Hamlets Psychological Aspect Essay Example for Free

Hamlets Psychological Aspect Essay I decided to do this research work because I have enjoyed a lot reading this play: Hamlet. The inner motivations and psyche of this character have captured my attention. Therefore, the aim of this research is to depict Hamlet’s attitudes during the play. I will try to approach to his real feelings on life and death taking into consideration what critics and researchers have said about Hamlet. In order to clarify Hamlet’s personality and behaviour, I will provide some aspects of the historical context in which Shakespeare was inspired to write this play, and a brief summary of it to take into account the plot. Finally, I will make a conclusion in which I will try to summarise the most important impressions of this research. Historical Context of the play Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in the last years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, who had been the queen of England more than forty years. As she had no children the question of who would succeed her was a situation that provoked anxiety at that time. Due to this fact, researchers agree that many of Shakespeare’s plays from this period concern transfers of power from one monarch to the next. Another important issue dealt with in his plays is the general sense of anxiety, fear, uncertainty, betrayal and revenge. For instance, Hamlet displays all the themes mentioned above. Shakespeare was able to sum up the most impotant values of the Renaissance. Cultural phenomenon that began in the fifteenth-century and proclaimed the humanism: a new thought that revalued the social and popular aspect of life. People who belonged to the Renaissance period claimed that human beings lived in a world of appearances, in which they tried to hide their realities, that is to say, their deepest desires and what they actually were. Hamlet had to face one of the most difficult realities: injustice. A task that presents a dilemma to him: â€Å"to be or not to be†. While pointing out questions that cannot be answered, the play as a whole chiefly demonstrates the difficulty of knowing the truth about other people: who are guilty or innocent, which their motivations and feelings are. Brief Summary of the play Shakespeare begins the play with the death of the King of Denmark and the possession of the throne by the King’s brother Claudius, instead of the King’s son, that is to say the prince Hamlet, who was supposed to be the next in line. What is more, the new king Claudius suddenly married Gertrude, the dead king’s widow. Thus, the prince Hamlet got depressed by the unexpected situation. One night, Hamlet’s father appears as a ghost to tell Hamlet that he had been murdered by his own brother Claudius, that is to say, Hamlet ´s uncle. In his anger, Hamlet decides to fulfill his father’s request, which is to avenge his death. In order to confirm what the ghost has said, Hamlet organizes a play in which he represents the assessination scene. While the play is being performed, Claudius stands up and goes out feeling guilty. At the moment, Hamlet confirms the truth and discusses the situation with his mother. As Hamlet notices that someone is spying on them behind the curtains, he stabs his sword without checking who this person is. As a result, he kills Polonius, Claudiuss chief councillor. When Ophelia, Polonius ´s daughter, is informed about her fathers death she reacts with madness and eventually falls in a stream and drowns. After that, Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, is told that Hamlet is involved in Polonius’s death and Ophelia’s madness. Therefore, he wants to avenge his father’s and sister’s death trying to eliminate Hamlet. As Claudius promised Laertes to help him with the revenge, they plan to kill Hamlet as if by accident with a poisoned sword in a fencing match. Claudius also plans to offer Hamlet a poisoned drink during the fight. When the fencing contest begins, Hamlet’s mother Gertrude drinks the poisoned drink before Caludius can stop her and she dies. Hamlet turns away and Laertes wounds him with the poisoned sword, but Hamlet goes on fighting. During the struggle, they exchange swords and Hamlet wounds Laertes, who confesses the plan telling Hamlet that he is also sure to die from the effect of the poison. After hearing the truth, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink the poison, too. Finally, while Hamlet is dying by the effect of the poison, he orders one of his friends called Horatio to tell the terrible story of the happening to everyone.

Fences as Metaphor in Fences by August Wilson Essay -- essays research

As with most works of literature, the title Fences is more than just a title. It could be initially noted that there is only one physical fence being built by the characters onstage, but what are more important are the ideas that are being kept inside and outside of the fences that are being built by Troy and some of the other characters in Fences. The fence building becomes quite figurative, as Troy tries to fence in his own desires and infidelities. Through this act of trying to contain his desires and hypocrisies one might say, Troy finds himself fenced in, caught between his pragmatic and illusory ideals. On the one side of the fence, Troy creates illusions and embellishments on the truth, talking about how he wrestled with death, his encounters with the devil, later confronting the d...

