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Hamlet 's Rational Mind : William Shakespeare 's Hamlet

Decent Essays

Micayla Gabrie
Mrs. McTaggart
English IV, 4th
January 28, 2016
Hamlet’s Rational Mind 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.
When Hamlet tells his friends of his plan to feign madness, he displays confidence that this is the right path. The audience, however, knows this is a mistake. Hamlet is influenced by an apparition of his deceased father. During the Elizabethan time period, it was considers normal to have visitations from the spirit life. The idea that human spirits manifested themselves as ghosts can be traced back to very ancient civilizations. The Roman Catholic Church taught that at death, the souls of those too good for hell and too bad for heaven were sent to Purgatory. Here they were purged of their sins by punishment, but might on occasion be allowed to return to earth to warn the living of the need for repentance. (Sommerville) . The real conflict is determining whether or not the ghost is innocent or a demonic being. Hamlet believes that the ghost is truly the

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