Characteristics of Hamlet's monologue in different performances. Essay “The Artistic Image of Hamlet

Plan for characterizing the image of Hamlet:

1. Introduction.

2) Main character tragedy.

3) Hamlet's aspiration.

4) Hamlet’s attitude towards Ophelia.

5) Hamlet’s attitude towards other people.

6) Hamlet's views on life.

7) Hamlet’s conclusions on the fight against evil.

The famous English poet W. Shakespeare wrote his outstanding tragedy “Hamlet” in 1601. In that poetic work the author reworked the plot of the famous ancient legend and combined it with the plot of a medieval play about a fictional prince named Hamlet. V. Shakespeare managed with extraordinary depth to reflect the tragedy of humanism, or rather, its absence in the society of that time.

Prince Danish Hamlet became a bright and unsurpassed image of a humanist who found himself in a world around him that was hostile to humanistic ideas. The insidious murder of his father opens the prince's eyes to the evil that has taken over the country. He considers his main duty, not ordinary, but blood feud, to be the search for those responsible for the death of his father. This desire over time grows into a social duty for him and raises him to the fight for justice and humanism, for a just cause, which at that time was the most important historical task.

But Hamlet hesitates with this struggle and constantly reproaches himself for his inactivity. Sometimes the author expresses the opinion that Hamlet is not capable of decisive action and is only an observer and thinker, a naturally weak-hearted person. But this is not true at all. The main character of the tragedy has a powerful force of feelings that was inherent in people of the Renaissance. He experiences the death of his father very hard and does not accept the shameful marriage of his mother.

At the same time, Hamlet loves Ophelia with all his heart, but she is unhappy with him. His cruelty towards the girl and insults towards her do not indicate that he is truly a cruel and rude person, but only that he loved Ophelia very much and was just as much disappointed in his love.

Hamlet is distinguished by his nobility and most of his actions come from his high humanistic ideas of what a decent person should be. He is capable not only of great love, but also of great faithful friendship. He values ​​people not by their material or social status, but for their personal qualities. But his only real friend is student Horatio. This is another proof that Hamlet has a hostile attitude toward officials, but greets people of art and science with all love.

Hamlet is a man of a philosophical mindset. He can interpret individual facts as an expression of important general civil phenomena. But it is not the tendency to think that delays him on the path to real struggle, but the conclusions to which he eventually comes and sad reflections about the world around him. The events that take place at court allow the main character of the tragedy to come to conclusions regarding individual people and the whole world.

If the world allows the existence of such evil as is happening around Hamlet, if such eternal human values ​​as love, friendship, honesty and dignity perish in it, then it has truly gone crazy. The surrounding world appears to the hero either as a city overgrown with weeds, or as a well-ordered prison with cells, casemates and dungeons, or as a lush garden that produces only evil and a wild family.

And the “To be or not to be” familiar to all of us is nothing more than doubts about the value human life. And by listing the various misfortunes of man, Hamlet describes the customs of the society of that time. For example, the hero perceives poverty as a great sorrow for a person, because he has to endure it:

But Hamlet is struck not only by Claudius’s criminality, but also by the entire system of principles of life and moral values ​​that he does not understand. He understands that limiting himself only to revenge, he will not change anything in the world around him, because another official, perhaps even worse, will take the place of the murdered Claudius. Hamlet still does not give up revenge, but at the same time he realizes that his task is much broader and consists of counteracting common evil.

The greatness of this task and the objective unreality of fulfilling Hamlet’s aspirations predetermine the extreme complexity inner life and the actions of the main character of the tragedy. Surrounded by a dishonest game, in a life that is entangled in networks of meanness, it is extremely difficult for him to define his own society and find effective means of struggle. The scale of evil depresses Hamlet, causing him disappointment in life and awareness of the insignificance of his powers. Man and the world turn out to be different from what they seemed to Hamlet earlier.

In the tragedy “Hamlet” (1601), William Shakespeare, reworking the plot of a medieval legend and an old English play about Prince Hamlet, with greatest depth reflected the tragedy of humanism in the contemporary world. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is a wonderful image of a humanist who faced a world hostile to

humanism. The insidious murder of his father reveals to his son the evil that rules the country. For Hamlet, the obligation to avenge the murder of his father is not an ordinary blood feud. For him it grows into a social duty to fight for a just cause, into a great and difficult historical task.

