Hamlet, By William Shakespeare

What is madness? Is someone considered mad or insane simply because they are different, and they, in turn, see the rest of the world as insane? William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who plays the role of a tragic hero. He encounters several misfortunes from experiencing his beloved father’s death, witnessing his mother 's incestuous remarriage to his uncle, and seeing his father’s ghost. Due to all of this, Hamlet falls into a deep depression. Hamlet begins his journey by seeking revenge against Claudius after discovering that his noble father was murdered by his own uncle. Hamlet is a character whose actions and emotions may seem like one of an insane person, however, in the beginning of the play, it is clear that he decides to fake madness in order to gain an advantage over Claudius. This would aid in him in accomplishing his revenge. Hamlet is sane throughout the play: he only shows signs of insanity in front of certain people whom he does not trust. However, even they believe that his madness is not sheer madness but has a reason to it. Hamlet’s character is sane as in the play his rationality is shown through the logic and intelligence he uses in his plots. He usually calculates his movements and his impulsive acts are justified. While there are reasons to believe that many of the hardships could have driven Hamlet to the point of insanity, his display of intelligence and rational thinking throughout the play proves his sanity.

In this play “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare, there are many soliloquies that are said by Hamlet to depict various meanings of his thoughts, feelings, and actions that are inside of him. More specifically the soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, in lines 57-91 starts off with the famous saying known as “To be, or not to be”. Throughout this soliloquy, Hamlet is asking himself the question of whether it is better to live or not to live. In life, we are faced with many situations where we feel the need to give up our life and not face the problems. Only by facing all the troubles, will a person become stronger and more courageous to handle anything in life. By believing in one’s self, can man have the courage to follow what they think is right. Killing yourself or giving up is never a solution in life. This soliloquy reveals Hamlet’s fearful personality by showing that his decision-making process is slow and that he fears risks or uncertainty. These character traits are depicted thoroughly by Hamlet throughout the play.

The male characters in Hamlet continually abuse both Ophelia and Gertrude, physically and psychologically, as a pathetic attempt to gain power and control over the situation. One of the greatest examples of psychological abuse comes from the harrowing scene where Hamlet and Ophelia have their final conversation before Hamlet leaves for England. During this rage-induced altercation, Hamlet refuses to accept Ophelia’s returning of the gifts previously given to her from him, saying “I never gave you aught” (3.1.97). Ophelia is appalled as Hamlet continues to insult her and laugh in her face. In the climax of the argument, Hamlet tells Ophelia that she “should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not” (3.1.117-119). The immense amount of psychological damage received by Ophelia between the addition and removal of love by Hamlet and her father’s death is enough to drive anyone to madness. David M. Smith recounts this as Hamlet’s necessity “to genuine outsideness because of the danger of being co-opted by love” (Smith, 1). However, Hamlet no longer needed to protect himself in his situation. His actions from this scene were not only uncalled for, but added to the slow mental demise of his sweet Ophelia. Hamlet’s next scene of abuse come shortly after this when he goes to speak to Gertrude about her participation in the murder of Old Hamlet. His rage, yet again, takes over, but this time he adopts physical abuse

Hamlet: one of the most analyzed tragic heroes in all of literature. Hamlet, the main character in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is conflicted throughout the whole play. He obsesses over avenging his father’s death, and this leads to rash, irresponsible actions that cause others to suffer, as well. He plans to kill Claudius, his uncle, for murdering his father and then marrying his mother. In an act of outrage, Hamlet unknowingly kills Polonius, the King’s assistant, instead. This creates even more problems because now someone else’s father is dead. Hamlet is somewhat of an inconsistent character; he’s different almost every time we see him. Hamlet displays characteristics of depression, irony, timidity, and being hurt.

The play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is about a guy named Hamlet going through a hard time in life, after the death of his father, and the remarriage of his mother to his uncle. Throughout the play were are able to get a greater understanding of who Hamlet really is. The actions of Hamlet in Shakespeare's master piece “Hamlet” proves him to a revenge seeker, emotional, and crazy.

Hamlet, the titled character of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare’s most prominent play, is arguably the most complex, relatable, and deep character created by Shakespeare. His actions and thoughts throughout the play show the audience how fully developed and unpredictable he is with his mixed personalities. What Hamlet goes through in the play defines the adventures encountered by a tragic hero. In this timeless tragedy, despite Hamlet’s great nobility and knowledge, he has a tragic flaw that ultimately leads to his ironic death.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character Hamlet must deal with both external and internal conflict. Hamlet encounters many struggles and has trouble finding a way to deal with them. With so many corrupt people in his life, Hamlet feels as if there is no one that he can trust and begins to isolate himself from others. A result from this isolation leads Hamlet to become melancholy. Hamlet struggles with suicidal thoughts, wants to kill King Claudius, and is distraught over his mother’s hasty marriage with his uncle Claudius.

