Hamlet Act 5

Review Hamlet’s encounter with the Gravedigger and his thoughts regarding Yorick at the beginning of Act 5. Why might Shakespeare have chosen to include this darkly humorous scene here? The gravediggers” scene provides comic relief, but it also offers a meditation on the nature of death. All are reduced to dust and bones, no matter what their status. This scene demonstrates that Hamlet o longer seeks death but now accepts it as life’s natural conclusion
Why does Hamlet quarrel with Laertes at Ophelia’s grave? What does this conflict clarify regarding his feelings? Hamlet objects to Laertes’s expression, particularly when compared to his own feelings. Their quarrel reveals Hamlet’s need to outdo Laertes in is show of grief
In the story he tells Horatio at the beginning of Act 5, Scene 2, what qualities does Hamlet present that has not displayed previously? Hamlet demonstrates that he has become a man of action rather than reflection. He altered the King’s letter to cause the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (lines 398-47) and then escaped from the ship.
Ideas, customs, behaviors, or institutions are ridiculed in satire for the purpose of improving society. Satirists often employ irony, wordplay, and exaggeration to discharge their targets. Reread Hamlet’s exchange of words with Osric in Scene 2, lines 82-184. What customs or behavior is Hamlet ridiculing? Identify examples of techniques employed in this satirical passage. Through Osric, Shakespeare satirizes the effete “European” fashions of upper society. He exaggerates his own obsequiousness (lines 95-104), mocks Osric’s pompous language (lines 114-127), and mocks his attire and manner with puns (line, 180,190)
Reread Hamlet’s speech in Scene 2, lines 219-224. How do these thoughts regarding fate differ from his attitude in earlier speeches? Tis speech indicates that Hamlet embraces his fate and no longer tries to anticipate the consequences of his actions. He realizes that he has a destiny that will dictate what happens to him here and hereafter
As he is dying, Hamlet urges Horatio to stay alive and tell his story. Why is this so important to Hamlet? Hamlet fears that “things standing thus unknown” will never be understood unless Horatio tells the story and prevents “more mischance on plots and errors” from happening. Horatio symbolizes truth, an antidote to the corruption and deception of other characters.
Choose a soliloquy in the play, such as the famous “To be or not to be” speech in Act 3, Scene 1, lines 57-89. Summarize the ideas in the soliloquy, and discuss the literary techniques Shakespeare employs to express them. Provide specific examples. In Scene 1, lines 57-89, Hamlet ponders what lies after death. Shakespeare uses parallel structure to echo the balancing of Hamlet’s thoughts. He employs metaphors and personification to contrast Hamlet’s images of what life has to offer with what is unknown regarding death, describing “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” ” a sea of troubles,” “the whips and scorns of time,” and concluding that “conscience does make cowards of us all.” His fear of the unknown ultimately “puzzles the will” and makes “enterprises of great pitch” “lose the name of action.”
A theme is the central idea that a writer whishes to convey to the audience. Employ specific details to explain what message Hamlet conveys regarding revenge, fate, and the human conditions Through the deaths of all involved in elements of revenge, Shakespeare presents it as a waste. He implies he dominance of fate; that everyone has a role, and each must accept it. Hamlet shows the paradox of human nature in the way in which one’s better impulses conflict with one’s desires. Through this dichotomy, Shakespeare explores how one’s ideas of the afterlife shape one’s mortal actions.
August 9, 2019