Rita Dove

The poet that I have chosen to do is Rita Dove. In her newest collection of poems, Sonata Mulattica, there were many to choose from. However the two that I wanted to look deeper into were Exit and Golden Oldie. In both poems she is able to convey strong emotions in the characters she described. Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio. Her father, Ray A. Dove, was a chemist, and a pioneer of integration in American industry. Both of her parents encouraged persistent study and wide reading. From an early age, Rita loved poetry and music. She played cello in her high school orchestra, and led her high school's majorette squad. As one of the most outstanding high school graduates of her year, she was invited to the White House as a Presidential Scholar. At Miami University in Ohio, she began to pursue writing seriously. After graduating summa cum laude with a degree in English in 1973, she won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Germany for two years at the University of Tubingen. She then joined the famous Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, receiving her Masters' Degree in 1977. At Iowa, she met another Fulbright scholar, a young writer from Germany named Fred Viebahn. They were married in 1979. Their daughter Aviva was born in 1983. From 1981 to 1989, Rita Dove taught creative writing at Arizona State University. Appearances in magazines and anthologies had won national acclaim for Rita Dove before she published her first poetry collection, The Yellow House on the Corner in 1980. It was followed by Museum (1983) and Thomas and Beulah, (1986) a collection of interrelated poems loosely based on the life of her grandparents. Thomas and Beulah won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In 1993, Rita Dove was appointed to a two-year term as Poet Laureate of the United States and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She was the youngest person, and the first African-American, to receive this highest official honor in American letters. In the fall of 1994, she read her poem, Lady Freedom Among Us, at the ceremony commemorating the 200th anniversary of the U. S. Capitol. Other publications by Rita Dove include a book of short stories, Fifth Sunday, the poetry collections Grace Notes, Selected Poems and Mother Love, and the novel Through the Ivory Gate. Her verse drama, The Darker Face of the Earth had its world premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the 1986. Another production of the play appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D. C. , in 1997. Dove has brought her poetry to television audiences through her appearances on CNN and NBC's Today Show. Public Broadcasting has devoted an hour-long prime time special to her life and work. She has shared television stages with Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers and Big Bird. On radio, she has hosted a National Public Radio special on Billie Holliday, and has been a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. She joined former President Jimmy Carter top welcome an unprecedented gathering of Nobel Laureates in Literature to Atlanta, Georgia for a Cultural Olympiad held in conjunction with the 1996 Olympic Games. That same year, a symphonic work for orchestra and narrator — â€Å"Umoja — Each One of Us Counts,† — was performed at Atlanta's Symphony Hall with Rita Dove's text performed by former Mayor and U. N. Ambassador Andrew Young. Dove's lifelong interest in music has taken other forms. She has provided text for works by composers Tania Leon, Bruce Dolphe and Alvin Singleton. Her song cycle Seven for Luck, with music by John Williams, was featured on a PBS television special with the Boston Symphony. In 2009, she published Sonata Mulattica, a book-length cycle of poems telling the story of the 19th century African-European violinist George PolgreenBridgetower and his turbulent friendship with Ludwig van Beethoven. Rita Dove is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she lives with her husband, the German author Fred Viebahn. They have one daughter. In her spare time, she studies classical voice and practices the viola da gamba, a 17th century forerunner of the modern cello. Now that a little more about her life is understood it is time to examine the poems themselves. In Golden Oldie Dove tells a narrative about her getting home. The emotions in this poem are clearly evident, and show that the speaker is confused about her life. The first thing I noticed was a irregular rhyming scheme. Often times poetry follows certain patterns, but in this case there is none. The words that rhyme