外国名著英语读书笔记 The Tragedy of Hamlet

第一篇：The Tragedy of Hamlet

Hamlet,

Hamlet is also considered The summit of shakespeare's art. The story comes from an old danish legend.

a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on The stage.The soliloquist reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to The audience.

e.

neiTher a weak-minded youth nor a thought-sick dreamer,a humanist

unbounded love for The world;

cherishes a profound reverence for manfirm belief in man’s power over destiny.

? “to be or not to be” soliloquy:

?it's human nature to feel cowardly and ineffective when you're unable (or too smart) to take decisive (or rash) action.

? The story

The action of The play is laid in denmark. gertrude, queen of denmark, widowed by The sudden death of The king, within two months marries The late kings broTher claudius who thus becomes The new king.

prince Hamlet, son of The lake king, returns home from The university of wittenberg. he suspects foul play on The part of claudius, his uncle. Then his faThers ghost appears to him at The castle of elsinore, and confirms Hamlets suspicion. he undertakes to avenge The murder. to dull claudius vigilance, Hamlet pretends to have gone mad. however, his madness is taken by polonius, an old courtier, to be an emotional disturbance due to his passion for ophelia, daughter of polonius.

at this moment, a company of players visits The castle, and Hamlet has a play acted, which resembles The late kings murder. claudius is deeply disturbed by The performance and leaves The hall before The play is finished. Hamlet is summoned by his moTher, who tells him that he has offended The king. Hamlet reveals claudius baseness and expresses his indignation at her hasty

marriage. Then Hamlet becomes aware that he is being overheard in The conversation. thinking it is claudius that is in hiding, he runs his sword through The arras but finds The eavesdropper thus killed to be polonius.

to get ride of Hamlet, claudius send him to england and sends assassins to kill him on The voyage. but Hamlet succeeds in coming out of it alive and returns to denmark again.

heart-broken at The death of her faTher, poor ophelia goes mad and Then is drowned in a stream. Hamlet returns just at The time of ophelia's funeral. in The grave-yard he has a quarrel with laertes, ophelia's broTher.

latertes vows to avenge The death of his sister and faTher. with him claudius arranges that laertes is to challenge Hamlet to a friendly duel and kill him with a poisoned rapier. in The sword play, laertes wounds Hamlet but is himself struck with The same poisoned rapier by Hamlet. before death, laertes reveals The plot to Hamlet. The queen, at this moment, has drunk from a poisoned cup intended for Hamlet. Hamlet Then, in a passion, stabs claudius. The queen dies, claudius dies, laertes dies, Hamlet dies. and Hamlets body is borne off with military ceremonial, by fortinbras his successor. The rest is silence.

The tragical history of Hamlet, prince of denmark

(1601)《丹麦王子哈姆雷特的悲剧故事》是根据13世纪初丹麦历史学家 saxo grammaticus 的记载，叙述丹麦王子哈姆雷特替父亲报仇，杀死他的篡夺王位的叔父的故事。莎士比亚在剧本中改造了丹麦的历史故事，改造了故事中主人公的性格，创造了哈姆雷特这个复杂深刻的人物。通过这个人物和他周围环境之间的冲突，莎士比亚反映了文艺复兴时期人文主义思想家的理想与资本主义原始积累时期社会现实之间的无法调和的矛盾。剧本中所描述的中世纪的丹麦实际上就是指的16、17世纪的英国，丹麦王子哈姆雷特实际上就是文艺复兴时期英国社会进步青年的代表。对于这些青年来说，当时英国的政治、英国的社会真是太黑暗了。难怪哈姆雷特说：丹麦是一所监狱，丹麦是一间最坏的囚室。

Hamlet’s soliloquy

soliloquy

The form of soliloquy

soliloquy’s function

? 哈姆雷特的著名独白探索生和死的问题，指出思想和行动之间的矛盾。这段独白并不是说明哈姆雷特想借自杀来逃避替父报仇的责任，而是表达了人文主义思想家对生死问题的思考。在这段独白之前，哈姆雷特已和演员们约好当天夜间在宫中上演一出小戏，特请国王和王后观赏。他叫演员们演的戏很象他叔父谋害他父亲、娶他母亲的内容，目的在于观察他叔父对这出戏的反应，用以证实鬼魂所说关于谋杀的罪行。若经证明他叔父果然是凶手，那么他就要立刻采取行动替父报仇。他焦急地等待着夜晚的来临，以便进行这个关键性的试验。在这段无事可作的等待期间，他心情更加沉重了。他想到死是一条出路，但是他并未下决心自杀。

? 他权衡着生和死的得失；他想到每个人都掌握着自己的生死命运。拚一死去和罪恶社会作战呢？还是消极地忍受世间的不平和痛苦？在这里哈姆雷特历数社会上不平等、非正义的现象。他考虑到拿起武器和罪恶社会作斗争，采取行动替父亲报仇，都可能要付出生命作为代价，因此他想到生存和死亡的问题。死亡可以结束一切尘世间的痛苦，何乐而不为？但是死亡究竟是个谜，死后可能还有来生，来生可能有更多、更可怕的痛苦在等待着我们，如同睡眠中有恶梦一般。由于这个顾虑，人们宁愿忍受漫长的、痛苦的一生，而不肯轻易用一柄小小的刀子来结束自己的生命。因此，顾虑使我们成为懦夫。哈姆雷特从生死问题转而思索思想和行动之间的关系。思想是指导行动的，但是想得太多却令人踌躇不前，误了大事。这是哈姆雷特对自己的警告。。

to be or not to be

"to be or not to be" and "romeo, romeo, wherefore art thou romeo?" are better-known. this is not to say that it is at all The best or most interesting or most beautiful of The sonnets; but The simplicity and loveliness of its praise of The

beloved has guaranteed its place

Hamlet’s Theme

notes on The soliloquy

?

? of suicide as a means of escape, and he dwells on it in a later part of this very speech, giving, however, a different reason for refraining. The whole drift of The speech shows his belief in a future life.“to be or not to be” is The key sentence in this soliloquy. “to be” is to continue to live, or to take action. “not to be” is to die, or to do nothing but suffering, to end one’s life by self- destruction.it is a dilemma of trying to determine The meaning of life and death. is it nobler to suffer The life passively or to die (seek to end one’s sufferings) actively?

practically The whole of Hamlet’s speech has become proverbial as an outpouring of utter world weariness. of course, much of The imagery is not peculiar to shakespeare or any writer, e.g., The likening of death to starting on a long journey.

take arms against a sea of troubles: to take up arms and rush upon The waves of The sea was a custom attributed by several classical writers to The celts. The troubles are pictured as advancing like some overwhelming tide.

no more: just that, only that, i.e. falling on sleep

?

consummation: a completion of ones life, a crowning and fitting endwhat dreams: i.e. The thought of what dreams may comemortal coil: turmoil of mortality, confused trouble of mortal liferespect: consideration= regard

of so long life: so long-lived

time: The times, The world, ones contemporaries

might his quietus make: might give himself his release from life's troubles

thought: anxiety

and lose The name of action: even as a river may lose itself in a sandy waste and so after its long course never reach The sea: wonderful symbol, indeed, of frustration and failure

?

?

?

? analysis of characters of Hamlet? 1. a humanist, free from medieval prejudices and superstitions infinite love for The world raTher for heaven profound love and respect for man, and a firm belief in man’s power over destiny 2. this humanist love of man makes Hamlet turn to those around him (his faTher, ophelia) with The same sincere eagerness. he loves good and hates evil. he shows a contempt for rank and wealth. a king and beggar are all one to him. his democratic tendency is based on his humanist thought.

3. man of superb intelligence, a close observer of men and manners, he easily sees through people. he could penetrate below The surface of things. he is forever.?

? unmasking The world, he discovers how wicked and unjust The world he lives in is. his observation of his world is summed up in a bitter sentence: “denmark is a prison.”

? Hamlet is not a mere scholar, simply meditative by nature. on The contrary, Hamlet is a man of genius, highly accomplished and educated, a man of profound perception and sparkling wit. he is a scholar, soldier and statesman all combined. his image reflects The versatility of The men of The renaissance.

? Hamlet’s melancholy is The result of his penetrating mind.

?Hamlet gives a reason. if he kills The villain now, he would send his

soul to heaven; and he would raTher kill his soul.

? premeditated killing of a king and its political result, because at that time The abrupt death of The king might cause panic to The people and danger to The state. so what he considers now is no longer his personal wrong but The fate of his country.

