Hamlet is trying to grapple with the death of his father and remarriage of his mother, thereby causing him to use metaphors to present his melancholic state of mind: How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't, ah fie, tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. ... But two months dead The first soliloquy reveals Hamlet's disgust with the "stale- world and attempts to find the origin of his unhappiness, which he believes is his mother's body and sexuality. ... Hamlet attemp...

• Word Count: 1869
• Approx Pages: 7

I will show how he is a man who has removed himself from the image his father left him and leads his subjects through calculated political actions, seen in 2.1. ... Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard" (1.2.262-263). ... A true Machiavellian ruler must possess a strategic approach to war. ... At the end of his speech, Henry makes his ultimate warning, "Your naked infants spitted upon pikes, Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused" (3.3.38-39). In his final moment he caters to the fathers of the town, the men who will actually be fighting this battle. ...

• Word Count: 1885
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the beginning of the play, Hamlet returns to Denmark after hearing of his father's death only to find his mother already remarried to Hamlet's uncle, Claudius. ... In this play, Claudius not only kills Hamlet's father, but also guilts Hamlet's girlfriend Ophelia into trying to drive Hamlet even deeper into madness. ... The one thing that each of these plays written by Shakespeare possess is a villain motivated by greed to do unspeakable evil acts. ...

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

She now belongs to another man who is not her father; she is restricted to her virginity and this confinement is not her choice. 
... Claribel's primary strength is her value in the marriage market; her own personal desires are disregarded as she "[struggles] between disgust at marrying an African and the desire to obey [her father]". ... We see this again in A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hermia is faced with several options: marry Demetrius, whom she doesn't love, become a nun or be killed. This is imposed by her father, a symbol of patriarchal power. ...

• Word Count: 2000
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate