Summary Of Hamlet Essay Example For Students

Summary Of Hamlet Essay Summary Of The PlayHamletBy: Amanda WellmanIts a story of murder, betrail, hatred all rapped up in one astonishing play. An amazing play in fact, one of which I thought was the best Shakespear ever wrote. There are some many different themes in the book. It a play that I would suggest anyone to read if there looking for a great story! Brief SummaryHamlet is the son of the late King Hamlet (of Denmark), who died two months before the start of the play. After King Hamlets death, his brother, Claudius, becomes king, and marries King Hamlets widow, Gertrude (Queen of Denmark). We will write a custom essay on Summary Of Hamlet specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Young Hamlet fears that Claudius killed his own brother (Hamlets father) to become king of Denmark, greatly angering Hamlet. Two officers, Marcellus and Barnardo, summon Hamlets friend Horatio, and later Hamlet himself to see the late King Hamlets ghost appear at midnight. The ghost tells Hamlet privately that Claudius had indeed murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ear. Hamlet is further enraged and plots of how to revenge his fathers death. In his anger, Hamlet seems to act like a madman, prompting King Claudius, his wife Gertrude, and his advisor Polonius to send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet and figure out why he is acting mad. Hamlet even treats Polonius daughter Ophelia rudely, prompting Polonius to believe Hamlet is madly in love with her, though Claudius expects otherwise. Polonius, a man who talks too long- windedly, had allowed his son Laertes to go to France (then sent Reynaldo to spy on Laertes) and had ordered Ophelia not to associate with Hamlet. Claudius, fearing Hamlet may try to kill him, sends Hamlet to England. Before leaving, however, Hamlet convinces an acting company to reenact King Hamlets death before Claudius, in the hopes of causing Claudius to break down and admit to murdering King Hamlet. Though Claudius is enraged, he does not admit to murder. Hamlets mother tries to reason with Hamlet after the play, while Polonius spied on them from behind a curtain. Hamlet hears Polonius, and kills him through the curtain, thinking the person is Claudius. When finding out the truth, Hamlet regrets the death, yet Claudius still sends him to England, accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with orders from Claudius that the English kill Hamlet as soon as her arrives. After Hamlet leaves, Laertes returns from France, enraged over Polonius death. Ophelia reacts to her fathers death with utter madness and eventually falls in a stream and drowns, further angering Laertes. En route to England, Hamlet finds the orders and changes them to order Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed, as does occur, though Hamlet is kidnapped by pirates one day later. The pirates return Hamlet to Claudius (for a ransom), and Claudius tries one last attempt to eliminate Hamlet: he arranges a sword duel between Laertes and Hamlet. The trick, however, is that the tip of Laertes sword is poisoned. As a backup precaution, Claudius poisons the victory cup in case Hamlet wins. During the fight, the poisoned drink is offered to Hamlet, he declines, and instead his mother, Gertrude, drinks it (to the objection of Claudius). Laertes, losing to Hamlet, illegally scratches him with the poisoned sword to ensure Hamlets death. Hamlet (unknowingly), then switches swords with Laertes, and cuts and poisons him. The queen dies, screaming that she has been poisoned and Laertes, dying, admits of Claudius treachery. Weakening, Hamlet fatally stabs Claudius, Laertes dies, and Hamlet begins his death speech. Though Horatio wants to commit suicide out of sorrow, Hamlet entreats him to tell the story of King Hamlets death and Rosencrantz and Guildensterns deaths to all. Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, arrives from conquest of England, and Hamlets last dying wish is that Fortinbras become the new King of Denmark. Words/ Pages : 632 / 24