? a freudian explanation:oedipus complex

第二篇：The root of The Tragedy of Hamlet

There are many reasons for The roots of The Tragedy of Hamlet, but i’d like to illustrate three reasons which i think are The most significant ones. first, it’s Hamlet’s own character. he’s weak and hilarious, and because of this sensitive, he was hesitant. all his energy is concentrated on

making a decision; Therefore he lost The power of action. for this reason, he was restrained in The thoughts wheTher he should revenge for his faTher.

second, Hamlet is actually a humanist, he thought “what a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in facilities, in form and moving, how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god, The beauty of The world, The paragon of animals.”but after all those things, he only felt disappointed towards human and humanity and became melancholy. also, he’s longing for justice and freedom, but The society is full of despotism, repression, deceive and decay. actually, The fight between Hamlet and hic uncle claudius is in essence a fight and conflict between different classes, between The royal family and The newly appeared, The still weak

bourgeoisie class. but he was born as a prince, grown up in The royal

family and enjoyed The noble privilege since he was born. Therefore, it’s pretty hard for him to revenge for his uncle and The class his uncle

represented. and this is a reflection of The society at that time, which The contradiction is more and more tensed.

third, it is because of his oedipus complex. his love for his moTher and his belief in The loyal love is destroyed by his moTher’s remarriage, since his moTher forget The happiness togeTher with his faTher and remarried his uncle very soon after his faTher’s death. this was considered incest at that time and is what Hamlet cannot accept. and this caused enormous psychological shadow on him. besides, his love towards ophelia is

obstructed by ophelia’s broTher. and ophelia is tightly controlled by his broTher. Therefore, his fancy towards women is vanished, and said “frailty, The name is woman.”

第三篇：list some of The features of Hamlet which fit in with its classification as a revenge Tragedy

list some of The features of Hamlet which fit in with its classification

as a revenge Tragedy

The purpose of my essay is to prove that Hamlet is a revenge Tragedy by examing The different characteristics of such drama, i.e. foreign setting revenge, melancholic revenger, wrong doer above The law, second revenger, Theme of death, evil-doers prepared to use murder.

Hamlet is unusual in setting in denmark. denmark was a protestant country which enjoyed amicable relations with england. furThermore, english players ventured as far as elsinore. it seems, though, that The choice of denmark as a setting was determined by shakespeare’s sources for The play.

Hamlet is a complex character, his melancholic personality decides his destiny, and vengeance is his fate, his Tragedy. his tragic flow is that he spends too much time thinking and not enough time acting. he dwells too much on wheTher or not to act on something, and by The time he decides to act, it is too late. Hamlet is of a melancholic disposition, consider for example which he thinks of committing suicide: ‘to be or not to be’.

The wrong will oTherwise go unpunished as The wrongdoer is of an

exalted social status. claudius, The king of denmark killed his broTher and inherited The throne and married his elder’s wife. when Hamlet found his faTher be killed by claudius, he had no choice but to look for opportunity to revenge. in addition, claudius can’t punish Hamlet to death directly for There is no law to punish a prince. it seems that those who have high social status can do anything without punishment.

as id to drive home The point, The play has a second revenger in The person of laerates. he too has suffered The death of two relatives, his faTher and his little sister, at The hands of The socially superior prince of denmark. laerates becomes claudius’ tool to help to kill Hamlet. it seems to be that Their life is to take revenge each oTher.

one of The Themes of The play is death. when Hamlet knows that his uncle killed his faTher and married his moTher, he thinks wheTher to die or to live, wheTher to kill his uncle or not. besides, ophelia can’t stand her faTher’s death and hurt from Hamlet, and at last she chooses to drown in The river. unfortunately, even though all The players revenge successfully, people including Hamlet, claudius, queen gertrude, laertes die.

those around The protagonist (i.e. claudius and laertes) are wiling to use murder to achieve Their ends. claudius wants to be The king so that he

kills his broTher by poison and deceives The queen and marries her. when laertes gets The information that Hamlet killed his faTher, he is willing to be a killer tool to help claudius kill Hamlet. during The sword fighting, Hamlet gets wounded and dies from The poison of The blade which claudius puts on.

from above all, it can prove that Hamlet is a revenge Tragedy from These six characteristics of such drama. There are foreign setting revenge, melancholic revenger, wrong doers above The law, second revenger, The Theme of death, evil-doers prepared to use murder.

第四篇：The character of Hamlet

The character of Hamlet

" Hamlet " is a classical representative work of shakespear.it is one of four tragedies ,which are Hamlet , oThello, king lear, and macbeth. Hamlet is The famous Tragedy character of shakespeare.in this drama，Hamlet is The center of The whole story.and shakespeare depicts The image through a series of revenges to reveal his complex inner world.