Just as Claudius is not completely evil, Hamlet faces a moral ambiguity that points to more of an anti-hero protagonist rather than the traditional tragic hero. Hamlet retains his stance of innocence while sustaining injurious harm to his moral being. In the beginning of the play, his remarks to both the King and Queen are scathingly bitter; “’Seems’ madam? Nay it is. I know not ‘seems’” (1.2.76). He is repulsed by the disillusionment of court life and those who pretend that all is well. Hamlet mocks them with his sharp-tongued question of ‘seems madam?’ He aspires for them to be as self-aware as he is of how false they all are. However, he soon enters and begins to understand this world of deceit and lies. In John Seaman’s essay The Blind Curtain and Hamlet’s Guilt, he writes: “Hamlet learns that the world is not evil, but rather, that there is evil in the world and that he has betrayed himself to it” (353). Hamlet in Act 1 does not understand the pretense of seeming and hidden motives. He is only familiar with the intellectual isolation of school where everything is black and white. Consequently, his sudden plunge into a world that is morally grayer than black or white is startling and tumultuous. He believes he is ultimately good as Claudius, his enemy, is evil. However, Hamlet is responsible for the deaths of four characters. Hamlet reveals a naïve ignorance of reality when he romanticizes his father and again through his mother’s love for his father: “so excellent a

Who exactly is Hamlet and what are his true characteristics? It may seem like an easy question, however, quite difficult to answer. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet,” Hamlet seems to be on the verge of insanity. However, it cannot be known for certain if Hamlet has lost his mind, "To put an antic disposition on, That you, at such times seeing me, never shall," (Shakespeare 1.V.173) It may not be known if Shakespeare intended to have Hamlet evolve into a madman, however, what is known is the fact that Hamlet’s irrationality is one of, if not, the biggest flaw that Hamlet possesses. Many reasons contribute to Hamlet feeling the way he does, such as Hamlet losing faith in love, religion, society, and even philosophy. From Hamlet

Hamlet is one of the most enigmatic characters in literary history, and for decades many people have asked many questions about who he is, what his motives were, and what he thought of the situation he was in. Hamlet has many different viewpoints and is much more complex than your average character. So for a character like this to be so complex, there must be a point. But what did Shakespeare intend for us to see once we saw through the shroud of complexity? There could be any number of possibilities, but since Shakespeare is the only one who knew, the ultimate truth has been lost to history. However, by examining this play, we can see that Hamlet struggles with taking action and isn’t used to the enormous responsibility he has

In the epic tragedy Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet is trapped in a world of evil that is not his fault. Hamlet’s demeanor and attitude fluctuate over the course of the play. While Hamlet means well and is portrayed to be very sensitive and moral, at times he can appear to be overruled by the madness and darkness from the tragedy of his father 's murder. His dealings with his dad 's ghostly demise cause Hamlet to grow up quick. His family, his sweetheart, and his school companions all seem to betray him and to associate themselves with the people he is against. Hamlet makes various attempts to avenge his father 's death, yet each falls short since his arrangements are defaced by extreme human weaknesses. These weaknesses that Hamlet is an image of normal mankind and give him the room he needs to develop. His development can be seen in several interactions with Horatio.

As early as the mid 1800’s, the phrase “looking through rose-tinted glasses,” has been used. This simple saying was utilized to explain instances when people looked at their surroundings and choose to see the positives rather than the negatives. The idea of specifically looking at certain aspects of a situation is commonly found in any scenario, and within the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, this is certainly the case. By experiencing a large portion of the drama through Hamlet’s opinions and voice, the audience has little choice than to see other characters as Hamlet sees them. While giving a consistent flow and viewpoint to the whole play, this singular interpretation of characters leads to a bias that is hard for the text itself and other characters to overcome. By investigating the idea that this bias causes a misinterpretation of Hamlet itself, the play’s overall meaning becomes convoluted as other characters such as Claudius are revealed to have more meaning and depth than originally conveyed.

The tragedy of Hamlet was an inordinately fascinating play with many profoundly intriguing characters that did a great many heroic and disappointing things despite the intricacy and arduousness to understand the true personality William Shakespeare intended for each.

In William Shakespeare 's Hamlet, there are many conflicts present that can be applied to modern time. Hamlet, as the protagonist, displays many difficult aspects that haunt mankind to this day. Hamlet is a dynamic character. He believes that he is the smartest person in the room, which most of the time he is. He comes up with conniving schemes to get his revenge. Although Hamlet believes in his brilliant plan to feign madness, it causes so much suspicion from others that it ultimately causes the untimely death of himself and others.

Deceit, mystery, murder, and betrayal are all very captivating and together have the makings for a daytime soap opera. In this case, however, they are a part of the tragedy of Hamlet. The most regaling aspects of this play, despite the entertaining and compelling qualities just mentioned, are the revenge and the surprisingly unappealing nature of the main character, Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet makes stupid choices that will ultimately lead to his own death, and the death of many around him. Hamlet should not be identified as a courageous hero seeking to avenge his father but instead as a coward lacking determination.