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Most characters in "Hamlet" face a certain form of insanity. This insanity and the reasoning behind it says something about each character, as well as makes a statement for the whole play.
Loyalty is found amongst all the relationships in "Hamlet." Horatio is loyal to Hamlet, while Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are not, Gertrude breaks the loyalty she had with Hamlet's father as well as her loyalty with Hamlet.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are specific examples of where there is a lack of loyalty because they are willing to betray Hamlet for money. Also, Gertrude betrays Hamlet by immediately telling Claudius that Hamlet killed Polonius. All the while, Horatio is extremely loyal to Hamlet. A specific example being the fight scene where Horatio tells Hamlet that he isn't confident, but still supports him.
Hamlet's insanity begins after he sees the ghost of his father, past this Hamlet struggles to find mental stability. He contemplates suicide, kills Polonius, lashes out on his mom, etc. All of these events go towards Hamlet's insanity. But, this doesn't exist only in Hamlet. Ophelia also eventually faces insanity, after constantly being mistreated by all the men in her life, which leads her to commit suicide.
From the beginning of the play, death and grieving is extremely apparent and important for all of "Hamlet." Because Hamlet's insanity sparks from the death of his father, death and grieving affects all characters and is a main theme in the play.
Because "Hamlet" was written in Elizabethan times, the faith that each character has plays a very important in the characterization of each role, as well as the decisions they make.
“The very soul, and sweet religion makes/A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow” (3.4.48-49)
“My words fly up my thoughts remain below words without thoughts never to heaven go” (3.3.99-100)
“To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,/For in that sleep of death what dreams may come” (3.1.66-67)
In one of the most important scenes in the play, Hamlet faces the question of whether or not it is worth continuing his life or to end immediately. He eventually decides not to, out of fear of what is beyond death. This scene makes an impact on the rest of the play, and makes a statement that death and grieving causes endless questioning and is traumatic.
Here, Hamlet is talking to Gertrude about her faults in marrying Claudius. He tells her that what she has done has made religion seem like a meaningless thing, making the importance of religion clear. Because marriage is supposed to be a holy thing, the fact that Gertrude almost immediately married Claudius after Hamlet's father's death turns it into something "meaningless."
In this scene, Claudius is praying and Hamlet was planning to kill him, but because he was praying Hamlet decided not to because he felt that he didn’t deserve to go to heaven. This quote creates the importance of religion in the play. The fact that in this time people had very strong faiths about their religion means that they were very dependent on it to determine their fate. Because Hamlet doesn’t kill him at this scene, means he was considering Claudius’s faith and allowed that to be a big impact on his actions.
"That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder! It might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now o'erreaches, one that would circumvent God, might it not?" (5.1.65-69)
Earlier in the play, Hamlet referred to Polonius' body as worm food, but at Ophelia's funeral he considers their life before death. This quote shows an alternate side of the grieving that Hamlet has shown.
~Misogyny
~Insanity
~Loyalty
~Religion
~Death and Grieving
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet (Literature Reading fiction, Poetry, and Drama). The McGraw-Hill Companies; New York, NY, 2007.
The theme of misogyny is clear throughout the play. It becomes apparent mostly through Hamlet's comments towards Ophelia and Gertrude. Also, because a bad light is shed on Gertrude and Ophelia eventually becomes insane, it's clear that Shakespeare intended to create this theme.
“Frailty thy name is woman” (1.2.146)
Hamlet often makes comments in regards to gender roles, and here he is implying that all women are weak. Hamlet is already angry at Gertrude, so here he shows some of that anger. He feels that because Gertrude couldn’t last more than a month she is too weak to be independent. By making this comment about one specific character, it has the implication that all of womankind are weak, not just Gertrude.
“God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another” (3.1.144)
Again, Hamlet makes this comment specifically towards Ophelia, but he implies that all women are connected to this one statement. Hamlet is saying that God gives all women one face, but because of cosmetics they alter that. This is very judgemental and hateful towards Ophelia because in the rest of the quote he is saying that he is sick of Ophelia and he won’t stand for their marriage any longer.