Avoiding Conflict In Hamlet

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Does avoiding conflict actually help solve the problem? Can we simply ignore conflicts in this life so they will eventually disappear? The major conflict in the play is that Hamlet feels that it is his duty to avenge his father 's murder by his uncle Claudius. However, Claudius is now the king and therefore well protected. In addition, Hamlet struggles with his uncertainties about whether he can trust the ghost and whether killing King Claudius is the correct thing to do. The other characters are conflicted in the play too, about what they should do to better the often tragic situation they find themselves in. In William Shakespeare 's The Tragedy of Hamlet, he demonstrates that avoiding conflict only creates more conflict through the characters …show more content…

He struggles with indecision and hesitation as well as brash and impulsive decisions. This causes him to not get much of anything done. He desired to avenge his father 's death and kill King Claudius, but he never got revenge over Claudius because he became consumed with proving his uncle 's guilt before acting upon it. This caused Hamlet to be unable to murder Claudius before he died. The standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" is simply intolerable to Hamlet. He is obsessed with questions about the perception of suicide, about what happens to bodies after they die, and about afterlife. He is almost paralyzed by these issues, which causes him to not act and further avoid conflict in his life. The only thing he actually manages to do is go crazy. Hamlet avoiding conflict causes his girlfriend to stop talking to him. It also causes his "friends," Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to deceive him. Even though Hamlet is pensive to the point of obsession, he acts rashly too. An example of this is when he stabs Polonius through the drape, without even checking to see who he is. Is it acts like these make him seem absolutely mad, because he behaves so erratically. He also upsets people around him with his unruly speech and sexual innuendos, and neither of these things help his case. This is yet another example of how avoiding conflict breeds …show more content…

For example, Ophelia is conflicted because she is unsure of what to make of her relationship with Hamlet. Also, her father, Polonius, tells her to end whatever it is she has with Hamlet. Ophelia is very dependent on men to tell her how to behave, and this does not help her present complicated situation with Hamlet. Ophelia starts to think that Hamlet is crazy after he starts to order her to a nunnery. Then Hamlet accidently kills Polonius and Ophelia is stricken with grief. She goes crazy and drowns herself. In the unfortunate events leading up to her death, she never actually solves anything with Hamlet. Shakespeare demonstrates once again that avoiding conflict will not benefit anyone in the end, and it might just kill

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