#1

  Shakespeare's. The Merchant of Venice is set in a time of strong prejudice.  Shakespeare's play tells of the prejudice in Europe towards Jews during the Renaissance era. Europeans see the Jews as a sub-human race to be quarantined and mistrusted.  Jews are forced to distinguish themselves through their clothing and housing arrangements.  Often times they are spat upon in the streets.  They are forced to live as less than second class citizens.  Forced to suffer, men like Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, become bitter.  Shylock is the main Jewish character in the play.  Shylock is a man disliked by all. Shakespeare also uses Shylock as a point of sympathy for the Jewish race of his time period.  During conversation with a fellow Jew, Shylock speaks of what causes his bitterness in life, "He hath disgraced me and/ hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses,/ mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted/ my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine ene-/mies--and what's his reason? I am a Jew" (III.I.53-57).  Here Shylock expresses the life of the average Jewish man.  They are scorned by society.  Daily Shylock must suffer injustice at the hands of Christians because of his Jewish heritage.  He cannot fight back, rather he suffers continually.  No one speaks out for him because he is a Jew and it is expected that he should bear the injustice.  Shylock goes on to say, "Hath not/ a Jew eyes?  Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimen-/ sions, senses, affections, passions?.../ hurt with the same weapons, subject to/ the same diseases, healed by the same means,/ warmed and cooled by the same sum-/mer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed.../ If you poison us do we not die" (III.I. 57-65).  Shylock points out the similarities between Christians and Jews.  In essence both are human, because both are human, Shylock argues that there is no reason for preferential treatment for the Christian and hatred for the Jew.  Shylock ends his statement with, "And if you wrong us, shall/ we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will/ resemble you in that.  IF a Jew wrong a Christian,/ what is his humility? Revenge.  If a Christian wrong/ a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian/ example?  Why revenge" (III.I.66-70).  Again Shylock reiterates that Christians and Jews are the same in that they are human.  Both are motivated to vengeance when impassioned.  Because Jews are also human it is unfair to think that in the face of injustice they will not respond with the same cruelty meted upon them by Christians.  In regard to that view Shylock says, "The villainy you teach me I/ will execute, and it shall go hard" (III.I.70-71).  In essence Christians and Jews are the same in all forms of humanity.  Jews and Christians alike will avenge themselves when wronged.  It is unfair to believe that after the oppression Shylock has suffered at the hands of Christians like Antonio he will not strike back.  Although Shakespeare's depiction of Shylock's vengeful rage paints Jews as an angry people, Shakespeare does well in showing that Jews and Christians are all humans and feel the same emotion, and thus are both motivated towards revenge.

#9

        Hamlet is the story of the struggle between reason and impulsive passion.  Hamlet is a young man motivated by passion.  His father wrongly murdered by his uncle and mother incestuously married to his murdering uncle, provide the perfect motive for revenge.  Yet reason, which is a concept highly esteemed during Hamlet's time, are the obstruction to Hamlet avenging his father.  Hamlet's emotions constantly spur him to speak of how he will avenge his father by murdering his iniquitous uncle.  Seeing the activity of Fortinbras, Hamlet's peer, Hamlet is further spurred to take action.  What Hamlet needs is to take all of the passion and anger he feels about his father's wrongful murder and direct it into being proactive in seeking vengeance.  In order for this to happen Hamlet must ignore reason which always yields him excuses whether it be that his uncle is in the midst of repentance or the evidence of his uncle's crimes insubstantial.  In Act 5 Scene 2, Hamlet finally utilizes his passionate emotion.  Hamlet recognizes that,"And praised be rashness for it: let us know,/ Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well/ When our deep plots do pall" (V.II.7-9).  Here Hamlet says that rash action is sometimes a good thing, impulsive action is the perfect antidote to reason that produces stratagems that sometimes fail after being well thought out.  Rash action is necessary in Hamlet's life.  Reason served him well only after he allowed passion to overtake him.  Reason provided him with the "Mousetrap" plot, but it prevented him from killing his uncle afterward.  Passion motivated him to escape death at the hand of an ordinance from his uncle and passion allowed him to kill all who plotted against him.  Passion gave way to results, results were the things missing from Hamlet's life.

