Hamlet’s relationship with his mother Gertrude Essay

When Gertrude in ‘the Closet Scene’ faces Hamlet, we get a greater understanding of Hamlet’s emotional state. His mindset and emotional state vary throughout the scene from bitter hostility towards his mother and step father, to timid fear of the Ghost in the light of his inaction, and finally to intimate resolve and benevolence as he advises his mother on how to aid his situation and her own. Hamlet, depicted as â€Å"The glass of Fashion and mould of form†, is expected of polite forms of chivalry and temperate speech. But, on the contrary, he is strikingly coarse, even brutal in his talk with his mother, and goes on with unnecessary details of her sin. Indeed, he makes more of this than his father’s murder. So disgusted is he, by the picture of her sexual relations with the â€Å"bloat king† and his â€Å"reechy kisses† pressed on her in the â€Å"rank of sweat of an enseam’d bed†. As Mr. Ivory Brown states, â€Å"it is surely plain that Hamlet (Shakespeare) has some special woman in mind, a wanton, with special tricks of speech and habit of using mocking names, and with a tendency to some kind of fidgety or skipping gait. † Even while Gertrude is probably hysterical or saddened Hamlet continues to chide her whilst she is at her lowest and most vulnerable point, â€Å"Honeying and making love, Over the nasty sty,† Hamlet sees his mother as a disgustingly sensual creature, driven by carnal needs. He seems to forget that she is his mother, who has given birth to him, raised him, and showered him with love. And she deserves a certain degree of respect from her son. However, despite everything, Hamlet’s emotional struggles with Human Nature and his shattered illusions, he has not lost love for either of his parents, as reflected in the goals of this scene. When the ghost reappears, Hamlet treats it with respect and humble submission. But, even though he loves his mother, in his heart, he has no respect for her. As he states, â€Å"I must be cruel only to be kind†. His strong words help express his own feelings of rage, and in addition, help Gertrude realize her sin and lead her towards repentance. After his periods of bitterness, anger and fear he realizes that she finally understands his message about her actions, Claudius, and his own assumed madness. His tone then changes from one of bitterness and rage to one of almost priestly counsel as he explains to her how to remedy the situation. Gertrude is described as a frail character, which lacks feeling. She is of an insensitive nature, not likely to be troubled by guilt. A placid nature, even stolid, she cannot rise high. Like Hamlet, despite her sin, Gertrude reveals that she still loves Hamlet, even if she makes no indication as to whether she still loves the Late King or Claudius. Even though she offers no defense of Claudius, for Hamlet’s accusations of regicide. And nowhere dos she affirm Hamlet’s admiration and love for his father. But she does love Hamlet and shows her love though her actions. As Claudius states, † The queen, his mother, lives by his looks†. She addresses him in affectionate terms, even in moments in the scene, which bring her pain, shame and confusion. These include calling him â€Å"Sweet Hamlet† and â€Å"gentle son†. She echoes these terms in the last scene of the play, when, rather than any addresses to either husband, in her dying words, she cries â€Å"Oh my dear Hamlet! † This implies that Hamlet is more important to her than either of her husbands, or anyone else in the court. Hamlet is probably the only person she truly loves. The actions of Claudius and Gertrude showed Hamlet a darker, more lustful animalistic side of nature, particularly in his mother, who longs for Claudius, â€Å"as if increase of appetite had grown by what it fed on†. This shatters his illusion of inherent goodness and virtue of mankind. If his own mother is corrupted by sin and lust, the how can anything or anyone in the world be truly virtuous? This disillusionment, anger and disappointment continue through most of the play, and appear in this portion in Hamlet’s scathing tirades against Queen. In one, he speaks to hell itself, yelling, â€Å"If thou canst mutine in a matrons bones, To a flaming youth let virtue be as wax, and melt in her own fire. † If sin can corrupt an older, wiser, calmer person such as the Queen, the virtue has no value in the world, and society can plunge into chaos. Hamlet exclaims, â€Å"Frailty thy name is woman! † Hamlet’s problem is supposed to be his feelings of disgust towards his mother. Thus the actions of his mother have lead him to believe that all women are capable of acting in this wicked way. Women, the frail members, provoke lust and feed it and Shakespeare looks for these indications, and denounces them. His inability to have a successful relationship with Ophelia is a result of this belief. He treats Ophelia with little respect, and subjects her to loathsome verbal abuse, bursting with sexual innuendo, as even in the mousetrap scene he twists everything Ophelia says, to make it sound vulgar, as he states, â€Å"That’s a fair thought to lie between a maids legs†. Hamlet’s mind is crowded with feelings of betrayal, disappointment and distrust. He ruins his relationship with the beautiful, sweet natured Ophelia due to his suspicion and distrust in the fairer sex. And Hamlet probably only realizes Ophelia’s virtue and good nature after her death, when he realizes that Ophelia had been faithful to him, and had truly loved him, so much so that she couldn’t bear his negative attitude towards her and grieved to the point, where she became mad, and then died. Uncertainty and conflict are two of the major themes of Hamlet, and both play an important role in this scene. The themes of uncertainty and appearance versus reality also appear in several inter-character relationships. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is a good example. Their entire relationship is highly controversial, and there is not one explanation that proves their relationship natural or simple. Hamlet’s madness is also a good example of this. Hamlet pretends to be mad, but is not quite so, but still towards the end, even we are confused whether Hamlet’s feigned madness is actually settling in. Shakespeare fills the play with imagery of sight and blindness. Shakespeare uses this motif to see how clearly the characters can see the truth about themselves and others. Blindness to one’s heart, motives and sins leads one to excuse sins and continue in them, as Gertrude does. Her lust has blinded her to the sinful nature of her incestuous marriage to Claudius. Also we see that everyone else in the kingdom is blind to the incestuous nature of Gertrude’s marriage. This leads Hamlet to believe that he is alone in a nasty, immoral world. Where people are blind to sins as immoral as incest. Thus the Theme of Morality is major concern of Hamlet himself, as he wants those around him to feel just as strongly about the issue. His morality is largely responsible for the lack of action regarding the change of revenge on Claudius. His conscience does not permit him to kill Claudius without being sure that Claudius is responsible for King Hamlet’s regicide. So he waits to kill Claudius only after he is sure Claudius is guilty, after the play-within-the-play. Shakespeare also employs several motifs to enrich the theme of morality. One of these is sickness and disease. He compares Gertrude’s sin to a disease or ulcer, which will subtly rot her soul if she ignores it. As he says â€Å"will but skin and film the ulcerous place, While ranks corruption, mining all within, infects unseen†. A similar motif is the image of the â€Å"unweeded garden† in his first soliloquy. Hamlet sees the world, filled with sinful people as an unweeded garden. The connections with Denmark being corrupted and diseased are metaphorical for Gertrude’s relationship with Claudius, incestuous and corrupted. Hamlet is the most realistic character Shakespeare ever created. His relationship with his mother was extremely natural, in the fact that it experienced certain abnormalities, as in the case of all relationships. Their love for each other is painful, but ultimately helps them grow as people and fulfill their obligations- Hamlet’s duty to avenge his father’s death and Gertrude’s duty to repent and try to protect her son from himself and those around him. Hamlet was merely a man, with motives unknown to him, with secret agendas and internal conflicts that remain unresolved.

Learning †teacher Essay

Good afternoon everyone, today I am going to talk about education. Education has many affects but how does education affects our lives. Education affects people by opening them up to new ideas, thus broadening their thinking. As for example, A degree can also broaden opportunities in the job market. Sometimes education can change what you believe, if you find new truth and need to fit it into your worldview. As long as a person is careful to actually examine the information that is presented, and not just blindly accept anything from any source, education usually improves lives and minds and offers us more opportunities and possibilities. The education for society can be different, due to the fact that various types of education and learning methods and assumptions affect me and others in many different ways. An important key role in our life by far is education, because so far it has given me a different perspective of life. A well-known Greek Philosopher named Plato once said that the direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life. He literally means the type of education we chose to follow or have leads to us becoming that. So far in my journey of life it has opened and shown my eyes to a lot to see in this world. Education has given me the chance to learn and discover new things around me; in addition it has taught me to believe about life. Education has made me who I am today, and will have a huge impact in my future to come, because it will determine how I will live. It has given me a picture and sense on what I can achieve and do in life. My education started at a very young age, just like most people start theirs. My first mentors and teachers were not from elementary school, but they were my own people that raised me from home. The education I received to this day has made me a better decision maker about life’s big questions. Nelson Mandela best said that education is the most powerful weapon which can be used to change the world. What Nelson Mandela is trying to mean is that education is the answer to move forward in life. I totally agree with Mandela on that.

