Individuals often make New Year resolutions that they might or might not follow; similar to some commitments that they make throughout their lives. Humans have a unique nature that allows them to recognize the difference between making a commitment that may lead for their advantage. Whereas, sometimes humans make commitments that they cannot keep which is frustrating for many individuals as our normal behavior provokes us to think that not staying true towards a commitment might let others think that they are not capable of sticking true towards their commitments. Moreover, it also reduces the self-respect of an individual as they themselves start to lose faith. In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, through the characterization of Hamlet …show more content…
At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is revealed as a very ambitious character as he finds out that his uncle is the murderer of his father. The moment when he finds out that his father has been murdered is a very emotional situation; also it is a situation where one’s mind tends not to think straight, similar to Hamlet. As soon as the ghost of his father reveals the news to Hamlet, he is shocked and wants to take revenge from his uncle. This situation for Hamlet is very shocking and he panics just like any son would. The tension created by this situation is very hard for Hamlet to face and he stops thinking logically and lets his “animal-mind” replace his normal thinking. He commits to himself that he would take revenge from his uncle by murdering him and it is a big decision for an individual to make. However, considering the logical side of the situation it is very unlikely for an individual to make a decision of killing someone under normal conditions. An individual’s decisions are affected by the conditions around them which later becomes a commitment that they are unable to keep; leading towards a devastating effect on their …show more content…
After his encounter with the ghost, Hamlet is committed to kill Claudius (his uncle) as a revenge for his father’s murder. To achieve his goal, he acts “mad” in front of some of the characters in the book which he succeeds in as other characters become suspicious about his madness. However, as the play progresses his madness also increases as he thinks of killing Claudius during his prayers in the church; yet he does not. This shows that his madness was an act but how long can an individual act mad? Moreover, to what extent can an individual act mad? He realizes that he is not keeping up with the commitment that he made when he saw the Forinbras army crossing through their land to fight with their opponent over a little piece of land. During that time, he questions himself as he thinks that if their army can fight over a little reason, that he has also made a much bigger commitment to himself. So, at some points in the play, he is acting mad while at some points, he is not sure of what should he do about his commitment; he is confused about killing Claudius. This shows that his mental state throughout the play was not at the correct momentum, which caused him to repeal from his normal state of mind. Having to stay with a commitment that an individual
Hamlet has had to cope with a lot of different things way to fast. In the beginning of the play he sees the ghost of his dead father and is actually able to have a conversation with him. After his father was murdered everyone thought it was an accident but Hamlet knew the truth because the ghost told him it was
When individuals struggle to balance a desire for independence with the need to maintain meaningful relationships with others, it often results in complicated decisions, which alter relationships. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the author justifies that when an individual is caught up in a dilemma, between one’s self-motivation or sincere relationships, meaningful relationships alter as a result of sophisticated decisions made. Hamlet is a character that is caught up in the crossfire between pursuing his self-motivations and his need to stay loyal to his relationships, with Ophelia, King Claudius, and his mother Gertrude.
As the play goes on, Hamlet encounters his father's ghost. Upon discovering that his father's death wasn't natural, he says with much feeling that "Haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift/ As meditation, or the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge" (1.5.29-31). The ghost tells him that he was murdered by Claudius. His motives were his love for Gertrude, without her knowledge or consent. Hamlet is furious and seething with rage with the news of his father's murder. Knowing the truth makes Hamlet's subconscious realize that killing Claudius would be similar to killing himself. This is so because Hamlet recognizes that Claudius' actions of murdering his brother and marrying Hamlet's mother, mimicked Hamlet's inner unconscious desires. Hamlet's unconscious fantasies have always been closely related to Claudius' conduct. All of Hamlet's once hidden feelings seem to surface in spite of all of the "repressing forces," when he cries out, "Oh my prophetic soul!/ My uncle!" (1.5.40-41). From here, Hamlet's consciousness must deal with the frightful truth (Jones).
The beginning of the play sets the stage for everything to unfold. Hamlet is weak in the mind due to his father’s unnatural death. In Act 1, Hamlet speaks to the Ghost and learns how his father died. Without Hamlet interaction with the Ghost, he would not have created a desire for revenging his father’s death. Now knowing that Claudius killed his father in order to take his place as king, it only makes sense that Hamlet desires the truth to be revealed as to what happened to his father.
The beginning of Hamlet’s overthinking first starts when he hears the news of his father’s death and the directions that he receives following it. Like everyone, those who are mourning are inclined to wonder what had happened to their loved one. Hamlet’s situation was a little bit different than most people’s experiences. In Hamlet’s case, he had been wondering what had happened to his father since no one knew and then the ghost of his dead father had come back to tell him the story along with what he wanted his son to do. When Hamlet is alone, his father appears and tell him, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural
In the play Hamlet there are many themes that were brought to our attention; Madness, Revenge, Mortality, Religion, Incest, Family, and Death. In this essay we will be discussing two of these themes that we found intriguing, the two themes are Death, and Revenge.