History of the Asian American Civil Rights Movement

History of the Asian American Civil Rights Movement During the Asian American civil rights movement of the 1960s and 70s, activists fought for the development of ethnic studies programs in universities, an end to the Vietnam War, and reparations for Japanese Americans forced into  internment camps during World War II. The movement had come to a close by the late 1980s. The Birth of Yellow Power By watching African Americans expose institutional racism and government hypocrisy, Asian Americans began to identify the ways in which they, too, had faced discrimination in the United States. â€Å"The ‘black power’ movement caused many Asian Americans to question themselves,† wrote Amy Uyematsu in â€Å"The Emergence of Yellow Power,† a 1969 essay. â€Å"‘Yellow power is just now at the stage of an articulated mood rather than a program- disillusionment and alienation from white America and independence, race pride and self-respect.† Black activism played a fundamental role in the launch of the Asian American civil rights movement, but Asians and Asian Americans influenced black radicals as well. African American activists often cited the writings of China’s communist leader  Mao Zedong. Also, a founding member of the Black Panther Party- Richard Aoki- was Japanese American. A military veteran who spent his early years in an internment camp, Aoki donated weapons to the Black Panthers and trained them in their use. Impact of Internment Like Aoki, a number of Asian American civil rights activists were Japanese American internees or the children of internees. The decision of President Franklin Roosevelt to force more than 110,000 Japanese Americans into concentration camps during World War II had a detrimental impact on the community. Forced into camps based on fears that they still maintained ties to the Japanese government, Japanese Americans strove to prove that they were authentically American by assimilating, yet  they continued to face discrimination. Speaking out about the racial bias they faced felt risky for some Japanese Americans, given their past treatment by the U.S. government. â€Å"Unlike other groups, Japanese Americans were expected to be quiet and behave and thus did not have sanctioned outlets to express the anger and indignation that accompanied their racially subordinated status,† writes Laura Pulido in Black, Brown, Yellow and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles. Goals of the Movement When not only blacks but also Latinos and Asian Americans from various ethnic groups began to share their experiences of oppression, indignation replaced fear about the ramifications of speaking out. Asian Americans on college campuses demanded a curriculum representative of their histories. Activists also sought to prevent gentrification from destroying Asian American neighborhoods. Explained activist Gordon Lee in a 2003  Hyphen  magazine piece called â€Å"The Forgotten Revolution,† â€Å"The more we examined our collective histories, the more we began to find a rich and complex past. And we became outraged at the depths of the economic, racial and gender exploitation that had forced our families into roles as subservient cooks, servants or coolies, garment workers and prostitutes, and which also improperly labeled us as the ‘model minority’ comprised of ‘successful’ businessmen, merchants or professionals.†Ã‚   Students' Efforts College campuses provided fertile ground for the movement. Asian Americans at the University of California, Los Angeles launched groups such as Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) and Orientals Concerned. A group of Japanese American UCLA students also formed the leftist publication Gidra in 1969. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, branches of AAPA formed at Yale and Columbia. In the Midwest, Asian student groups formed at the University of Illinois, Oberlin College, and the University of Michigan. â€Å"By 1970, there were more than 70 campus and†¦ community groups with ‘Asian American’ in their name, Lee recalled. â€Å"The term symbolized the new social and political attitudes that were sweeping through communities of color in the United States. It was also a clear break with the name ‘Oriental.’† Outside of college campuses, organizations such as I Wor Kuen and Asian Americans for Action formed on the East Coast. One of the movement’s greatest triumphs was when Asian American students and other students of color participated in strikes in 1968 and 69 at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley for the development of ethnic studies programs. Students demanded to design the programs and select the faculty who would teach the courses. Today, San Francisco State offers more than 175 courses in its College of Ethnic Studies. At Berkeley, Professor Ronald Takaki helped develop the nation’s first Ph.D. program in comparative ethnic studies. Vietnam and Pan-Asian Identity A challenge of the Asian American civil rights movement from the outset was that Asian Americans identified by ethnic group rather than as a racial group. The Vietnam War changed that. During the war, Asian Americans- Vietnamese or otherwise- faced hostility. â€Å"The injustices and racism exposed by the Vietnam War also helped cement a bond between different Asian groups living in America,† Lee said. â€Å"In the eyes of the United States military, it didn’t matter if you were Vietnamese or Chinese, Cambodian or Laotian, you were a ‘gook,’ and therefore subhuman.† The Movement Ends After the Vietnam War, many radical Asian American groups dissolved. There was no unifying cause to rally around. For Japanese Americans, though, the experience of being interned had left festering wounds. Activists organized to have the federal government apologize for its actions during World War II. In 1976, President Gerald Ford signed Proclamation 4417, in which internment was declared a â€Å"national mistake.† A dozen years later, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which distributed $20,000 in reparations to surviving internees or their heirs and included an apology from the federal government.