journal 25: xXx
There are several themes apparent in the first act of the play whether pertaining to the present themes of act 1 or the themes gleaming of foreshadow from act 1 that will doubtlessly emerge.
Revenge is an obvious one, as the ghost of his father binds Hamlet to his task of killing his uncle to revenge is father. Doubt is also prominent in the scenes of act 1, better described as ambiguity, which Hamlet is no stranger to. Even before he learned of his uncles’ foul play against his father Hamlet was weary of his uncle and seemingly mocks him throughout scene two. “The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tales”. After his is left alone in scene two the reader gets the full impression of Hamlets perspective and feelings towards his uncle and his mother’s predicament. Hamlet is riddled with something of contempt for the haste of his mother’s wedding following so swiftly on the heels of his fathers’ funeral. Though at this point in the play Hamlet suspects them of nothing his ambiguous nature overcomes him, which also could foreshadow future events. This theme being X its purpose would be to inspire viewers and readers to be more sure of themselves and not to let something like Hamlet’s ambiguous nature become of state of psychological compulsion.
An even more obvious theme would be that of mortality. From the opening of the play the reader/viewer is overwhelmed with this theme, dealing with the ghost, the uncovered murder, and the sworn revenge. The ghost talks to Hamlet of mortality, saying that he is only to revenge his father and that it is not his place to pass judgment upon his mother. This gives the reader thoughts of caution and respect for mortality.
DEATH
I missed mortality myself, and now I see it plainly. I think that that is a theme that maintains itself throughout the play, and obviously, everyone finds theirs at the end.
-Hilary
Mortality
I also thought that you bringing up the theme of mortality was something I missed out on. I guess Shakespeare has that theme a lot, but I usually don't notice until someone dies during the play. I like the quote you used, and it might have been my favourite line from the act. This play seems to capture the idea of Death conquering Love (I just read the comment "Politics trumps love"), whereas Romeo and Juliet shows Love conquering Death. The difference being this shows the unmatched power of death and Romeo and Juliet showing the unmatched power of love...
Ryan K Bishop
contrast
the contrast of Hamlet to Romeo and Juliet is something very interesting as they both end in death yet have completely different motives. Hamlet was driven by his rage for revenge and Romeo and Juliet by their love. So why do they both end in death? the connection may well be driving passion, though im not sure if i can answer my own question.
Multiple themes
Wow, I really missed out on some of the themes you came up with entirely. I kind of saw the theme of doubt, although I didn't include it in my response. However, the theme of mortality escaped me altogether. I think it's a valid consideration-- the major concern of the play is over someone who already died and Hamlet's desire to kill another person. Mortality in terms of vulnerability is really evident here. As long as you trust someone, you're in danger. They could murder you. That's depressing.
Erin Kay Schulz
yeah...
That seems like a theme that Shakespeare hits a lot in his writings. Mortality must have really made him shiver. I don't know if this is true, but wasn't he in the era where people were relatively "Christianized"? But I guess that fits, because people would become Christians to try to escape eternal damnation. So, although my point at the beginning of this post was that people would not be scared of mortality because they had "life insurance", it seems that I have come to the opposite conclusion. People were scared of mortality, so they would become "Christians".