Importance of Minor Characters in Shakespear Essay

In the of import plot of Shakespe ars famous spiel crossroads, critical points father, the king, is murdered, and as a result, critical point swears retaliation and ultimately succumbs to madness. Hamlet gamings the role of the protagonist, while his uncle, Claudius, serves as the antagonist of the story. Besides the two main char encounterers, there are a number of secondary casefuls, of unusual immenseness both to the action and to the themes of the play.Many of the themes of the play, including moulder and corruption, revenge, and demeanor vs. eality, are defined finished the description and progression of the secondary characters. Shakespeare creates minor characters Ophelia, the nuance and Polonius to play a very crucial role in Hamlet as they shape the thematic elements of the play. The character of Ophelia plays the role of Hamlets recognise interest and is easily manipulated by her family portraying various themes of the play through her actions and behaviour. At the onset of the play Ophelia appears to have her wits ab fall out her, with the efficacy to be objective and coherent when she recognizes the mad behaviour of Hamlet.In act 3 scene 1 during a contentious conversation amongst Ophelia and Hamlet, he expresses his disgust with Ophelia and women in general, insisting that it hath made me mad. Ophelia is sufficient to identify the frantic behaviour of Hamlet proclaiming oh what a noble look is here oerthrown Although Ophelia is of sound mind during this portion of the play, she apace spirals out of control, losing her mind as a result of the murder of her father.Ophelias craziness is witnessed during act 4 scene 5 when she proceeds to sing everything she says How hatful you tell the difference between you true lover and some another(prenominal)? Ophelias madness is also described by Horatio when he tells the faerie she is importunate, indeed distract says she hears theres tricks I th world, and hems, and beat out her heart, s purns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt that carry but hald awareness. The tragic downfall of Ophelia depicted in the play illustrates the theme of decay and corruption. The ghost of Hamlets dead father, King Hamlet, drives Hamlets determination to avenge his father, setting the revenge plot into motion, a major theme in the play.Upon Hamlet and the ghosts first meeting, he informs Hamlet of his fathers grand murder by Claudius, encouraging him to avenge the king revenge his cloud and most unnatural murder. Before even explaining to Hamlet the exposit of the murder Hamlet insists haste me to knowt, that I, with wings as speedy as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep my revenge, impulsive the action of the play forward and initiating the theme. Although Hamlet swears to get revenge quickly his procrastination and uncertainty prevents him from achieving his goal.When Hamlet begins to veer away from his attempt to erase Claudius, obsessing over his mothers beh aviour, the ghost returns to remind him of his true designing do not forget. This visitation is but to whet thy almost dulled purpose. The ghost is a constant reminder throughout the play of the theme of revenge, encouraging Hamlet to avenge his father. At the beginning of Hamlet, Polonius is introduced as the father of Laertes and Ophelia and is later revealed to illustrate the theme of appearance vs. world. Polonius has the appearance of a well natured wise old man yet in reality he is a poor excuse for a man whos obsessed with self gain.Polonius enjoys giving advice, including this above all to thine ownself be true, and it mustiness follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be saturnine to any man, insisting that if you are true to yourself, you cannot deceive anyone else. In reality, Polonius is in no position to be preaching about candor and truthfulness, due to his shady behaviour spying on his children and Hamlet. Polonius presents himself as a very caring fath er, concerned about his children as yet, in an attempt to keep up an eye on his son, Laertes, he does not consider the possible repercussions of his plan.Polonius instructs his servant to spread rumors about his son, in the hopes of possibly discovering Laertess true behavior, snub Reynaldos protest that that would dishonour him Due to his constant use of subterfuge, the character Polonius is one of the plays best examples of the major theme of appearance vs. reality. It is uncommon in pieces of literature for secondary characters to be of such importance, both to the action and to the themes, as they are in Hamlet.The themes of the play, including decay and corruption, revenge, and appearance vs. reality, are highlighted through the description and progression of the secondary characters. Shakespeare creates minor characters Ophelia, the ghost and Polonius with the innovation for them to play a very crucial role in Hamlet shaping the thematic elements of the play. Secondary c haracters are often used in a play to supplement the main characters and the story line however Shakespeare creates them with a much greater importance to reveal the themes of the play.