Internal Conflict within Hamlet through the first soliloquy Essay Example

Internal Conflict within Hamlet through the first soliloquy Essay The extract from line 129-159, Act 1 Scene 2 of William Shakespeares Hamlet, forms to be the first soliloquy of the drama and therefore appears in the beginning of the play. A soliloquy is a literary technique where the character is left alone on the stage and is able to express his thoughts clearly and directly. This technique enhances the text and succinctly yet powerfully exposes the mental compositions of the character, as in this soliloquy, Hamlets conflict over his contemplation of suicide. In addition to his internal conflicts, the soliloquy highlights important relationships such as between Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius as well as bringing out the cultural setting of the drama, which consists of differences between the medieval and the renaissance era.This is the first soliloquy of Hamlet in the drama, and is therefore an essential tool in the introduction of Hamlets character as well as foreshadowing certain important themes which are going to be portrayed as the drama progr esses. Since dramas did not include any narrators, soliloquies were the medium through which the writer could show insight into a characters mind. Through the first soliloquy, Shakespeare has shown Hamlets contemplative character, due to all the thinking he does, such as thoughts about suicide and its consequences based on religious ideals. The first soliloquy also provides an insight into Hamlets disturbed mental condition, which is primarily a result of his fathers death and his mothers remarriage to Claudius.The cultural setting of Shakespeares Hamlet is well highlighted in the extract, since this soliloquy elucidates one of the major themes of Hamlet, i.e. Death and more specifically Suicide. Since Hamlet was written during a period of transition from the medieval era to the renaissance era, there existed cultural conflict in everyones mind as to what was right and wrong. This cultural conflict forms to be an important factor causing internal conflict in Hamlets mind since it br ings up confusion as to whether Hamlet is a Medieval or a Renaissance prince.The cultural conflict over Suicide existed because Christianity as a religion considered suicide a dreadful sin, as it can be seen in the extract that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon gainst self-slaughter. O God, God. Whereas the Renaissance ideals suggested that if a renaissance man was living an undignified and shameful life, he could commit suicide. Because of these two contrasting ideals, there existed turmoil in Hamlets mind as to whether he should commit suicide or not, since he was so outraged that he could not see any other outcome to his undignified life other than death.The theme of Death and Suicide can be seen in the first line of the soliloquy, where Hamlet suggests O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew. It can be seen that Hamlet wanted his body to fade away because he was going through a very painful phase in his life. His thoughts about su icide highlight another important aspect of the drama, i.e. Hamlets Melancholia. This extreme depression and sadness which was present within Hamlet was making him think that his life is weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable. It can be observed from this line that Hamlets mind was filled with negativity and pessimism.The setting of this Scene, i.e. Act 1 Scene 2, is that of celebration, happiness and positive atmosphere due to the election of the new King. The entire court is in a jovial mood; however, Hamlet calls his life life is an unweeded garden. By using this metaphor he reiterates his negative thoughts and inability to forget the past, his fathers death. It can be seen that Hamlet sees the world through a dark lens and therefore everything to Hamlet seems weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. Another aspect of this soliloquy is that Hamlet is shown to be mourning in deep pain and immense grief; however he notices that the others have moved on after Elder Hamlets Death. This occ urrence causes greater agony and misery in Hamlets mind since he believes that he is the only one who genuinely loved the previous King, Elder Hamlet.If the structure of this extract is observed, it can be seen that it consists of many exclamation marks, which suggests that the character performing the soliloquy is supposed to use a lot of expressive dialogues and gestures. The use of extensive expression shows that Shakespeare wanted the audience to realize that this was an extremely important part of the drama which would be foreshadowing various events which are going to occur as the plot progresses. The expressions also add to the seriousness of Hamlets agony and help the audience sympathize with him even more.The first soliloquy also plays an important role in presenting the state of the important relationships which existed in the drama. One of the prominent relationships highlighted in the first soliloquy is that of Hamlet and Gertrude. Gertrude is not shown to be neither a s tereotypical queen nor a stereotypical mother, who would mourn in grief of her husbands death as well as taking care of, supporting and consoling her son after his fathers death.Her character is shown to be a moderately corrupt character as she gets married to her husbands brother within two months of her husbands death, irrespective of this being unapproved by