The prince of denmark Hamlet suffered a series of unfortunate and domestic misfortune suddenly:faTher demise, uncle, claudius superposition of aspiring, his moTher remarried gave uncle. all this made him into a great pain.Then The ghost of his faTher told him that he was poisoned by his uncle. he considered The problem of each aspect, neiTher fear leak worry, or afraid ghost was false, afraid fall into The wrong trap. he sullen, have to fool on occasion to confuse your enemies, waiting for an opportunity of revenge. shakespeare in order to launch a description. Hamlet character is complicated. through various but and revenge main clue inter woven plot shows his unique personality.

1.melancholy

The source of melancholy is disillusion of idea: a series of dishonorable incidents happen suddenly, broke him about life and The world, love, friendship, and future ,a series of humanistic fantasy. The disillusion of idea make he cannot bear The load pressure and be in trouble ,which produced a melancholy.and Then he analyse The reality

that as The profound insight of a philosopher,to expose The social evil.in his spiritual crisis, he continue to explore more serious social evils, These new and Then tbring his melancholy furTher upgrade andachieve abnormal reach of The depth and breadth.from wearing sackcloth from his debut, to The castle to wait The faTher, to pretend crazy, to play in acting, to persuade The moTher, to The sea to detect crafty, to The graveyard funeral, to contest, until he finally was destroyed, depression never leave him.

2.boggle

Hamlet is a man with contradictory,he had many chances to kill claudius,but he hesitated,which reflects The religious thought poisons.why?one is The situation was not in his favor and have a great disparity;anoTher is revenge for faTher and have to turn The tideof battle. The long-term, difficultstruggle, complexity and risk led to his actions hesitation.so he will be thinking all The time before acting ,and experience a long process than oTher people .or he decided to take action but do not know how to do.he has opportunity to revenge when claudius was praying.however,The useless thingking of soul into heaven or hell let him miss The chance .so he has been waiting for an opportunity and it do not come ;once arrived,but lost.it made The final tragic ending.

“to be or not to be ”is a question of life. this is also The misfortune that humanist must face . Hamlet,a humanistrepresented

The humanism and showed The author's reflection and The renaissance movement of human destiny and future social anxiety.

Hamlet is a humanist who is between ideals and The reality, andis full of sweet hope for The everything,men,and society. but The harsh and ugly realitybroke his happy ideal, and which led his humanistic beliefs were shattered. Hamlet’s complex contradictory character not only a personal characteristics,but also The product of The time. Hamlet's destruction revealed The humanistic Tragedy.

第五篇：The impression of reading Hamlet

The impression of reading Hamlet

Hamlet is considered to be The summit of shakespeare's art. i think The storyis that The

most bright points is his mental process not The revenge on his uncle for killing his faTher. but The revenge is important in whole story. The story begin witha murder. The king of denmark died mysteriously and his broTher come to power. Hamlet, The son of The previous king, felt that his

faTher's death was very strange. moreover, to his surprise,his moTher married his uncle. after some investigation, a shocking result came to Hamlet that his faTher was murdered by his uncle. so, Hamlet began to revenge.

however,Hamlet is miserable,he is full of love in this world, he loves his moTher and loves ophelia. but his faTher's died cause confusion in his mind.someday, The ghost of his faTher's

appeared, and tell him claudius was guilty not only murder but also of incest and adultery. but The spirit cautioned Hamlet to spare queen gertrude, his moTher, so that heaven could punish her. he has very dilemma. we knows he is afraid of hurting his moTher,i think it’s The most shining part of him and The most striking thing i admire. love is also displayed in The love affairs between

Hamlet and ophelia. They are both not accepted by The world because Their behaviors are more than a little different from ones in tradition. however, They are against all The odds and get

determinedly togeTher. Their love is born to be a Tragedy, but They don’t regret at all. it is enough as long as They have owned. this is what true love is.

in this story has anoTher points is humanism, especially in The image ofHamlet,"courtier's eye's, scholar's tongue,soldier's sword, flower filled with The country's hope,mirror of The era, model of The human relations and The center of worldwide attention." ophelia's this description exactly summed up The humanism in Hamlet. Hamlet's ending is very Tragedy,Hamlet is not prefect. sometime he is urge,for example, he kill his uncle. and he is sensible,he unbelieves his faTher's ghost words. but his moTher ,his uncle ,ophelia's broTher and himself is die in end of The story .