Examine the presentation of Claudius in Act 1 Essay Example

Examine the presentation of Claudius in Act 1 Paper William Shakespeares Hamlet is a play of deceit, hypocrisy and most importantly revenge. The play is written in Shakespearean language, and is one of Shakespeares many classics. There are a few main characters in this play, which consist of Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia, but the character in question here is Claudius. Shakespeare, who is most famous for his creation of characters, which seem like real people, has portrayed Claudius as astute, cunning, but yet accomplished in a sense. The audience seem to make an immediate judgement of Claudius after Act ( scene ? as Shakespeare uses Claudiuss first speech to out line his character. Claudiuss first speech is very important and reflects his character and also the play. It primarily is about betrayal, incest, marriage and death. He talks about war, his newly beloved wife, his valiant brothers funeral, the Prince of Norway and Laertes. Shakespeares technique here uses a lot of juxtaposition mixed with alliteration for this speech. The main one is when Claudius is talking about Gertrude he says sometime sister which portrays incest. This is a very interesting choice of language because it has a double meaning. We will write a custom essay sample on Examine the presentation of Claudius in Act 1 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Examine the presentation of Claudius in Act 1 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Examine the presentation of Claudius in Act 1 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer One being Claudius trying to say after Hamlet Seniors death he is in no way related to Gertrude. But when read into more detail he could have also said this to show the audience, incest. Alliteration and juxtaposition has been used again, when the ghost talks about Claudius, he says, A serpent stung me. This an excellent choice of juxtaposition as it makes the audience very curious. This is because the audience want to know how the King died, and also gets the audience thinking, because a serpent does not sting it bites. The alliteration here is again the sss sound. This is the sound of a snake, and a snake represents evil. There is one other occasion when Claudius is referred to as an animal, is when hamlet is doing a soliloquy and he says Hyperion to a satyr. This shows Hamlets sarcasm towards Claudius and also means Claudius is very hasty. Again in line 10 he uses juxtaposition. Defeated joy, is the term that is used here and Shakespeare has used this here because it is a shortened explanation of the next few lines. Here is a very important quote when Claudius says, With mirth in funeral and dirge in marriage which is exactly what he was talking about when he said defeated joy. This quote is basically showing how everyone is feeling, because one side of them is happy for Claudius and Gertrude getting married, and the other side till a certain extent they are still mourning the great kings death. In a sense just this little part of the speech already shows the link to the country with the king, and also shows how respected and powerful the king is, but also how conniving he is because he very cleverly moves on from Hamlet Seniors death to his marriage with Gertrude in the speech. Another very interesting line from the king is line 64 where again juxtaposition is used, but this time in a sentence, But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son. This is a very good contradiction as he is trying to say, just because he is married to Gertrude, he is also Hamlets father. Shakespeare very cleverly shows this as it sums up Claudius in a sentence. It shows the king to be manipulative, and powerful. There are a few other techniques used in this speech. Body politic is used in line 4 where Claudius says brow of woe. Which shows he is a little bit upset because of his brothers death and this little sentence sums up everything. Repetition is another technique used by Shakespeare, where Claudius is talking to Hamlet about his father. The two words that are repeated three times are, father and lost. Shakespeare has used this technique to make Claudius emphasis his point. These few sentences are very important as they show another side to Claudius, the devious side. At first his care towards Hamlet is thought to be conscientious, as he tries very hard to stop hamlet from grieving and tries to show him its the course of nature. However, later on he says tis a fault to heaven, a fault against the dead, a fault to nature. This is Claudius trying to say it is a sin to grieve so much, not only to your father, but also to God, to the dead, and to nature. This is where the audience see the real side to him, which is vile and selfish. The structure of Claudiuss first speech can be broken down into five main parts. Shakespeare starts him off by talking about the death of Hamlet Senior, and his funeral. A few sentences after that he moves on to talking about marriage. For a speech that is over a 100 lines long, talking about the funeral for about 5 lines must mean the death does not mean a lot to him as he doesnt have a lot to say about it. Shakespeare has presented him like this to make him hated by the audience and can in a way be seen as a villain. After talking about the marriage he moves on to war and politics, and talks about Fortinbras and war with Norway, which shows his power and respect. Then he moves onto Laertes, and he asks him for any wish he will grant. This again portrays his power. Finally he moves onto hamlet. He explains why he thinks Hamlet should not go to his university. He says comfort of our eye this again is ironic because the audience see him as being caring but this quote could also mean they want to keep an eye on him. Here Claudius is speaking on behalf of him and Gertrude but is actually talking about himself. In conclusion Claudius, has been presented as cunning, desperate, in a sense clever, very respected and powerful. His character also comes across as the manipulative type, and always gets what he wants and if he doesnt would go to extreme measures to get it. The repetition and the body politic in this speech is fewer than the juxtaposition and the alliteration. I think Shakespeares combination of juxtaposition and alliteration work exquisitely together and the effects are substantial.

