Role Of The Women Of Hamlet English Literature Essay

Role Of The Women Of Hamlet English Literature Essay The women of William Shakespeares Hamlet appear to be frail, passive figures used as pawns and dying prematurely after the mistreatment of men. However, there is more to Gertrude and Ophelia than meets the eye. Even though Hamlet is certainly not a play based on women, both female characters are more active than their vices and virtues previously lead us to believe. A closer inspection reveals that the true roles these female characters took on had purpose; these women were not as passive as they seem at first glance. Our first perception of Gertrude is  influenced by Hamlets response to learning she has married her brother-in-law after he has murdered her husband.  Hamlet shows anger and disillusionment toward her, believing that she should remain loyal to the memory of his father the king. Yet, there is no evidence that she knows of the murder Claudius has committed. It appears she has allowed herself to be seduced by Claudius, but once again there is no evidence of whether the seduction has taken place before the death of King Hamlet or afterwards. Gertrude finds herself in a position where she is conflicted by the roles different men wish her to play. She feels somewhat guilty about her sons disappointment in her, but feels that she can do nothing about the situation due to her relationship with Claudius. Claudius also has expectations of her, including his wish that she disregard Hamlet and remain loyal only to him. It could be said Gertrude is so fickle she lacks virtue, however, in Act II, scene IV, she shows motherly concern for Hamlets welfare and makes plans to speak with him in her chamber.   After Hamlet accuses her of lust, she does not make excuses for herself; she openly  admits her shortcoming.   What redeems Gertrude is her final act of loyalty to her son.   In the final act, when Claudius pours the poisoned wine, Gertrude claims thirst while reaching for the goblet.   Claudius warns her not to drink; nevertheless, she does, knowing it was poured for Hamlet, and as she dies, she tells  her son  that the drink is poison for him.   In her sacrifice of herself for her son, there is redemption for Gertrudes lust, immaturity, and fickleness.   She has now shown, not passivity, but strength and loyalty. The role of Ophelia is presented as a gentle, loyal, obedient, and young woman who is meant to be the love of Hamlets life, even though he rarely thinks of her or considers her in his plans. Most of the time Hamlet just appears to be cruel to her, as if he is just using her as a pawn, as is so when Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet appears to her to be looking and acting like a crazy man. It seems very likely he is just using Ophelia as part of his plot to get the word out that he is insane. Ophelia is an example of a perfect daughter who obeys her father without argument. Even when she is asked to reject Hamlet whom she believes is the love of her life, she responds subserviently that she will obey, and meets with Hamlet to deceive him. Polonius also uses his daughter for his own reasons, which in this case, is to spy on Hamlet. This actually becomes a turning point in the play. Hamlet reveals his complicated feelings for Ophelia as well as the depth by which he is hurt and betrayed by her. As Ophelia tries to return his gifts his feelings become evident. Hamlet becomes defensive refusing to accept the return, and responds with, I never gave you aught. He then continues to express his anger and disgust with women and humanity as he tells her, Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? This hurts Ophelia mentally as well as physically since he has thrown her around a bit and she expresses this with her own thoughts. Oh, what a noble mind is here oerthrown. The courtiers, soldiers, scholars, eye, tongue, sword; The expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mold of form, The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That sucked the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatchd form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see! Basically, Ophelia is saying, Wow, he seemed like such a wonderful guy; before his words to me were so sweet and I let myself fall for him, and now hes gone totally gone around the bend.   Ophelias perfection also becomes her downfall, unfortunately she has no voice nor does she seem to have any obvious heroine qualities; and one thing of interest that comes to mind is her lack of desire to defend herself. Even with all this being said, Ophelias life and death have a profound influence on some of the most important characters in the play, including Hamlet. Her own madness has importance in the play. It gives Ophelia the freedom to do and say what she could not before. She passes out flowers to the court and gives columbine and fennel to Claudius, this is a jab at the king since these flowers were representative of ingratitude and infidelity at the time. This is where she loses her innocence, and this loss of innocence finishes with her eventual suicide. At the time, suicide was a sin against God and people that committed suicide were not allowed a proper funeral. Ophelias innocence is somewhat preserved by allowing her a funeral even though her death was at her own hand. Looking closely, Ophelias role appears to be a precursor for Shakespeare to foreshadow future events. In her opening scene, her brother and father warn her to stop seeing Hamlet. This warning could be said to foretell her future conflict with Hamlet. At the beginning of Act II, when Ophelia rejects Hamlets advances he goes off-the-wall, there are two ways to interpret the scene, one possibility being that after Hamlet warns Horatio and Marcellus that he will put an antic disposition on he acts crazy when meeting with Ophelia to get the word out there that he is mad. Another possibility is that Hamlet was genuinely distraught by Ophelias recent rejection. Anyway you look at it these scenes with Ophelia seem to foreshadow things to come. We begin to realize also that Ophelia is not as passive of a character as originally thought. She is obviously a tool for Shakespeare, but also for Hamlet and Polonius, as the plot thickens around her. After Ophelias death Hamlet is reminded of his deep feelings for her, which had been hidden due to his obsession with vengeance and his lack of trust in women. Ophelias death also deepens Laertes need for vengeance. He already has much reason to kill Hamlet, since Hamlet had murdered his father and driven his sister mad, but Opherlias suicide is that last little push over the edge; that drives and justifies Laertes revenge. As it turns out Ophelia is the common factor that brings together Hamlet and Laertes. She is the reason for their irrational actions, and in a twist of fate, the being that brings them great emotional turmoil. None of this has she done intentionally, yet she becomes her own play within a play. Our focus on Hamlet and his sufferings are set aside, as Ophelias story shocks us when she suddenly breaks, is driven mad, and then commits suicide. To one that simply reads the play and thinks nothing more about it, these women may seem trivial. However, those taking the time to think about Gertrude and Ophelia are rewarded with the knowledge that each of these characters is woven into a role that affects and motivates a main character. They are the characters that passive, as they may seem, actually spur the men in the play to further advance the plays central action. Clearly the roles Gertrude and Ophelia take on are a contribution to the terrible events that occur in Hamlet, making for a perfect dramatic tragedy. Work CitedShakespeare, William. Hamlet, Literature and Its Writers: A Compact Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 4th ed. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007 1252-1354.

