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Hamlet

Act 4 of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Laertes talks about his sister Ophelia, who seems insane,

saying that her antics are "document in madness." Hamlet is a testament to the statement

(Mulready). Throughout the play, Hamlet's behavior is documented by the characters around

him, who seem nonsensical. For instance, Ophelia reports him to Polonius, stating that he looked

as if "he had been loosed out of hell when Hamlet entered her room" (Shakespeare). As a result,

Lord Polonius chalks his disheveled behavior up to heartbreak, although it is the first time that

Hamlet is described as mad. The audience discovers that Hamlet is indeed not mad but pretends

to avenge his father's death by killing Claudius. Ophelia's madness, on the other hand, is real. It

eventually caused her death. Hamlet killing Polonius and insulting his mother for remarrying

may have shown how "mad" hamlet has become, though there is an ambiguity between Hamlet's

self and devised self (Roosevelt University).

Hamlet is a beloved son of his dad, who is the deceased King of Demark. He

demonstrates the love for his dad by avenging his death. There is a bad relationship between

Hamlet and his pseudo-dad Claudius because Hamlet thinks Claudius killed his father and took

over the throne. Additionally, he remarries his mother, which does not go well with him.

Claudius sends instructions to have Hamlet killed, which succeeded although Hamlet
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successfully killed him. Polonius's relationship with Laertes is worse in this play. He dominates

his son, where he instructs Reynaldo to defame him. He is willing to sacrifice the image of his

son for his control. Fortinbras, the son's relationship with his father appears to exist beyond the

realm of emotion. He avenges his father's death, not for his father but to recover the lands and

inheritance that his father forfeited in the battle.

The whole play is full of secrets, spying, and traps, from Hamlet's trap on Claudius to

Polonius's plan to discover Hamlet in loving Ophelia. The play is a profoundly intertwined and

complex web of traps and plots, which Horatio escapes by the end of the play. Since these are

common human behaviors, Shakespeare includes this team to show that there is always a winner

and loser. Ironically, the spy not always wins; simultaneously, the culprit will not always lose.

The team of mortality carries much weight in the play, Hamlet. It is concerned with one's

mortality and the complexities of life and death (Roosevelt Univerisity). Hamlet keeps pondering

and considers the meaning of life and its subsequent ending. There are many questions

encountered in the text, such as "what happens when one dies?" "if one is murdered, will they go

to heaven?" "Do the kings truly have a free pass to heaven?". In his mind, Hamlet thinks dying is

not bad, but the uncertainty of the afterlife frightens him away from suicide, although he has the

notion. (Harcourt)

A Doll's House

In A Doll's House, money symbolizes the power that a character has over another.

Torvald can dictate how much Nora spends on Christmas presents to demonstrate the power he

has over her. The debt that Krogstad owes Nora allows him to rule over Nora and Torvald. Mrs.

Linde and Nora are not entitled to large amounts of income because they are women. Their

inability to earn money shows the extreme sexism of those times. Although the play
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demonstrates that more money is power, it is also dangerous since the debt is a source of shame,

dread, and terror.

The relationship between Nora and Torvald is not strong since it is based on appearance

rather than trust and truth. Nora keeps the appearances and acts like a child while with her

husband, which makes him feel like she is disobeying him, which she does. It is demonstrable

when she eats cookies, which we find that such threats are forbidden to her husband. He hides

from him, shown when she took a loan secretly to pay for a trip abroad. Her husband seems to

know that she is hiding a lot by asking, "Hasn't Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking the rules in

town today? Hasn't she paid a visit to the confectioner's?". Nora replies, "I should not think of

going against your wishes,” (Ibsen). which shows how her husband's words, which he has given

her is the law. It is his fault that the wife is acting strangely for imposing so many rules.

Krogstad maintains that he developed an immoral behavior when Kristine abandoned him for

another man who has money to enable her to provide for the family. It demonstrates that

Krogstad is a victim of circumstances. There is a new development in their relationship when

Kristine becomes a window and reunites with Krogstad.

After the masquerade party, Torvald seems annoyed. He enters and draws Nora into a

room as Nora struggles and protests that she opts to remain at the party. He was also annoyed to

find Kristine waiting for them and later relieved when Kristine left them alone. Torvald's rage is

demonstrated at their house after the party shouts vulgar words to his wife and accuses her of

bringing shame to their house.

