Thursday, October 11, 2012

Vocabulary: Fall List #8/Vocab Paragraph on Hamlet

abeyance (noun) A state of temporary disuse or suspension

ambivalent (adjective) Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone

beleaguer (verb) Beset with difficulties

carte blanche (noun) Complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best

cataclysm (noun) A large-scale and violent event in the natural world

debauch (verb) Destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt.

eclat (noun) An enthusiastic approval

fastidious (adjective) Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail

gambol (verb) Run or jump about playfully

imbue (verb) Inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality

inchoate (adjective) Just begun and so not fully formed or developed

lampoon (verb) Publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule or sarcasm

malleable (adjective) Easily influenced; pliable

nemesis (noun) The inescapable or implacable agent of someone's or something's downfall

opt (verb) Make a choice from a range of possibilities

philistine (noun) A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

picaresque (adjective) Of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the 
adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero

queasy (adjective) Nauseated; feeling sick

refractory (adjective) Stubborn or unmanageable

savoir-faire (noun) The ability to act or speak appropriately in social situations

Hamlet is a very ambivalent character to say the least.  The cataclysm that beleaguers his life is the sudden death of his father.  Hamlet's actions become refractory when told his father's death was merely an accident, in fact he is quite queasy at the idea that his mother is so malleable to believe this terrible event was nothing more than an accident.  Hamlet decides to opt out from the celebration arranged for the new king Claudius.  Even when he does however, Claudius indirectly lampoons Hamlet with such savoir-faire that the audience is not even given a chance to recognize the insult.  Hamlet is finally given an eclat at revenge when the ghost of his father visits him and speaks of his own murder.



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