Accountability

Force, one is expected to be professional and ethical enough to make decisions that positively impact on his or her department to the extent that he/she can be accountable for actions or consequences that arise as a result of their decisions or choices.In the true essence of the word, accountability comes in where an individual is under the obligation to Justify their choice of actions o an interested party, in this case the US Air Force. As a medical professional within the air force, one is free to choose but never free from the consequences of his or her choice. It is important to be accountable especially in the military because it means one is under obligation to execute a given task whether they are willing to do it or not.Being accountable calls for the basic understanding of one's tasks and responsibilities, like in this case of a medical professional who is expected to know hat to do and when to do it with as minimum supervision as possible such that if anything goes wrong a s a result of their chosen actions, they can be held accountable. The importance of accountability in the US Air Force cannot be taken lightly as it may mean the difference between losing and saving a life. A military medical officer is expected to not only do his Job well, but also ensure those around him execute their tasks properly too.One does not have to experience combat to understand that Just being in the military Is Inherently dangerous given the types of equipment and weapons that are used to train and deploy with. As an example any live weapons range you go to part of the safety brief Is â€Å"everyone here is a range safety' meaning anyone can call a cease fire If they observe dangerous behavior or a situation regardless of rank and It can be a Colonel or a brand new private or even a medical officer, does not matter. As such In that event everyone becomes accountable.

