The Comedy of Hamlet Essay

murder in a rash mood. It is not seen by Gertrude. It tries to urge

In the tragedy of Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses minor characters like Polonius and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to emphasize Hamlet’s character and demonstrate the consequences of deception. Hamlet, the son of a fallen King tasked to avenge his father, uses deception in acting mad to justify his actions. Additionally, Polonius, the advisor to the King, deceives others by his selective use of language that is seemingly knowledgeable but in actuality without meaning and confusing. Furthermore, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, childhood friends of Hamlet, deceive Hamlet by using their relationship to gain their selfish ends. Ultimately, Shakespeare uses foils of Hamlet to Polonius, and Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to reveal that deception of trust and loyalty, as demonstrated through the symbol of the crown and friendship, leads to rash actions and eventually disconnection among members of society.

He spies on Hamlet and attempts to trick the truth out of him, and he sees nothing wrong with his actions. Hamlet points out his shortcomings on several occasions. When one of the players is reciting the speech requested by Hamlet and Polonius states, “It is too long,” Hamlet comments, “He’s for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps” (Act II, scene ii). This statement emphasizes how superficial Polonius is. He plays with Polonius when discussing clouds in Act III, and Polonius agrees with each new assertion Hamlet makes, saying finally that the cloud is “very like a whale” (Act III, scene ii). Through this exchange Hamlet mocks Polonius’s willingness to agree with everything he says. Hamlet exposes him more explicitly at his death. After stabbing Polonius, Hamlet says, “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell” (Act III, scene iv). Hamlet does not mean to kill Polonius, thinking he is Claudius, but his remarks here nevertheless expose Polonius’s true nature. Polonius wants only to be rewarded, and acts foolishly in order to achieve his goals. He lacks morals. Hamlet also calls him a “foolish prating knave” (Act III, scene iv) as he takes away his body, further accentuating his previous statement and making the audience once more contemplate Polonius’s

play, “The Tragedy of Hamlet”, Shakespeare’s vindictive and psychopathic ethos allows the reader to have an introspective view on the “socially acceptable.” The play adheres to shocking subjects and themes that push society’s standards. During the English Romantic period, William Shakespeare’s sentimentality in the topics of suicide, depression, and family dynamics transformed his plays; despite, the contrasting ideals of the protestant church and the Elizabethan era. Subsequently, William Shakespeare was one of few playwrights to incorporate the use of sentiment

Shakespeare also employs a playful humor in Hamlet’s dealings with Polonius. In order to convince everyone that he is mad, Hamlet gives weird, whimsical replies to the man at every turn. When Polonius comes to him, asking if Hamlet knows who he is, Hamlet comes quickly back with, “Excellent well. You are a fishmonger” (II.ii.172-173). And again, Hamlet toys with Polonius, getting him to say that a cloud look first like a camel, then a weasel, and finally like a whale (III.ii.327-332). Clearly he is cleverly convincing the old man of his madness with these silly and nonsensical

   Humor can be funny and uplifting or cynical and destructive. Hamlet's humor insults every one around him and it's very cynical and leads to his downfall. When Hamlet insults people around him, his remarks are not clearly understood by the people who he is insulting. Hamlet makes Polonius look like a fool when he criticizes him with his words, and Polonius doesn't know that he is being fooled. Hamlet even makes fun of the courtiers particularly Rosencrantz and Guildernstern. Although Hamlet doesn't stop there, he even insults Claudius and his own mother, Gertrude. Hamlet's love, Ophelia, is also an unfortunate victim of these remarks. All these insulting remarks show Hamlet's lack of sympathy for other

When one of the players delivers a heart-wrenching speech about Priam’s death, Polonius interrupts to say, "This is too long", which shows a connection to the audience because some of them are probably thinking the exact same thing. Shakespeare uses examples like this to really connect with some of the audience members who are not big fans of going to plays and find the average dramatic play boring. Polonius ends up getting stabbed by Hamlet and dies. “I’ll lug the guts into the neighbor room.” Hamlet uses humor towards the bloody corpse of Polonius although he just stabbed Polonius, Hamlet uses humor to ease the tension of the tragic scene by treating the body as if it were just trash.

of his insanity, other characters in the play such as Claudius, Gertrude and even Polonius

Comic Relief in Hamlet Shakespeare’s use of comedy in Hamlet always occurs around a dramatic event and the placement of these comedic messages serve as comic reliefs to ease the tension that is brought on by the nature of the tragedy. This reveals the author’s success in trying to entertain the audience while simultaneously keeping them despondent. Hamlet’s internal and external conflicts give birth to humorous remarks that reveal his inner feelings. The incestuous marriage of Gertrude and Claudius left Hamlet in a state of despair. Feelings of immense betrayal due to this marriage and the sudden loss of his father caused Hamlet to gradually turn insane.

