Custom Term Papers: The Character of Hamlet -- GCSE English Literature

The Character of Hamlet Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar in Hamlet A Man Who Thinks Before He Acts explain the popularity of the protagonist of Shakespeares Hamlet Much of the delight of modern readers, of course, comes from the study of the characters of the principal figures in the play, for Shakespeare has presented them in three-dimensional vividness. We feel that they are breathing beings with problems that are perennially human. If a modern man is not called upon, as Hamlet was, to avenge a murdered father, he nevertheless must hardiness crises in his own life that remind him of Hamlets dilemma . . .. (62) This essay provide delve into the character of the hero as it develops through the drama, and will analyze the more salient features. Marchette Chute in The Story Told in Hamlet describes the opening scene of the drama, and what action transpires prior to this scene The story opens in the cold and dark of a winter night in Denmark, while the guard is being chang ed on the battlements of the royal castle of Elsinore. For two nights in succession, scantily as the bell strikes the hour of one, a ghost has appeared on the battlements, a figure dressed in complete armor and with a face the like that of the dead king of Denmark, Hamlets father. A young man named Horatio, who is a school friend of Hamlet, has been told of the apparition and cannot believe it, and one of the officers has brought him there in the night so that he can see it for himself. The hour comes, and the ghost walks. The awed Horatio tries to speak to it but it stalks away, leaving the three men to wonder wherefore the buried king has come back to haunt the land. . . . Whatever the message is that has wakened t... ... of Delaware Press, 1992. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html West, Rebecca. A Court and World septic by the Disease of Corruption. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT Yale University Press, 1957. Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. Shakespeare. Literature of the Western World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992. Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. Hamlet A Man Who Thinks Before He Acts. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. N. p. Pocket Books, 1958.