Hamlet Characters Essays - Characters In Hamlet,

Hamlet Characters In the play Hamlet Gertrude and Ophelia are portrayed as weak characters. The men in their lives have complete control over them. These women obviously do not have a mind of their own. If they listened to themselves, they would have more control of their lives. Ophelia is one of those women who is a lost cause to society. She makes women look helpless and that we can be easily manipulated. Hamlet basically used Ophelia as merely a toy to play with. She was never treated as a human being only as an object. Hamlet told Ophelia that he "I loved you not. (1097)" He made her a weak individual by saying "Frailty thy name is women. (1062)" This quote made Ophelia looks like she could never hold her own ground. Whenever Polonius needed her, she was always at his becking call. She has a tendency to not be true to her man Hamlet. Since she was under the control of her father, he convinced her to find out information from Hamlet. Hamlet: Ha, ha! Are you honest? Ophelia: My lord? Hamlet: Are you fair? Ophelia: What means your lordship? Hamlet: That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty (1097). Hamlet was on to her in this discussion he knew that she was lying. He just wanted to her feel like the weaker one. He also wanted to shoe his Uncle and Polonius that he knew what was up. Ophelia sells hamlet out to follow the orders of her father. Since Ophelia has no true identity to herself, all she merely can be is a pawn on a chessboard. Gertrude is one of those women that knows exactly what is going and never says anything. She definitely knows how and who killed her husband but, thinks it is a great idea to keep her mouth shut. Gertrude had the nerve to marry her husband's brother two months after he died. In a way that portrays that she never really loved the king. Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended. Queen: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. Queen: Why, how now, Hamlet! Hamlet: What's the matter now? Queen: Have you forgot me? Hamlet: No, by the rood, not so: You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife; And,--would it were not so!?you are my mother(1097) . In this discussion Hamlet is telling his mom that he disapproves of her marriage. He also tells her that she is not paying any attention to him. Gertrude has a hard time standing up for herself and her son. The king has such control over her that it seems like she never has her own opinion. She always agrees with Claudius and never speaks out about any issues that is happening in the castle. Gertrude is a spineless waif, she is a nobody but at the same time she is a someone to her people. It is like she is a paradox to her identity. She never knows what identity to portray to her husband or to her people. Gertrude now begins to see her epiphany. By Hamlet's yelling and screaming Gertrude finally understood why Hamlet was so upset. Queen: O Hamlet, speak no more: Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul; And there I see such black and grained spots as will not leave there tinct. Hamlet: Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty,- Queen: O, speak to me nomore; These words like daggers enter in mine ears; No, more sweet Hamlet(1113-14). In this play the female heroine has a way of making women look weak and helpless. To women of today this play would be extremely insulting to the female mind. In Hamlet women have been viewed as frail subordinate creature. As the reader this play sends a contemptuous message to women.

The Effects of Punishment and Sentencing

The Effects of Punishment and Sentencing Free Online Research Papers The fundamental philosophies surrounding the purpose of sentencing are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. The first of these things is again, retribution. Retribution is what people is deserved of a guilty party when a crime is committed. As stated in the text of chapter 10 of our required reading, â€Å"a wrongdoer who has freely chosen to violate society’s rules must be punished for the infraction.† â€Å"Retribution relies on the principle of just deserts, which holds that the severity of the punishment must be in proportion to the severity of the crime.† The second purpose listed is deterrence. Deterrence is to try to get someone not to commit the crime again by enforcing a punishment or the threat of a punishment in order to kind of scare the person into not committing the crime again. They do this so that the perpetrator that commits a crime or thinks about committing a crime will hopefully weight out the actions and the consequences and determine for themselves that it is not worth committing the crime in the first place. In a jest it is to try to prevent future crimes from occurring. The third purpose earlier listed is incapacitation. Incapacitation is basically to incarcerate the wrongdoers of society that break the law. I believe that the best possible way to explain the definition of this word is as stated in our text of required reading from our book, â€Å"incarcerating criminals guarantees that they will not be a danger to society, at least for the length of their prison terms. To a certain extent, the death penalty is justified in terms of incapacitation, as it prevents the offender from committing any future crimes.† Lastly the fourth purpose listed is rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is what people see as the most â€Å"humane† form of punishment. It is said that criminals can be â€Å"treated† and possibly even â€Å"cured† of their proclivities toward crime. It is believed that most courts are deterring from this method more and more and going towards more â€Å"get tough† types of punishment, like the retribution, deterrence, and the incapacitation models of punishment. There are a lot of opinions surrounding capital punishment. There are many people who believe that the death penalty is wrong and inhumane. Then there are others who believe that the only thing that justifies murder or rape or something of that nature, is for the person who commit the crime to be put to death. There are so many hard feeling on both sides of the fence when it comes to this subject. There are so many people that have been affected by capital punishment, whether they were affected negatively or positively by the situation they were still affected and they still have permanent feelings toward the situation. It is hard to decide who is right in this situation. Both sides have and make so many great points. On one hand I do believe that to kill another human being is inhumane, but on the other hand I also believe that someone who kills or rapes someone or commits other horrible crimes like that should be punished and in most cases put to death. If someone in my family was on death row I would be begging for mercy so I do not think that I could demand justice for one someone else to be put to death. When it comes to the punishment of the convicted, I believe that one has to look at only what that person has done. When you take into consideration what that person has done that is all that a court or jury can look at when considering punishments for the convicted. Someone can not just jump up and decide automatically how to punish someone convicted of a crime. Every thing has to be taken into consideration when making that decision. Research Papers on The Effects of Punishment and SentencingCapital PunishmentComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Quebec and CanadaIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion