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Shakespeare's Hamlet 4 Indirect Characterization 94 Views


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Description:

What is indirect characterization, and how does Shakespeare use it to describe his main characters? 

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Thank you We sneak in Shakespeare's hamlet indirect characterization alas

00:09

shmoop what is indirect characterization And how does shakespeare use

00:14

it to describe his main characters Direct characterization is when

00:18

we're explicitly told things about the characters indirect is when

00:22

we're forced to kind of for things based on their

00:25

actions and mystery like the mystery behind what people actually

00:29

think and feel runs runs throughout the play So for

00:33

example what we know about hamlet Not that much really

00:36

We know that he's interested in going back to school

00:38

kind of thinks of himself as part of the world

00:40

of ideas still he's definitely angry at claudius but he

00:44

doesn't know if claudia's did it or not He seems

00:47

to be uncomfortably interested in his mom's sexuality So there's

00:50

this edible reading right A kill your father married your

00:53

mother thing where he seems to have this uncomfortable attracted

00:55

to her don't really know how he feels about ophelia

00:58

either We know that he seems to be getting along

01:01

with her and then over the course of the play

01:03

he starts getting really nasty to her and kind of

01:05

shaming her but we don't know exactly what his end

01:08

goal is and we don't Know exactly why that transformation

01:10

takes place As for claudius we don't really he seems

01:14

tto legitimately love gertrude but we're not really sure about

01:16

that He's not as antagonistic to hamlet as he sometimes

01:19

presented wants able to get over it but he does

01:21

kind of feel bad for hamlet in a way So

01:24

so he's also a totally conflicted character much like gertrude

01:27

right We don't know whether gertrude actually was complicit in

01:29

the plot that her that her previous husband was killed

01:33

We don't know whether she's deliberately being a bad parent

01:35

to hamlin or she just is messing up like parents

01:39

do ophelia ethereal We know that she's kind of used

01:43

as a pawn She seems to like hamlet at the

01:45

outset Again we're not totally sure and then she seems

01:48

to be very hurt by him what's actions and then

01:49

she goes crazy for totally unexplained reasons but then she

01:54

dies Thanks it's All these are these are the main

01:58

characters in the play and we're just not given clear

02:01

descriptions of what they think and feel even though they're

02:03

sometimes give us soliloquies What is indirect characterization And how 00:02:12.573 --> [endTime] to shakespeare Use it to describe his main characters

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