Shakespeares Hamlet Through a Historical Lens free essay sample

Writing is largely the product of an author’s desire to say something, to tell a story, or to simply entertain an audience; but it is also a product of the time in history in which it was written, and thus shaped by the standards, expectations, attitudes, limitations, and events of the day. One could read Hamlet merely as a revenge tragedy: Hamlet’s father, the king of Denmark, is killed by his brother, Claudius, who, as a result, arrogates not only the crown, but also his departed brother’s wife, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. The ghost of the deceased king reveals the circumstances of his death to his son, leaving Hamlet with a sense of obligation to avenge the murder, the usurpation, and the adultery. In the end, Hamlet does exact revenge by killing Claudius. This leads many to view Hamlet primarily as a revenge tragedy, but it is actually more enlightening as a topical history; in fact, J. We will write a custom essay sample on Shakespeares Hamlet Through a Historical Lens or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Dover Wilson, a scholar of Renaissance drama, particularly on the work of William Shakespeare, regards Hamlet as â€Å"the most topical play in the whole corpus† (Rowse 188). Hamlet markedly relates to the era in which it was written. William Shakespeare was born in England in 1564, just eight years after Queen Elizabeth I came into power. Queen Elizabeth’s reign lasted for 45 years, a period in which Shakespeare wrote the vast majority of his plays, including Hamlet, which was written sometime between 1599 and 1602. This was a time of great political instability and turmoil for Queen Elizabeth due to a failed assassination attempt, a failed uprising, and a failed invasion attempt. Shakespeare’s plays were written not only to entertain the lowly masses, but also to appease royal censorship and appease the queen. The protagonist in Hamlet is portrayed as a diplomat and a lover rather than a fighter, possibly to please Elizabeth, who embodied these new modern qualities. Furthermore, Shakespeare may have included the murder of a monarch, a country in crisis, and the threat of invasion in Hamlet in an attempt to arouse sympathy and provide a storyline that would truly resonate with audience members. The Elizabethan era in England was a time of dramatic change, which is exemplified in Hamlet. â€Å"During Elizabeth’s reign, England experienced a cultural renaissance† (Spielvogel 373). The mindset of the English was changing from medieval, feudal ideas to a more modern, diplomatic way of thinking, which involved a craving for knowledge and proof. Hamlet personifies this revolution by seeking proof of Claudius’s guilt rather than opting for the feudal option of immediate revenge. The shift in thinking in Elizabethan England was also religious, which is represented in Hamlet as well. â€Å"In Elizabethan times, there was a different way of looking at life. People, including Shakespeare believed in a Divine Order, or Great Chain of Being. The Divine Order was the belief that everything in the universe has a specific place and rank in order of their perceived importance and spiritual nature† (Mularski). This natural order was extremely important to Elizabethans. This logic could be used to explain the chaos that ensues as a result of the king’s murder. In the natural order within society, a man such as Old Hamlet was considered closer to god since he was of noble birth, and the assassination of a man of such rank upsets the universe’s balance. It is even noted by Marcellus that â€Å"something is rotten in the state of Denmark† after Hamlet follows the ghost of his father (1. 5. 100). During the creation of Hamlet, a conflict between Elizabethan playwrights, known as the War of the Theatres, was taking place. It covered a period when one of the playwrights was writing for a children’s company of players and the other was writing for another, rival group. The conflict was certainly sharpened by the intense competition that existed between children’s companies at the time. This is a prime example of how knowledge of the historical context of Hamlet can enrich the reading experience and give a reader insights into certain passages that other readers may not have. In this case, a conversation in Hamlet between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern alludes to the War of the Theaters: Rosencrantz: Faith, there has been much to do on both sides; and the nation holds it no sin to tar them to controversy: there was, for a while, no money bid for argument unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in the question.

