet, from his father's death to suicide to the abundance of murders, accidental and malicious. Although he never kills himself, Hamlet contemplates suicide throughout the play, most apparently in his "to be or not to be" speech. The easiness with which death is approached by many of the characters seems to be related to the level of their madness. The further Hamlet becomes immersed in his mad revenge, the more he contemplates suicide, and the less he is effected by the deaths around him. When he accidentally kills Polonius Hamlet is oddly unaffected and continues on his rampage against the king without pause. Ophelia is one of the most sane throughout the play up until her fathers death, and never talks about suicide until she goes mad and drowns herself.

I'm not sure how to go about writing about this but I think it's Shakespeare takes an interesting approach to the subject.

Thought vs. Action

Do those who think or do those who act generally succeed more in life?  In Hamlet, this question is brought forth by many different scenes and speeches.  I especially like the speech by the King on page 231 where he states, "We should do when we would; for this "would" changes." In my essay, I would love to compare and contrast those who think, with those who act.  A great pair of people to compare and contrast would be Fortinbras and Hamlet, both of whom have lost their father and share commonalities, but differ in their course of action.  It seems, as if throughout the whole play, Shakespeare is attempting to make a statement that those who act always do better.  This is quite ironic considering that Shakespeare himself was such a thoughtful person.  I still don't know exactly all the parts in the play that I would like to use to back up my topic, but it interests me because it completely relates to my own life and that's why I would like to delve further into this topic.

Is it just coincidence, or did Shakespeare really mean to persuade his audience that thought is better? I think that through a comparison of Fortinbras and Hamlet, we can see that Shakespeare preferred action to thought and that is what I ultimately would love to write about.

Hamlet!!!!

For my essay on Hamlet i think im going to write about the relationship between death and going mad or murder and going mad. There are many times through out the play, three to be exact, where it shows Hamlet, Ophilia, and Larates, going "mad" when there dad's die. I found that they didnt go "mad" when they heard that they died, the thing that set them off was when they heard how they were killed or murded. This can tie into them wanting revenge on each other. Hamelt wanted to kill Claudious at a time when he was doing somehting bad so he would go to hell, thats why he didnt do it when he was praying that night. Larates wanted to get revenge on Hamlet with the sword fight. Larates and Claudious talked together and planned to kill Hamlet.

Hamlet Paper

Im not quiet sure what i want to write about but i think right now im going to go with women portrail. I am thinking of showing how Shakespear's characters treat women throughout the play. the way Hamelt treats ophelia and his mother are sometimes too aggresive and weird. i still really dont know if i like this topic. please let me know if you have any ideas or if you like this idea.

Jesus Fish

I am thinking about writing my Hamlet paper on how revenge is the engine that keeps the story moving. What I mean by that is revenge is the main idea that gives the very basic story flavor, more than what the role death and love play. For a basic outline of the story....Claudius kills father, son takes revenge, son finds murderer, son kills Claudius. There is no love or death that holds the bulk of the story together, its just Hamlet and his journey to kill Claudius. There may be love and death mixed in, but they play a lesser role in the overall story.

Thesis: Although love and death are used throughout Hamlet to much success, revenge is much more important to the story.

What to write about?

I like the character of Fortinbras, he just goes out and kind of does his thing. He is set on replenishing his family's reputation, and will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve his goal. I think I want to talk about the two parallels between Fortinbras and Hamlet. Hamlet thinks about everything before he does it, and he is actually quite the whiner. His whole to be or not to be speech, however one of the most famous speeches, really shows how big of a baby he really is. Fortinbras would have never gone through such struggles. He would have just killed Claudius right then and there. The one thing that is cool about Hamlet is how he decided that he would no longer think about everything and would just go out and kill a bunch of people, so he did. He is a man of his word. SO with that part right there is the only thing that I am hung up on. But I'm thinking about bringing Learties into the mix also, because him Fortinbras, and Hamlet are practically the same person. I think that I'm just going to right about those three and how they are essentially the same person just on different planes, If that makes any sense.

Hamlet Essay

For my essay, I'm not too sure what exactly I'm going to focus on, but I kinda have a few ideas. I like the prompt about the affect death has on people and the prompt about revenge and if it's ever really worth it. I think I would be able to tie those two together pretty well. I could talk about King Hamlet's death first and the affect it had specifically on Gertrude and Hamlet. Then I could tie in how Hamlet wanted to get revenge on Claudius and how it really wasn't worth it. Then I could talk about the death of Ophelia and Polonius and how that affected Hamlet and Laertes and how they tried majorly to get back at Hamlet, and again how that worked out. The main scene I can focus on is the ending with the fencing and the major death scene. Then I can explain further how revenge really is never worth it because, it will just come back to you. Revenge is basically a constant circle that never ends well. Everytime a character tried to get revenge, they soon died and then somebody wanted revenge for that death and then they die. So basically, don't try to get revenge. Ever. And I can stress the point that when someone close to you dies, you will change forever. You can either change by the difference that they are no longer with you, or you can forever live in the past and just remember only the time that they were with you. People usually block out the deaths because they can't confront them. Ophelia openly faced her dad's death, while Hamlet completely blocked out Ophelia's death. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to exactly carry this out, but I know I want to do something along these lines.

