Purpose of the Different Foils in Shakespeare's Hamlet Essay

The ghost is Hamlet is presented as a vengeful character, Hamlet's father, the fallen king, murdered by his brother. These attributes of his character draw from the theme of revenge associated with the works of Shakespeare, and the audience is allowed the

For example, when Hamlet discovers the circumstances of his father’s death, he did not act out immediately. Instead of taking action and using anger to fuel Claudius’ demise, Hamlet waited until he thought the appropriate time was presented. Incongruently, upon hearing of Polonius’, Laertes responded immediately with his return from England, starting a revolt, and then plotting against Hamlet. These differences demonstrate the contrasting behaviors when involving oneself in revenge. These reactions against each other emphasize the defining characteristics of Hamlet as an intelligent, analytical, and cautious individual while proving Laertes to be more quick-witted and heedless. The relation between main and foil character’s are demonstrative of the themes of revenge and

Ophelia is the most one-sided yet consistent out of all the vital characters in Hamlet. She has great potential to be a tragic heroine and overcome the misfortunes forced upon her but instead, she slowly diminishes into insanity following Hamlet’s contradictory treatment towards her, and murder of her father: “She speaks much of her father, says she hears there’s tricks i’th’ world, and hems, and beats her heart,” (Shakespeare, Hamlet, 4.5. 4-5). Ophelia is a young woman, with no womanly guidance to aid her. Her father Polonius, and brother Laertes, care for Ophelia and go to great lengths to preserve her innocence. Her loyalty to her father and brother is out of pure gratitude and appreciation for their concern. She obeys her father and brother’s command not to see or accept any letters from Hamlet, despite her love for him:

The ghost of Hamlet Sr. plays a large part in the formation of Hamlet’s insanity. Towards the start of the play the ghost of Hamlet Sr. makes its presence known to Hamlet and some other characters. “I’ll call thee “Hamlet,” “King,” “Father,” “Royal Dane.”…tell Why thy canonized bones…Hath opened his ponderous and marble jaws To cast thee up again” (Shakespeare 28). Hamlet recognized his father in his ghost form, and thus proves that Hamlet does in fact see the ghost of his father. Through his father’s ghost, Hamlet learns of his father’s death as well as the fact that his father suffers in the afterlife during the day. “I am thy father’s spirit, Doomed for a certain term to walk the night And for the day confined to fast in fires” (Shakespeare 31). These facts only add to the hatred that Hamlet feels towards Claudius which came about because his mother married Claudius too early for Hamlet’s liking. Later on in the play, Hamlet confronts his mother and sees the ghost again. The ghost of Hamlet sr. comes to Hamlet Jr. to remind Hamlet Jr. that he has instructions not to physically harm his mother, Gertrude. “The ghost reminds Hamlet that Hamlet is to leave the judgment of Gertrude to God and not to harm her. Hamlet tries to convince Gertrude that the ghost is real, but fails” (Hamlet). To cope with the loss of his father, Hamlet has created a new version on Hamlet Sr. to help with his grieving and to help guide him. He

Ophelia is a young noblewoman of Denmark. She is the daughter of Polonius, the sister of Laertes, and the potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Her character is very murky. The description of Ophelia mentally and emotionally is unclear because of her male-dominant environment. Although her physical appearance is straightforward, her mental and emotional states are distorted from her family’s and Hamlet’s opinion-based questions, including her own questions asked upon herself. In the entirety of the play, Ophelia plays an impressionable role, meaning she is easily influenced by others. Ophelia states- “I shall obey my lord”, which shows how much control men have of her, and how she has to obey them (Shakespeare 1.3.145).

The ghost of King Hamlet may not have been real in the first place. In many cases when people see ghostly figures, they are not real at all. The ghost could have been a trick played by others. It could have just been in Hamlet’s head. There are many possibilities as to why the ghost was not real. Hamlet takes the words of his “father” to heart and ends up tearing apart the kingdom in search of revenge. He should have thought the situation through much more thoroughly and questioned whether it was truly a good idea to use the words of a deceased figure to heart. Hamlet’s erratic behavior throughout the story shows that he was never completely mentally stable. After Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, he says, “How strange or odd some'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on)” (Act I, Scene V). Hamlet tells his friends that he intends to act completely mad while he enacts his plan of revenge. Though he says he is only acting, he is very likely overcome with rage and not thinking rationally. The anger he shows after finding out how his father had

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are to have met Hamlet at school and become quite close. However, these characters are quick to turn on their friend and work for the king. They are false friends who are sent by Gertrude and Claudius to discover what is wrong with their son. Their knowledge is superficial and their intelligence mediocre, so they are easily outwitted by Hamlet. They are fools, rather than knaves and their immoral and despicable work for the king behind Hamlet's back adds to the disorder in Denmark.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is centered on the character of Hamlet, prince of Denmark, who upon learning of his father’s murder and the usurpation of his position as King of Denmark by his uncle Claudius plots to personally avenge his death. At the beginning of the play, the prince is mourning his late father and fails to come to terms with the remarriage of his recently widowed mother to his recently crowned uncle. Hamlet is informed of the murder of his father by his uncle at the end of the first act, during which the Ghost of his father appears before him, discloses the events of Claudius’ crime and calls for the revenge of his murder. The Ghost’s appeal plays a crucial part in the plot by creating a complication for the main character, which will

Hamlet had promised the ghost “that [he], with wings as swift/ as meditation or the thoughts of love/ may sweep to [his] revenge” (Shakespeare I.v.35-7). This, to an unfamiliar reader, would seem very straightforward, yet Hamlet speaks with no cause. He procrastinates so much that, later in the play, the ghost reappears to remind him to “not forget. This visitation / Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose” (Shakespeare III.iv.136-7). His father literally comes back as a ghost to remind Hamlet that he is supposed to be seeking revenge. Hamlet seems so uninterested in the idea of actually going through with avenging his father’s death; rather, he dwells on it and falls into depression, not acting on his anger or instruction whatsoever.

