Hamlet is set in Denmark, but written for an English audience. According to the Danish tradition of the blood feud, the King's murder requires vengeance, and filial duty dictates that Hamlet "was born to set it right." ... When Hamlet kills Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius, he thinks Claudius is being incestuous and will therefore go to Hell. ... French and English celebrations of Twelfth Night included a King's Cake, remembering the visit of the Three Magi, and ale or wine (a King's Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Gras in French Catholic culture of the Southern USA)...

• Word Count: 1416
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

He wants revenge against Claudius for killing his father, and he is at a loss for his country following the death of his father, who many felt was a great king. In the lines following his suicide thoughts, Hamlet compares Denmark to an unweeded garden in an attempt to symbolize the corruption within his country which is seeded in Claudius. ... The readers go on to discover more about the crisis in Denmark, and we later find out that Hamlet feels this corruption is a direct result of Claudius' incestuous marriage to his mother, and thus holds Claudius responsible for not only the loss of...

• Word Count: 1324
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

It must also have taken place at a time where both Denmark and Norway would have existed. ... The Almereyda version is set in modern day New York, with Denmark as a corporation and Elsinore as hotel. ... The first speech by King Claudius is also indicative of how his character will round out as the play progresses. ... The film opens with a funeral for old king Hamlet. ... The next lines are from scene 2, where King Claudius refers to Gertrude using the royal we. ...

• Word Count: 1694
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

The garden is an allegory for a mishandled country overpowered by the king's advisors. ... The mismanaged, "unweeded- garden refers to Claudius' usurpation of the throne in Denmark. ... Here, Hamlet doesn't refer to Gertrude's appetites as "weeds- but believes her desires would incite her sexuality and desire to sleep with Claudius. Here weeds allude to "unweeded garden- presented in the first soliloquy: the weeds represent desire, which would grow "ranker- if Gertrude continues to sleep with Claudius. ... In Richard II, the gardener gives instructions to his helpers to...

• Word Count: 1869
• Approx Pages: 7

There are many examples of this situation in Shakespearean plays; in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Claudius commits his evil acts because of his greed for the throne; in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is so moved by her greed for wealth and power that she forces her husband to commit murder, and in Othello, Moor of Venice, Iago rips apart the lives of innocent people because of his greed for power and attention. ... The villain in the play, Claudius, is governed by his unspeakable greed for the throne of Denmark, which results in his responsibility for the majority of evil acts committed throughout t...

• Word Count: 1501
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The royal couple has no suspicion in the beginning that the heir to the thrown of Denmark knows what treachery they have committed. When asked by King Claudius why his nephew seems to display "turbulent and dangerous lunacy," Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern reply, "He does confess he feels himself distracted; but from what cause he will by no means speak. ... The Prince of Denmark does confess there is something amiss, but his old friends do not yet see that the thing gone awry is his father's death and not his mind. ... The callous way King Claudius dismisses Hamlet's grief as childi...

• Word Count: 1514
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

After passing up three oppotuities to entrap Claudius in the third act (the nunnery scene on which the king was eavesdropping, during The Murder of Gonzago, the scene in Gertrude's closet), Hamlet berates himself because of his indecisiveness: 'Why (must ) I live to say 'This thing's to do; / Sith I have cause and will and strength and means / To do't' (IV.iv. 44-46). ... The impending dark period Hamlet must endure is represented by the sympathetic fallacy of the state of nature in Denmark. ... She, in turn, is astonished, "As kill a king?' .....

• Word Count: 1879
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School