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Inconsistency in Hamlet Essay

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William Shakespeare undoubtedly achieved one of his greatest characterizations when he created the role of Hamlet, in the tragic play Hamlet. Hamlet's appeal to audiences almost certainly stems from his many human weaknesses. The one for which he is best known is indecisiveness, but his inconsistency may well be an even more outstanding characteristic.

T. S. Eliot, in 1932, wrote an essay on Hamlet that is still cited as a noted critique of Shakespeare's great tragedy. Eliot argued that Hamlet is an artistic failure, due to a basic weakness in the play. It was his contention that a playwright owes a duty to the audience to write dialogue appropriate to characters as they have been developed in the drama. Eliot made the point that in …show more content…

That inconsistency is Hamlet's almost total lack of concern for his loss of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The inconsistency would appear to be an oversight on the part of the playwright, one of the keenest observers of human nature who ever lived. Shakespeare's genius was to show us the timeless aspects of our strengths and frailties through the characters in his plays. People tend to fight, and fight fiercely, for what they believe to be rightfully theirs. Princes, we have learned from countless examples throughout history and drama, plot, scheme, maneuver, risk, and sometimes lose their lives in their attempts to become kings. Shakespeare, himself, wrote one of his greatest plays about the Scottish lord, Macbeth, whose burning desire for royal power is the essence of the tragedy.

And yet, Hamlet's attitude toward the throne seems to contradict what history, experience, and even Shakespeare have taught us. Only once does Hamlet ever speak of the loss of his kingdom, and even then only in passing. Other than that, he never refers to the loss of this prize of ultimate power and prestige, a loss which has just taken place, and a prize for which so many people have been willing to commit any act, including, in the case of Hamlet's uncle, the murder of a brother. This would seem to fly in the face of what we know about human nature. And, to make the case stronger, the character who never talks about his feelings regarding this vital

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