Definition and Examples of Writers Block

Definition and Examples of Writers Block    Writers block is a condition in which a skilled writer with the desire to write finds herself unable to write. The expression writers block was coined and popularized by American psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler in the 1940s.In other ages and cultures, says Alice Flaherty in The Midnight Disease, writers were not thought to be blocked but straightforwardly dried up. One literary critic points out that the concept of writers block is peculiarly American in its optimism that we all have creativity just waiting to be unlocked.See Examples and Observations below. Also see: 12 Quick Tips for Beating Writers BlockWriters on Writing: Overcoming Writers BlockComposing My First College Essay, by Sandy KlemHow to Avoid Writing, by Robert BenchleyHow to Write 2,500 Words Before Breakfast Every DayJohn McPhees Remedy for Writers BlockRobert Pirsig on Overcoming Writers BlockA Trick for Overcoming Writers Block and Getting Into a Writing Frame of MindWriters on Writing: The Myth of Inspiration Examples and Observations You dont know what it is to stay a whole day with your head in your hands trying to squeeze your unfortunate brain so as to find a word.(Gustave Flaubert, 1866)Why is suffering a major criterion for writers block? Because someone who is not writing but not suffering does not have writers block; he or she is merely not writing. Such times may instead be fallow periods for the development of new ideas, periods Keats famously described as delicious diligent indolence.(Alice W. Flaherty, The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writers Block, and the Creative Brain. Houghton Mifflin, 2004)Although it can be triggered by any number of internal or external stimuli, the vital function that writers block performs during the creative process remains constant: inability to write means that the unconscious self is vetoing the program demanded by the conscious ego.(Victoria Nelson, On Writers Block. Houghton Mifflin, 1993)I think writers block is simply the dread that you are going to write som ething horrible.(Roy Blount, Jr.) William Staffords Remedy for Writers BlockI believe that the so-called writing block is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance. . . .Well, I have a formula for this that may just be a gimmicky way of explaining it. Anyway, it goes like this: one should lower his standards until there is no felt threshold to go over in writing. It’s easy to write. You just shouldn’t have standards that inhibit you from writing.(William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl. University of Michigan Press, 1978) Eminem on Writers BlockFallin asleep with writers block in the parking lot of McDonalds,But instead of feeling sorry for yourself do something about it.Admit you got a problem, your brain is clouded, you pouted long enough.(Eminem, Talkin 2 Myself. Recovery, 2010) Stephen King on Writers Block- There may be a stretch of weeks or months when it doesnt come at all; this is called writers block. Some writers in the throes of writers block think their muses have died, but I dont think that happens often; I think what happens is that the writers themselves sow the edges of their clearing with poison bait to keep their muses away, often without knowing they are doing it. This may explain the extraordinarily long pause between Joseph Hellers classic novel Catch-22 and the follow-up, years later. That was called Something Happened. I always thought that what happened was Mr. Heller finally cleared away the muse repellent around his particular clearing in the woods.(Stephen King, The Writing Life. The Washington Post, October 1, 2006)- [M]y son, fed up with hearing me complain and whine about my illness, gave me a present for Christmas, Stephen King’s On Writing. . . . The simple theme of this remarkable book is if you really want to write, then shut yourself in a room, close the door, and WRITE. If you don’t want to write, do something else.(Mary Garden, Writers Block. Absolute Write, 2007) The Trick[Y]ou dont want to face the blank page. Youll do anything to avoid writing. Youll go clean your toilet before you write. So I finally figured it out. Ive done the most writing this year because of a trick Ive figured out. . . . The trick is you gotta find something worse than writing. [Laughing] Thats it. Thats the trick.(Robert Rodriguez, quoted by Charles Ramirez Berg in The Mariachi Aesthetic Goes to Hollywood. Robert Rodriguez: Interviews, ed. by Zachary Ingle. University Press of Mississippi, 2012) The Lighter Side of Writers Block[Writing is] brutal, slogging work, comparable to coal mining, but harder. You never hear coal miners complaining about Coal Miners Block, wherein, try as they might, they simply cant bring themselves to mine another piece of coal. Whereas this kind of tragedy befalls novelists all the time, which is why so many of them are forced to quit working altogether and become university professors.(Dave Barry, Ill Mature When Im Dead. Berkley, 2010)