The Ambiguity of Shakespeare's Ambiguous Hamlet

In the play by William Shakespeare, the ghost of King Hamlet approaches his mourning and depressed son, Hamlet, who is still affected by his death. The ghost explains to Hamlet how he died and demands that Hamlet avenge his death. Note how the ghost approaches Hamlet when he’s the weakest and still mourning to persuade and manipulate him into taking revenge for him. In Act one Scene 5 the ghost states, “If thou didst ever thy dear father love-/ Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The way King Hamlet words his request is more as a challenge; in which Hamlet’s love for his dead father can only be proven by carrying out whatever his father wishes. The ghost influences most Hamlet’s behavior, which not only affects the plot, but also the relationships with other characters. The ghost influences the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. He becomes angry at Gertrude because of her fast marriage with his uncle Claudius. Through the use of innuendos, antic disposition, and metamorphic plays, Hamlet makes it his duty to get King Claudius back for killing his father. Hamlet agreed to avenge his father without second thought. As the play advances, Hamlet begins to doubt the apparition. In act 3 Hamlet begins to have second thoughts and states, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil…” This shows Hamlet’s inner conflict between listening to his father and avenging his death or following his ethics. To be sure that Claudius

“To be, or not to be, that is the question,” (3.1.64). This famous line in William Shakespeare's Hamlet perfectly encapsulates Hamlet’s internal struggle throughout the play. Hamlet tells the story of the young prince of Denmark and his desire for revenge on the uncle, Claudius, who murdered his father. As is the case in many works of literature, Hamlet changes greatly throughout the play. However, because of his attempts to act insane, it can be difficult to precisely map the changes in Hamlet’s character. By carefully investigating his seven soliloquies, where he is alone and has no need to “put on an antic disposition,” one can understand and interpret how Hamlet’s character develops throughout the play.

Now Hamlet uses a rational “now he is praying; And now I'll do't./ And so he goes to heaven;/ And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd:/ A villain kills my father; and for that,/ I, his sole son, do this same villain send/ To heaven”(p.79). Hamlet uses this “logic” to further justify his inconsistency between his actions and his motive. Finally, during the last scene, Hamlet encounters yet another chance to avenge his father’s, and now also his mother’s murders after his fencing match against Laertes. Claudius tries to kill Hamlet by poisoning him, and poisons Gertrude instead; this is the final breaking point of Hamlet. After the death of his mother Hamlet, can no longer hold back and strikes his foil through Claudius’s heart. Then, he forces the poisoned wine down his throat. This occurrence yet again shows Hamlet’s indecisive character. He plans out the vengeance of his father’s death so many times perfectly, but kills Claudius without a plan and everyone witnesses the murder.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a work of immense depth in character development, most notably the personal, moral and psychological battles

Hamlet questions the true intentions of the ghost and whether it be “a spirit of health or goblin damn’d,” (1.4.669). The Ghost enlightens the Prince of the treason committed by his uncle Claudius, which Hamlet doubts the legitimacy for an instance. According to “Hamlet’s Precarious Emotional Balance,” “Hamlet conceives a way out of his uncertainty, a way to make certain that he has not, because of his melancholy, simply hallucinated the ghost's revelations or been tricked by an evil spirit,” (Lidz). Hamlet develops a scheme to “catch the conscience of the king” by staging a play that depicts the murder of King Hamlet precisely (2.2.581).

Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s tragic plays, portrays the story of a young man’s quest to avenge his murdered father and his quest to find his true identity. In his soliloquies, Prince Hamlet reveals to the readers his personal perceptions of the events that take place in his homeland, Denmark, and of which are either indirectly or directly tied to his father’s murder. Many critics and scholars agree that while Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal the search of his identity and true character, his soliloquies universally illustrate man’s search for his true identity.

Hamlet has thrust upon him the dual responsibility of avenging his father and becoming a man. These new responsibilities push Hamlet’s already fragile sanity over the edge into madness. “Hamlet experiences anxiety both because of the dysfunction of previous masculine roles and because of his shames at their loss, a loss he holds himself accountable for” (Rosen, 63). Hamlet is instantly roused from a bout of depression at Horatio’s news of the ghost. Hamlet undoubtedly feels that this ghost might be able to put his mind at rest.

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.

When the ghost talks privately to Hamlet, he learns not only about the murder of his father, but also about the unfaithfulness and adultery of his mother, “the human truth” (Abrams 467). Lilly B.

Many literary critics have presented theories on the meaning of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, ranging from claims of Oedipal Complexes to insinuations of homosexuality. Though most such interpretations can be considered true at some level, there seems to be some basic theme - some driving force - that underlies all other interpretations.

Hamlet’s character drastically develops over the first four acts of Hamlet, and his character development is most evident through the soliloquys he delivers throughout the play. The most character development can be seen from the first soliloquy, to the second, the third, the sixth, and the seventh and final soliloquy. Hamlet’s inner conflict with his thoughts and his actions are well analyzed in his soliloquys, as well as his struggles with life and death, and his very own existence. He begins the play wondering what purpose he has in life now that his father is dead and his mother has remarried to his uncle. After finding out foul play was involved in his father’s death, he is motivated by revenge. Finally, he wonders how he can enact his revenge while continuously overthinking and overanalyzing his actions.

Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, begins with the appearance of a ghost, an apparition, possibly a hallucination. Thus, from the beginning, Shakespeare presents the air of uncertainty, of the unnatural, which drives the action of the play and develops in the protagonist as a struggle to clarify what only seems to be absolute and what is actually reality. Hamlet's mind, therefore, becomes the central force of the play, choosing the direction of the conflict by his decisions regarding his revenge and defining the outcome.

The mystery of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a phantom of literary debate that has haunted readers throughout the centuries. Hamlet is

    Does the ghost in Shakespeare’s Hamlet conform to the standards for ghosts in the days of the dramatist? This essay will answer this and other questions about the ghost in the drama.

The story opens in the cold and dark of a winter night in Denmark, while the guard is being changed on the battlements of the royal castle of Elsinore. For two nights in succession, just as the bell strikes the hour of one, a ghost has appeared on the battlements, a figure dressed in complete armor and with a face like that of the dead king of Denmark, Hamlet’s