Hamlet Essay Essay Research Paper Hamlet EssayDiscuss

Hamlet Essay Essay, Research Paper

Hamlet Essay

Discuss Shakespeare s use of context in Hamlet. What does it contribute to your understanding of the values presented by Shakespeare in the play.

Context : the range of personal, social, historical, cultural conditions in which a text is responded to and composed.

Values : To assign worth to a text

Shakespeare s work often contains a variety of contexts and we will definitely find that these contexts are associated with the values present in Hamlet. The different contexts includes personal, social, cultural, political and spiritual. To understand these values we need to be constantly challenging ourselves with bright ideas about these concepts in Hamlet.

With economy and grace Shakespeare sets his mood, introduces his major characters, presents his background information, begins his exploration of the play’s major themes, and sets his plot, all within two short scenes. The only major plot strand not established in this section is that of Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia, who appears in the following scene. Other than that omission, the first two scenes introduce all the major strands that will occur throughout the play.

Hamlet s inaction and procrastination is a main issue in the personal context. He intellectualises over what the right thing is and is not a man who yields to passion. Being a man of thought and reason his inactions are contrasted by Laertes and Fortinbras leadership qualities showing Shakespeare s value of action. Hamlet’s father, the king of Denmark, has died suddenly. The dead king’s brother, Claudius, marries Hamlet’s mother and swiftly assumes the throne, a throne that Hamlet expected would be his upon the death of his father. Hamlet’s father’s ghost confronts Hamlet and tells him that his death was not natural, but instead was murder. Hamlet swears revenge. But rather than swoop instantly to that revenge, Hamlet pretends to be insane still wearing black in mourning for the dead king. Gertrude urges him to cast it off, but he replies bitterly that his inner sorrow is so great that his sour appearance is merely a poor mirror of it. Claudius declares that all fathers die, and that all sons must lose their fathers, and that to mourn for too long is unmanly and inappropriate. Shakespeare s view of deception is revealed when Hamlet puts on this antic disposition and delays in killing Claudius. But Hamlet did not swear to his dead father that he, detective-like, would investigate. Hamlet swore revenge. And he has more than enough motivation to exact revenge. Yet he delays. It is this delay in performing the act he has sworn to accomplish which leads to Hamlet’s death. The poison on the tip of Laertes sword is a metaphor for the poison of procrastination, which has been coursing through Hamlet s system throughout the play. The incestuous relationship between Claudius and Gertrude is completely unacceptable. For a man to kill his brother then steal his throne and wife is of the lowest action. Claudius has gained so much personally, but the truth is soon found out.

Another issue is Shakespeare s use of the King s role relating to the social context. The people in Shakespeare s time thought that the Gods appointed the king s role as he represents the land, so the action of the king is always approved by the society. If something is wrong with the king then there must be something wrong with Denmark, affecting the state as he socially affects the law being the leader of the land. The corruption and decay of Denmark and its society is expressed at several different levels. Recurrent imagery, such as the unweeded garden or the decay imagery of corpses, dust and graves and poison present this repulsive image. In Hamlet, most of the images Shakespeare uses highlight the idea that this world is ‘an unweeded garden’, a wonderful image that shows that this is a world, which once was well provided but now has become out of control. Corruption is suggested in the moral sense as well as the physical sense. The dirty deal done between Claudius and Fortinbras to invade a neighbouring country reflects another form of corruption and decay. Also King Claudius speaks to Rosencrantz and Guildernstern. Shaken by the play within the play and now considering Hamlet’s madness to be dangerous, Claudius asks the pair to escort Hamlet on a voyage to England, and to depart immediately. They agree, and leave to get themselves ready. Then Polonius enters, and reminds the king of his plan to hide in Gertrude’s room and observe Hamlet’s confrontation with her. He promises to tell Claudius all that he learns. When Polonius leaves, the king is alone, and he immediately bewails his guilt and grief over his sin. A brother’s murder, he says, is the oldest sin, and “hath the eldest curse upon’t.” He longs to ask for forgiveness, but says that he is unprepared to give up that which he gained by committing the murder, namely, the crown and the queen. He falls to his knees and begins to pray. Hamlet slips quietly into the room, and approaches himself to kill Claudius. Suddenly he realises that if he kills the king while he is praying, he will send the king’s soul to heaven, which is hardly an adequate revenge, especially since Claudius, by killing Hamlet’s father before he had time to make his last confession, ensured that his brother would not go to heaven. Hamlet decides to wait, resolving to