The Silver Chair essays

The Silver Chair essays Imagine that you are in a different world from earth, time is different, and all living things around you can talk. While in this world you will go through the most amazing adventure that you could ever think of. That is just what happens in the novel The Silver Chair. It is an action packed, and keeps you wanting to read the whole way through. The author of the novel The Silver Chair is C.S. Lewis. The most well known novels that C.S. Lewis has written are The Chronicles of Narnia, which is made up of seven novels. This story takes place in the present time. The adventure in Narnia that these children go on takes about 12 days, however on earth it is like you had never left as time is different in Narnia. For example, if you left to Narnia while shooting hoops you would return to earth at that exact day and time when you were shooting hoops. This story starts out on a dull autumn day at a special school called the Experiment house. As the story goes on they are transferred to a knew magical world called Narnia. While in Narnia the children travel around a lot and go to several different places, they include: The Wild Waste Lands of the North, The Hill of the Strange Trenches, The House of Harfang, and The Underland. The main characters of this story are: Jill Pole, Eustace Scrubb, Puddleglum, Aslan, Prince Rilian, and The Queen of Underland. Jill Pole is a wimpy girl that gets picked on at the Experiment House who meets a unpopular boy named Eustace Scrubb, and the two of them travel to the magical world Narnia. Here they meet Aslan, Lord of the whole wood, and son of the Emperor across the sea. Aslan is the Lion, the Great Lion. He comes and goes as and when he pleases; he comes to help guide Jill and Eustace on their great adventure. They also get help on their travels from a Marsh-wiggle named Puddleglum, who helps guide the children as they do not know this knew world well. Prince Rilian disappeared when r...

The Death Penalty is not an Effective Punishment Essay - 9

The Death Penalty is not an Effective Punishment - Essay Example Counterargument to refute the first argument: the claim that death penalty deters crime is a mere presumption, with no scientific proof. A number of studies have shown that death penalty does not deter crime. Hence, the first argument is incorrect. Counterargument in refutation of the second argument: death penalty does not ensure justice for the offended party because by killing the offender, the offended party does not get back what they were deprived of. Again, death penalty may be not the gravest form of punishment. Third argument by the proponents of my view: death penalty is an effective form of punishment because it prevents overpopulation of prisons; death penalty also prevents the criminals of grave crimes from committing crimes while in prison, or breaking from the prison to commit crimes outside the prison. Counterargument to refute the third argument: although jailing of criminals guilty of grave crimes may provide the criminals with some possibilities of committing more crimes in future, with proper preventive measures in place, however, the possibilities of committing more crimes by the prisoners will be quite minimal. Death penalty is undoubtedly one of the oldest and most common forms of punishment meted out against heinous and grave crimes in many cultures and world civilizations. In USA, for instance, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the year 2009 alone, 52 inmates were executed. The advocates of death punishment also contend that death punishment is the most effective form.

Plate tectonics and geodynamics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Plate tectonics and geodynamics - Essay Example Therefore, such components will melt at different temperatures and conditions, a process known as partial melting (Morgan & Chen, 1993 p6285). The process of partial melting takes place in the mantle (Best, 2009 p33). The mantle has four basic components; oxygen, silicon, magnesium and iron which have low melting points. Additionally, the upper mantle, which is below the ridges of the ocean, melts, since it comprises of the lithosphere that is brittle and fractures easily under low temperatures (Griffith, 1998 p67). Under normal circumstance, the mantle is formed of a solid rock substance called the peridotite (Annen & Zellmer, 2008 53). Partial melting of the peridotite is caused by the heat generated when rocks slide against one another on the base of the lithosphere, causing frictional kinetic energy at the subduction points (Sinton & Detrick, 1992 p198). This generates heat, which causes some elements of the peridotite with a low melting point to melt (Morgan & Chen, 1993 p6289). Consequently, partial melting occurs on the upper mantle, where the peridotite is melt to form a semi-solid substance called the magma (Best, 2009 p30). When the peridotite is melt, the semi-liquid substance formed is less dense than the materials above it. This is because, at such high temperatures, the magma is in a liquid state, which has a low density compared to the solid materials that are on the earth’s crust (Best, 2009 p28). The less dense magma looks for ways to escape upwards and settle above the solid components above it, due to its low viscosity and low density. Therefore, the hotter liquid substance will rise carrying its temperature with it, until it reaches a point where the temperatures are low. Here, its density is increased through solidification (Griffith, 1998 p70). Oceanic ridges tend to move from one another, creating a channel through which the magma can rise from the mantel of the earth to the earth’s crust