Hellenistic Greece Timeline

All About the French Adverb Comment

The French adverb comment is one of the most common in the language. It means how or what and can function as an  interrogative or exclamative adverb. In conversation, you may use this word to ask someones name or to clarify your understanding. It can even be used as a means of expressing incredulity at something youve heard or read. Usage Comment is the French equivalent of how. Here are some examples: Comment vas-tu?   How are you? (Literally, how are you going?)Comment as-tu fait à §a?  How did you do that? With à ªtre, comment means what is ___ like? Comment est-il?  Ã‚  Whats he like?Comment est ta maison?  Ã‚  What is your house like? It also can be  used to ask someones name: Comment tappelles-tu?   Whats your name?Comment sappelle-t-elle?   What is her name? Comment is also used to say what? when you didnt hear or cant believe something:   Philippe est mort.   Philippe is dead.Comment?  Ã‚  What? It is found in a few simple exclamative constructions: Tu as bien mangà ©? Et comment!  Ã‚  Did you eat well? And how! I sure did! I should say so!Comment donc!  Ã‚  Of course! By all means! Exceptions There are a number of uses of how in English that are not translated by comment in French. For instance: How about (we do something)?   Et si  (on fait quelque chose)?How about you? Et toi?How about that! Ça alors!How big/long/tall is it/he? Combien mesure-t-il?How come?   Pourquoi  ? (or Comment à §a se fait?)How far is ___? ___ est à   quelle distance  ? ___ est à   combien?How much/many? Combien?How much is it / does it cost? Combien à §a coà »te?How old are you? Quel à ¢ge as-tu?to know how to do something   savoir  faire quelque chose

Conflict Between The Conflict And Supporting Evidence

Have you ever been a part of a conflict? Perhaps the conflict existed in your home because you want your children to do chores, but your spouse disagrees, or perhaps you have had a conflict in the workplace where a co-worker, no matter what you said was always in disagreement with you. Whether at home or work, it is best to resolve conflict as both instances, the conflict could create an uneasy situation at home or in the workplace and could result in people being hurt, work not be accomplished or even a physical altercation. Therefore, it is recommended that instead of allowing conflict to remain, that instead the conflict is resolved For that reason I will describe a conflict within an organization or team which I am familiar with, identify and describe the source(s) and level of the conflict and supporting evidence, describe the steps taken to resolve the conflict, describe a minimum of three conflict outcomes that could reasonably occur as a result of the resolution and the s upport for my reasoning for each possible outcome. First I will begin with a basic description of conflict. Conflict, in my opinion, is when a disagreement occurs between two or more people, someone having an opposing view or even an internal conflict such as â€Å"should I eat the entire box of cookies†, just to name a few. In fact, according to Baack (2012), conflict is â€Å"circumstances in which one party negatively affects or seeks to negatively affect another party† (Sec. 7.3). 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Chinas Ancient Dynastys Free Essays