her son. This very well shows her unsupportive and uncaring behaviour. Her marriage to Claudius changes Hamlets perspective about Gertrude and Elder Hamlets Relationship as well. Hamlet knew that his father is deeply in love with Gertrude and would go to any extremes for her protection so loving to my mother, That he might not be teem the winds of heaven; Visit her face too roughly. After his fathers death, he observed his mothers mourning where she wept like Niobe, a mythological tragedy wherein a woman turned into a stone fountain due to her excessive weeping With which she followed my poor fathers body; Like Niobe, all tea rs..However, Hamlet then hints that his mothers sorrow and tears were all fake since she soon forgot all the sorrow and mourning for Elder Hamlet and married Claudius. Due to this behaviour of Gertrude, Hamlet compares his mother to a beast O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer. In the Elizabethan age, there existed a hierarchy which consisted of the Diuritas, Humanitas and Ferritas. Diuritas included the gods and the protean renaissance men, Humanitas consisted of the Humans who were given a position above the Beasts due to their ability of reasoning and intellectuality and lowest in the hierarchy were the Beasts. Hamlet is seen to be comparing his mother to a Beast and therefore degrading her to the lowest possible level in the Elizabethan hierarchy. Having such thoughts about his own mother shows the high degree of anger and frustration that was erupting within Hamlets mind.Shakespeare has used various elements for the enhancement and progression of the play out of which the motif of Misogyny is an important one. Shakespeare has shown Hamlet to have hatred for women as well as showing that Hamlet possesses a tendency to generalize certain things, such as the generalization of women, based on his mothers behaviour. It can be seen that Hamlet considered Gertrude to be corrupt and therefore felt immense hatred towards her; however, based on her character, Hamlet calls all the women frail Frailty, thy name is woman. This confirms that Hamlet considered all women degraded and deceptive, which is reinforced by his mothers false mourning and also explains Hamlets behaviour towards other female characters such as Ophelia, further in the play.The other relationship that is dealt with in the first soliloquy is that of Hamlet and Claudius, his step father. It can be seen that Hamlet is not yet over his fathers death, which could be a possible reason why he cannot accept Claudius as his new father, however, the fact that Claudius marri ed Gertrude and possesses a cheerful and content behaviour angers Hamlet. He cannot substitute Claudius at the same position where Elder Hamlet was and this can be clearly seen in the lines So excellent a King; that was to thisHyperion to a satyr. From this part of the soliloquy it can be seen that Hamlet compared his father, Elder Hamlet to Hyperion and Claudius to a Satyr. The Hyperion was the glorious mythological sun god, who was a symbol of reason and light, which adds a positive connotation to the character of Elder Hamlet however, comparing Claudius to a Satyr, which is again a mythological creature who is a half human and half goat and possesses a lustful and low character, adds a negative connotation to Claudius character. The half goat signifies the presence of a beast, which if referred to the Elizabethan Hierarchy, is at the lowest extreme. The beasts as stated by the Elizabethan hierarchy did not possess reason and the more a human would follow his path of desire and pa ssion, the closer he would be to the Ferritas level of the Elizabethan hierarchy. By comparing Claudius to a Beast in this soliloquy, Shakespeare has shown Hamlets insight into how he actually felt about Claudius and that he hated him even more than he hated his mother, Gertrude.Hamlet is shown to compare Claudius and Gertrude to beasts, however there exists irony since they are the King and Queen of Denmark and thereby should possess perfect characters and be included much higher in the Elizabethan Hierarchy. The King and Queen are role models for the common people and therefore should be a symbol of their culture and truth, however it is also suggested that their marriage is incestuous With such dexterity to incestuous sheets.By using this in Hamlets first soliloquy, Shakespeare has used conflict with the Elizabethan culture, which disapproved of incest, to show the negative characters of Claudius and Gertrude along with highlighting the fact that this newly wed couple will go aga inst the culture. The line It is not, nor it cannot come to good used by Hamlet in his first soliloquy show that Hamlet considers this marriage as an evil omen towards Denmark. This line also foreshadows that this marriage is an event that will in some way cause turmoil and chaos in the drama.All of these thoughts that Hamlet comes across are expressed in the form of a soliloquy simply because Shakespeare wanted the audience to understand that in spite of Hamlet being the central character of the drama, he could not express his views and opinions in front of everyone due to socio-cultural constraints such as his negative ideas towards Claudius could not be expressed publicly because Claudius was the King and his step father. Therefore Shakespeare has been able to convey certain important themes, relationships as well as insights of the central character, Hamlet in a very appropriate and clever way, i.e. through the first soliloquy.