Our time has gone crazy.

My talent is damned

Why should I correct that dislocation!

However, Hamlet hesitates in this struggle, sometimes cruelly reproaching himself for inactivity. Sometimes the idea is expressed that Hamlet is a naturally weak-willed person, a thinker and observer, incapable of decisive action. But that's not true.

The heroic tragedy also shows the powerful power of feelings that distinguished the people of the Renaissance. He is grieving the death of his father and the shameful marriage of his mother. Hamlet loves Ophelia, but does not find happiness with her. His cruelty and hurtful words towards the girl testify to the power of love and disappointment.

Hamlet is distinguished by his nobility and comes from high humanistic ideas about man. It is from here that his colossal bitterness stems when he is faced with the world of lies and crime, insidiousness and blasphemy surrounding him.

Hamlet is capable of great and faithful friendship. In his relationships, he is alien to feudal prejudice; he values ​​people for their personal qualities, and not for the position they occupy. His only close friend turns out to be student Horatio. Disregarding the courtiers, Hamlet friendly greets people of art - actors. The people love him, as the king speaks with concern about.

Hamlet is a man philosophical thought. In individual facts he knows how to see the expression of large general phenomena. But it is not the ability to think itself that delays his actions in the struggle, but the pessimistic conclusions that he comes to as a result of thinking about everything around him. The events that take place at court lead Hamlet to general conclusions about man and the world in general. If such evil is possible in the world, if honesty, love, friendship, human dignity perish in it, then indeed “time has gone crazy.” Hamlet imagines the world as either a vegetable garden where weeds abound, or a well-maintained prison, with casemates, cells and dungeons. Hamlet calls the world a “lush garden” that only produces wild and reckless seed. He declares to his comrades who arrive that “To be or not to be,” Hamlet expresses doubts about the value of life itself. Recounting the various misfortunes of man, he depicts the customs of society. He perceives poverty as unbearably difficult for a person, because he has to endure

...scourges and desecration of time

So, Hamlet is amazed not only by the crime of Claudius, but also by the entire system of principles of life and moral concepts alien to him. The hero knows that he cannot limit himself to revenge alone, since the murder of Claudius will not change the world. Hamlet does not give up revenge, but at the same time he realizes that his task is much broader - to counteract evil in general.

The greatness of the task and its objective impracticability predetermine the extreme complexity of Hamlet’s inner life and actions. In the life of a “dishonest game”, “entangled in networks of meanness”, it is difficult for him to determine his own place and find real means of struggle. The scale of evil

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When Shakespeare's work is studied, the play about the Danish Prince is always awarded close attention. This is one of the most famous works brilliant British, but also one of the most difficult. Hamlet's characterization is a reflection of his great soul, his complex nature, which faced difficult trials. It is the reflections of this character that reveal the full depth of human existence and raise philosophical questions about the meaning of life. Fate young man is a tragedy that can fall on anyone when their world collapses.

How it all began?

The characterization of Hamlet that we present below will not be clear to the reader if he does not know the content of the work. Therefore, we will digress for a moment and tell you about what happened in Elsinore. The play begins with the guards seeing a ghost who reminded them of the king, Hamlet's father, who died suddenly. The prince's friend considers this a harbinger of changes that await Denmark, since the neighboring ruler is going to go to war with them. Believing that the ghost will speak to his son, he hurries to inform Hamlet about the vision.

The first characterization of Hamlet is given to us by Shakespeare at the moment when he learns that the Queen Mother Gertrude, having not been a widow for long, is marrying her uncle. The prince considers such an act of his mother to be wrong and treacherous. Hearing the news about the visions, he decides to spend the night near the site. The king's ghost informs him that Claudius killed him to take the throne and demands revenge. At the same time, Ophelia, obeying the will of her father and brother, breaks up with Hamlet. The prince pretends to be crazy in order to better understand what is happening.

The play continues

Hamlet's characterization will be presented a little later, but for now we will tell you what happened to the prince next. Based on the arranged meeting with Ophelia, the king understands that the prince is not mad with love, but his thoughts are occupied with something else. And he, having hired an acting troupe, invites the king and queen to the performance. The actors portrayed the scene of the murder of the former king. Based on Claudius's reaction, Hamlet understands that the ghost told him the pure truth, so he decides to take revenge.

The main character of the play tells his mother the truth, but she, considering him sick, does not believe him. But he convinces him that he will always support him. During the conversation, the prince kills Ophelia's father, who hid behind the carpet to eavesdrop. The king sends Hamlet to England, giving his servants secret orders to kill him. But he miraculously escapes and returns to Elsinore. But here another trap awaits him: the brother of Ophelia, who already wants to avenge the death of her father and sister. In collusion with Claudius, he challenges the prince to a duel. Hamlet has no chance of salvation: Laertes’ rapier is sharp, smeared with poison, the poison is mixed into the goblet of wine.

Denouement

A brief description of Hamlet cannot convey the complexity of this character's soul. The sudden death of Ophelia forced the prince to look at life and death differently, he recites the famous monologue “To be or not to be.” At this time, he is called to a duel, informed that he cannot refuse: the spectators make a bet. During the duel, the queen, celebrating her son's successful attacks, drinks poisoned wine. Laertes wounds the prince with a poisoned sword, and then Hamlet wounds him too, exchanging rapier with him. Dying, Gertrude warns her son that the drink is poisonous. The main character kills the king, then Laertes dies. Hamlet is the last to die, asking Horatio to tell people about what happened.

Hamlet: characterization of the hero

So, the fate of the Danish prince, masterfully invented and described by Shakespeare, is known to us. What was his inner portrait like? Hamlet is a young but educated prince. To faith in the Creator, he added faith in the human mind, which marked the emergence of a new generation of people, a new round of development of civilization. Shakespeare, describing the eternal truths and Eternal values. This is the secret of the popularity of both the play and central character in modern world.

How else does Hamlet appear to us? The characterization of the hero cannot fit into a few words. The character at first seems to be a kind of thinker, then he tries to act, and at the end of the work he becomes a philosopher. His will was tempered by difficult trials: betrayal of his family and beloved girl, lies. He comes to the conclusion that the whole world has plunged into darkness and evil, so he contemplates suicide. But here he is stopped by thoughts about whether this is worthy of a Christian, and whether anything will change and what will happen after death?

The tragic fate of Ophelia

The characterization of Hamlet (Shakespeare) would not be complete without a portrait of the beloved hero. A girl of noble blood sincerely loves the prince and believes in his reciprocity. But her father and brother advise her to end her relationship with Hamlet, since she cannot marry him. The girl submits to their will, giving up her happiness. When her father dies and the prince says he never loved her, her mind cannot cope with grief.

The characterization of Ophelia from Hamlet will allow us to better understand the depth of the tragedy of the central character. Shortly before the tragic ending, the prince learns of the death of his beloved. Whether the girl threw herself into the river, or whether it was an accident, the author does not indicate. The young man is greatly saddened by the death of Ophelia, he is tormented by remorse, but he cannot change anything.

Conclusion

We have completed the characterization of Hamlet (Shakespeare). The hero of the play appears before us who managed to overestimate values ​​and cope with a storm of emotions. Nevertheless, he did not find an answer to his question: “To be or not to be?” And therefore it remains open, the author invites the viewer or reader to figure it out on their own and make their own decision.

The image of the main character of Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet"

The inner drama of Prince Hamlet

Although the death of a person is tragic, yet the tragedy of “Hamlet” takes as its main principle not death, but moral, moral ruin a person, what led him on a fatal path ending in death.

In this case, the true tragedy of Hamlet is that he, a man of the most beautiful spiritual qualities, broke down. When I saw the terrible sides of life - deceit, betrayal, murder of loved ones. He lost faith in people, love, life lost its value for him. Pretending to be insane, he is actually on the verge of madness from the realization of how monstrous people are - traitors, incestuous people, perjurers, murderers, flatterers and hypocrites. He gains courage to fight, but he can only look at life with sorrow. 11 Shakespeare W. Plays, sonnets - M., Olympus, 2002. - P. 15.

What caused spiritual tragedy Hamlet? His honesty, intelligence, sensitivity, belief in ideals. If he were like Claudius, Laertes, Polonius, he could live like them, deceiving, pretending, adapting to the world of evil.

But he could not reconcile, and how to fight, and most importantly, how to win, destroy evil, he did not know. The cause of Hamlet's tragedy, therefore, is rooted in the nobility of his nature.

