The Importance Of Greedful Life In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Everyone dreams to live a successful life. Although success may have different meanings for each individual, it typically involves having a loving family, well reputed career, lots of money and fame. Unfortunately, people who are impatient to attain their ideal life, often embrace shorter routes to their goals while overlooking their conscious. By comparing the actions of various characters, including Hamlet, Laertes, Claudius and Gertrude, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the reader sees the consequences one faces when they ignore their conscious under the influence of their greed and ambition. The play stresses the importance of being true to oneself as Polonius says to Laertes, “This above all: to thine own self be true.” (1.3.82). Through

Starting off, one is able to take rational decisions once they confront and accept their weaknesses. This is evident through Hamlet’s character development through his soliloquy, “To be, or not to be”. He says, “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all / And thus the native hue of resolution / Is sickled over with the pale cast of thought.” (3.1.90-92). Hamlet, who is enraged to seek revenge after talking to the Ghost, realizes that he has not taken any action yet. Instead of making an excuse, he accepts his weakness. He understands that one of the major reasons that he does not take action is due to his thoughts of suicide. However, through this soliloquy, he determines that he, similar to all other humans, is too weak and scared of the afterlife and thus he will not kill himself. By addressing his weakness, Hamlet is able to overcome it and gets closer to taking action. He begins to focus more on his motive to kill Claudius while thinking more rationally and with a clear mind. Thus, Shakespeare shows the importance for one to regulate themself as it is one of the best tools to succeed in one’s motives. Adding on, one regrets the decisions and actions they take if they do not follow their own thoughts. For example, prior to hitting Hamlet with the poisoned sword, Laertes says to himself, “And yet it is almost against my conscience.” (5.2.308).

First of all, by suppressing one self’s concerns and fears, one feels scared and insecure of their surroundings. This is shown through Claudius’s actions. While he tries to pray, he says to himself, “Bow, stubborn knees, and, heart with strings of steel / Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe! / All may be well.” (3.3.73-75). During this soliloquy, Claudius displays the first signs of guilt that he feels for murdering his brother. However, he tries to make himself feel better by saying that all may be well in the future and by looking at the wealth and prosperity he has gained. It is due to this slight ignorance of the reality that Claudius acts rashly to order the secret murder of Hamlet when he suspects him of knowing the truth. Since Claudius tries to lie to himself, he is unable to share the truth and eventually leads himself to his own death. Shakespeare shows that by not confronting reality, one only prolongs the suffering of guilt and fear. In addition, when one is dishonest with themselves, they are unable to empathize with their close ones as they are not ready to look at situations with a variety of perspectives. For instance, when Hamlet asks Gertrude about what her thoughts are on the Player Queen saying that she will not remarry if the Player