The government in ancient China was established by Dynasties. Dynasties were mostly a sequence of rulers or emperors from the same family. As I said, a Dynasty was ruled by an emperor. We will write a custom essay sample on Chinas Ancient Dynastys or any similar topic only for you Order Now This emperor had total control of the land and would make all the final decisions. Some of the most popular Dynasties in china were: †¢Xia Dynasty About 1994 BCE – 1766 BCE †¢Shang Dynasty 1766 BCE – 1027 BCE †¢Zhou Dynasty 1122 BCE -256 BCE (skipped because Celeste did it) †¢Qin Dynasty 221 BCE – 206 BCE (skipped because Celeste did it) †¢ Han Dynasty 25 AD – 220 AD †¢Sui Dynasty 589 AD – 618 AD Ming Dynasty 1368 AD – 1644 AD †¢ Qing Dynasty 1644 AD – 1912 AD The Xia Dynasty was the first dynasty in the history of China. There is no real archeologal evidence of this dynasty but it is said to be that the Xia ruler was overthrown when he started mistreating his people. The first real evidence found was of the Shang Dynasty. This dynasty mainly ruled the northern part of china, it was based a lot on agriculture like; millet, wheat, and barley were the primary crops grown. In addition to the crops, silk worms, pigs, dogs, sheep, and oxen were raised. Apart from this the Shang Dynasty also had a lot of income from metallurgy. Some things like bronze ships, weapons, and tools were found from that time. This dynasty was a society where the kind ruled over military forces. This was called an aristocratic class. Under this class came the priest class. The priests were mainly in charge of religion but also keeping records for the government! The religion in this dynasty was based on a worship of many gods, there were many gods but the main god was known as Shang Ti, the lord on high. The fall of the Shang dynasty was much like the Xia dynasty except the ruler wasn’t overthrown but killed by another smaller kingdom. After the civil war China had, which lead to the death of the leader Qin Shihuangdi, china was reunited by the rule of the Han dynasty. This dynasty is divided into two main times, the Western/Former Han (206 BC- 9AD) and the eastern/later Han (25-220 AD). The rules and the boundaries that the Qin dynasty put and then reinforced by the Han have shaped up Chinese culture. An example of this is the Western Han Capital, Chang’an, which in present day is called Shaanxi Province. It is a monumental urban center with places, residential wards, and two loud and big market areas. This Dynasty was where they established Confucianism. It was officially chosen over Legalism. After this Dynasty came the Sui dynasty. Under this Dynasty china was brought together again. This dynasty only lasted about 8 years, but there were a lot of things going on during this time. The Sui dynasty introduced china to new religions, such as Taoism and Buddhism. They weren’t official but people started to take notice in them. The one that people found most interesting was Buddhism, people valued it a lot. Another thing that happened, the Great Wall was repaired, and a canal system was built through china. The canal today is The Gran Canal. The Sui dynasty fell because of losses in the South Manchuria and Northern Korea. Once they were defeated rebels started taking over. Chu Yuan-Chang was the first guy to re gain control power over china since the Mongols had been ruling. This was when the Ming dynasty started. The Ming focused a lot on literature, schools, and justice systems. Apart from this they improved the Great Wall and the Grand Canal again! As they did so they divided china into 15 provinces, in each province there were 3 commissionaires. One commissioner was in charge of all the finances, another one was for military orders, and the last one was judicial matters. Eventually the financial commissioner got someone who ruled over him and supervised everything was going good. Over time the Ming dynasty got stronger and started spreading. They started taking over non Chinese lands and eventually defeated the Mongol tribe. Chinas army became so strong that over the first quarter of the 15th century China had influenced many places such as South Asia, India, and even Madagascar! After a period of time the Ming started to grow weak, so weak that the Dynasty couldn’t provide food for its people. This caused a rebellion from the population, the Manchurians saw this as a way in and offered help against the rebellions. Once the rebels were out, Manchurians refused to leave. Since the Ming was so weak, it had to move south. Like most previous invaders that came to China, they adapted pretty fast to this culture. The government was based on the Ming Dynasties government. Although it was based on the Ming, it was more centralized. There was a new institution called the Gran Council, it had both a Manchurian and a Chinese leader. The Grand Council would check and authorize political and military affairs that were lead by the emperor. Even after all this time the Ming had not given up yet and had kept fighting back but eventually; by the end of the 17 century the Manchurians finished them. The Manchurians became so powerful they controlled Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinxiang, and Tibet! Because of this other countries began to see China as a super power since it was controlled by Manchurians. During the population replaced/superseded the economic growth. Due to this the economy started to go down and decline. Because of this and because of foreign expansion the government funds were gone! They had used them all up. They had nothing left so they had to give into trading with the West. Their main trading partners were the French, the US, and the British. The British obviously wanted to gain a lot from trading with China so they started integrating Indian opium in their trades. This made Chinas silver reserves depleted. Apart from this there were still a few people who believed in the Han Dynasty who resented the Manchurians, which caused a rebellion. Apart from this Manchurians became a way of imperial which causes even more rebellions. And especially once Western ideas started influencing in china people started adapting to them and this brought then Qing dynasty to an end. How to cite Chinas Ancient Dynastys, Essay examples

None Provided29 Essay Example For Students

None Provided29 Essay Estella Miss Havishams beautiful young ward, Estella is Pips unattainable dream throughout the novel. He loves her passionately, but though she sometimes seems to consider him a friend, she is usually cold, cruel, and disinterested in him. As they grow up together, she repeatedly warns him that she has no heart. Though she does not know it herselfand though Pip does not learn it until almost the end of the novelEstella is the daughter of Magwitch, the convict Pip aids as a child. Through the intercession of the lawyer Jaggers, she is adopted by Miss Havisham, who raises Estella into a life of wealth and social status for her own ulterior motives. Miss Havisham Miss Havisham is the wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in a manor called Satis House near Pips village. She is manic and often seems insane, flitting around her house in a faded wedding dress, keeping a decaying feast on her table, and surrounding herself with clocks stopped at twenty till nine. As a young woman, Miss Havisham was left at the altar on her wedding day, and now she has a vendetta against all men. She deliberately raises Estella as the tool of her revenge, training her beautiful ward to break mens hearts. Bibliography: