ssrdj #1 Hamlet

Initial reaction: 

In the play “ Hamlet”  the three characters Laertes and Polonius and ophilia reminded me of a similar relationship between my father and brother’s relationship with me.Both men in Hamlet, tell Ophilia of that to think about Hamlet and how to behave by following social norms and Ophilia simply listens to them and follows their advise. Both my brother and my father also do this to me they both share the same sort of norms and therefore, share with me knowledge of how to apply it and what I should think about it, sometimes like Ophilia i do what I am told from them.

Character analysis: 

Horatio is  Hamlet’s friend from college, he is a man of logic. Haratio's fatal flaw in the play “Hamlet” is that when he cannot control the things around him,he begins to stop using his logic and acts on impulse instead. For example to keep the Ghost of the king to stay and talk to them, horatio agrees for Mercelus to stab the ghost with the spare it is only after the ghost has left, Horatio believes now that stabbing the ghost is obtuse for the ghost is air and therefore cannot become injured if stabbed by  a knife.( 1.1 140-143) Although Horatio is a main character he in Aristotle concept he is not a tragic hero, for his only duty in act one is to inform Hamlet of the ghost standing on guard which looks like hamlet’s dead father. Shakespeare uses Horatio as a foil character, to Hamlet. In Act one, both Horatio and Hamlet interact with the ghost yet their encounters with the ghost shows major contrast between the actors. In act 1 Horatio does not believe that the ghost truly exists from what his friends have told him about the ghost they have seen meandering around. (1.1 54-56) In contrast when Horatio informs Hamlet about  the ghost, Hamlet quickly asks Horatio with copious questions of the ghost appearances; Shakespeare uses short sentences throughout Hamlet asking the questions making Hamlet sound hasty. (1.2 227-240) This shows the way he is fast to accept things  and that he acts on impulsive emotion. 

Moreover, when Horatio meets the ghost for the first time his first words to the ghost were regarding the fact of the ghost walking around late at night looking like a dead king dressed for battle as if it were some sort of way to signify the tragedy to Denmark. Where as Hamlet, when he becomes in contact with the ghost, which the ghosts only action so far is entering, Hamlet immediately begins to refer the ghost as “Hamlet senior, King Father” when he first sees it. (1.4. 42-48)  Clearly when contrasted with Horatio, Shakespeare reveals his character Hamlet as a man who thinks through only their emotions rather than logic.

Theme Analysis:

Shakespeare use his main characters, in the play “Hamlet,” to demonstrate Shakespeare’s belief of the humans contain falsehood through appearances. To illustrate, when Gertrude talks to Hamlet about his clothes he is wearing and walking around somber she tells Hamlet to get over his fathers death and every one dies. Hamlet agrees, so then she asks then “ so why does it seem so particular to you?” (1.2 75) Hamlet he disagrees with her use of the word “seems” to describe his feelings towards his fathers death “customary suits of solum black, nor windy susurration of forced breath, nor fruitful river to the eye..together with all forms mood, shapes and grief they can denote me truly. these indeed seem for they are actions that a man might play.”( 1.2 76-86.) Here in this quote he is saying that with how he dresses and places his head down or the sighs he makes for his fathers death, any man can seem as through they are sad by doing these emotions and wearing a particular wardrobe to describe their false feelings.