Hamlet Test Essay

1. In Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Claudius kills his brother King pouring poison into his ear during his sleep in the garden. Prince Hamlet learns this from his father’s Ghost: “With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,/ And in the porches of my ears did pour/ The leperous distilment”(1.5.62). Hamlet asks actors to play the scene of his father’s murder during the play before the King, the Queen and court. He wants to see Claudius reaction to prove his guilt.
The symbolic meaning of pouring poison into someone’s ear is telling lies and evil things about something or somebody. Lies and bad thoughts like poison bane human brain and soul.
2. Through Hamlet’s soliloquies we learn about his personality, his attitude to other characters, his thoughts about life and death. Hamlet is disappointed in the world and the people: “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,/ Seem to me all the uses of this world!”(1.2.133). He’s appalled by the cruelty of his father’s murder, his mother’s hasty marriage, friends’ hypocrisy and weakness. In further soliloquies Hamlet reproaches himself for weakness and indecision, reasons about suicide.
With each soliloquy we see Hamlet's growing determination to avenge the death of his father. Through the whole play Hamlet has to act the part in order to hide his feelings and keep his awareness. But in soliloquies he expresses his real thoughts and feelings and tells the truth.
3. I agree that Hamlet's tragic flaw is his tendency towards inaction. He condemns himself for delay and indecision: “Yet I,/ A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,/ Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,/ And can say nothing; no, not for a king,/ Upon whose property and most dear life/A damn'd defeat was made”(2.2.537). However he also has some reasons to postpone his revenge. If Hamlet was selfish pursuing only personal goals, he would quickly killed Claudius and returned his throne. But he is a thinker and humanist. He cares about others, common good and feels responsibility. But such a problem is even beyond mighty man's strength, and Hamlet falls back and plunges into the depths of his own despair. This is Hamlet's tragedy that leads to his death.

Essay

In his tragedy "Hamlet", Shakespeare clearly reflected the incompatibility of high ideals and lofty dreams with reality. The image of Hamlet embodies all the characteristics and qualities of the Renaissance humanist. But the author tells his readers not only about one human fate and one character. Even secondary heroes of tragedy have vital truth and unique personalities. Each of them help revealing the nature of the main character.
We see the parallels between Hamlet and two other characters - Laertes and Fortinbras. Their fates have something in common. They all lose their fathers and seek justice. I think that in this way Shakespeare wants to describe Hamlet's character. These three young men are noble and possess dignities, but they act differently.
Fortinbras is ready to fight for his lands and take revenge for his father's death even despite the fact that his father died during a fair fight. In contrast to Hamlet, Fortinbras is determined and crave for action: “Witness this army of such mass and charge/ Led by a delicate and tender prince,/ Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd/ Makes mouths at the invisible event,/ Exposing what is mortal and unsure/ To all that fortune, death and danger dare,/ Even for an egg-shell” (4.4.47). He operates out in the open and does not act the part, when Hamlet hides his feelings and pretends to be mad.
Laertes is a hothead in contrast to Hamlet, whose mind is cold. Hamlet carefully thinks over all circumstances of his father's death and tries to be reasonable. Laertes is ready to kill the murderer of his father even when he learns that this is the Prince of Denmark: “but my revenge will come” (4.7.29). As distinct from Hamlet, Laertes acts meanly joining in a collusion with Claudius: “My lord, I will be ruled;/ The rather, if you could devise it so/ That I might be the organ” (4.7.69). Hamlet is not capable of meanness. His revenge cannot be a secret murder. It should become a public punishment. Hamlet must think not only about his own honor. He has to convince his mother Queen that she has committed a serious offence against her own and her husband's honor, her duty and dignity.
Laertes's and Fortinbras's hot temper and readiness to act oppose to Hamlet's melancholy. Hamlet delays with revenge and dies over this mistake. Laertes dies because of his own meanness that he regrets about in the end.
In the course of the play, Hamlet has to act the part of a madman. He hates this pretense, but understands that there is no other way to reveal Claudius's crime. Hamlet teaches players how to act the part, describes the purpose of the theatre to hold the mirror in front of the world and nature: “the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the/ first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the/ mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature,/ scorn her own image, and the very age and body of/ the time his form and pressure”(3.2.21). He shows his mother herself in the mirror, urging her to look into the heart and see how black and spoilt it is.
Hamlet understands that everybody around him play parts. He hates hypocrisy and wheedle inherent to Lord Polonius and Osric. Hamlet has a high opinion about Horatio, who is sincere and honest: “Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man/ As e'er my conversation coped withal” (3.2.54).
Shakespeare comes to the conclusion that people are mostly vile creatures. Instead of sincerity and frankness they choose mendacity and cunning. But at the same time there is always hope that the best qualities can win and all the masks will be removed.

Works cited

Shakespeare, William. "William Shakespeare's Hamlet." William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Web. 16 Jan. 2015. <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamletscenes.html>.