The tragedy of Hamlet is the tragedy of man's knowledge of evil. For the time being, the existence of the Danish prince was serene: he lived in a family illuminated mutual love parents, he himself fell in love and enjoyed the reciprocity of a lovely girl, had pleasant friends, was passionate about science, loved the theater, wrote poetry; A great future awaited him ahead - to become a sovereign and rule an entire people. Shakespeare W. Selected // Comp. auto articles and comments. A. Annixt - M., 1984. - P. 104.. But suddenly everything began to collapse. At the dawn of time, my father died. Before Hamlet had time to survive the grief, a second blow befell him: the mother, who seemed to love his father so much, less than two months later married the brother of the deceased and shared the throne with him. And the third blow: Hamlet learned that his father was killed by his own brother in order to take possession of the crown and his wife.

Hamlet experiences the deepest shock: after all, everything that made life valuable to him collapsed before his eyes:

Betrayal cannot live in my chest.

The second spouse is a curse and a shame!

The second one is for those who killed the first one...

Those who remarry,

Self-interest alone attracts, not love;

And I will kill the dead again,

When I let someone else hug me.

He had never been so naive as to think that there were no misfortunes in life. And yet his thoughts were largely fueled by illusory ideas. The shock experienced by Hamlet shook his faith in man and gave rise to a duality of his consciousness.

Hamlet feels an insurmountable disgust for his mother. So she now lives with his father's killer. At the same time, he wants her mother's love and support. Why didn't Hamlet tell his mother anything before? He waited for the hour when he would be sure of Claudius' crime. Hamlet reveals to her that she is the wife of the one who killed her husband. When Gertrude reproaches her son for committing a “bloody and crazy act” by killing Polonius, Hamlet responds:

A little worse than the damned sin

After killing the king, marry the king's brother.

But Hamlet cannot blame his mother for the death of her husband, since he knows who the murderer was. However, if earlier Hamlet saw only his mother’s betrayal, now she is tainted by marriage to her husband’s murderer. Hamlet puts his murder of Polonius, the atrocity of Claudius, and his mother’s betrayal on the same criminal scale.

Hatred and contempt for his mother are evident in the hero’s words when he addresses her:

Don't break your hands. Quiet! I want

Break your heart; I'll break it

When it is accessible to insight,

When it's a damn habit

Not hardened through and through against feelings.

The mother is guilty, according to Hamlet, of the following acts:

Which stains the face of shame,

Calls innocence a liar, on the forehead

Holy love replaces the rose with pestilence;

Transforms marriage vows

In the player's promises; such a thing

Which is made of flesh contracts

Takes away the soul, transforms faith

In a confusion of words; the face of heaven is burning;

And this stronghold and dense bulk

With a sad look, as if before a court,

Mourns for him.

By accusing his mother, Hamlet says that her betrayal is a direct violation of morality. It is equivalent to other similar violations: disgrace of modesty, hypocritical trampling of innocence; These are the vices of private life, but similar things happen; when treaties are violated and instead of religion they are limited to serving it only in words. Gertrude's behavior is equated by Hamlet to those violations of the world order that make the whole Earth tremble, and the heavens are covered with shame for humanity. This is the larger meaning of Hamlet's speeches.

The entire tone of Hamlet's conversation with his mother is characterized by cruelty. The appearance of the Phantom intensifies his thirst for revenge. But now its implementation is prevented by sending it to England. Suspecting a trick on the part of the king, Hamlet expresses confidence that he can eliminate the danger. The reflective Hamlet gives way to the active Hamlet.

Hamlet sees two betrayals of people connected by family and blood ties: his mother and the king's brother. If people who should be closest to each other violate the laws of kinship, then what can you expect from others? This is the root of the dramatic change in Hamlet's attitude towards Ophelia. His mother's example leads him to a sad conclusion: women are too weak to withstand the harsh tests of life. Hamlet renounces Ophelia also because love can distract him from the task of revenge.

The scene of the breakup with Ophelia is full of drama. Ophelia wants to return to Hamlet the gifts she received from him. Hamlet objects: “I gave you nothing.” Ophelia's response reveals something about their past relationship:

No, my prince, you gave; and words,

Breathed so sweetly that doubly

The gift was valuable...