#8

  Shakespeare's Hamlet deals with issues surrounding life and death.  Hamlet is a young man stuck in a world that no longer makes sense after the death of his father.  He watches his mother cavort happily with a new husband only a few months after her first husband's death.  He sees his uncle, the new king of Denmark and husband to his mother, seem to benefit after killing his father.  The world is not what it seems.  These events bring Hamlet to question life and death.  Earlier in the story Hamlet talks of how death is an unexplored territory, though many have gone to it none have returned to tell of what it is really like.  Hamlet continues his questioning and inquiry into death just moments before the burial of Ophelia.  He watches a gravedigger dig up skulls that obstruct the path for Ophelia's grave.  He sees the decaying bones of noblemen, jester, and poor men, all in the same state of decomposition.  He is spurred to ask whether even Alexander the Great, one of the greatest rulers the world has ever seen, also met the same decomposition after death.  Hamlet is then brought to the realization, "Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander/ returneth to dust; the dust is earth.../Imperious Caesar, dead and and turned to clay.../ O, that that earth which kept the world in awe/ Should patch a wall't expel the (winter's) flaw" (V.I.216-223).  Hamlet realizes that all must must die, no matter how great they are.  In the end no matter the afterlife they are laid within the soil, their bones become dust.  No amount of greatness on earth distinguishes great men from poor men in death.  All become of the same earth, the same dust that they toiled in, be it in ways great or small.  This type of realization and understanding was typical of the humanist era.  Scholars began realizing that no matter their accomplishments on earth they would meet their end in dust.  Of dust they came and to dust they would return.  Shakespeare embodies the humanist questioning and cognizance in Hamlet's character.  People were seeing truth about the world.  On earth all men were buried into the ground and decayed no matter their status on earth.  Their only hope could be the afterlife in Heaven were they in touch with God, or damnation had they been out of communion.  Yet even these assurances were beginning to be questioned during the time period.

#7

  Hamlet's flaw is that he holds an abundance of passion, yet his abundant passion does not lead to action.  Hamlet's passionate emotions lead him into loquacious monologues and soliloquies, and yet there seems to be no follow up action.  This changes when Hamlet is given an example to follow.  On his way to England his path crosses with Young Fortinbras.  In Fortinbras he sees a man of action, a man fully motivated after his father's death.  After this encounter Hamlet realizes, "How all occasions do inform against me/ And spur my dull revenge.../I do not know/ Why yet I live to say "This thing's to do.../O, from this time forth/ My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth" (IV.V.34-69).  Here Hamlet sees the error of his actions up until that point.  Formerly Hamlet could be characterized as inactive.  One who speaks yet does not back his words with action; one full of passion, yet does not pour his passion into the necessary action.  Hamlet recognizes this flaw and is ready to change it.  Still Hamlet does not resolve to action.  He goes back to the conclusion of being filled with passionate emotion.  He says his thoughts will only be "bloody".  He does not say, my actions will be bloody.  Again Hamlet's flaw of inaction is displayed by Shakespeare.  Hamlet must overcome this spirit of inaction and turn his thoughts and words into bloody deeds if he wants to fulfill the charge his father's ghost has given him.

#6

       Repentance is a theme explored in Shakespeare's Hamlet.  The first instance of repentance is seen when King Claudius attempts to pray after feeling conviction at watching his sins played in Hamlet's The Mousetrap.  Claudius is drawn to repentance but finds that he cannot, "O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; / It hath the primal eldest curse upon't/ A brother's murder.  Pray can I not" (III.III.40-43).  King Claudius struggles with repentance in this scene.  He knows that his actions merit attrition.  He is aware that contriteness is the only way to redemption and relief from guilt after sin.  Yet in relation to Claudius's iniquity there is the question of whether or not his sin is forgivable.  Can mere repentance really save Claudius from the sulfurous flames of Hell?  This insecurity is what keeps Claudius from being able to repent and pray to God for forgiveness.  Claudius sees that the motives behind the murder of his brother do not justify it.  What he did was wicked.  Thus, it seems that mere repentance alone may not cure his soul.  This is where Young Hamlet becomes of importance.  If Hamlet were to kill King Claudius is still damned to Hell for the unnatural deed he committed, or would he gain entrance into Heaven depending on whether he repented or not.  In addition if King Claudius repents after committing such an atrocity, does God forgive him?  Claudius cannot even repent he is so overridden with guilt.  The afterlife was a major issue of the Renaissance period.  As the humanists found reason and rationality in the things of earth people questioned the existence of Heaven and Hell.  All of these issues are addressed in Claudius's struggle to repent and Young Hamlet's refusal to kill Claudius in the midst of prayer.  Hamlet wants to be sure that his father receives full retribution, and that means that he must be sure that Claudius is damned to Hell.

#5

       Young Hamlet lives in a time in which humanism and Christianity are the predominant schools of thought.  Humanism was a Renaissance way of thinking.  Although in most cases the humanists were Christians, often times their new discoveries went against the orthodoxy of Christianity.  Europeans began questioning the scholastic way of thinking, they realized that everything was not known, and many subjects were yet to be discovered.  Shakespeare captures the spirit of humanism in Hamlet's famous soliloquy, To Be or Not To Be.  The speech revolves around death, it questions existence and what comes after it.  One of the most important lines from the speech speaks frankly of the questioning of the day, "But the dread of something after death/ The undiscovered country from who's bourn/ No traveler returns, puzzles the will" (III.I.86-88).  Here Hamlet references exploration.  He speaks of death as if it is one of the New Worlds yet to be discovered.  The difference between this world and the Far East and the Americas that had been discovered is that many had traveled into it but none had returned.  Europeans knew that the new world could bring good or bad.  The same could be so for death, good or bad might be found in such a place.  At the same time many Europeans understood that death was not completely a known.  They had come to a time in which the church's scholarly writings had not always proven true.  In that case there was a possibility that Heaven or Hell may not exist and a totally different world came with death.  Hamlet's insecurity concerning this matter was classic for the time period.  It shows Shakespeare's awareness and genius about the changes being experienced in Europe.

