Hamlet: Contrast Plays A Major Role :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Hamlet Contrast Plays A Major Role       In William Shakespeares Hamlet, contrast plays a major role. Characters mother foils, scenes and ideas contrast each other, sometimes within the samesoliloquy. One such(prenominal) contrast occurs in Act Five, Scene One, in the heavyyard.Here, the relatively get off mood in the first half is offset by the grave andsomber mood in the second half.     The scene opens with two clowns, who hold out as a sort of comic relief.This is necessary, after the tension of Ophelias crack-up (and subsequent death), and after the ever-increasing complexities of the plot. Previously,Polonious provided some humour, but since he is dead, a unsanded source must be found- the gravediggers. Their banter becomes the calm onward the storm of the duel,and the plays resolution. There is also a juxtaposition of the clowns and thegraveyard here, which unless intensifies the effect. The clowns chatter abouttheir work in a ca refree manner, purge going so far as to play with a circularise ( What is he that builds stronger ... carpenter V,1,41-42). Shakespeare evenwent so far as to embroil his puns in this grave scene (V,1,120).     Hamlet himself experiences a temporary whitening of mood from listening tothe gravediggers conversation. Their carefree treatment of death  singing compositiondigging graves, not to mention tossing skulls in the air)  is a parallel toHamlets newfound attitude. After having committed himself to his cause in ActIV, he is no longer bothered by the paradox of good and evil, and (seemingly) isuntroubled by his previous misgivings.     Hamlets musings on the equality of all men in death serve as a transitioninto the darker second half of the scene. His contemplations on death reflectAct IV, Scene 3, when Hamlet gives voice to a humorous notion concerning howa king may progress by means of the guts of a beggar (IV,3,27-28). Hamlet expand son this idea with his thoughts on how even Alexander the Great or ImperiousCaesar may come in to such base uses as tenia a beer barrel, or stopping a hole to keep the wind away (V,1,207)     The entrance of Ophelias funeral climb marks the beginning of thesecond half, which balances the humor of the previous portion. The graveyard forthwithtakes on its more traditional role, as a place of grief, quite a than a place ofdrollery. Laertess words, understandably, contain references to Hell, and alsohold no incident benevolence for Hamlet.     The tension of the scene is further heightened by the confrontation which