Hamlet

 Shakespeare's Hamlet is another great example of human flaw. It is portrayed that some of the characters are greedy, revengeful, and prideful. When Hamlets father, King of Denmark, unexpectedly dies, the kings spirit comes to Hamlet and makes him aware that he was murdered by his wife, Gertrude, and his brother, Claudius. Hamlet becomes enraged and sets his sights on one thing; revenge. One may ask why the kings own brother and wife would betray him like this. The answer is simple; greed and lust. The two were having an affair and with the king out of the way they could be together with no one suspecting anything because the brother of the king would have to step in and take over the crown. Claudius would gain the power as well as the girl. Hamlet tries to make the king and queen confess their crime out of guilt. He starts acting like he has gone insane so that no one would suspect his plans of revenge. He creates a play in which the plot is a reenactment of the death of his father, hoping to "catch the conscience of the king (Shakespeare, 84)." Shakespeare introduces the infamous 'to be or not to be' soliloquy where it is stated that "thus conscience makes cowards of us all (Shakespeare, 87)." Claudius is careful to not give away to much, though Hamlet sees right through his charade, and to the guilt. Claudius catches on to Hamlets plan and convinces Laertes (Hamlets best friend) that the death of Ophelia (Laertes sister and Hamlets secret lover) and his father was caused by Hamlet. Claudius then gives Laertes permission to kill Hamlet claiming that "revenge should have no bounds (Shakespeare, 130)." In the end, they are all destroyed. Shakespeare is warning us that nothing good will come from revenge and that it will eventually destroy you if it isn't let go. I is a natural thing for someone to want to take revenge when they are wronged in some way, but that doesn't mean we should listen to the little voice telling us we must get even. Life isn't about everything being perfect. It is about learning to deal the cards handed to you and pushing through the storm. I think revenge is a huge flaw that all people have and that is why Shakespeare decided to make Hamlets major flaw one of a vengeful heart.


Picture Source:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/william-shakespeare/hamlet.htm


Sources:

Shakespeare, William. Act 2, Scene 2. Hamlet. Ed. Cedric Watts. Ware: Wordsworth Editions, 2002. 84. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Act 3, Scene 1. Hamlet. Ed. Cedric Watts. Ware: Wordsworth Editions, 2002. 86-87. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Act 4, Scene 7. Hamlet. Ed. Cedric Watts. Ware: Wordsworth Editions, 2002. 130. Print.

Human Flaw and Shakespeare

Human flaw is a part of everyday life. No one is perfect and Shakespeare made it a point to include a human flaw in all of his plays to show the imperfections of all humans and explain how they can take a toll if one is not careful. In his play, Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the want of power and ambition of Macbeth to destroy him. Macbeth became very greedy and once he had it in his mind that he would be the new king, he refused to stop at nothing to get it. Macbeth's ambition is what led to his down fall. his wife, Lady Macbeth, manipulated him into the first murder and from there everything just fell apart. once one lies or commits a certain crime, things start to unfold and one has to commit another crime or tell another lie to cover for the first and it becomes a pattern. Macbeth listened to his wife and became just as evil and greedy as she was. i believe Shakespeare wrote the play as a warning to his readers about how greed can destroy a person. Shakespeare really focuses on the fact that had Macbeth not listen to the three witches, he would still be alive and so would his wife. Macbeth single handily destroyed his life and all of his happiness through greed and ambition. He continues to listen to the opinion of others instead of what he knows is right and lets others lead him down the path that was never originally designed for him. I believe that Shakespeare was also trying to warn the readers of this. As human beings, everyone has a flaw and everyone wants to be excepted. There are some people out there that will be hoping for nothing more than to bring you down, and others that are just trying to lift you up. we all go to others for approval and acceptance and we listen to their advice in times of need. What one must always decide though, is what is the right path to travel? are you getting advice from someone trust worthy or someone who "look[s] like th'innocent flower, but be the serpant under't (Shakespeare, 19)" it is quite easy to get the two confused and fall right into the paths of the enemy and fall into our own fleshly ways. Shakespeare not only discusses this point in Macbeth, but also in a few other plays, where he warns the readers about humanly flaws.




Sources:

Shakespeare, William. Act 1, Scene 5. Macbeth. Ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. New York, NY: Modern Library, 2009. Print.

Picture Source:

http://sbfmedia.relationalhost.com/index.php?start=93&num=5&categ=6

Better Understandings

William Shakespeare is quite an inspiration to me. Shakespeare is my favorite poet/play write, and has been since I was young. I was recently reading over some of Shakespeare's work, and found myself really thinking about the messages that Shakespeare has presented us with. Shakespeare has put life messages into all of his plays and I think that is what has made him such a great poet. Shakespeare uses Irony and Tragedy to really communicate his messages to the reader. Shakespeare tends to focus on the human flaws and how if we aren't careful, they can over come us. Shakespeare, in not only my mind but a lot of other minds as well, was a sheer genius when it came to play writing. Yes, it is true that Shakespeare is no longer alive, but his poetry and plays have lived on. Today, 394 years after his death, schools are still teaching their students about him and people are still preforming his work. Shakespeare is a legend and lives on in the hearts and minds of his readers. Three of my favorite plays are all Shakespeare's work and they are all tragedies. I decided to create a blog of these three Shakespeare plays, discussing the human flaw, Irony, and the real message behind each play. I hope to show the works of Shakespeare for what they truly are and to help my readers obtain a better understanding of Shakespeare and the messages and truths he has put into his plays for the readers to discover.