Hamlet Essay Example for Free

Hamlet Essay Hamlet is unique in its revenge genre as it has more than one revenge plots occurring within it. The Dominating one is of Hamlet and his desire to avenge his Father by killing his uncle. Throughout the play we see Hamlet in ideal situations to carry out his revenge, but choosing not to do so. In Act III Scene II we see Hamlet using the play that has been set up to try to test the innocence of his Uncle and king by gauging his reaction to a staging of the events of how he supposedly murdered Hamlets father. In this scene we see the so called ‘Mousetrap’ being played out as Hamlet witnesses Claudius reaction to the play and witnesses his reaction, from this he draws accurately that Claudius is guilty. He has confirmed the ghosts message as true, ‘O good Horatio I’ll take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound,’ and has from that found his resolve and is now fully willing to avenge his father by killing Claudius. From Claudius sudden exit ‘The king rises’ and his poor reason for doing so ‘Give me light. Away! ’ it leaves Hamlet and the audience fairly certain of Claudius guilt. This leads us to disagree that Hamlets methods of enacting revenge are ineffective as the ‘Mousetrap’ was very successful for Hamlet in finding his resolve and evidence for him to exact his revenge. To some extent though the Mousetrap was only effective for Hamlet as it convinced him that of Claudius’ guilt but it doesn’t wholly convince the audience and possibly Horatio, as we can see from Horatio’s lack of enthusiasm and joy but instead simply agreeing with Hamlet on what he saw not what he has drawn from it; ‘Hamlet: Upon the poisoning, Horatio: I did very well note him’. He like the reader, the queen and other members of the court will more likely to assume that it was Hamlet’s incessant taunting and insults that has disturbed the King and caused him to leave it in such a manner. The intended audience of this play which was a late Tudor/early Stuart one also may be more drawn to it as the idea of killing a brother, or uncle such as Hamlet intends, as one of the greatest atrocities of which man was capable which comes, like revenge, from the Romans, and may be more hesitant to accept that someone in such a position of power and noble birth should be incapable of. Also it seems far more likely that it is Hamlets taunts that has caused the kings unrest as the Mousetrap does not provide solid evidence of Claudius’ guilt and that it is more a dramatic imperative that Claudius is guilty of killing Hamlets father as otherwise the play would not fit the criteria of its genre and lead it on to a far cry from what is intended. From this we can see that Hamlet’s methods are ineffective but they have to be correct for the play to carry on. In Act III Scene we see Hamlet finding himself in an ideal situation to carry out his revenge, he has just discovered that Claudius is guilty of murdering his father and now has Claudius alone and unaware; prime for the kill. However Hamlet for some reason stays his blade, and chooses that this type of revenge is not for him, either a clash between his Christian ideals of ‘do unto others as done to you’ and his Renaissance Roman ideals of revenge. Somehow this culminates in Hamlet seeing this revenge as not being up to scratch as he sees it as leading to Claudius forgiveness in the eyes of God, ‘To take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for passage? ’ Hamlet’s choice to not kill Claudius here leads to his own death as well as the needless death of all the other characters, it also shows how his methods of enacting revenge are ineffective as he was basically given Claudius on a silver platter but refused to kill him due to his ideals contradicting his desires. One can see Hamlets actions during the final scene to show his methods of revenge as being very effective. After witnessing the death of his mother and Laertes confessing to Hamlet about what Claudius has done, ‘The King, the King’s to blame. ’ Hamlet wastes no time in avenging his mother as he forces Claudius to finish the poison, ‘Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off the potion. This also could suggest that Hamlet’s previous delays in enacting his revenge were based only on non-conclusive evidence which in such a mind as Hamlets could very easily have manifested itself into doubt about what he had to do. But finally having conclusive concrete evidence of Claudius Hamlet does not delay in slaying him. Hamlets ability to carry out revenge seems to depend greatly on the presence of his mother and whether she is involved. We can see that when Hamlet is sent to speak with his mother after the Overall we can see in this that Hamlets methods of enacting revenge seem rather dependant on his state of mind, whether he is thinking rationally with a level head which leads to him procrastinating and overthink and subsequently be ineffective, or if his he is enraged, forced to react quickly, or spurned on by the presence of his mother whose presence infatuates and aggravates him. Overall though one must admit that Hamlet did in fact manage to kill Claudius which means to some extend are effective though not greatly as in doing so it lead to the deaths of almost all of the main characters in this play. Had Hamlet been more like his Fortinbras, who can be seen as a foil character, then he would have reacted upon learning immediately of Claudius guilt and slew him whilst he prayed but instead Hamlet delayed it and led to a more ineffective method of revenge.

