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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4 page paper discusses the similarities in social behavior in “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare and “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KV32_HVhltern.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
up the things that people are really feeling and thinking, particularly if those ideas are likely to hurt others. This paper considers the way in which the characters in Hamlet
by William Shakespeare and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde put on acceptable masks to cover their real intent. At first glance, it seems that these two
plays could not possibly have anything in common. Hamlet is perhaps the greatest tragedy ever written, while Earnest is a light-hearted comedy, full of the quips and witticisms that Wilde
is famous for. But within each of these plays there are characters who, at various times, are not truthful with others; that is, they put on a mask to be
accepted by society while their real intentions are hidden. In Hamlet, these are serious and in Earnest they are played for laughs, but the concepts are the same. This paper
explores examples of the masks, and argues that they serve the purposes for which they are used. Discussion The first mask in Hamlet is the ones worn by Hamlet and
Claudius early in the play, who are seen as a welcoming step-father and dutiful son. Hamlet comes back to Elsinore from school in Wittenberg in order to attend his fathers
funeral, and although he is melancholy, he is not yet acting openly against the king. In the first scene, in fact, Claudius tries to bring him out of his depression,
saying that the death of Hamlets father is natural in the scheme of things: "But you must know your father lost a father, / That father lost, lost his ..."
(I.ii.89-90). But he goes further, including a pointed but veiled remark about Hamlets grief that suggests he is contemptuous of the younger man: "But to persever/ In obstinate condolement
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