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The complicated personality of hamlet
The complicated personality of hamlet
The complicated personality of hamlet
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For centuries critics have tried to understand the mysteries of Hamlet’s actions and reasons in the play. When we look at William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet we see that even Hamlet is trying to do the same thing and comment on what action is. The analyzation of the theme of action shows that action involves thought and emotion and requires a balance of both to take proper effect. A major component of action shown in Hamlet is thought and how it is required for action. If not enough thought occurs then we lose the meaning of action. Hamlet does not think too much into his actions and that is strange for him as stated by Ferguson “Hamlet does not inquire very deeply either here or later . . . into the meaning of his action. This seems odd, since …show more content…
It is the emotions that we feel every day that are required to take action. If People did not have those emotions then they would not do much. In act 2 Hamlet is trying to find this emotion that he thinks he lacks. Hamlet request a speech about a son avenging his father’s murderer by doing this, critics ask “Was he, by requesting this scene, trying to find in Pyrrhus his own model for furious action?” (Bloom, Key Passages). After the speech Hamlet talks about the actor’s emotion compared to his in his ending soliloquy. He talks about how he does so little for having so much while the actor does so much for having so little. After thinking he decides to do the play after “he berates himself further . . . He fears he lacks something constitutionally that would make such oppression unendurable, that would stir him to action.” (Bloom, Key passages). Once the action starts it requires emotion to continue because without it the action goes away. Shakespeare gives an example of this in the sub play when the player king says “Great grief and joy may rouse us to action, but when the grief or joy have passed, we’re no longer motivated to act. “ (Shakespeare). The king is talking about those common emotions that may inspire people to do something can fade and the action they caused fade with them. The play also analyzes this relationship between action and emotion in the line “How …show more content…
Shakespeare shows that action is thought or emotion and proper action requires a balance of both to be successful. When the balance is thrown off unexpected consequences occur or nothing happens at all. Shakespeare skillfully shows this through Hamlets musings of his
From the beginning of the play Hamlet has only been thinking of extracting revenge without acting on it. He wants to take action and is angry he has yet to be fully invested in his own plan.
Conflicting thoughts are often profound in Hamlet, like how he is faced with a choice of now or never but always has approached them carefully. One was when Hamlet speaks while walking into an empty room and begins to question why we do what we do. ``To be or not to be-that is the question `` 127, a famous quote from Hamlet. Provoking the thought of reason in his actions. To act now or later would be his though...
Much of the dramatic action of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet is within the head of the main character, Hamlet. His wordplay represents the amazing, contradictory, unsettled, mocking, nature of his mind, as it is torn by disappointment and positive love, as Hamlet seeks both acceptance and punishment, action and stillness, and wishes for consummation and annihilation. He can be abruptly silent or vicious; he is capable of wild laughter and tears, and also polite badinage.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a complex play regarding the kingdom of Denmark, and the unusual stage it is going through. The main focus of the play concerns Hamlet, prince of Denmark, and his feeling of ambiguity toward his recently lost father and his remarried mother. Hamlet is a complicated character who plays assorted roles in order to manipulate people. These various roles make it problematic to develop a sense of the real Hamlet. Only during the soliloquies is the reader given a chance to understand Hamlet, they allow the reader to attempt to decipher who is the real Hamlet and what is an act. The first soliloquy allows the reader to initially delve into the character of Hamlet, by showing his anger and distaste towards his mother. The soliloquy also shows that, even through his anger, he is in a coherent state of mind.
On the journey through the path of life, there are encounters with many different incidents and situations where we must act accordingly. Depending on what type of personality is possessed, there are numerous ways that we can deal with these encounters. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the main character is confronted with a cluster of dilemmas and is in emotional distress. The ghost that encounters Hamlet, the monarchs’ incest, and the contemplation of murder, are the major conflicts which he must deal with one way or another. As a result of these three issues, as well as Hamlet’s particular character, he handles these issues internally which causes internal struggle and a passive response.
In Hamlet, the motif of a young prince forsaken of his father, family, and rationality, as well as the resulting psychological conflicts develop. Although Hamlet’s inner conflicts derive from the lack of mourning and pain in his family, as manifested in his mother’s incestuous remarrying to his uncle Claudius, his agon¬1 is truly experienced when the ghost of his father reveals the murderer is actually Claudius himself. Thus the weight of filial obligation to obtain revenge is placed upon his shoulders. However, whereas it is common for the tragic hero to be consistent and committed to fulfilling his moira,2 Hamlet is not; his tragic flaw lies in his inability to take action. Having watched an actor’s dramatic catharsis through a speech, Hamlet criticizes himself, venting “what an ass am I! This is most brave, that I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell… [can only] unpack my heart with words” (Hamlet 2.2.611-614). Seeing how the actor can conjure such emotion over simple speech, Hamlet is irate at his lack of volition and is stricken with a cognitive dissonance in which he cannot balance. The reality and ...
...ter on Hamlet, in his soliloquy, is frustrated at how actors can freely express their emotions without fear. However, his goal of vengeance has taken over all other aspects in his life and therefore, he willingly sacrifices his freedom of expression.
The impression made by a character in a play is one of its most complex and debatable components, for each individual, from the director to the audience, forms an idea based on their own interpretation of the work. Each character can be read differently, with each perception having its own implications beyond the text. The analysis of alternate perspectives of Hamlet can provide insight into possible hidden motivations and underlying plot elements invisible in the original text.
If you take the time to think about Hamlet overall, very little actually happens on stage other than the death of Polonius and the dual in the final scene. In fact, most of the action of the play takes place offstage and the audience is made aware of it through the discourse between characters after the fact. Brian Pearce makes a very interesting connection between Hamlet and the absurdist world of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot in that both plays are characterized by a distinct lack of real action but focus more on the words. Hamlet is, in fact, Shakespeare’s most absurd play in the way it is written with a focus on the inner workings of its main protagonist as well as several of the other characters to the point where the speech takes priority over the...
Hamlet has long-been associated with the name of William Shakespeare as a masterful work of literary art. It is one of the most debated, celebrated and studied pieces of all time; a marvel of showmanship from one of the most famous authors to ever pick up the elegant pen of words. Those who have read the drama often marvel at the complexity of Hamlet himself, and debate his hesitancy of action throughout the tragedy-namely, the supposed murder of Claudius which he ‘must’ commit. While many scholars agree on Hamlet’s reasons for delay, critics have yet to narrow their thoughts on Hamlet’s overlying motive: why does behave the way he does? More importantly, what were Shakespeare’s motives in portraying Hamlet the way he ultimately does? Hamlet’s hesitation is not the most convoluted and interesting of the subjects; his rationale of purpose is what drives the entire work to be the complex enigma that it still is, to this day.
Although Hamlet is a man of good educational status, often Hamlet acts solely on impulse rather than thinking logically by deciphering his emotions. For instance, in Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” soliloquy, Hamlet is contemplating whether to live or to die; in this case we can see how Hamlet is omitting the use of his judgment upon making the decision of whether to live any longer. Hamlet takes into account all the pangs he has experienced in his life; he believes that suicide is the fastest and easiest route to take out of the ...
On top of Hamlet's over analyzation of the situation an his constant reviewing of all the reasons why he should not act, there is another force which he cannot control.
Like all Shakespearean tragedies, Hamlet’s ending is no different in end-result. Hamlet’s separation from society and his self-imposed confusion caused by over-thinking results in the unnecessary deaths of most of the major characters. In turn, Hamlet’s pre-occupation with factors inessential to his mission of revenge slows down his action. It is this internal struggle that illustrates the intensity and complexity of Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy, something that is often looked at from a psychological perspective.
Hamlet seems incapable of deliberate action, and is only hurried into extremities on the spur of the occasion, when he has no time to reflect, as in the scene where he kills Polonius, and again, where he alters the letters which Rosencraus and Guildenstern are taking with them to England, purporting his death. At other times, when he is most bound to act, he remains puzzled, undecided, and skeptical, until the occasion is lost, and he finds some pretence to relapse into indolence and thoughtfulness again. For this reason he refuses to kill the King when he is at his prayers, and by a refinement in malice, which is in truth only an excuse for his own want of resolution, defers his revenge to a more fatal opportunity, when he will be engaged in some act "that has no relish of salvation in it."
Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. “Hamlet: A Man Who Thinks Before He Acts.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. N. p.: Pocket Books, 1958.