Socrates’ Trial Defense in Terms of His Values Essay -- Plato Socrates

Socrates’ Trial Defense in Terms of His Values In his Apology, Plato recounted the trial that led to the execution of his friend and mentor, Socrates. The account revealed that values of Socrates’ accusers and his own fundamentally differed, and that they had been angered because he tried to prove that they had misplaced theirs. Those differences created conflict between the two parties that culminated in his trial. With the understanding that a jury condemned Socrates to death and his defense nevertheless pleased him because he gave it truthfully, it is most sensible to call it a good defense because he felt it was the best that he could do. In reply to the first charge against him, Socrates effectively recounted the reason that he had been privately questioning Athenians and claiming that some of their personal beliefs had been ill-founded. The affidavit read, â€Å"Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others.† (Plato, 2) The abstractness of that accusation made it an odd one to refute, so Socrates attempted to do so by explaining how he became unpopular with his accusers. Socrates established very early in his defense that he knew he had no wisdom, and he based his investigations of Athenians’ wisdom on finding at least one person wiser than he was. He recalled a story of Chaerephon, an old Athenian friend, who went to the Oracle of Delphi to ask whether anybody had more wisdom than Socrates did, and she â€Å"’†¦answered that there was no man wiser.’† (Plato, 3) Socrates explained that since he knew he had no wisdom, he began a search to find a ... ...ur persons and your properties, but first and chiefly to take care about the greatest improvement of the soul.† (Plato, 11) His mission attempted to show Athenians that the way to do that is to live in truth and justice. Socrates’ defense maintained the integrity of the values that he lived by. He affirmed that he was not angered at being condemned to death, saying, â€Å"I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.† (Plato, 17) He devoted himself so completely to improving his soul and the souls of others that, while he faced enormous odds in convincing jury members who considered him evil, he undoubtedly believed that his defense left his soul in its best condition before he died. In those terms, Socrates could not have delivered a better defense. Sources: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html

Presentation of Sex and Sexuality in Brave New World

presentation of sex and sexuality in Brave New World brave new world is a dystopian novel about an authoritarian regime and how they control people, in it there are characters that resist the leadership. Huxley’s Brave New World is a darkly satirical novel that uncovers and shows the weaknesses of society (mainly American) in 1932 with ‘pneumatic flappers’ and jazz clubs which, in Huxley’s mind, lack meaning and are too casual. The society uses sex and sexuality as a force to control the masses by removing all ‘love' in the act, by making it commonplace losing all meaning so they ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’.Science In Huxley’s novel plays a key role in how the sex and sexuality is portrayed in the book, it seems that science removes all emotions in everything. In Brave New World children are put through an extensive conditioning process where they are subject to ‘erotic play’ and hypnopaedia. In the 189 0’s the psychologist Sigmund Freud said that if you repress your sexual desires it builds up inside of you and can divert itself into damaging channels.I think that in this novel Huxley is satirising him saying that if everyone had sex like he is saying then this is what it would be like:- On page 26 a little boy and girl of seven and eight respectively, ‘were playing gravely and with all the focussed attention of scientists’ Huxley describes the children as playing ‘gravely’ or without emotion, I think that this is him trying to show us what this society has become: one where children are forced to have erotic play, as seen when the little boy is crying because he doesn’t want to play; and secondly that these constant sexual encounters have dimmed the excitement, passion and love in the act of sex to a point where it has become mundane and un-magical.Another thing that Huxley satirises Freud about is his theory about how the family is the pri me source of this inner conflict. In Brave New World there are no families and loose living is encouraged, men and women are made in factories. I think ‘the week’s supply of ova’ and ‘standard men and women in uniform batches’ describes perfectly how Huxley thinks the world would be without families. Without them it would dehumanise so much so that we lose our identities and become ‘standard men and women’ Men and women have a complicated relationship in brave new world. Men are usually Alpha plus’s and women are usually beta minus’s, I think that that in itself shows Huxley’s entirely chauvinistic attitude. Her smile flashed readily at him’ (pg13) ‘flashed readily’ portrays an image of automation, she does it without thinking showing an instant submission to him and that with that submission she is readily available. Again, ‘and giving her two or three little pats, received in exchange a ra ther deferential smile for himself’ the director pats her on the bottom because in this society ‘everyone belongs to everyone’ and he fancies her. This is another example of Huxley’s inbuilt and unconscious chauvinism, he has made it so the female characters all respectfully submit to the men. In 1932 when Huxley wrote this hitting a girl on the bottom was shunned and offensive but in Brave New World it is accepted by everyone including Lenina because they are conditioned to have sex with everyone.When Huxley went to America he encountered what he described as ‘the city of dreadful joy’ in Los Angeles where everyone had a hedonistic lifestyle and went to jazz clubs and there were ‘pneumatic flappers’ I think that Huxley is satirising them and giving a warning to us because that is what might happen in the future and Huxley believe that promiscuity like this is morally wrong and take all meaning out of sex. The Act of Sex in Brave New World is encouraged as much as possible because it is a particular, ‘for particulars, as everyone knows, make for virtue and happiness’ On page 58 some girls invite Helmholtz to a ‘picnic’. The ‘picnic’ replaces the word ‘sex’ which shows how amalgamated sex has become in society. Sex has been integrated into everything: thought, religious ceremonies, music, cinema, picnics etc. the society is very much so recreational and the people have become hedonistic.Huxley points this out because this kind of society – American society – has very loose morals too and is perhaps no the best way to go about progressing. The girls invite only him and not anyone else; it’s quite a suggestive thing to say, even desperate and they only invite him because he is ‘hot’. The society in this sense is very shallow and childlike. Sex is also practiced in mass orgies. Huxley uses metaphors to represent sex a lot like on page 66. The orgy is described using music which rises and climaxes with their climax. Huxley also employs a clever use of sibilance, in which the ‘du’ sound is repeated to give a sense of heartbeats and increasing rhythm to show excitement. I think that Huxley writes about it in this way rather than being explicit is ecause when this book was published the content would have been shunned, but also to show again how sex has been integrated into everything It may seem odd that the government in Brave New World encourages sex, I think that the reason that they do is because the world motto, ‘COMMUNITY, IDENTIY, STABILITY’ with its main point being stability believes that happiness = stability and then sex = happiness. It is used as a measure to keep the people in line because whilst having sex and being happy they ‘can’t see the wood for the trees’ which is more subtly put with the slogan, ‘for particulars, as everyone knows, make s for happiness and virtue’ which basically means that they shouldn’t be able to see the bigger picture and stop being happy.To ensure that they only really focus on sex they have installed it into every aspect of their life. On page 66-67 Bernard goes to Westminster Abby in London where they sit around in circles of twelve and then start dancing and then having sex. I think that it is quite a disturbing scene, and is definitely something that most people back in 1932 and now would find disgusting. Huxley seems to be satirising everything now including religion with the twelve disciples and it being in Westminster. The whole book I think is satirising the Roman Catholic Church with the ‘conditioning’ of people to believe something without question and how it leads to false happiness or happiness that is fabricated by someone else and not of your own making.

Analysis Of Lucille Clifton s The Poetry Of A Negro

â€Å"I continue to write since my life as a human only includes my life as a poet, it doesn’t depend on it†, Lucille Clifton. Known to most as Lucille Clifton, Thelma Lucille Sayles was born to Samuel L. and Thelma Moore Sayles on June 27, 1936 in Depew, New York. Her parents were a New York steel mill worker and a homemaker/launderer and lived in poverty. Clifton overcame adversity and earned a scholarship to attended Howard University at the age of sixteen as a drama major, then in 1955 she transferred to Fredonia State Teacher’s College now known as Fredonia State University of New York. She was introduced to her husband by Ishmael Reed, an author, poet, and activist, who later took her poems to Langston Hughes in 1966 to be included in his†¦show more content†¦Recurring themes in her poetry are embracing ancestors past, self discovery, reconciliation, the black experience, self worth reassurance, female sensibility, and concerns of black women. Cli fton’s writing style can be described as being moral and hopeful. Lucille Clifton empowers women and African Americans throughout her poetry which shows the strength and beauty of the intricacies of her life. Clifton’s poetic style suggests that she doesn’t like to follow â€Å"the crowd†. I also don’t fit in with â€Å"the crowd† because I view and act differently than the social norm. Hearing that Emmy Award winning Lucille Clifton chooses not to conform to society either, I don’t feel inadequate or substandard for standing out. I embrace it. Clifton explains in an interview, why she uses lowercase letters, short stanzas and around five syllables. She said, â€Å"I use simple language. I have never believed for anything to be valid or true or intellectual or â€Å"deep† it had to be complex. I deliberately use the language that I use (Evans 137).† This is reflected in her poems. In â€Å"homage to my hips†, from Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980, you can see the tendency to adhere to as few syllables as possible, yet be rich in wisdom. these hips are big hips they need space to move around in. they don t fit into little petty places. these hips are free hips. they don t like to be held back.