Name : Ramiz M. Solanki
Course
Name : M.A ENGLISH
Semester : 1
Roll
No : 34
Paper
no : 01 (The Renaissance
Literature)
Batch : 2017-2019
Enrollment
No : 2069108420180051
Submitted
to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Dept of English Bhavnagar
University.
Subject
: Psych of Hamlet,
Gertrude and Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’
Introduction to playwright
William Shakespeare, also known as the
"Bard of Avon," is often called England's national poet and
considered the greatest dramatist of all time. Shakespeare's works are known
throughout the world, but his personal life is shrouded in mystery.
William Shakespeare (baptized on April 26, 1564
to April 23, 1616) was an English playwright, actor and poet also known as the
“Bard of Avon” and often called England’s national poet. Born in
Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he was an important member of the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical players from roughly 1594
onward. Written records give little indication of the way in which
Shakespeare’s professional life molded his artistry. All that can be deduced is
that, in his 20 years as a playwright, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the
complete range of human emotion and conflict.
Introduction to the play
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet is a tragedy written by William
Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599
and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge of
prince is called to wreak
upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King
Hamlet. Claudius had murdered his own brother and
seized the throne, also marrying his
deceased brother's widow.
Hamlet is Shakespeare's
longest play, and is considered among the most powerful and influential works
of world literature, with a story capable of "seemingly endless
retelling and adaptation by others".The play likely was one of
Shakespeare's most popular works during his lifetime and still ranks among
his most performed, topping the performance list of the Royal Shakespeare
Company and its predecessors in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1879.
The story of
Shakespeare's Hamlet was derived from the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum, as subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar François de
Belleforest. Shakespeare may also have drawn on an earlier
(hypothetical) Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet, though some scholars believe he himself wrote the Ur-Hamlet,
later revising it to create the version of Hamlet we now have.
He almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time. In the 400 years
since its inception, the role has been performed by numerous highly acclaimed
actors in each successive century.
psych of the
character of Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’
Hamlet
Hamlet is the Prince of
Denmark, and the protagonist. He is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King
Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius. From the beginning of the
play ‘Hamlet’ he seem in a deep
melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle’s scheming
and disgust for his mother’s sexuality.
Psych
of a character of Hamlet
Though
Hamlet is 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,
as when he stabs Polonius through a curtain without even checking to see who he
is. He seems to step very easily into the role of a madman, behaving
erratically and upsetting the other characters with his wild speech and mad state
of mind.
It is also important to
note that Hamlet is in deep melancholy because of the present state of affairs
in Denmark and even of his own family. He is extremely disappointed with his
mother for marrying his uncle so quickly, and he decline Ophelia, a woman to
whome once he has feelings of love, in the harshest terms. His words often
indicate his disgust with and distrust of women in general, like, when he meet
his mother after acted a play, a kind of vulgarity could clerly be find in his
nature. when he meet with ophilia at first in the play where he behave rudely
and with extreme wilderness. At a number of points in the play, he contemplates
his own death and even the option of suicide, like, in his first soliloquy
where we finds Hamlet wish to die if a suicide would not be the greatest sin
the Christianity.
Ophelia
Ophelia
is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes,
and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.
She is one of only two female characters in
the play, and as Shakespeare always wrote his female roles for men, and there
were always restrictions on them, they could not express their views freely. In
the case of Ophelia a very young and lovely woman, Shakespeare
would have been writing for a boy. The extent to which a boy could grasp, a
hero of the play could do anything to her or could behave as he wanted to her,
and the hero of the play ‘Hamlet’ is also doing that exact things to the woman
characters.
Psych of the character of Ophelia.
As Hamlet
has his own error of judgment, Ophelia has a different that she is confused
between the contradictory poles. Her father and brother believe that Hamlet would use her, and she could never be his wife
because Hamlet is belongs to royal family and she is from ordinary one. Her
brother and her father also advice to keep distance of be far away from Hamlet
because they believe that the love of royal person like Hamlet could be
artificial not real. Spite of her brother and father’s advice, her heart has
convinced her that Hamlet loved her, though he swears he never did. To her
father and brother, Ophelia is the eternal virgin, the vessel of morality whose
purpose is to be a dutiful wife and steadfast mother. To Hamlet, she is just a
sexual object, a corrupt and insidious lover. With no mother to guide her, she
has no way of deciphering the contradictory expectations.
The psych
of the character of Ophelia is that she has love for Hamlet despite that she is
not aware about that whether Hamlet has such emotional feelings for her or not,
she is convinced by her own self that Hamlet loves her, which is not true at
all. the psych of Ophelia goes to its extent when she commits suicide after her
father’s death in the state of madness. A question can be arise in our mind
that Is Ophelia driven mad by her love for Hamlet, or is she the victim of a
society that has created impossible expectations for its women?
Gertrude
Gertrude
is the queen of Denmark, firstly wife of king Hamlet and then wife of king
Claudius and a mother of prince Hamlet. Although Gertrude is a central
character in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ she is enigmatic. Gertrude is a most
mysterious character of Shakespeare’s main characters. Unlike Hamlet, Gertrude
has no soliloquies reflecting on her and her actions, though we can observe her
character through what others say about her rather what she says.
Psych of the character of Gertrude.
We cannot
say that Gertrude has such psychological problem with herself or with other
characters unlike Hamlet and Ophelia of ‘Hamlet’, because we can’t find any
soloiquie by which we get the idea about her nature. But there such questions
related to her behavior to her son Hamlet and about her mysterious nature can
be arise definitely in our mind. At many point in the play we can find Gertrude
powerless it is the main problem with character of Gertrude that she is in
power, she is the queen of whole Denmark but seem powerless that she has not
courage to investigate about Hamlet’s doubt on Claudius, she seems do much
favor to Claudius rather to Hamlet in many matters.
The most haunting questions about Gertrude's
character revolve around whether she knows that Claudius is a criminal. Is she
merely a dependent woman who needs to live through her man? Is she a conniving
temptress who used her power to conspire with Claudius to kill King Hamlet and
usurp Prince Hamlet's ascendancy? One question is also that why she marry to
Claudius too earlier where a people who came funeral of king Hamlet seems a
came to enjoy a party of marriage. It is also the question that is she really
love Claudius or she has greed for power and always wanted to be the Queen of
Denmark, always wanted to be near to the power(King Claudius).
Conclusion
So, after analyze the character of Prince Hamlet, Gertrude
and Ophelia, all have however such kind of psych which leads them to their
tragic end, eitther it the error of judgment of Hamlet or it is the vain love
of Ophelia for Hamlet and Gertrude’s powerlessness to the King
Claudius(power).
Work Cited
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