Book Publishing History

Book Publishing History The world is changing due to changes caused by the emerging technologies. Technology has brought new approaches to various human activities. Various industries have been affected by the emerging technologies.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Book Publishing History specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The forces are so strong that a firm is always forced to either conform to these forces or be faced out of the market. Many firms have been faced out of the market due to their inability to read and adjust to the market trends. Book publishing industry is one of the industries that have experienced the impact of the emerging technologies. For a long time, traditional firms such as Oxford, John Wiley and Sons, Cengage, among other major publishing firms dominated this industry. They had huge market in schools and colleges, and other institutions not only in the United States, but also in the entire world. This is drastic ally changing. With the emergent of amazon.com among other online bookstores, the world is slowly drifting to e-books instead of printed books. This study is focused on analyzing the revolution of the publishing industry and how various forces in this industry have changed. Analyze the Book Publishing Industry Prior To the E-Book Revolution Using Porters Five-Force Model Prior to the e-book revolution, the world of publishing was a preserve for the large firms which had the capacity to pay authors large sums of royalties or advance payments once their manuscript was confirmed. In order to bring more understand to the external environment of this industry in this period, Michael Porters Five Forces theory will be applicable.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Supplier power is always important in determining how profitable an industry is. Operating in an industry where suppliers are very powerful can be very dangerous. During this era, suppliers of papers were the most important suppliers to these firms. Other suppliers for products such as ink, binding pins and machines among other items were very important to this industry. However, these suppliers never managed to monopolize this industry. Publishing firms were able to maintain their position as large organizational buyers. They had powers over their suppliers. There were a number of firms that were offering products that they were using as their raw materials. They were therefore, at liberty to choose which firm to buy their raw materials from. Although there were times when the supply of papers would rise, it was not enough to cause a scare in this industry. The publishers would always find a way of manipulating their way in this industry. Buyer power was another factor that affected this industry during this era. When the buyer has power of the products they buy in the market, then the y always tend to dictate the price of the product in the market. The power of the buyer was largely low during this era. This was because of the large market that existed in the form of students who had no option but to buy the products. Degree of rivalry of the firms in the industry also determined success of a firm. During this era, the degree of rivalry was very stiff, especially to those firms that were smaller in size.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Book Publishing History specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The larger firms would frustrate smaller firms by paying authors attractive royalties. This made them attract major authors, while smaller firms had to struggle in order to get good authors. Threats of new entrants were felt by firms in this industry. The world has been reduced into a small global village. When the planes and telephone was invented, the geographical barrier that existed before was elimin ated. The world was reduced into a small geographical area where an individual could easily move from one end of the earth to another. Firms were heavily affected by this. Most countries, including the United States of America, have liberalized their markets. A foreign firm can easily enter the US market and operate without any interference from the government. This fact created a threat to traditional firms that existed in this country. New firms were coming into this industry at a rate that many of the existing firms had not predicted before. The firms were forced to come up with new strategies that would help them be competitive. The market became very competitive, and success was determined by how effective a firm could market its products among the target group. The new entrants were eating up the market share of the existing firms, and the existing firms had to formulate competitive ways that they could outsmart them. Threat of substitutes was another problem that these firms had to deal with. During this era, there were no serious threats of substitutes that these firms faced. It was difficult to find a substitute product in the market. As such, the main threat that this industry faced came from the media.