Ophelia says that Hamlet has ceased to be kind and courteous and has become unfriendly and unkind. Hamlet treats her rudely and bitterly. He confuses her by confessing:

I loved you once

It was in vain that you believed me... I didn’t love you.

Hamlet unleashes a stream of accusations against women on Ophelia. Their beauty has nothing to do with virtue - a thought that rejects one of the provisions of humanism, which affirmed the unity of the ethical and aesthetic, goodness and beauty.

The attacks against women are not divorced from Hamlet's general negative attitude towards society. Ophelia's persistent advice to go to a monastery is associated with the prince's deep conviction about the depravity of the world.

But Ophelia tries to save her love with wit:

Don't be like a sinful shepherd that others

Points to the sky the thorny path,

And he himself, a carefree and empty reveler,

Success follows a blossoming path.

These words indicate that she understands Hamlet’s nature.

Hamlet is ready for action, but the situation turned out to be more difficult than one might imagine. The direct fight against evil becomes an impossible task for some time.

The direct conflict with Claudius and other events unfolding in the play are inferior in their significance to the spiritual drama of Hamlet, which is highlighted. It is impossible to understand its meaning if we proceed only from Hamlet’s individual data or keep in mind his desire to avenge the murder of his father. Inner drama Hamlet is that he repeatedly torments himself for inaction, understands that words cannot help the matter, but does not do anything concrete.

Characterization of the image of Hamlet using quotation material. For Hamlet, whose life was harmonious in a family of loving parents, among loyal university friends, everything turned upside down with the death of his father and the events that took place after that. The ghost of his father calls Hamlet to revenge. The world opened up to him in all its tragedy, turning a carefree young man into a suffering philosopher. The soul of the young prince is in doubt. Now he is painfully aware of the fact that words are heard all around that actually cover up lies. Ambition, vanity, the desire not to be, but to appear, are everywhere. Only Hamlet is alien to lies.

Hamlet stops believing anyone. His uncle turned out to be his father's murderer, his mother married a murderer, and recent friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern turned out to be traitors. Even the pure, naive Ophelia becomes an unwitting weapon in the hands of her father Polonius, a weapon directed against Hamlet. In this situation, he does not know who he can trust. Hamlet is alone against the world of evil. Almost everyone around us is accustomed to dissembling, being hypocritical, lying, “appearing,” hiding behind words. Hamlet wants to break this deceitful shell of words and find out what is behind it.

Those around him perceive him as strange, incomprehensible and even dangerous to themselves - “normal” people who are accustomed to living in a lie. This is how the version of the prince’s madness is born. Hamlet supports this statement, because his madness is an opportunity to tell the truth.

In fact, Hamlet is smart, widely enlightened. His nature is deep, subtle, artistic, and his language is witty and paradoxical: “And even if you lock me in a walnut cage, I will still consider myself the ruler of infinity.” Hamlet is a philosopher who seeks to understand the essence of things.

He says about himself: “I myself am a pretty decent person, otherwise I can accuse myself of so many sins, why and how did my mother give birth to me?! I am very proud, vengeful, self-loving. I have more sins at my disposal than thoughts, to think about them, dreams to realize them, time to realize them. “We are all utter scoundrels.”

"To be or not to be" - Hamlet's famous question
The human world is terrible.
And life itself is woven from falsehood,
lies, cruelty.
What to do?
Die - Fall asleep, nothing more.
And know that it will end
Heartache and a thousand worries...
Die
Fall asleep.
Maybe even dream?"

What is beyond earthly existence? How to behave regarding universal evil? There are two ways. The first is to come to terms with evil as an inevitability:

It’s easier for us to put up with a well-known disaster,
Why rush to the unknown.

Another way is to disregard all obstacles and join the fight against evil. Hamlet chooses a different path - to rebel, arm, and win.

Hamlet's death was the beginning of his immortality. This image is interesting not only to theater workers. Today we can talk about Hamlet in poetry, painting, cinema...

Shakespeare's great poetic gift sharpened even the most acute ethical conflicts hidden in the very nature of human relations. The problems that the playwright violated in his works are perceived and rethought by each subsequent era in a new way, inherent only at this moment aspect, while remaining a product of its era, which absorbed all the experience of previous generations and realized the creative potential they had accumulated.

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