That One Can Smile and Be a Villain

Have you ever had someone that hate you because of the person you are? well in hamlet this plays a role a lot with many characters. “one may smile, and smile and be a villain.” this means that someone who smiles in your face every day could really be the one that envy and hate you the most. Has someone ever done something bad to you that made you feel as if you had to get back at the person even though you know it would be wrong? Do you think it is really going to prove a point or cause more trouble? These are the decisions hamlet had to face in the tragedy of hamlet prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. The play takes us on prince hamlet of Denmark journey as he seeks revenge on many people like his villainous uncle Claudius who killed his father to take his position as king of Denmark but that didn’t work out to well in the end. Prince Hamlet was then headed back home to Denmark to attend his father’s funeral. he then is shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried way before his father is buried.

The Queen has remarried Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius the dead king’s brother. To Hamlet, the marriage is ‘incest.’ And he does not approve of this but then Then one night his father spirit reveals its self to hamlet and told him everything that happened that his own brother killed him by pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping in a garden. He questions himself What if the Ghost is not a true spirit, but rather an agent of the devil sent to tempt him? hamlet had so many questions What if killing Claudius results in Hamlet’s having to relive his memories for all eternity? He began thinking himself as a coward because he couldn’t stop himself from thinking. Hamlet then ask the help of a group of players to perform a play called The Murder of Gonzaga, so that he could get a clear picture of what the ghost is telling him. but this one Hamlet has added scenes that recreate the murder the Ghost described. Hamlet calls the edited play The Mousetrap, so as this play is happening Claudius leaves the room because he cannot breathe knowing what he did was wrong and now it’s all coming back to him and he is feeling guilty about killing king hamlet.

Hamlet is now Convinced now that Claudius is a villain and he sees that Claudius is very creep, Hamlet resolves all the problems to kill him. But, as Hamlet observes, ‘conscience doth make cowards of us all.’ Meaning People sometimes fear to do what they want or what they believe is necessary because they think it is wrong. Hamlet causes six deaths. The first death belongs to Polonius, when Hamlet and his mother is having a conversation and stabs through a wall as the old man spies on Hamlet and Gertrude in the Queen’s private chamber. Claudius punishes Hamlet for Polonius’ death by sending him to England. He has brought Hamlet’s school friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Denmark from Germany to spy on his nephew, and now he instructs them to deliver Hamlet into the English king’s hands for execution.

Hamlet discovers the plot and arranges for the hanging of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead the plan does not work because his friends cannot hold water and he knew that they were up to something so hamlet must now reverse everything so that in the end he is not the one dead. Ophelia, upset over her father’s death and Hamlet’s behavior she really starts to get crazy and loose her mind she does not know what to do with herself anymore she feel like she has no one and that he father should not be dead she want answers , later on Ophelia drowns while singing sad love song sand people began to think that she has committed suicide because of her actions. Now her brother, Laertes, falls into the trap next. It all happens when Laertes, returned to Denmark from France to avenge his father’s death, he also witnesses Ophelia’s fall into madness. After her funeral, where he and Hamlet come to blows over which of them loved Ophelia best, Laertes promise to punish Hamlet for her death as well.so Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet. During the sword fight hamlet does not know anything about the poison on the sword, however, Laertes actions shows that there is something wrong and drops his poisoned sword. Laertes cuts hamlet on the ear Hamlet then retrieves the sword and cuts Laertes.

The strong poison kills Laertes. Before he dies, Laertes tells Hamlet that because Hamlet has already been cut with the same sword, he too will shortly die. Horatio takes Hamlet’s attention from Laertes for a moment by pointing out that ‘The Queen falls.’ Gertrude, believing that Hamlet’s hitting Laertes means her son is winning the fencing match, has drunk a toast to her son from the poisoned cup Claudius that was meant for Hamlet. The Queen dies. Then as Laertes lies dying, he tells Hamlet everything about his part in the situation and tells hamlet then fall to the ground and die that Gertrude’s death was on Claudius’ head. Very angry, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and then pours the last of the poisoned wine down the King’s throat. Before he dies, Hamlet declares that the throne should now pass to Prince Fortinbras of Norway, and he ask his true friend Horatio to accurately explain the events that have led to the bloodbath at Elsinore. With his last breath, he releases himself from the prison of his words: ‘The rest is silence.’ A motif that is shown is keep your friends close and you enemies closer because those are the one that envy you the most. And you cannot trust anyone.

The 2009 BBC production the message “trust no one and keep your enemies close “is emphasized because there were many scenes were hamlet felt like that, he couldn’t trust anyone, and he should keep his enemies very close. And madness plays a big part as the theme. The sheer number of bodies at the end of Hamlet is very misleading. Even though eight of the nine primary characters die. The questions about death, suicide, trust and what comes after are left unanswered. What Hamlet presents in an exploration and discussion without a true resolution. And he does not really know who to believe or who to trust and why are all the deaths taking place. Everything is connected in Hamlet, including the welfare of the royal family and the health of the state as a whole he still wanted answers and never got them.. The play’s early scenes show the sense of anxiety and dread that surrounds the transfer of power from one ruler to the next.

Throughout the play, many characters draw explicit connections between the moral legitimacy of a ruler and the health of the nation. Denmark is frequently described as a physical body made very ill by the corruption of Claudius and Gertrude, and many observers interpret the presence of the ghost as a supernatural omen indicating that something or someone is very poison and rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.iv.67). The dead King Hamlet is portrayed as a strong, forthright ruler under whose guard the state was in good health, while Claudius, a wicked politician, has corrupted and destroyed Denmark to satisfy his own appetites. At the end of the play, the rise to power of the upright Fortinbras suggests that Denmark will be strengthened once again. A motif that played a major part in hamlet was Ears and Hearing.