The ghost reappears again at midnight and Horatio and Marcellus advised Hamlet not to go alone. The ghost attracts Hamlet and out of curiosity, Hamlet follows. As Hamlet chases the ghost around, the ghost settles and says, “I am thy father’s spirit, Doomed for a certain term to walk the night… Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away” (I, v, 9-13). It is at that very moment that the ghost is really Hamlet’s father. Although Hamlet finds out that the ghost is his father, he still feels the ‘rottenness’ and wants to unfold it’s true scope. As Hamlet is locked into what his father has to say, the ghost whimpers, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder… But this most foul, strange and unnatural” (I, v, 25-28). Hamlet was eager to revenge the murderer, but the ghost has more to say before he departs. More ‘rotten’ things have been occurring as word has been going around Denmark saying that a poisonous “serpent” has taken the king’s life away. As the conversation between Hamlet and his father continues, he reveals the murderer by asserting, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” (I, v, 39-40). Hamlet is infuriated by the crime that his uncle has committed. Knowing the killer of his father, Hamlet soon seeks revenge against his uncle. ‘Rottenness’ with the ghost has been cleared with Hamlet as the ghost isn’t an unfamiliar figure, but was his father.

The use of literary devices within any type of literature is a strong way for an author or playwright to increase the significance of their work and the characters within it. William Shakespeare was a great playwright who understood how to use literary devices to their full effect therefore enhancing symbols, characters and even settings within his plays. One of Shakespeare’s most well known plays, Hamlet, published in1603, is a solid example of how well Shakespeare understood the effects of certain literary devices and how they could augment characters. On countless occasions, Shakespeare uses metaphors, foreshadowing, allusions, and personification, but perhaps his greatest use of a literary device is his use of foil. In fictional literature, a foil is a character that displays contrasting qualities to another character, usually the protagonist, in order to better highlight the traits of the other character (www.literarydevices.net). Within Hamlet, Shakespeare masters the use of foil to allow the audience to have a clearer understanding of the character Hamlet and the conflicts he endures. Shakespeare’s Hamlet follows Hamlet as he contemplates the choices he has when it comes to avenging the wrongful death of his beloved father, King Hamlet. Consequently, King Hamlet’s brother, and also his murderer, Claudius, has now become the new King of Denmark and has married his brother’s widow wife, Gertrude. As the play progresses, the audience discovers how the characters Laertes

By looking at the character Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet one can see that Hamlet is juxtaposed with foil characters (Claudius, Fortinbras, and Laertes).This is important because the reader can see how not acting upon events led to Hamlet’s Hamartia. Shakespeare uses these foil characters to set up literary concepts of hamartia, anagnorisis, and peripeteia. Hamlet is greatly influenced by his foil characters, also the reader is able to see how Hamlet has been impacted by his Hamartia. Hamlet is impacted by Anagnorisis with his recognitions between the foil characters. Hamlet is changed by peripeteia, the definition of peripeteia is the the reversal of bad to good, or good to bad, but in Hamlet’s tragedy Shakespeare shows the disaster that occurs.

Shakespeare play “Hamlet” is all about revenge and tragedy. The wrongdoing of a character leads to the death of every main character. Now knowing that it had all started with the Ghost of Hamlets revengeful father. King Hamlet (Ghost) is known to have had a huge part on how the story developed. King Hamlet (Ghost) appearing to Hamlet, in the beginning of the play is what sets the dynamic of the whole play. Without King Hamlet there would be no tragedy.

To start with, the ghost heavily influences the development of a few characters in the play this includes Hamlet and his friends. In the opening act, Hamlet’s friends encounter the ghost of the former king while standing guard on the wall of the castle. They are the first and only characters besides Hamlet that see and are influenced by the ghost. This furthers the story by sending Hamlet’s friends on a mission to tell him of his father’s return. From the beginning of the play Hamlet is already depressed and down after being called home from school to return to Denmark to witness the funeral of his father. Following the funeral Hamlet meets up with his friends where he is told of his father’s ghost. Immediately, this sparks Hamlet’s interest and he wishes to hear more of his father. ‘The king my father!/For God’s love, let me hear.” (1.2.192-95 Hamlet) Here Shakespeare shows

The Ghost enters into the story in the figure of Hamlet’s recently deceased father to Marcellus and Bernardo, the two guards in the tower. They immediately report this sighting to Horatio to witness the sighting of the Ghost. Horatio then is shocked because he sees the Ghost is wearing armor similar to that of King Hamlet’s, who had recently passed away. This makes Prince Hamlet aware of the sighting as well. Hamlet then consequently goes to see the Ghost and follows him out past the castle walls. He then proceeds to tell him that his uncle, who had just married Hamlet’s mother, killed his father in his sleep with poison and that he must seek revenge. Right from the beginning, the Ghost is implementing horrible ideas into Hamlet’s mind who is hurt by the passing of his father. He