Treaty of Versailles,Communism in Russia,Fascism,World War II,Cold War Case Study

Treaty of Versailles,Communism in Russia,Fascism,World War II,Cold War - Case Study Example As the paper declares communism in Russia came into place following the abolition of Serfdom in the 1861, Serfdom was a kind of slavery in which all the peasant were tied to a piece of farmland. The peasant are allowed to use the farm for the purpose of providing for the families and themselves but at the same time are forced to comply with their masters needs and requirements in all manner of sense which included military services. Abolition of Serfdom let to the mass migration into the cities leading to the neglect of agricultural as many people moved to the city. In the cities, they got involved in working for the factories during the industrial revolution in Russia. This group of people was exploited in terms f long working hors with law wages since they had formal association. This led to poverty epidemic and people became open to the communism idea, the situation was also accentuated by the fact that Russia had lost to Japan in 1905 in the Russo-Japanese war, the two situations made it possible for Russia to accept communism as a way of governance.This study outlines that  Fascism was a way of believing that one race is better than the other is and these were manifested in Italy and Germany. In this regard, fascism in Italy and Germany were characterized with the following beliefs.  The impact of fascism in the two countries led to the execution of masses that were considered lesser race.

Understanding Difference Diversity to Develop Empathy

Understanding Difference Diversity to Develop Empathy Phil Makins 13th December 2016 Session 8 The topic of discussion today was Understanding Difference Diversity to Develop Empathic Understanding. We explored why an understanding of difference and diversity was important when using counselling skills in helping roles. We then went on to broaden that understanding and consider difference and diversity within our own personal relationships and in the wider social context to understand how this impacts on counselling. The reason difference and diversity is an important part of counselling training is to recognise that we are not all the same, everybody on the planet is a unique individual, even identical twins will have many differences in the way they feel and respond to different things. Whilst researching this topic I have come to realise that it is more complex than I first thought and goes far beyond the common diversity issues of gender, race, religion, and disability. Diversity runs much deeper than this and also comprises diversity of personalities, experiences, beliefs, and reactions to events. It is important to recognise such diversity if empathic understanding is to be provided to clients, but what is empathic understanding? And why is it so necessary? Empathic Understanding is one of the three core conditions of Person-Centred Counselling, the other two being Unconditional Positive Regard and Congruence. To be empathic has been described as seeing the world through the eyes of another person or walking in another persons shoes. It means that the counsellor accurately understands the clients thoughts, feelings, and meanings from the clients own perspective. When the counsellor perceives what the world is like from the clients point of view, it demonstrates not only that that view has value, but also that the client is being accepted. Could I show empathic understanding to a person or group whom I harbour stereotypical views or prejudice about? I doubt that I could be truly empathic in that situation so I would either change my mindset and try to remove the prejudice or take advice from my clinical supervisor. Further to this, empathy has often been confused with sympathy but they are very different. Empathy is something that is don e with someone whereas sympathy is a reaction to someone. Sympathy suggests feeling sorry for someone and that in turn suggests some sort of power imbalance, i.e. the person sympathising is in a greater position of power. Empathy is about being on an equal footing by entering into the clients world to try and understand and also communicating with each other to clarify and confirm that understanding. Without recognising diversity, it would be all too easy to impose our own thoughts and feelings onto a client, especially if the client is experiencing something we have experienced as It is human nature to look for similarities in other people and to identify with them. As counsellors, therefore, the challenge comes in identifying difference and being ok with it working with it, rather than being threatened by it. The counsellor who cant do this is merely placing more conditions of worth onto the client, which is incompatible with another one of the Core Conditions mentioned, namely, Unconditional Positive Regard. I started to think about my own beliefs and prejudices, do I have any prejudices? Surely not, I am a trainee counsellor and I work in a bank! But whenever I hear a Birmingham accent I`m afraid I do think that the person talking must be stupid. When I hear a Liverpool accent I think of youths, hoodies and joyriding. A quick bit of internet research shows that the three most disliked accents in the United Kingdom are Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow in that order with Birmingham being the most disliked. I know that for me to think all people from Birmingham are stupid and all youths from Liverpool are criminals is incorrect and wrong but our prejudices are deeply ingrained in us and difficult to remove as they have probably been instilled in us over a period of many years, possibly (probably) since childhood. So, how do we start to work towards removing our own prejudices? I should imagine one good way would be to Increase your exposure to or contact with those who belong to the groups toward which you have learned some prejudicial stereotypes. Misconceptions remain effective only when you avoid contact with those about whom you have misconceptions but, unfortunately, I do not know anyone from Birmingham or Liverpool. However, whenever I have prejudicial thoughts now I try and examine these thoughts and analyse why I am thinking them. I normally find that there is no real reason for my generalisation or prejudice and try and tell myself to remove the prejudicial feelings. If I keep reinforcing this I am sure it will start to work. We all experience things in a different way. A situation that could upset or annoy me could be viewed completely differently by another person. An example of this could be when theres a traffic accident and the police ask for witnesses to come forward and describe what happened. They like to have as many witness statements as possible so that they can build up enough evidence to give them a broader, more realistic version of events. In a traffic accident, there will be many different perspectives on what happened. The driver of one car will have one view, another driver or a passenger will have yet another view. Each onlooker who witnessed the accident will have a slightly different perspective, depending on where they were, how far away they were, how good a view they had, what else was going on, how much danger they felt they were in, how the accident affected them, what the accident means to them etc. Its the same principle with everything each situation, event or conversation means something different to all those involved, and also to those not involved. We give different meanings, according to our belief systems, and how we are affected by the event.

The Falkland Islands Conflict :: Falkland Islands War Independence Essays

No one really knows who discovered the Falkland Islands. Nearly every British historian will insist that the English explorer John Davis discovered the islands in 1592(1) while Argentineans typically credit Vespucci, Magellan, or Sebald de Weert. (2) The events of January 2, 1883 are not in dispute, however. On this date, James Onslow, captain of the HMS Clio, dropped anchor just off the Falklands. The next day he went ashore and raised the British flag. (3) This action infuriated the Argentines, who had taken control of the Falklands upon receiving independence from Spain in 1816. With his imperialistic seizure of the islands, Onslow began a sequence of events that would end nearly 150 years later in war. Shortly after the invasion, the Argentine government set out four arguments in favour of their ownership of the Falklands: 1. Argentina ruled all land in the region formerly held by Spain. 2. Spain had purchased the islands from France. 3. Britain had abandoned its claim to the Falklands in a â€Å"secret† 1771 agreement. 4. Britain had abandoned its settlement in West Falkland in 1774.(4) No matter how well formed these arguments may have been, they fell on deaf ears in Britain. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, simply asserted that the Falklands had been British since the initial claim of sovereignty in 1765. (5) Although Argentina remained in a state of official protest, few things changed over the next 132 years. The issue was finally brought to the forefront in 1965 when the United Nations passed Resolution 2065, which called upon Britain and Argentina to come to an agreement on the issue with reasonable speed. (6) With this resolution began what came to be called the â€Å"Seventeen Year War† between the two nations. In March 1967 Britain agreed that it might be possible to cede sovereignty of the Falklands to Argentina, as long as the islanders agreed. (7) While the Argentines may have viewed this as a major concession, Britain had really given up very little. The Falkland islanders were quite resolute in their desire to remain subjects of the Queen.