#4

 Shakespeare's use of the soliloquy helps to demonstrate change in character.  In the case of young Hamlet, the soliloquy demonstrates a transformation to being proactive.  Up until now Hamlet has remained passive in his actions.  He chooses to play mad in order to play upon the conscious of his uncle.  After seeing the playing of an actor with great affectation Hamlet reexamines how he is handling vengeance.  He realizes that he is too passive in his actions, he must seize the time that he has and get to work on his plan of action.  It is at this moment that Hamlet's character becomes reminiscent of Iago from Othello, he becomes manipulative: "I'll have these players/ Play something like the murder of my father/ Before mine uncle.  I'll observe his looks;/ I'll tent him to the quick" (II.II.623-626).  Hamlet's words are just like those of Iago's.  Hamlet talks of his uncle and those around him as if they are chess pieces in a game.  He plans to move them around in order to find out the truth.   The difference between Hamlet and Iago is that Hamlet's stratagem of manipulation does not come out of a place of malice.  It comes from a want for justice.  He wants to avenge the wrongful murder of his father.  Secondly Hamlet has motive for what he plans to do where Iago did not.  Hamlet's motive is justified, he must make right what is wrong.  He plans to take a life for a life and if manipulation is the key then so be it.

#3

       Tone change is ubiquitous in literature.  Shakespeare's Hamlet is no exception.  Within a literary work subtle hints portray the change in tone and what it means.  In Hamlet the tone change is depicted through diction.  Up until act I scene 5, Hamlet always appeals to the heavens.  However after his encounter with the Ghost, and learning of how his father really died Hamlet begins to reference Hell: "O all you host of heaven!  O earth!  What else?/ And shall I couple hell?" (I.V.99-100).  Hamlet's references to Hell show a major transition in character.  Before meeting the ghost of his father Hamlet is a passive man.  He wants to kill himself over grief yet will not.  He wants to go to Wittenberg for his studies and get away from his mother and uncle, yet he does not because his will is made passive to that of others.  After meeting the ghost a fire for revenge is ignited within Hamlet.  His hatred for his mother and uncle are made sure.  Hamlet begins to speak with passion.  He makes oaths to himself to wipe away all fond memories of his father and only keep the memory of his ghost which tells him to avenge his father's death.  Hamlet's words appear to be words of action.  It seems that in the future he will avenge his father and right the wrongs his uncle committed, however, Hamlet does not make plans or show that he is fully committed to revenge.  This lack of action may foretell Hamlet's tragic flaw.   Hamlet's tragic flaw could possibly be his inaction.  All in all the there is an undeniable change in tone as Hamlet appeals to the underworld.  Hamlet's new passion could be the start of a long journey to action and revenge.

#2

  Shakespeare's Hamlet is written during a time in which women are seen as mere property.  Women are looked  at as ways to rise in status and bear children.  This is why it is surprising when Polonius, father to Ophelia says, "Marry I will teach you  think yourself a baby/ That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,/ Which are not sterling.  Tender yourself more dearly"  (I.III.114-116).  Polonius essentially tells Ophelia that she must value herself more highly and not succumb to the supple entreaties of Hamlet.  Hamlet is a prince, he is heir to the throne of Denmark.  During this time period it would be customary for any parent to want his daughter to be the object of the crowned prince's affections.  Yet Polonius does the exact object of what is expected.  His view of how his daughter should act is very modern.  He feels that she should prize herself and her love very highly.  She should make herself the diamond whose price is so high that not all can buy it.  Another way to look at the way to look at Polonius's words is that he is trying to protect his daughter.  Later on he says that she should hear Hamlet's word as those of a young man in temporary passion.  He does not want her to give her maidenhood and passions to a man who might just be a temporary lover or one who only wants her honor.   Polonius's words may also have a third meaning.  He may see a flaw within Hamlet that he does not want his daughter to be associated with.  If this is the case Polonius's statement makes complete sense for the time period.  No father would want to marry his daughter off to someone who might have a bad reputation.   Polonius's view speaks of the type of father he is.  He is protective of Ophelia and does not want harm to come to her.  He values her so much that no man, not even the future king of Denmark is good enough for her. This type of fatherly love is admirable.