Shakespeare-Hamlet discussion

Shakespeare-Hamlet discussion

1) choose one theme listed below2) locate a short passage (50 or so words is fine) in the play that illustrates or references this theme3) compose and share with the
class an explanation of how this passage illustrates your chosen theme.Be sure to tell us which theme you’ve chosen, paste the passage into the message, and cite it
for us so that we can follow along with your reasoning.Themes and MotifsSuccession to the Throne: In this time period, the Danish throne is elective. This does not
mean, however, that it is similar to the modern American elective system by which a president is chosen. The king is a kind of primus inter pares, or “first among
equals,” and he is chosen by the assembled nobles of the land. This is very similar to the way in which the early English kings were chosen. In the past, succession to
the throne was not always determined by what is known as primogeniture (primacy in birth – or succession by the oldest child). Instead, the throne would pass, on the
death of the reigning monarch, to a qualified member of the royal family. If this happened to be the eldest son, so be it. But if the eldest son of a deceased monarch
were still a child, an adult male of the family would be chosen to succeed to the throne. The issue of succession (who is to take power and on what principle) is
critical in Hamlet. In the political world of Elsinore, there is not a recognizably primogeniture-based principle of succession to the Danish throne, and,
consequently, succession is, in this play, a matter of some uncertainty. Hamlet hints at this unclear situation when he says to Horatio that Claudius has “popped
between the election and my hopes” (5.2.65). The anxiety about succession in this play can be seen as reflecting a general anxiety, at the end of the sixteenth
century, regarding the failure of an aging Elizabeth I to produce an heir. (She died three years after Hamlet was first performed.) What would happen to England when
she died? Given the violent political shocks and aftershocks in England during the first half of the sixteenth century, these were not baseless fears. It is worth
pointing out that, by the end of the play, it is Fortinbras (whose name means, roughly, “strong-arm”) of Norway who sits on the Danish throne. This is a very literal
hint about the kind of “strong-arm” politics that inevitably steps – or attempts to step – into disorder, or collapsed or failed order.
Revenge: There are three separate revenge plots in Hamlet: Hamlet desires to revenge Claudius’s murder of his father. Fortinbras desires to revenge the death of his
father, the former king of Norway, whom the late Danish king had defeated in battle. Finally, Laertes desires to revenge the death of his father, Polonius. The pattern
is clear: a son avenges the death of a father and in so doing, advances to his father’s former position. Hamlet would become king were he to succeed. Fortinbras would
recover the lands lost by his father and would eventually succeed to a throne of his own. Laertes actually becomes the prime counselor to, and conspirator with,
Claudius.
FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENTS TO BE DONE AT A CHEAPER PRICE PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US NOW