Case Study for International Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Study for International Finance - Essay Example Though it aims to promote fair trade in industries, it has remained controversial despite of its long existence in the field of business. The sustainability of an economic justice model is definitely hard. It requires the cooperation of all the people who are involved in its application. If those people will unite to follow all the requisites of that specific economic justice model it may lead to its long term efficacy and success. However, if an organization fails to fulfill its promise of prosperity, it will eventually lose its magnetism among the industry members who believe or are about to believe in it. Organizations tend to be too exaggerated when it comes to setting their rules and limitations to the extent that they no longer mind its effect on the workers and the product. They set their own standards not considering how it will impact those who are at the starting phase of business, most importantly the workers. The structure of modern economic justice at this point in time seems to be too unjust, most especially to the less privileged members of the society. Some critics blame the ineffectiveness of these models to globalization. In spite of the opportunities brought by globalization to the worldwide economy, it has caused income inequality in some nations (Kapstein, 2004).

HR practice and consultance Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

HR practice and consultance - Term Paper Example The study will be based upon the consultancy process of the HRM. It will evaluate the ‘gaining entry to the organisation’ and other aspects in the hiring process. Different kinds of approaches of the consultancy process will be evaluated and discussed which will best suit the organisation. Overview Consultancy Process Human resource professional’s most important task is related to hiring of the employees along with other job responsibilities. In the HR process, finding the right candidate or qualified applicant for a particular job, filling the vacancy, upgrading the positions, creating new job, promoting employees and other necessary activities are the vital parts for the selection of the right applicant (University of Virginia, 2010). In order to get a clear understanding about the consultancy process, it would be better to take up a particular organisation. For this purpose the UK based multinational company, BP Plc, has been considered. It is a multi-national organisation that operates in the oil, gas and energy industry globally. There are thirty strategic performing units and other specialist support functioning departments. There are problems faced by the BP Plc such as shortage of professionals in the energy sector. Without appropriate number of personnel in this sector, it will be hard to uplift the future. Skilful and expert personnel are required. This gap can be bridged with the appropriate consultancy process that will assist in providing framework for the entry to the organisation (BP PLC, 2010). Entry to the Organisation The entry to the organisation is the initial phase in any consulting process. During this phase the interaction between the applicant and the HR manager takes place, where the HR tries to acquire knowledge about the applicant as much as possible. The outcomes of the consulting, discussion, and the planning phase are then presented in the consulting contract. The signature of the applicant with the HR manager c oncludes the initial phase (Kubr, M & International Labour Office, 2002). In the phase of distinctive consulting intervention, the client and consultant execute a set of activities that are necessary for the achievement of desired changes and purposes. The activities that are involved are generally known as the ‘consulting processes’. The process is well defined and has clear beginning and end which assist in relationship building. Between the initial phase and the end phase, there are several phases that aid both the client and the consultant to be methodical and systematic, from operations to operations proceeding from one phase to another (BSC, 2002). Processes or Phases of the Consultancy Process There are various phases or ways of subdividing the consultancy process that are found generally in different kind of literatures by various authors. There are many instigators who have provided several phases in the process that range from three to ten. For the BP Plc, whi ch is an organisation belonging to the energy sector; a simple five-phase model would be suitable that consists of the â€Å"comprising entry, diagnosis, action planning, implementation and termination†

Standardisation versus adaptation (MARKETING) Essay

Standardisation versus adaptation (MARKETING) - Essay Example es to maintain a consistence image across all the markets whereas adaptation offers them better opportunity to reach the target audience and consumers through the communication process. This literature work is being produced to understand various factors of the controversial Standardisation versus adaptation strategy of international communication strategy. In the recent past, economies of various part of world have experienced tremendous change due to the fast changes in technology and socio-economic patterns. These changes have raised various issues. One of them is the international communication strategies for a global company. Standardised communication process among all kind of customers has been criticised. It is on the basis of the differences in the consumer choices and preferences across various consumer groups. There have been various debates on the global marketing mix strategies for the international market. Lots of studies and opinions have been developed. (For example, Ghoshal, 1987; Jain, 1989; Levitt, 1983; Quelch and Hoff, 1986)1 The communication process for the different market focusing on advertising issues, its objectives, message, presentation and various decisions related to advertising has gained attention and interest of most of the researchers. It was early 1960 when the issue of advertising standardization in foreign markets was first discussed. (Elinder, 1961; Fatt, 1964)2 Any product or service is result of needs and wants of buyers and consumers. This is the basic factor of any communication process. The objective of communication can be knowledge, persuasion, purchase, interest and others. All of it is based on the basic factor of ‘need’ of consumer. Various authors and researchers have focused on this factor for the international communication strategy as well advocating the universal advertising approach (Fatt, 1967; Buzell, 1968; Sorenson and Weichmann, 1975; Killough, 1978; Levitt, 1983).3 Cost effectiveness, clarity of

