After being asked by his father's ghost to avenge his death, Hamlet decides to put on an antic disposition. Certain questions arise after this. ... In order to put on an antic disposition," (Shakespeare 1625) Hamlet's decision to act mad seems a bit strange after reading Hamlet and seeing how it ended. ... Gertrude believes it was her hasty marriage and his father's death that led Hamlet to be mad. ... Hamlet ended up writing letters for the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guilderstern. ...

• Word Count: 1402
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Although contextual values change, the basic human desire to seek answers to the fundamental questions of life has not, causing Shakespeare's play to speak in different ways. ... " after obeying the ghost's command to "...revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.... Act 1, Scene 2 delves further into the complex characterization of Hamlet and the moral dilemma he is governed by, the death of the King and marriage of Gertrude and Claudius. ... His acceptance of death, "The readiness is all" is the climatic point as he is no longer inactive. ... This chaos strips...

• Word Count: 1435
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown.... ... Thus King Hamlet, "by a brother's hand, of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch'd" (1.5.74-75). ... Revenge, it becomes clear, never brings anything to resolution; everyone, after all, has some relative, however distant, ready to avenge a wrong. ... When the players arrive at Elsinore, Hamlet requests the first player to recite a favorite speech about Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, who killed King Priam of Troy to avenge his father's death. Deeply engrossed with the s...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

Some of the most interesting female characters in Shakespeare's writing are Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Viola and Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and Hamlet's mother, in Hamlet. ... Egeus is so insistent about the importance of maintaining the dominant gender paradigm that he entreats Theseus to use the full weight and penalty of the law to punish his daughter if she does not obey, even if the punishment means death. ... In Twelfth Night, the reader meets two female characters who are different from Hermia in many ways, but who are affected s...

• Word Count: 2208
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate