The theme of Power in William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a driving force in the play. It initiates a chain of events, which begins with Claudius' thirst for power. From there it sprouts a vine of corruption and then leads to the corruption of morality, betrayal, revenge, and madness.
Act 5 Scene 2 - The tragic climax
As they fight, Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine that Claudius had intended for Hamlet and dies.
One can name them as themes but it should be remembered that all each Hamlet theme interacts and resounds with all the others. Here are brief accounts of a selection of the major Hamlet themes of revenge, corruption; religion, politics, appearance and reality, and women.
In fact, Hamlet's “To be or not to be” speech is the best-known soliloquy in the world.
The "To be or not to be" soliloquy in Shakespeare's Hamlet is one of the most famous passages in English literature, and its opening line, "To be, or not to be, that is the question," is one of the most quoted lines in modern English.
Hamlet reveals how ashamed he feels for being too cowardly to do anything to get justice for his father. This quote from the soliloquy allows the readers to understand the emotions he is going through that eventually inspires him to finally do something about the information he received from the ghost.
In Hamlet love can be passionate and reckless or true and enduring. However, in either case, love is a powerful, complex force that leads to violence, heartbreak, and tragedy. The passionate love of Gertrude leads her to marry her husband's murderer.
Ophelia's character is important in the story because she represents femininity, and Hamlet is able to act out his aggression towards his mother on Ophelia. Although she is really a naïve and innocent girl, Hamlet believes all women are manipulative and use their feminine nature to take advantage of men.
Hamlet reconfirms his sincere love for Ophelia at her death bed. He calls her “Fair Ophelia” (Act 5, scene 1, 228), implying he sees her as pure and virtuous. A real madness replaces a fake one. Hamlet proclaims that “forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum.”
Shakespeare does that through the soliloquy – the character alone on stage talking to himself, opening up his mind – and Hamlet just does that more than any other character. So there is that psychological complexity. That's one reason the play is revered.
Hamlet is a revenge tragedy. It features the elements of a tragedy common in his time such as a murder, ghosts, and someone seeking revenge, but it also has elements of a tragedy such as the main character having a fatal flaw.
Hamlet is tragedy because the want of poetic justice, for them and the hero, keeps it a painful mystery; and because the chain of cause and effect prevents it equally from being 'Absurd' drama, as does Hamlet's final acceptance of Providence at work in it to 'shape our ends'.
In Hamlet he seems to have wished to exemplify the moral necessity of a due balance between our attention to the objects of our senses, and our meditation on the workings of our minds,—an equilibrium between the real and the imaginary worlds.
Three of the main types of power that Shakespeare explores are the power of love, the power of magic and illusion and the power of a master over his slave. He presents these forms of power in a number of ways. In 'The Tempest' Prospero appears to hold the majority of the power.
Answer: The theme of power is often portrayed in popular and contemporary works of fiction because it resonates with readers. Power is a relatable subject, as it is something that everyone has experienced in some capacity in their lives. Power can be used to explore themes such as control, ambition, and relationships.
Women were treated as a difference with men in Hamlet and also the male cast views the female characters as inferior. In most cases, they were limited to express their feeling about many things. They don't know how they can express their feeling toward the public.
Hamlet turns revenge tragedy on its head by taking away the usual obstacles to the hero's vengeance. In a typical revenge tragedy like The Spanish Tragedy, the hero faces two obstacles: to find out who the murderers are, and then to get himself into a position where he can kill them.
Shakespeare liked to use flowers and plants as images to illustrate his ideas. Ophelia uses flowers as symbols of her deep sorrow and grief. She is very upset because her father, Polonius, has just been killed by Hamlet.
The first and central occurrence of corruption in Hamlet is the murder of King Hamlet by Claudius and his subsequent usurpation of the Danish. He also marries Gertude, King Hamlet's former wife. From an Elizabethan perspective, such a marriage would have been considered adultery and incest.
Ophelia is Polonius' daughter and Laertes' sister. Hamlet has been in love with her for a while before the play starts and has given her several gifts during their courtship until her father warns her away from him and tells her not to see him anymore.
Love is one of the most powerful themes in Hamlet, but a superior force - REVENGE, drives Hamlet's love. Revenge of his father's murder. Hamlet is confused and melancholic over the fact that his mother married his own uncle and so quickly after his father's death.
In Hamlet, dramatic irony is created when only Hamlet and the readers learn the truth about the King's death. His pretense of being mad also results in this type of irony. He fakes it for everyone, and other characters believe in his insanity.