are: swaying and playing, and sentiment and lament. Also, the words â€Å"alive† and â€Å"live by† are very similar sounding. Thus by having some things rhyme, in an irregular manner she shows that there is some consistency within randomness. This is similar to the girls life – very confusing. Moreover, her word choice is quite important in the poem. For instance, swaying is a specific choice because it has connotations of being lost or indifferent. Later on she reaffirms this thought by comparing herself in a simile to a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands. The scenario she compares herself to is somewhat humorous to think about, because the pianist is basically completely helpless. Obviously the feat described is quite confusing. In the next few lines she describes the song playing on the radio in her car. It is being sung by a young girl who, in her opinion is dying to feel alive. Dying to feel alive is a pretty intense statement to make. It seems that to make such a drastic statement she may be feeling that same issue. It continues to say â€Å"to discover a pain majestic enough to live by. † This line is very interesting because most people don’t require a pain to live. Rather they try to avoid pain. But it appears that the girl singing, and possibly the author, want to feel something rather than nothing at all. She was getting very intimate with the song, as proven by her turning off the air conditioning, despite the hot temperatures. Also, she leaned back as if to block out everything else but what she heard. The line in the song so closely paid attention to is described as a lament. A lament is described as a way to express sadness, grief, or sorrow. Then, upon hearing the melancholy statement, the speaker says she greedily took in without a clue who my lover might be. This was the most confusing part of the poem to me. At first I didn’t understand how she could greedily take something in, when there was no actual object to get. However, it appears that she is hoarding the idea of having a lover who wants to know where their love went. Thus, it leads me to believe that she is in search of love when she concludes with â€Å"or where to start looking. † Searching for love can be really confusing. Therefore a theme statement for the overall meaning of the poem can be derived: Often times human beings can be very confused in their emotions. Sometimes they can find understanding in other confusing things because it is easy to relate to. The second poem by Rita Dove that I analyzed was Exit. In this case the author conveys that the emotion being felt by the speaker is anxious hopefulness. It is written from the speakers perspective about the reader, which I thought was very interesting. It's about â€Å"you†, the reader, who is going somewhere. There is no rhyming scheme and it is one large stanza. The speaker starts off by saying that a visa is granted. This tends to imply hat someone is going somewhere outside of their current country for an extended period of time. This can cause some anxiety. Moreover, it is said that the traveler wanted to get it, because there was hope that it would arrive. Then upon leaving, there is the realization that it is actually happening. The author compares the exit to that of in a movie. More information about the visa follows. It is has been granted, â€Å"provisionally. † Meaning temporary or conditional, the speaker describes it as a fretful, or scary word. Then a reference to the windows of the house is made. I think the author included this to reinforce the mindset that your leaving home, a very special place. However, an immediate contrast is made by saying â€Å"here it’s gray. † This is in regards to the fact that a feeling of sorrow is present due to leaving. A suitcase is described as the saddest object in the world, which seems odd because the person wanted to travel according to the hope for a visa. Although it may be the case where the traveler knows that it is best to go, but is still upset about leaving. The final few lines reference the childhood of the reader. A metaphor is used to compare the windshield of the vehicle too cheeks of the reader. â€Å"And now through the windshield the sky begins to blush as you did when your mother told you what it took to be a woman in this life. † This is a much more positive angle on the journey they're about to embark on. After reviewing the poems many times a general theme statement can be constructed: Often times human beings feel anxious about something they're going to do. However, despite their concerns they can still have some feelings of hope that they will be successful.