How I Prepare to take a Test Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How I Prepare to take a Test - Essay Example After that, I compare with my notes and the class textbook contents. In the case of any mistakes or omissions, I rectify and transfer the new content to another blank notebook. Here, I also arrange the content according to topics or subtopics with clearly-labeled headings. In addition, I write personal clues on how to interpret the material alongside the content.Finally, I study actively at least one week before the real test. At this stage, I rely mostly on the major concepts I had written the previous week. Here, I read a number of before doing personal evaluation. Next, I evaluate myself by trying to analyze how much I can remember. I do it by writing brief content, mostly short phrases, which provide me with clues of the required content. Since most tests require the understanding of facts rather than memorization of content, I usually go through revision questions at the end of every chapter. In addition, I go through the test questions that have been done by previous groups of learners.Improving My Test-Taking PreparationsThe major challenge I experience while preparing for a test is time. I start my preparations at least three weeks early. Since it is difficult to master all the content within a short period, the three-week strategy affects my performances on some tests. However, if I start preparing earlier than that, I can improve my performance. In this case, if I focus on mastering the content right after every lesson, I can reduce my workload. In most cases, I skip some content because of limited time.

Book Review Assingment - Leading Change by John Kotter Essay

Book Review Assingment - Leading Change by John Kotter - Essay Example He holds that it is primarily for historical reasons that most organizations do not have that kind of leadership. In deviating from management jargon the author has come up with a visionary and understandable version in guiding the business world towards the much required changes in the business world. The book is an excellent business guidebook in which Kotter focuses upon an all inclusive structure, which business executives at all levels can follow to achieve positive results. He has advised people responsible for implementing change that there is no need to panic or become fearful while dealing with urgent organizational issues. Such situations warrant avoidance of complacency and the author emphasizes that change in the 21st century can be affected only if over-managed and under-led cultures are handled with caution. It is important to remember that management deals primarily with the status quo while leadership is responsible to mostly deal with change. There is a strong need f or management to develop skills to create strong leaders. Kotter has also identified the drawbacks of this strategy and has cautioned leaders to avoid people that can destabilize efficient change efforts. The author has commendably argued that instead of individuals, teams should be recognized and the focus should be on life long learning patterns in a constantly changing world. It is not possible to learn everything during any given period because growth is a continuous process that imposes repeated challenges in terms of processes and people. Kotter has discussed the eight main reasons why improvement efforts have proved to be unsatisfactory, primarily because of inappropriate use of resources and people. He has discussed all the errors exhaustively through the use of clear and simple models and asserted that these errors mostly characterize the change process in any organization, which can have severe consequences. Kotter has argued that such errors are not necessarily unavoidabl e, which is why he claims he wrote this book. The fundamental objective is to understand why companies defend against the required changes and to recognize what specifically is the set of processes that can do away with such negative inactions. Most importantly, there is a strong need to understand that the leadership responsible for driving the processes in socially healthy ways has to do much more than just good management. Kotler has discussed the reasons why organizations need to change and improve. The Eight Stage Process for Affecting Change A major lesson from Kotter’s book is that organizations can effectively put the required changes into practice. Kotter holds that the ways of changing the organization are based on the basic fact that major changes will not happen because of several reasons that he sought to overcome with his eight stage process of affecting major changes. Kotter has written about the eight stages that "there are still more mistakes that people make , but these eight are the big ones. In reality, even successful change efforts are messy and full of surprises" (Kotter, 1996, p.89). The author’s first stage relates to establishing a strong sense of urgency that is necessary to get rid of the feeling of