In the beginning of the play the main character, Hamlet, gets a visit from the ghost of his father that has recently deceased unexpectedly. His father’s ghost appears throughout the play but only Hamlet has the ability to see this spirit which leads to the conception that he has gone insane. He grieves his father’s death in very unhealthy
Determining whether someone is insane or sane is very difficult to do. Looking at the actions of the individuals does not give the full picture. Hamlet plays the role of an insane man in order to get revenge on Claudius. Hamlet only tells Horatio and his mother that he is pretending while others believe he is insane. There are some that believe that Hamlet is insane due to the loss of his father but their evidence is not very strong. By looking at examples from the play that show Hamlet is pretending to be insane, we will clearly see that Hamlet is very successful in the act of being mad.
William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is a play illustrating a prince seeking revenge for his father tragic death. Hamlet, the prince, is left clueless about who has killed his father until some night watcher gives him some news about a ghost that looks like his dead father. Hamlet decides to go see the ghost for himself and is shocked with what the ghost has said to him. The murder of his father was not an accidental snake bite, but instead Hamlet’s father was the murdered by his uncle, Claudius, the new king of Denmark. Hamlet becomes angry at Claudius for killing his father and is also angry at his mother, Gertrude, for betraying his father and marrying Claudius. Hamlet begins to act insane because he wants to distract the people around him so he can avenge his father’s death.
This event along with everything else that he is dealing with is the threshold for Hamlet that he must cross. To cross this threshold Hamlet has to make a decision. Dealing with the process of making and actually making this decision lead Hamlet into his manhood. Hamlet has idealized his father and what Hamlet has learned about his father in the ghost scene shakes his fragile equilibrium. He learns all at one time that his uncle has killed his father, and that his father is not the person that he thought he was. This is a blow for any young adult. Hamlet is now having to deal with the fact that everything that he has believed to be true, just is not so.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most universally known plays of all time. Primarily, it is known for its strong themes, and its revolutionary storyline, containing subjects never frequently, or openly discussed before in plays of this kind, such as our conscience, spirit, and inner strength.
Hamlet’s inaction due to fear ultimately leads to the death of six characters, including himself. Hamlet’s outward conflict is the death of his father and consequently, his uncle becoming the King of Denmark. Hamlet expresses his distaste of his uncle becoming King when he says, “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (1.2.65). Hamlet implies that his uncle is too closely related to him after becoming his step-father. Moreover, during his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 2, Hamlet blames his mother for being weak and criticizes her decision to marry someone one month after her husband’s death when he says, “A beast that wants discourse of reason/ Would have mourn’d longer” (1.2.146-7). Hamlet denotes that his mother is less reasonable than an animal as she marries one month after King Hamlet’s death, which is an insult to her intelligence. Furthermore, Hamlet compares the world to “an unweeded garden” (1.2.135) and this displays how he does not want to live in this corrupt world anymore. Hamlet’s inward conflict is his inaction after swearing to the ghost that he would exact revenge for his father’s murder.
The ability to understand and reason are great assets to mankind; nonetheless it is the capacity of thought and the pitfall of overthinking which leads to mankind’s greatest moments of weakness: hindering one’s own actions. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare shows this exact conflict of mankind’s constant thought of what could come repelling one from action,as it comes up in the soliloquy where Hamlet brings up“[h]ow all occasions do inform against [him], / And spur [his] dull revenge!”, stating “ What is a man,/if his chief good and market of his time/ Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more./ Sure he that made us with such large discourse,/Looking before and after, gave us not/ That capability and godlike reason/To fust in us unused.
Within the Shakespearean tragic drama Hamlet there are a number of themes. Literary critics find it difficult to agree on the ranking of the themes. This essay will present the themes as they are illustrated in the play – and let the reader prioritize them.
Hamlet is arguably one of the greatest dramatic characters to be created. As he learns of his father’s death, he starts to over analyze ever little detail causing him to create scenarios in his mind that give me anxiety. His mother notices his anger, but Hamlet makes it known that the distress he is feeling over-powers his actions. He says, “Together with all the forms, moods, shapes of grief… for they are the actions that a man might play; but I have that within which passes show, these but the trappings and the suits of woe” (ACT I, ii). He is angry at his mother because she remarried that same man that killed his father. Hamlet starts to see his father’s ghost and she cannot. She then starts to tell Hamlet how he has offended his father, as in Claudius. When Hamlet is defending