Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Act 5 Question

With the order of the deaths at the end of Act 5, do you think there is symbolism? What do you think Shakespeare was trying to get across for his last big moment in the play?

18 comments:

  1. Yes I think there is symbolism. I think the order was relevant to how prevalent the mistakes were that the person made. The greater the mistake the long the build up until their death. I think Shakespeare was trying to portray that every action we have has an equal retain in return. He also ephisises the phrase "the ends justify the means."

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  2. I personally do not think that there is symbolism in the order in which the characters were murdered. Yes, they all had separate reasons to be killed but I don't think the order had any significance. Shakespeare was trying to get across the lesson of karma. As in you receive what you deserve. Everyone who died had a specific reason to die.

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  3. At the end of Act 5, I do not think there is a lot of symbolism in the order of the deaths. The means of their deaths are significant but not the time. The only important part of the order is that Hamlet died last. He lived to see his goal of revenge on Claudius fulfilled. Hamlet was the last one standing, the victor of the bloody battle. But Hamlet does not win the throne or the kingdom, that all goes to Fortinbras. In the last moments Shakespeare clearly shows that justice comes for everyone, all wrongs will be corrected.

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  4. i also don't believe their is alot of symbolism. Every one who died died because of their own selfich reasons.Eventhough each persons death was was caused by them either taking vengance for what that person did to them or what that person did to someone they know. I agree with Elle when she says shakespear was trying to show Karma. everyone that did something sinful had something happen to them, hich in this story was death.

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  5. I don't think there is symbolism behind the order of the deaths. I think the main point Shakespeare was trying to get across is the fact in the Christian faith, there comes a time where everyone is judged by God based on their actions. All of the characters had done things in their past, recent or not, that were sinful enough that their judgement was death. The order in which they died had nothing to do with the type of judgement they received.

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  6. I think that Shakespeare was trying to get across than your actions will come back to you. In this case he showed how acting badly can result in a punishment, like death. I don't really see a symbolism in the order of the deaths but I think there is significance to the way each character died. All of the characters that died seemed to be killed by the people that they hurt. Hamlet was killed by Laertes because Hamlet killed his father, Claudius was killed by Hamlet for killing Hamlet's father, Laertes was killed by Hamlet for not accepting his forgiveness, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were killed because of a letter that Hamlet wrote since they both betrayed their friend. The Queen's death is a little more complicated in my eyes; her death was half caused by Claudius and half caused by herself. I think her death was caused by herself because she was portrayed as a "victim" and couldn't really take care of herself. Since she didn't seem to be loyal to herself or her late husband I would attribute her death as rightfully her own fault.
    Shakespeare uses all the characters death and ways of dying as showing that karma will not be so nice to you if you are not nice to others and to show that the people you hurt will have a way of hurting you in the end.

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  7. Although the order of their deaths makes sense in the way Addie explains, I believe the order of the characters' deaths was more of a matter of drama at the climax/resolution of the play, allowing for Laertes and Hamlet to have their duel, and for Claudius to see the results of his murderous urge. Shakespeare had made a statement through the deaths, nonetheless, showing the idea of "getting what one deserves" in the end, or showing the what results of men of action as opposed to those of inaction.

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  8. I think the deaths of all of them is very significant, however I personally did not see much symbolism in the order of their deaths. But, something I found very interesting is how they all died right after they finished what they wanted in life. Claudius died when Hamlet was poisoned, Hamlet dies when he killed Claudius, Gertrude dies once she makes amends with Hamlet and stands up for herself, and Laertes dies when he finished Hamlet. I also saw a lot of the idea that you never know when you will die and we saw that a lot in this last section.

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  9. I think the symbolism of all the deaths at the end of the play is very important because it is showing that they all had to die for balance. They all died so everyone would be happy and have their revenge for their own problems.

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  10. I think the symbolism of all the deaths at the end of the play is very important because it is showing that they all had to die for balance. They all died so everyone would be happy and have their revenge for their own problems.

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  11. The order of the deaths symbolizes Hamlet's sacrifices. In order tocomplete his revenge plan he must loose everything and everyone. Only after this is achieved can the revenge process be complete thus allowing him to die in peace.

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  12. I think Sheakesphere was trying to show what goes around comes around with everyone's death. Really everyone deserved to die in the end of the play because of previous sins each character committed. No one innocent survived during the last battle scene. As for the order of the deaths I think the most innocent people died first, starting with the Queen who was pretty harmless. The last person to die (besides Hamlet) was Claudius who seemed to be the most evil in the play. Either was Sheakesphere had a specific way he killed each person off and the order they died as well.

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  13. I agree with Addie, with her response to the question. I think her explanation sums it up clearly. But that's only for the overall plot of the story. I say this because in Act 5 everyone dies but the order of death doesn't have any symbolism to that specific scene(s). Hamlet is the only character that has any symbolism to his death. He witnessed Claudius die from his mistakes and that's all he wanted, justice for the murder of Kink Hamlet. Shakespeare probably saw in the world that what you do, good or bad, will come back to you. With greed that humans display there will always be a consequence to our actions and I think that's what made this play so recognizable among literature and teacher that goes with it.

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  14. I believe that Shakespeare was trying to show that people that have committed the most wrong will ultimately end up in the worse position. Its a very good example of karma because the first to die where pretty much the ones that deserved it. Hamlet dies last because he wanted to die with nobility and shakespeare portrayed him more as a hero rather than anything else

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  15. I dont think there is symbolizum behind the order at which the characters died, I think Shakespeare did it for more of theatrical means, which enhanced the story for the reader. Shakespeare makes Hamlet enraged after the death of Gertrude, helping him kill laertes and Claudius. Saving Hamlet to die last, showing that he concurred his goals and has avenged his father.

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  16. I think Shakespeare was only trying to tell us that "what goes around, comes around" because in the end of the play, Larates dies first, the Queen and King follow with Hamlet at the very end. I don't think there is significance to the order in which they died but it is more significant that the people who died, died after doing wrong things. The incestuous, lying, murderous household got what they had coming for them in the end because of what they all did leading up to the end.

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  17. I don't think that the order of the deaths was symbolic to anything. I would argue that instead of the symbolism having any relevance to order, it is more involved with the type of death. For instance, each person died the same way that they killed somebody. Claudius killed the king by poisoning him, then he was poisoned, hamlet killed polonius by stabbing him, and he was stabbed as well.

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  18. I didn't think that the order of the deaths was symbolic. Rather, I think that the causes of the deaths correlated more. The more violent or worse the sin, the more violent the death was.

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