In the novel Hamlet, Shakespeare depicts action versus thought. He potrays thought through Hamlet. Hamlet is the thinker in the novel. Hamlet thinks first of how to make sure Cladius truly killed his brother through the play instead of taking immediate action. He then has a chance to kill Cladius while Caldius is praying, but ponders it because he thinks he will send Caldius to heaven.
Hamlet thinks through everything before he carrys through with it.
On the other hand, Fortinbras is the one who portrays direct action. As soon as he takes the throne after the death of his father, he wants to take direct action and revenge his father by fighting against Denmark. He is pursauded by his uncle not to attack Denmark. But he then goes to attack Poland, to recover land simply for revenge of his father, and for honor. He then from there goes on to take over Denmark, and recover land his father lost. He immediately revenges his father, he takes direct action.
Shakespeare likes action over thought. Hamlet could have saved his mothers life as well as Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern if he would have killed Cladius the first chance he got. Instead he waited and becuase he thought about it many people died who didn't have to die. Hamlet could have saved those lives if he would of taken direct action. Fortinbras also portrays how Shakespeare likes action more. Fortinbras conquers Poland simply for revenge and honor, and in the end Fortinbras ends up taking over Denmark, he ends up being king and on top of everything. By Fortinbras being the victor in the end, Shakespeare shows that action is better than thought.
It seems like you have good idea for your paper, definitely a unique topic. I would suggest maybe talking about perhaps why Shakespeare chooses action over thought? You illustrate how he chooses action over thought, but I'm unsure WHY he does that. Good luck Jar Jar!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Griffin. You have presented the information to back up your thesis, but you need to explain why Shakespeare believes so. I don't know if this is something you want to say but I believe that Hamlet was hesitating because things were more personal and right in his face. Hamlet had to do the killing through direct action, while Fortinbras only had to deploy his army. Hamlet's actions would have more significant personal affects, while Fortinbras was not completing the action himself rather having someone else do it for him. He had action because he did not have to do the action himself.
DeleteJared this is so good, you ROCK!
ReplyDeleteloljk.
anyways this actually very good topic, but i feel like you have a lot of good ideas. But just like G and J said, you need so show how Shakespeare chooses action over thought.
also i recommend you read Hayden's because he has the exact same topic as you, but i think you he can give you more ideas.
In the end, this will be a good paper.
I really like how you plan to compare Hamlet and Fortinbras, in the aspect of their actions/thoughts. I think that could be really interesting. I really think you should focus on your point about how Fortinbras takes immediate action to avenge his fathers death and it pays off in the end, whereas Hamlet doesnt take immediate action and in the end, several more people die because of it. GOOD JOB!
ReplyDeleteJared,
ReplyDeleteAs is clearly evident from the comments above, there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for the 'Compare and Contrast' approach to using the characters of Hamlet and Fortinbras to determine whether or not Shakespeare favors action over contemplation. Keep in mind two key scenes (when Hamlet DOESN'T kill Caludius (while he's seemingly at prayer) and when he rashly kills Polonius (with out first figuring out whether or not it is Claudius hiding behind the curtain. The former seems a missed opportunity (and so would seem to support the view that Shakespeare favors action), but the latter shows the perils in acting too quickly and without any though whatsoever.