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The print media was eating into the market for novels and other books that were meant for leisure. Most of the leisure readers preferred to read magazines, newspapers and other journals instead of books that required a longer time to read. Using Porter’s Five-Force Model to Analyze How the Advent of E-Books Changed Industry Structure and Competitive Dynamics This industry has changed a lot. The advent of e-books was a revolution in this industry. The large firms that dominated the industry found that they were in very awkward position as what they had considered as competitive advantage turned into main weaknesses they had. Firms in this industry had to redefine their strategy, and overhaul their system to meet the emerging market trends. Porter’s five forces may be useful in demonstrating the dynamics that have happened in this industry. The power of suppliers in this industry has changed. The suppliers have changed from what they were before the advent of e-books. E- books do not require papers as raw materials, and neither do they need ink, or large machines that were needed before in printing books. Although there are a good percentage of those books that are produced in print form, this percentage is on a constant decline. This means that the power of traditional suppliers has been reduced a great deal. The power of the buyers has been on the rise since the advent of e-books. Buyers are able to access various online suppliers of books. This also means that these buyers have opportunity to dictate price in the market because they have a variety to choose from. This increased buyer power has seen firms in this industry lower the price of books in the market. Threat of substitutes has massively increased in this new era. The internet has massive information in various fields available freely. Scholars have considered it best to access these free sources of information instead of buying books. Threats of substitutes have also increased. For every book that is authored, there are various other sources of information that can be used instead of them. Degree of rivalry has also increased. There are many firms that can easily get into this industry because it is much easier to operate in as opposed to how it was before the advent of e-books. The Long-Term Threats and Opportunities Facing the Book Publishing Industry There are some long term threats that may have serious effects on this industry. Mass and social media is posing serious threat to this industry. Children spend more time watching movie instead of reading books, while youth take most of their time on Facebook, Tweeter, and YouTube among other social media. This means that the sale of books, including the e-books, will continue declining. This is aggravated by the fact that college students prefer getting their information from the internet for free. Such sites as Wikipedia have become so popular among the college students, jeopardizing sale of books Despite these ch allenges, there are some opportunities that are available in this industry. The advent of e-books has had a massive reduction on cost of producing books. The production cost of books has been reduced by almost eighty percent. This makes it easy for the firms to charge lower prices for their products. Distributions of the products have also been made easier, faster and cheaper. It is easier to ensure that an online book reaches the customer from various regions around the world. It has helped this industry eliminated a number of middlemen who inflated the cost of making the product available to customers.

Breaking Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Breaking Laws - Essay Example As the paper highlights the problems discussed by Sheila and Arch show that there is a need for strong corporate culture and morale. Many problems in Galvatrens are caused by high rates of turnover and low motivation, poor culture and ineffective communication. Primarily, Galvatrens should change its corporate culture and maintain health climate and positive culture. This allows the corporation time to assess the problem and respond appropriately. More importantly, early detection prevents the conduct from continuing into the future, thus, enabling the corporation to minimize its exposure to higher penalties and increased liability.Galvatrens should strengthen its system for uncovering misconduct a strict code of ethics and training of all employees. The task of the training is to familiarize employees with ethical principles and rules of the code, help them to recognize misconduct and respond effectively to any violations. Companies that adopt a code of ethics, and commit themselves to observing it, gain several benefits. Their staff know that they are operating openly and honestly; second, it is good for their business reputation in both the medium and the long term; and third, adopting and committing to a code could be a powerful defense in any court case in which the company might be accused of improper behavior. These tangible and intangible reasons for ethical behavior in business have beneficial outcomes.