Torvald is at fault for Nora's action. He renounces Nora as his wife. Torvald. Although

the couple later reconciled, Nora leaves her husband and rent lodging with Kristine. She argues

that her duties are to educate herself rather than having duties to her husband and children.
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According to Torvald, forgiveness entails freely forgiving and accepting the other person

unconditionally. He said, " Torvald shows surprise. "Nora, this cold set face — what is this?". It

is because he thought that the disagreement was now a thing of the past.

Death of a Salesman

In the play Death of a Salesman, the audience encounters the reasons for stealing things

by Biff Loman. He is Willy's oldest son. Willy fails to be a good father by encouraging his son

to steal. First, Billy stole a carton of basketballs and, later, football equipment from the school. In

class, Biff cheats by copying answers from Bernard, his classmate. Other cases of stealing were

when Willy instructed his sons to go and steal some sand while he was building apartments.

After leaving school, Biff continued stealing, landing himself in Kansas City jail for

stealing a suit. The last theft occurred when Biff stole a fountain pen in Bill Oliver's office. All

the above stealing instances demonstrate that thieves steal things that cannot help them in most

cases. Stealing exams answer, for instance, does not guarantee a successful life after school.

Biff and Happy have a terrible relationship. They fail to communicate, which results in a

fight among them. Their father, who believes he is above other salespeople, has a wrong idea of

his father's position. Happy has the traits like his father but more understanding than Biff. In

some instances, the father saw Biff as lazy after failing his math exams by saying," Biff is a lazy

bum!" (Miller, 859).

Although the female characters dominate the play Death of a Salesman, Linda plays the

female character. There is a recurrence of silk stockings in the hand of two characters, Linda

Loman and the other woman not named who has an affair with Willy. In the play, Willy, who is

Linda's husband, reprimands her for mending her stockings and promising to buy new ones.

Although he makes this promise to his wife to buy the stockings, he instead went ahead and
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bought a new stocking as a gift to a woman he met secretly in Boston. Linda's mended stockings

portray the financial struggle in Loman's family and Willy's extramarital affair. Stocking in the

play indicates the sexual overtones playing a sensual role. Willy gifts a woman with the stocking

in exchange for sexual companionship. Linda is supportive of her husband though showing to

her sons that their father has failed.

Death of a Sales Man addresses loss of identity and the struggles with reality (York's St.

John's University). It shows how the characters are unable to accept the reality within themselves

and society. Every member of the Loman family is living in denial. For instance, Wily does not

accept the fact that he is a mediocre salesman. He thinks he is a successful business person. His

son's too adopt the same denial mentality or manipulating reality and practice. At the end of the

play, Billy acknowledges that he is just as "phony" as his father. It is only Linda who knows that

the rest of the family is in denial.

The significance of the diamond that made Ben rich demonstrate Willy's failure as a

salesman. Although Ben tried convincing his father to join him in Alaska at the mines, Willy

refused because he believed in the American dream. Miller chose the diamond mines because

Willy believes that diamonds represent tangible wealth, the validation of a person's labor, and the

ability to pass wealth to the children. If he had joined Ben in the mine, Willy will have to retrieve

his financial security and will have had sufficient wealth for his heirs.
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Work Cited

Harcourt, Houghton. "Hamlet: Major Themes | Critical Essays |

Cliffsnotes". Cliffsnotes.Com, n.d, https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/hamlet/critical-

essays/major-themes. Accessed 20 Jan 2021. Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House, n.d.

Miller, Arthur. Death Of A Salesman, n.d.

Mulready, Cyrus. "A Document In Madness | Shakespeare I". Hawksites.Newpaltz.Edu,

n.d, https://hawksites.newpaltz.edu/fall2015eng406/2015/11/20/a-document-in-madness/.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Floating Press, 2008.

Roosevelt Univerisity. Hamlet By William Shakespeare | Summary & Analysis. 2018,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1vvaQq0HIA. Accessed 20 Jan 2021.

York's St. John's University. Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller | Plot Summary.

2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upaTHg8rm-I. Accessed 20 Jan 2021.