Mad Hamlet

I think I am going to write about how Hamlet is really mad, it is not faked. I think I can start by saying how he is mad from the beginning, with the speech about committing suicide being one of the first things he says in the play. Some other things I can add are the "to be or not to be" soliloquy and how he tells his mother that he is genuinely very sad about his father's death. This all happens before he ever says that he might pretend to be mad, except for the "to be or not to be" which he only says to himself, so it can be believed. Those are just the first few things that came to mind, so any other suggestions would be appreciated, because I know there are some more examples I could use to prove that Hamlet is truly mad.

hamlet.

I'm going to write about how the question of appearance and reality affects the meaning of the play. Through out the whole play what people have going on internally never seems to be the same as whats happening outwardly. The first and most important example of this is hamlets madness. Is it fake or is it real? Also there is a strong sense of betrayal in this play. Weather it is a character betraying their-selves or it is friends betraying each other. The actual outcomes of the play are what is real but none of it would have happened if all of the characters where being real to each other. Another example of this appearance vs reality is Cladius' murder of Hamelt the king. Hamlet the king was a brother to Claudius and Hamlet was the king of the kingdom. not only was claudius murdering him treason but it was moral wrong. betrayal is a reoccurring theme in this play and i find it crucial to the story.

sonja hamlet paper

Does Shakespeare really think action is better than thought?

The characters of Fortinbras and Hamlet show these two opposing ideas. Even though Fortinbras is mostly only just mentioned, he's seen to be the type of man to get things done of the utmost need, and doesn't hesitate. On the other hand, Hamlet is much more of an emotional thinker character. He hesitates and has long speeches to himself. His hesitation probably most prominently known was when he didn't kill Claudius in the middle of his prayers. He thought too much about how he would go to heaven because of the prayer he was saying. What about me first talking about how Claudius mentions Fortinbras first? "The he has written to him, rashly demanding the surrender of the lands King Hamlet won from Fortinbras’ father, and dispatches Cornelius and Voltimand with a message for the King of Norway, Fortinbras’ elderly uncle." This shows Fortinbras' motives and way of getting things done. He next gets mentioned by Hamlet on his way back from being sent to England. He is mad that he couldn't kill Claudius like the ghost instructed him to, he then sees the Norwegian army and Fortinbras "willing to go to their death" for their cause. Finally we see Fortinbras come into the castle after many people have died including Hamlet, he takes over and actually does what he has to do, along with being noble and giving Hamlet a proper burial ceremony.

Should i write about how Fortinbras says Hamlet would of been a good king? Because it's contradicting to what his whole motif is.

hamlet- topic

for a topic of Hamlet i was thinking of suicide. At the beginning of the play Hamlet brings up suicide in his To be or Not to be speech, but then kind of faces toward the middle of the book. Suicide can answer all the problems in his life. He would no longer have to deal with his uncle, Ophelia's forbidden love, or anything else. but yet he wants revenge. Revenge would be the other topic i could write about. Hamlet's revenge does not work out exactly how he wants because he ends up dead and his mother gets hurt. But Larates' and Claudis' revenge was the most worthless. They were after Hamlet because he killed Polonius and he was blamed for Ophelia's death. Laertes plan of revenge only backfired on him yet he did succeed in killing Hamlet. Although he was killed by his own plan and so was Claudius. I don't think the revenge was worth it and he should have continued on to England or committed suicide.

Graveyard Scene

For my topic, I'm thinking of doing an analysis of the graveyard scene. I want to try to find a deeper meaning of Hamlet's speech during this scene. I don't really know what exactly I'm going to type, but I want to decipher Hamlet's speech and see what I can find.

Why doesnt He Act sOONER? -Jo

I am thinking about writing about why it took so long for Hamlet to do anyhing. He was already mad in the beginning of the play when his uncle takes the place of his beloved father and soon after he finds out via the ghost that Claudius was the one who muredered his father through a premeditated death. why didnt he simply revenge right away? Why was it such a long process and why did he let other aspects of his life, become such problems? was his insanity only because his father. I want to write about all the events which lead up to the death of them all and how the play switched roles and the last scene was not in Hamlets plan to kill Claudius, but Claudiuss to kill Hamlet. Was there something that prevented him from acting as soon as he knew? Because it would not have been a tragedy if only one more man died, the one who rightiuosly deserved to because he killed his father, a good and honest king. I will use primarily the speech, on page 117, 167 and 203. aLL three are examples of how Hamlet wants to kill but overthinks himself, (which is also Shakespear) the writer really shining through...... because the play was a tragedy to work out and for no one to be happy. Im not sure what my thesis or main theme should be tho.,.. any advice? thanks