In the short drama Hamlet act one was very interesting even though I had to read it three times I really enjoyed it. Although none of the characters remind me of people I know some of the situations do sound familiar. For instance, when Claudius kills his own brother elder Hamlet, he does it for the crown and Hamlets woman. People all over the world kill for the possessions of another. Reading act one was like watching an episode of “The first 48.”
The character in focus in act one is Claudius. He is the brother of elder Hamlet and the new king of Denmark. In act one he seemed sneaky and suspicious epically when young Hamlet was mourning for his father (who was not dead for more than two months) was told by Claudius to pretty much snap out of it and let him die. Claudius is definitely the antagonist in the story causing conflict intentionally by the killing of his brother and the marrying of young Hamlets mother. He causes conflict in the story to show who his character really is which is a sneaky man who does anything to get what he wants.
The thematic analysis for act 1 is about evil and good. The evilness comes from the characters of Claudius and Gertrude on the flipside the good comes from Elder Hamlet and his young son. Claudius is a man who will do what he can to get what he wants. He is a character of mystery. It could be seen that he was up to no good in the first section of act one and was proven at the end that he was the one that took his own brothers life and lied and said it was something else. Claudius being an evil character sets up young Hamlets character who will be a foil character who will do what should be done – get revenge. Hamlet is true goodness.
Wow , you sure have time to read the book. The book was very interesting. But I wonder what is Hamlet's father real name and why Shakespeare uses Hamlet Sr. or other name?
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I agree that Claudius seemed sneaky. When he told Hamlet to move on from mourning it showed that he wasn't very compassionate towards Hamlet and that perhaps Claudius didn't really care for his brother that much. Claudius was willing to use anyone, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Polonius, etc.. to silence Hamlet. In regards to your theme, I think that good and evil was more of the subject and the theme would be what Shakespeare is saying about good and evil. I like how you chose the characters for the literary element. :)
ReplyDeleteThis post is great. I also find it amazing you can read it three times as I have only read it once, but I watched a whole bunch of shorts on it. Aside that, I concur that Claudius is the antagonist of the story causing all the problems for the protagonist Hamlet. I agree in a definite theme about evil and good, but I'm a bit unsure as to what you state the theme really is. Meaning, evil and good is more of a subject while a theme must be conjured from the subject.
ReplyDelete