A major motif in Hamlet is the idea that words cannot be trusted but can corrupt an individual’s thinking or actions as they are hearing things to corrupt them through the ears. Claudius poison the old king by pouring poison into his ear while lying in the garden, and his primary is manipulating others with lies that they hear from him and he is very ok with it. now in the 2009 BBC me as a reader would not have expected to see as much surveillance and many different weapons were used in the film that described in the book for example, when hamlet is being spied on and he uses a gun to kill that never once happed in the book it said that he had used a “sword”. some things that I see were the same was the way that hamlet was acting on the film was the same way he had acted in the text. another film that I can compare hamlet in is a film by Kenneth Branagh A book and a movie are never the same.

Many times, there are quite a few differences between the two. Some differences in movie tend to emphasize certain scenes that we the director believes are the most important ones in the movie than in the book when sometimes that’s not even the case. the movie often tends to add or leave out certain things in order to make the movie more interesting and capturing to the audience attention. the movie that Hamlet is being compared to is the version with Kenneth. In this version, the direction left out details of the original play and added new scenes in order to make the play more appealing and emphasize what he thought were the most important parts of the play.

One of the most capturing scenes that really stands out between the two is the scene that depicts the funeral of King Hamlet. In the play there is not scene that depicts the funeral of kind Hamlet and there was never once a funeral. However, in the movie the scene is present as well as very well depicted. In this case, we see that the director believes that the death of Hamlet the main character is important and key to the production of the movie because he added it on. The director thought it was so important that he used it to replace the opening scene of the play. In the actual play the opening scene portrays the ghost of King Hamlet that appears to the guards on duty. This is also the scene of how the ghost is introduced into the play. The movie on the other end does not show this scene at all it just gets right the point. The director completely ignores it and replaces it with what he thinks the audience will like more or will relate to more easily which is not fare. Another significant contrast between the play and the movie is the depiction of Fortinbras receiving a letter from the dying Hamlet in the play in order to become the new king. Fortinbras take the letter and makes a speech accepting the honor that Hamlet has just given him.

The movie never shows the end scene of Fortinbras making his big speech Additionally, the movie fails to include one of the characters that are present in the book and hamlet never leaves him a letter at all. Fortinbras is characterized as the young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet. This matter because many of the characters are characterized differently which makes the play. Hamlet the Prince of Denmark, the title character, and the protagonist. Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius. Hamlet is bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts.

Hamlet also has very mixed emotions throughout the play. Madness has also been a big motif in hamlet What Seems Madness, Creates Madness Shakespeare’s Hamlet plays with the idea of madness throughout the story. Hamlet appears at times to be mad and at other times to be entirely sane, and then Ophelia begins sane and delves into madness by Hamlet’s actions. But Hamlet takes his actions most often through reason. He knows the ghost he saw is true because of the witnesses alongside him. He even takes precautions to confirm his uncle’s guilt by means of a play. While Hamlet may be prone to inaction, he is not truly mad. On the other hand, Ophelia represents true madness after the death of her father by Hamlet’s hand. Hamlet presents two characters that contrast with each other on the play’s frequent mention of madness: Hamlet, who is filled with grief and is enraged by his situation to the point of seeming mad but truly being insightful though selfish in his actions, and Ophelia who begins hopeful and level-minded, but then loses herself to true madness as she is influenced by Hamlet’s behavior. The key to Hamlet’s quest for revenge starts with his meeting with his father’s ghost. Before Hamlet himself ever sees the ghost, four others on watch make contact first, including his trusted friend Horatio.

Many characters seemed very upset in hamlet and there were multiple scenes were there was a lot of madness like in the scene were hamlet was sword fighting many people were upset by the plan that had taken place to kill him with poison. Betrayal in hamlet was a major motif Betrayal is an act of disloyalty, treachery, violating trust, or breaching confidence. Betrayal is a reoccurring action in the tragic Shakespeare play, Hamlet. Many of the characters deceive one another as well as deny their own feelings, betraying themselves. The secrecy and dishonesty of Shakespeare’s characters show that the actions of humans do not always equate to their appearances in society. The interpersonal and person acts of deception in Hamlet contribute to Shakespeare’s theme.

The most obvious act of betrayal in Hamlet is the murder of King Hamlet by his brother, Claudius and when he brother kills him just to take over as king. Shortly after the murder, Claudius marries Gertrude, the queen. This could be an added betrayal on Gertrude’s part as well as Claudius’s because now they both would be being creep and greedy. They quickly move on from the death of their husband/brother and do not mourn at all they just both move on with life. To the public and to the readers the newly married couple appears happy and in control with full of joy. When really, they are both dealing with the guilt of their immoral actions as well as how their actions have affected Hamlet, who appears to have gone mad following the death of his father and he has the right to be mad by his mother’s actions.

Hamlet’s plot to act as though he is mad causes him to deceive and harm his family members and peers, primarily Ophelia. By denying his love for Ophelia, he leaves her confused and broken hearted which causes her to go crazy. She didn’t understand why the man she loved was now acting as though he was disgusted by her and as if he never cared for her at all. Hamlet’s actions continue and don’t change when he murders Polonius, which is Ophelia’s father. This drives Ophelia into madness. When Hamlet truly loves Ophelia, but she will never know because of the thigs he have done to her to break her heart. But When Hamlet does this and deny his feelings for Ophelia, he also betrays himself. He denies himself happiness and causes himself more pain on himself when he knows he really have feelings for this girl. This all matters a tie in to more than one theme in hamlet and lots of motifs.