King Claudius states, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." (III.i.) How is this true in any age? What evidence can you find in recent news stories to support this statement? How do societies keep checks and balances in their "great ones?"
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." This qoute points out the flaws of a monarchy. In a monarchy The checking and balancing of great one becomes complecated when they are related to each otther. In Hamlet's case his step father is spying on him to monitor his madness. In this situation the ultimate madness of a great one is going unwatched because no one is investigating what hapened to Hamlet Sr. The king has the power to check and balance everyone but no one has the power to check the madness of the king and qeustion his motives. In a democracy the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches balance each others powers out. No decision can be made if it violates the constitution. When leaders' powers are not balanced and their actions are not checked they become tyrants.
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." It is very true,this quote means that people who tend to abuse their power and be greedy should never be in rule. King Claudius just abused his power by killing Hamlet Sr. King Claudius may have killed Hamlet Sr. for one of these reasons: 1)Jealousy-King Claudius may have held a grudge against his brother for years,maybe as a child, Hamlet Sr. was always valued as the bright star, while King Claudius was always left in the shadows. 2)King Claudius and Hamlet Sr. may have been quarreling over a piece of valuable land both of them wanted. 3)King Claudius may have just wanted to steal the Queen from him. 4)The King may have been given an offer he couldn't refuse, but in order to receive that offer, he would have to end Hamlet Sr's term as ruler.
Someone needs to keep an eye on the "new king", if that person is Hamlet, then so be it. When a person is mad, they will run a bulldozer over you to get what they want,they don't care if your bloody and broken body lies on the ground. Hamlet already has an idea (thanks to his ghostly fatherly figure) of the misdeamenor his uncle/stepfather is guilty of, the first step to seeking revenge.
Like Reynold said, the checks and balances is used in government to balance out the power of the three branches of government:legislative,executive, and judicial. James Madison once wrote about the fears of the branches having unequal power.He wrote: "The accumulation of all powers, legislaive, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether one,a few,or many...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
Madness that goes unwatched is near impossible to stop. Carry a gun with you at all times. I think Hamlet should carry one too.
King Claudius states, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." (III.i.) How is this true in any age? What evidence can you find in recent news stories to support this statement? How do societies keep checks and balances in their "great ones?"
This is a very well said and valid statement. King Claudius says this when Hamlet starts to act in a “crazy” (mad) way. This quote says that we should always keep an eye open for “madness” in our great ones. “Great ones” refers to our leaders; political leaders, religious leaders, or any other types of leaders that exist. A leader that goes mad and unwatched can bring misfortune to his people, Ahaz king of Judah is a good example of madness in great ones going unseen. His life of wickedness led his people to subjection under neighboring countries. This applies to any time period in history when king or leader has caused pain or misfortune to their surroundings because bad nature. In religion a priest can convince the religious to do things that they want, bad things that go unwatched because the people are blinded by their faith. To my opinion I believe that president Bush is evidence “unwatched madness”. His actions aren’t completely unwatched, but lack the proper attention they deserve. The people should pay more attention as to why he keeps the United States’ troops in Iraq. The question of “checks and balance” is more connected to the modern world, specifically the U.S. government which is divided into three branches. These branches are legislative (makes the laws), judicial (reviews the laws), and executive (enforces the laws). These thee branches have “checks” on each other that “balance” their full authority. They were made to prevent the president from obtaining too much power. Connecting it back to Hamlet, King Claudius says this because of Hamlet’s behavior, someone that might some day be king of Denmark should not behave so strangely. Even though he refers to Hamlet this also points to himself as his acts were full of madness and because unwatched will bring misfortune to the state of Denmark.
3 comments:
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." This qoute points out the flaws of a monarchy. In a monarchy The checking and balancing of great one becomes complecated when they are related to each otther. In Hamlet's case his step father is spying on him to monitor his madness. In this situation the ultimate madness of a great one is going unwatched because no one is investigating what hapened to Hamlet Sr. The king has the power to check and balance everyone but no one has the power to check the madness of the king and qeustion his motives. In a democracy the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches balance each others powers out. No decision can be made if it violates the constitution. When leaders' powers are not balanced and their actions are not checked they become tyrants.
"Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." It is very true,this quote means that people who tend to abuse their power and be greedy should never be in rule. King Claudius just abused his power by killing Hamlet Sr. King Claudius may have killed Hamlet Sr. for one of these reasons:
1)Jealousy-King Claudius may have held a grudge against his brother for years,maybe as a child, Hamlet Sr. was always valued as the bright star, while King Claudius was always left in the shadows.
2)King Claudius and Hamlet Sr. may have been quarreling over a piece of valuable land both of them wanted.
3)King Claudius may have just wanted to steal the Queen from him.
4)The King may have been given an offer he couldn't refuse, but in order to receive that offer, he would have to end Hamlet Sr's term as ruler.
Someone needs to keep an eye on the "new king", if that person is Hamlet, then so be it. When a person is mad, they will run a bulldozer over you to get what they want,they don't care if your bloody and broken body lies on the ground. Hamlet already has an idea
(thanks to his ghostly fatherly figure) of the misdeamenor his uncle/stepfather is guilty of, the first step to seeking revenge.
Like Reynold said, the checks and balances is used in government to balance out the power of the three branches of government:legislative,executive,
and judicial. James Madison once wrote about the fears of the branches having unequal power.He wrote: "The accumulation of all powers, legislaive, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether one,a few,or many...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
Madness that goes unwatched is near impossible to stop. Carry a gun with you at all times. I think Hamlet should carry one too.
Yoscar Ogando
AP English
12/1/06
King Claudius states, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." (III.i.) How is this true in any age? What evidence can you find in recent news stories to support this statement? How do societies keep checks and balances in their "great ones?"
This is a very well said and valid statement. King Claudius says this when Hamlet starts to act in a “crazy” (mad) way. This quote says that we should always keep an eye open for “madness” in our great ones. “Great ones” refers to our leaders; political leaders, religious leaders, or any other types of leaders that exist. A leader that goes mad and unwatched can bring misfortune to his people, Ahaz king of Judah is a good example of madness in great ones going unseen. His life of wickedness led his people to subjection under neighboring countries. This applies to any time period in history when king or leader has caused pain or misfortune to their surroundings because bad nature. In religion a priest can convince the religious to do things that they want, bad things that go unwatched because the people are blinded by their faith. To my opinion I believe that president Bush is evidence “unwatched madness”. His actions aren’t completely unwatched, but lack the proper attention they deserve. The people should pay more attention as to why he keeps the United States’ troops in Iraq. The question of “checks and balance” is more connected to the modern world, specifically the U.S. government which is divided into three branches. These branches are legislative (makes the laws), judicial (reviews the laws), and executive (enforces the laws). These thee branches have “checks” on each other that “balance” their full authority. They were made to prevent the president from obtaining too much power. Connecting it back to Hamlet, King Claudius says this because of Hamlet’s behavior, someone that might some day be king of Denmark should not behave so strangely. Even though he refers to Hamlet this also points to himself as his acts were full of madness and because unwatched will bring misfortune to the state of Denmark.
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