Hamlet In a Nutshell
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is in mourning for his father and deeply disturbed by the speedy remarriage of his mother, Gertrude, to Claudius, her deceased husband’s brother. When his father’s ghost reveals that he was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet decides to feign madness until an opportunity for revenge presents itself. Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain, thinks that Hamlet’s behaviour springs from love for his daughter, Ophelia, but Claudius suspects otherwise when he sees Hamlet savagely berating her. The arrival of a traveling theatre company gives Hamlet the idea of re-enacting his father’s murder to startle Claudius into revealing his guilt. The performance causes an uproar and as Gertrude remonstrates with her son, Hamlet kills the eavesdropping Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius. Ophelia, driven mad by grief, later commits suicide. Having already evaded one attempt by Claudius to have him put to death, Hamlet agrees to a fencing match with Ophelia’s brother, Laertes – who secretly poisons the tip of his sword. Both combatants, however, receive wounds from the poisoned blade. The dying Laertes reveals the plot, whereupon Hamlet kills Claudius before succumbing to his own inevitable fate.
Ophelia, daughter of Polonius
Ophelia serves an interesting purpose in this play. Some feel that Ophelia is a static and one dimensional character. It is through Ophelia that we view Hamlet's warped view of women. What do you think?
Ophelia
3 comments:
I like this post. I would actually try a different color to post in as it's really really hard to read anything you write.
Sorry about the earlier post, I was intending to type more on Ophelia.
I never thought of Ophelia as a one dimensional character. To me, Ophelia is as confused as Hamlet in his struggle with revenge and his status as the Prince of Denmark. She tried to help him through his grief but the grief was contagious enough to pull Ophelia in to despair.
Hamlet and Ophelia are two drug addicts abusing revenge, but one of them is the direct user, while the other was just joining the party.
- Kristopher
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