Sadness is often disguised through fake smiles and laughter, allowing people to hide in their depression without unwanted attention. In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, humour is incorporated for a variety of reasons. This playwright was known for his tragedies; to entertain his audience, he used the technique of humour to focus the reader or viewer in on a specific part of the play. Tragedies are intensified through the use of humour because after the joyful moments, readers are reminded of the devastation that the characters are facing. By relieving the tension of the emotional chaos, humour allows the audience to become more engaged, thus permitting them to develop closer connections with the

How does humor factor into a tragedy? Shakespeare knew the answer to this question and acted upon it quite frequently. Shakespeare has been known to write comedies and tragedies both but this does not qualify him at to not incorporate a little of each into each other. In the work of Hamlet there are many occasions where Shakespeare uses it for different effects. The main reason for the presence of humor within a tragedy is to keep the reader interested. Shakespeare uses many forms of humor including but not limiting wit, pun’s, and casual jokes. In the work of Hamlet, Hamlet is usually the character that Shakespeare chooses to bring out the humor in anything. He becomes a very

“To be or not to be – that is the question…” (III, I, 56-) so starts Hamlet’s most famous and well-known soliloquy. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, written in the very late 1500’s, the audience is introduced to two “comical” characters at the beginning of the play; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. These two characters, clearly, had no clue of what is going on throughout the play; in addition, they followed orders without questioning them. Therefore, their role in the play was not clear. Ultimately, their role in the play was to support, as well as spy, on Hamlet, hence them taking orders from greater characters like Claudius. However, the comic duo serves a deeper purpose than just assisting their old childhood friend. Arguably, their role in the play is also to forecast ideas, bring out character traits to help readers understand them more, and come up with solutions to some of the questions that the play has left the readers to deal with. They are capable of accomplishing that due to their disloyal behaviors towards other characters.

“To be, or not to be: That is the question”(3.1.58). This is probably the most famous quote in all of Shakespearean literature and was uttered by the main character, Hamlet, of the play “Hamlet” written by Shakespeare. It demonstrates his instability and suicidal thoughts. Throughout the play he comes off as a very unpredictable and complex character. He makes many rash decisions, but at the same time often takes a lot of time to contemplate many of his choices. Through Hamlet’s language and voice, we can examine what type of character Shakespeare created. Hamlet acts differently towards people in contrast to his actual thoughts, which are projected through his soliloquies. Due to the insanity

In representing intense human relationships in Hamlet, Shakespeare reflects human ‎characteristics and so makes his play more accessible to audiences across the ages. In ‎particular, Shakespeare explores familial relationships such as Hamlet’s strong love ‎and loyalty to his late father, which manifests itself first as grief, then as a desire for ‎revenge. Hamlet’s method of revenge is contrasted with Laertes’ in order to ‎communicate the value of contemplation of rash action and to demonstrate the often ‎blinding nature of revenge that leads to devastating events. These profound and ‎complex relationships between Hamlet and his father and Hamlet and Laertes, ‎captivates audiences through the drama they provoke, and thus gives Hamlet an

One of the highly prominent parts of his word choices involve his careful manipulation of the way that he places certain comic relief. According to Alden, “Within Othello, the need of ‘relief’ is perhaps the greatest” (297) In addition to this, the way that Shakespeare tends to use the comical scenes can be best described as, “most used in tragedies which as least strongly moving to horror and despair.” (297) Several locations can be pointed out within Othello to show general humor in order to keep the audience interested, like “the witty sallies of Iago, notwithstanding the terrible import of that to which they were leading.” (Alden 294) However, there are times when “the distinctness of the interluding parts in their brevity or their closer connection with the main tragic action.” (Alden 293) Examples of this may be the “Drunkenness of Cassio (II.ii), as well as the duping of Roderigo…,(II and IV.ii)” (Alden 293).Slightly different, Hamlet is known to have “some of the most brilliant intellectual comedy to be found in Shakespeare,” (Alden 295) when Hamlet talks about his adversaries like Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Osric. Majority of the wording within the plays are made up of