Who Is Nina Simone - 1444 Words

The only thing more powerful in mobilizing symbols, sentiments, and sensibilities than popular culture, is personal and shared experiences. What is so potent about pop culture however, is the ability of its participants to share their personal experiences to audiences than can both empathize and relate to the realities these artists present. This extended period of the civil rights and black power era can arguably be defined as the mobilization of the larger public by popular black figures whose individual charismas and drive inspired collective action. Some of these figures were exclusively political, many of which prominent intellects of race academia and/or known for their discourses that captivated thousands. And then there were figures that used their influence as musicians or writers who, with access beyond those with a conscious interest in politics, could incite people to think and reevaluate their lived realities through song and performance. Nina Simone is perhaps the most politically significant figure of the latter group, as she not only actively participated as a proponent of civil rights efforts, but became a pioneer in black power and feminist ideology. Nina Simone transcended the typical ideas of blackness through her music, and used this position of respectability to further more radical, advanced ideas of black liberation that would make up much of the rhetoric for the 1970s and beyond. Before Nina Simone was an activist, or icon, or black power leader, sheShow MoreRelatedThe Work Of Nina Simone1160 Words   |  5 PagesNina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, February 21, 1933 in North Carolina. The sixth of eight children, she began playing the piano at the age of three and showed extreme talent for classical music. Due to the poverty of her family, her mother worked as a maid. Nina showed her talent to her mother’s employer, who recognized her great ability and started a fund to pay for Nina’s piano lessons and early education. When she was twelve she performed a classical piano recital. Her parents hadRead More Nina Simone Essay1320 Words   |  6 PagesEunice Kathleen Waymon born February 21, 1933. She was the sixth of eight children born to John - an entertainer turned family man - and Mary Kate - who became a church minister - a poor southern black family that lived in Tryon, North Carolina. Her father played piano, guitar, and harmonica; her mother played piano and sang. Her brothers and sisters all played piano and sang in the church choir, gospel groups, glee clubs and social events. She started learning music the natural way by watchingRead MoreThe Great Leaders Of The Civil Rights Movement1563 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Revolution, the people that usually come to mind are George Washington, Paul Revere, and Thomas Jefferson. 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P!nkRead MoreAnalysis Of Leslie Bricusses Feeling Good853 Words   |  4 PagesCrowd, the song â€Å"Feeling Good† has been covered by dozens of notable artists. Among them are Nina Simone and Avicii featuring the vocals of Audra Mae. The song originates from a scene in the musical sung by the character â€Å"The Negro† after he wins the game [of life] in spite of the abuse and racism he experiences at the hands of the musical’s main characters. In the same year of its Broadway premiere, Nina Simone recorded her own version of the song for her album I Put a Spell on You. Simone’s iconicRead MoreRace As A Social Construct1057 Words   |  5 Pagesthis changed the representation of POC in films? The upcoming biography, drama, Nina (2016) has been the centre of much controversy and has consequently, brought about conversations regarding shadism and blackface. In the trailer for the film, actress Zoe Saldana plays Nina alongside her onscreen personal assistant David Oyelowo. The trailer received a large amount of criticism due to the casting of Zoe Saldana, who is half Dominican and half Puerto Rican. The actress also appears to be wearing aRead MoreEssay on Civil Rights, Equality and the Music of Nina Simone2399 Words   |  10 Pages Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs† Four Women†, â€Å"Young Gifted and Black†, and Mississippi God Damn†, Nina Simone musically maps a personal intersectionality as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines intersectionality as an inability for black women to separate r ace, class and gender. Nina Simone’s music directly addresses this paradigm. Read MoreThe Most Iconic Civil Rights Movement Influencers Of All Time By Billie Holiday1590 Words   |  7 Pages1933, Eunice Kathleen Waymon, known as Nina Simone, would eventually become an American pioneer in music. Simones’ work left behind an extraordinary artist whose work left behind a legacy of love, abolition, and affection. At the measly age of 3, it was evident by Simone’s piano skills that she was bound to be a talented musician. Nina Simone’s childhood was charming and filled with musical genius. She began to play piano at her father’s church for some time. Nina dreamed of becoming a pioneer AfricanRead MoreAnalyzing 50 s And 60s American Society Through Music1778 Words   |  8 PagesAmerican society through music The two songs that I am going to analyze Is Nina Simone â€Å"To Be Young, Gifted and Black,† and Gil Scott Heron â€Å"Whitey on the Moon†. I will view both of these songs in terms of there contributions to the counter hegemonic force fighting against the dominant white supremacist ideology that was prevalent during the 50’s and 60’s. To give some quick context about Nina Simone, she was a genuine musical artist who routinely recorded music that ranged across tunes from all genres.Read MoreThe, Pastel Blues, By Nina Simone1310 Words   |  6 PagesNina Simone’s 8th studio album, Pastel Blues, is an album featuring a fusion of sistering genres: blues, jazz, soul, folk, and gospel. Nina, being the brilliant arranger she was, is known for her ability to blend these genres into her signature sound. A sound most struggle to classify due to its avant garde nature. She got her start in music by playing the piano in church. One evening her church had a recital where her talents were recognised. Which lead to her starting piano lessons. Nina and her