When analyzing Shakespeare's Hamlet through the deconstructionist lens various elements of the play come into sharper focus. Hamlet's beliefs about himself and his crisis over indecision are expounded upon by the binary oppositions created in his soliloquies.
Hamlet’s first soliloquy comes in act one scene two, as Hamlet reflects on the current state of events. The chief focus of this soliloquy is essentially the rottenness of the king, queen and the world in general. In this passage the reader is introduced to Hamlet pseudo-obsession with death and suicide, which later will become a chief point of indecision. In this particular speech, however, Hamlet is fairly confident. He wishes that his “too too sullied flesh would melt” (Shakespeare 1.2.129), and laments that God has “fixed / his canon against self slaughter” (1.2.131-2). These two lines set up the fundamental dichotomy of indecision in Hamlet, which is mostly action or inaction, but can be expressed in terms of suicide or continuing life. It is important to note that there is little indecision in this particular passage, and though this makes it somewhat more difficult to deconstruct, it provides a point of comparison for Hamlets eventual madness. Here he clearly categorically rejects the idea of suicide as against god’s law, and is thereby free from the indecision seen later in the play. The rest of the passage is essentially a platform for Hamlet to air his grievances, and thus the deconstructionist lens for this soliloquy can be best applied to Hamlet’s beliefs about other characters rather than his own internal conflicts. Hamlet sets up a number of the oppositions directly by comparing his father to his uncle. He first uses the comparison of “Hyperion to a Satyr” (1.2...
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...t concern of how to catch Claudius, and how to get revenge for his father.
By recognizing the fear of the unknown and the power of doubt to derail his enterprises Hamlet resolves his indecisiveness and is able to move forward in the play. When viewed through the deconstructionist lens, Hamlet’s own personal demons and his oppositions to the king, queen, and his own inner self, are put into sharper focus and give the reader an understanding of the inner workings of the meandering path Hamlet takes to find his eventual solution.
Works Cited
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Elliot, T S. "Hamlet and His Problems." The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: St Martin's Press, 1989.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.
Coleridge, Samuel T. "Notes on the Tragedies: Hamlet." Essays in Criticism. Second ed. Ed. Cyrus Hoy. New York: Norton, 1992. 157-164.
Shakespeare, William. The Three-Text Hamlet. Eds. Paul Bertram and Bernice Kliman. New York: AMS Press, 1991.
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. Tenth. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011. 1024-1129. Print.
Goldman, Michael. "Hamlet and Our Problems." Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ed. David Scott Kaston. New York City: Prentice Hall International. 1995. 43-55
William Shakespeare is a famous English playwright. His play Hamlet centers around Hamlet's decision on how to seek revenge for his father’s death. However, Hamlet is unsure of what course of action he wants to take to exact his revenge. He discusses the idea of suicide as a possible option in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy. In this soliloquy, Shakespeare uses metaphors, rhetorical questions, and repetition to express Hamlet’s indecision regarding what he should do.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013.1709-1804. Print.
For being considered one of the greatest English plays ever written, very little action actually occurs in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The play is, instead, more focused on the progressing psychological state of its protagonist, after whom the play is name, and his consequent inaction. It is because of this masterpiece of a character that this play is so widely discussed and debated. Hamlet’s generality, his vagueness, his supposed madness, his passion, his hesitation, and his contradictions have puzzled readers, scholars, and actors for centuries. In this paper I will attempt to dissect this beautiful enigma of a character to show that Hamlet is much more self-aware than many people give him credit for and that he recognizes that he is an actor in the theatre of life. He understands and accepts the role he is given, he studies it carefully and thoughtfully, he rehearses and even converses with fellow actors, and he gives one final performance.
Hamlet’s first soliloquy takes place in Act 1 scene 2. In his first soliloquy Hamlet lets out all of his inner feelings revealing his true self for the first time. Hamlet’s true self is full of distaste, anger, revenge, and is very much different from the artificial persona that he pretends to be anytime else. Overall, Hamlet’s first soliloquy serves to highlight and reveal Hamlet’s melancholy as well as his reasons for feeling such anguish. This revelation in Hamlet’s persona lays the groundwork for establishing the many themes in the play--suicide, revenge, incest, madness, corruption, and mortality.
Shakespeare, William, Marilyn Eisenstat, and Ken Roy. Hamlet. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2003. Print.
Shakespeare’s most famous play Hamlet resonates with the hearts and minds of audiences through the dramatic treatment of struggle and disillusionment. Author, John Green commented, “Hamlet struggles because he is human.” It is these human characteristics and behaviors that have kept an audience transfixed through the years. Hamlet’s disillusionment with women, introduce modern day themes of love and marriage. His inability to act introduces his disillusionment with his uncle. Lastly his disenchantment with himself brings about questions of self-doubt and philosophical ideals of death.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Hamlet." Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 11th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 1354+. Print.
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.
The perfection of Hamlet’s character has been called in question - perhaps by those who do not understand it. The character of Hamlet stands by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be. He is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from his natural disposition by the strangeness of his situation.
Hamlet is the best known tragedy in literature today. Here, Shakespeare exposes Hamlet’s flaws as a heroic character. The tragedy in this play is the result of the main character’s unrealistic ideals and his inability to overcome his weakness of indecisiveness. This fatal attribute led to the death of several people which included his mother and the King of Denmark. Although he is described as being a brave and intelligent person, his tendency to procrastinate prevented him from acting on his father’s murder, his mother’s marriage, and his uncle’s ascension to the throne.