Air Quality and Environmental Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Air Quality and Environmental Health - Essay Example Indoor smoke from solid fuels and unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene are main causes of 580,000 deaths per year. Urban air pollution and exposure to lead and other pollutants are responsible for 405, 000 deaths (World Health Organization, 2005). Studies from the United States and Europe show that persons in an industrialized nation spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors. The indoors however cannot be rendered safer than outdoors since concentration of airborne substances indoors exceed those outdoors. Individuals exposed to it develop chronic diseases more so for those living in the urban areas. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is the major source of indoor contaminants and it cannot be avoided by nonsmokers who live in the same house. Since the chemicals found in ETS are toxic and carcinogenic, exposure can lead to lung and other cancers, emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Everyone gets a share of the effects of harmf ul ETS but children are particularly susceptible (Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). Aside from environmental tobacco smoke, combustion pollutants can also be found at high levels inside homes. This is normally coming from malfunctioning heating devices and motor vehicle emissions. The combustion sources usually contain gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Carbon monoxide is an asphyxiant. It can readily combine with hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) which disrupts oxygen transport. The highest with the highest oxygen needs are affected first. CO poisoning symptoms is almost similar to influenza. Nitrogen dioxide is an irritant which mainly affects the mucosa of the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract. . Acute S02-related bronchial constriction may also occur in people with asthma or as a hypersensitivity reaction. Pulmonary edema and diffuse lung injury can result form extremely high dose exposure to N02. Acute or chronic bronchitis can result from continued exposure to high N02 levels (Env ironmental Protection Agency, 2007). In addition, airborne lead, mercury vapor, asbestos and radon have its own contribution as health hazards. The microscopic fibers of damaged asbestos-containing material may disperse into the air and inhaled. Its presence within the lungs results to asbestosis, lung cancer and pleural or peritoneal cancer or mesothelioma. The second leading cause of lung cancer is radon. Lead toxicity may alternatively present as acute illness. In children signs and symptoms may include irritability, abdominal pain, emesis, marked ataxia and seizures or loss of consciousness. In adults signs and symptoms include headache, nausea, anorexia, constipation, fatigue, personality changes and hearing loss. Mercury present in paints can be the main source of mercury poisoning (Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). Diesel exhaust particulate is also a primary concern of many communities since it is responsible for 70 percent of the known cancer risk. It also contributes to other respiratory diseases (Air R esources Board, 2005) and pre-existing respiratory diseases can be exacerbated by air pollution. Children who are particularly susceptible to diseases, the Clean Air Coalition claims that children living in more polluted air have

Refraction Essay Example for Free

Refraction Essay Refraction BY gupta979 Refraction refers to the bending of the transmitted light at the interface between two transparent materials. The angle of refraction depends on the angle of incidence and the relative speeds of the light in the two different media and can be found from the relationship [pic] From this equation we see that the direction in which the light is bent depends on whether it is going from a slower to a faster medium or vice versa. Index of refraction The index of refraction of a medium is defined as the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in the medium. By definition, n = 1 in vacuum. In all materials n 1. The frequency of light does not change as it goes from one a medium of one index of refraction to another. This means that the wavelength changes with the speed. Thus, the wavelength is smaller in a medium than in vacuum. From the definition of the index of refraction, we can rewrite the relationship etween the incident and refracted angles as or This equation is known as Snells law of refraction. Example The index of refraction of a glass is n = 1. 6. A ray of light is incident upon the glass surface at an angle of 300. What is the angle of refraction into the glass? Solution: approximately n If the wavelength of the light in air is 520 nm (green), what is its wavelength in the glass? What is the frequency of the light? (2 slow fast incident reflected refracted

Television and Media Essay - Four Arguments for the Elimination of TV

Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television Television technology has been a controversial issue since its debut in the early 1940s. In order to fully understand any controversial issue, one must be presented with both the pro and the con sides of the issue. One must understand and be able to argue both sides of the issue in order to become a successful and well-educated person. Being a member of the pro-technological society, one is well educated on the pro side of this issue. That is, the positive effects that television technology has on society: Television's entertainment value, the ability to get "up to the minute" news coverage from around the world, and the uses of television as an educational tool. In order to understand the con side of this issue, one can look at the work Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, by Jerry Mander. This work provides four strong arguments against the television technology and gives reasons why the technology should be eradicated. Through the study of this work, one c an become better equipped to argue the con side of the issue, thus becoming a well-educated member of society, conscious of the effects that television has on him/her. Mander was a poor child growing up in the Lower East Side of New York City. His parents were immigrants who had escaped from pogroms in Eastern Europe. His father did many odd jobs during their initial years in America. He worked hard at anything in order to keep life together. His father's success came to him during World War II. He was beyond the draft age, and so he was able to do successful trade business in manufacturing uniforms for the military. When it was time for Mander to pick a career... ...make lots of money. As a consequence, television must present its information in the least amount of time as possible. Thus, information must be edited and re-edited until this condition is met. The quality of the information suffers because of this. As one can see, the argument against television is as strong, if not stronger, then the arguments for television. As a result, one can now better understand both sides of this controversial issue and make an informed argument for or against television. At this point, one is conscious to the many manipulations of television, advertising, and corporations. Being aware of these factors, one is now equipped to ask themselves "why do I do the things I do?". The answer being: Television. Works Cited Mander, Jerry. Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. New York: Quill, 1978.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Drugs Usage Essay

: Advantages and Disadvantages of Drugs Usage Good morning to our teacher Pn. Devi and our friends. I am chien yen. I am Wan Yi. We are honoured to give a talk on advantages and disadvantages of drug usage. I probably don’t have to work very hard to get people to see that there really is no right time, place, or situation to try drugs, but I’m going to try anyway. There are several different reasons why teens might turn to drugs . One of them could be that they just want to be social and have fun. Usually, it is in a social setting that teens first try drugs. The â€Å"teen years† is when most adolescents do their experimenting with different things, and this could also be another reason why they might try drugs. They also might be mislead to think that addiction couldn’t happen to them, so â€Å"I can stop whenever I want† is often an excuse. Another reason could be that they want to seem mature, or cool. Many teens think that using drugs make them seem more grown-up and confident, but in fact, it shows just how immature they are. By giving into peer pressure and not being able to think for themselves, the only thing they prove is that they are naive. Everybody knows that parents are big influence in child’s life, but sometimes children might feel pressured or controlled by their parents and decide to rebel against them. Using drugs is a very common way of rebelling because the parents might not even know that it’s going on right under their noses. School, friends, relationships, and many other things could also be adding to the stress of teens today, and the pressure alone might drive them to drugs because they think it’s comforting. The truth is that it adds more stress to their lives in the long run. There are many dangers that come along with drug use. The greatest danger is death, but there are several other risks and consequences that should definitely be taken into consideration. Drugs can cause addiction, brain damage, liver failure, and many other serious health problems. The use of drugs can also impact the user’s family and friends. They can be dragged into the user’s problem and get addicted themselves. The user could also end up being abandoned by his or her family and friends because nobody really wants to be around drug users. There are so many benefits that come along with a drug free lifestyle. I think most people probably already know the major benefit†¦ life. I believe life is too short to waste time worrying about the consequences of doing drugs. Teenagers are stressed enough these days with work, school, family, and friends that we don’t need any additional reasons to be stressed or feel overwhelmed. Life is hard sometimes, but the misconception that drugs will make it better just makes it that much worse. Another benefit of drug free lifestyle is having a completely functional brain. School is hard for many teenagers, and they have to struggle to get by, so add drugs into the equation, and it makes school that much harder. Then what happens if the person decides that school is too hard? They give up, and live the rest of their life poor because they never finished high school and can’t get a decent job. There’s also the fact that there would be a lost less money spent on medical bills. Tobacco causes cancer, alcohol causes liver problem, inhalants cause brain damage, and all of the other drugs have their health issues also. If they were no drugs, there wouldn’t be as many health problems. If there weren’t as many health problems, there wouldn’t be as much money spent at the hospital. If there was less money spent at the hospital, the doctors might be mad, but the person’s life would be so much better overall! Seriously, not doing drugs can prevent a number of health problems. Overall, there is never a right time, place, or situation to use drugs. Also, almost all the reasons that teens might use drugs are just misconceptions. This doesn’t only go got teenagers. Many adults use drugs , and the same risks apply to adult drug users.