The Tragic Overuse Of Logic In Hamlet

Hamlet is strongly held by archetypes that can be revealed throughout the play. Death, itself, is a very strong archetype in the story exploring the social beliefs in that era; superstitions and societies loyalty to religion. Throughout the play, Hamlet experiences his main trifles over the concept of death. Reviewing the murder of his father and the task given to him to kill his uncle, Hamlet becomes fascinated with the idea of existence and afterlife.As a whole, Hamlet is primarily concerned with exploring the individual's relationship with death in which our fear of death comes from the notion that there must be something else, eliminating the fact that we can't ever know for sure if there is. This idea is explored in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy, which questions the righteousness of life over death in moral terms. When Hamlet utters the pained question, “to be, or not to be: that is the question / Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (Act 3, Scene 1 59-61) there is little doubt that he is thinking of death. Although he attempts to pose such a question in a rational and logical way, he is still left without an answer of whether the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” can be eliminated since life after death seems so uncertain. All of this mirrors aspects of human nature as man has always questioned the meaning of life and the events that occur after. Theoretically, one will never understand the full nature of our

Shakespeare’s play Hamlet follows the story of the protagonist, Hamlet, who faces misfortune and is expected to kill his father’s murderer. Hamlet is assumed to be insane, which is very probable, for he is destined to kill a person. However, Hamlet is merely acting insane to deviate King Claudius from Hamlet’s true intentions. However, Hamlet does a lot more than kill King Hamlet’s murderer, Hamlet kills many people in the royal line. Hamlet’s inability to act upon any of his intentions, despite being obsessed with death, eventually leads to the death of Hamlet and the downfall of Denmark.

Troubled by his father's death, Hamlet, prince of Denmark wants revenge. He is motivated to kill, with his friend Horatio by his side he has the confidence and courage to overcome any obstacles he faces. Hamlet's circumstances cause him to go insane, leading to the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius; also he indirectly causes the deaths of his girlfriend, Ophelia; his mother, Gertrude;and the messengers, Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern. Amidst all this chaos and death, he is also responsible for the fall of Denmark. Hamlet's motivations, madness, depression and mental state contribute to his demise.

Does Hamlet have a tragic flaw? If so, what is it and how does it effect his surroundings and how does it effect Hamlet himself? What is the outcome of his flaw?

Throughout the play, Hamlet's soliloquies entrap his motives and at times leave him stuck without a clear path to take. This is evident even from his first soliloquy As Hamlet thinks “That this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into dew; or that the everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter” (Ham. 1.2.). Hamlet doubts the purpose of life as he infers that he wants to committee suicide but is unsure due to it being a sin against God. Hamlet's indecisiveness can be traced back to his curiosity about after life due to his father’s ghost existing and him thinking that in murdering his uncle, Hamlet's soul would not get an afterlife. However, the time period in which Hamlet is based in, it was a son's duty to avenge his father if he was a murdered noble. “A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his oldest son, do this same villain send to heaven” (Ham.

"Reason is how we discover the truth in nature, without relying on the senses,” said by Descartes. It seems as if Descartes believes that reason is rational, objective thought whereas senses are subjective thoughts. Neither are objective, as humans even our most rational thoughts are subjective and bias to who we are as individual people. Even if reason tells people that the sky is red, our senses say otherwise and no amount of reason can persuade what one can see right in front of them. I would have to, therefore, disagree with Descartes, reason varies from individual to individual and also depending on situations and circumstances. This quote does relate to today’s morals and humanity specifically in the justice system. In the court system the United States relies on some level of “reasonable” doubt. Jurors use reasonings to analyze facts and determine a verdict without relying on their senses, despite not being at the scene of a crime or incident. Descartes quote came to mind at the very beginning of Bohannan’s story. Bohannan was given Hamlet by a friend to read while in Africa due to the primitive setting and maybe with some “meditation” Bohannan could discover the true meaning. After completing Bohannan’s story, coming back to this is humorous. Bohannan’s friend was hoping that meditation, deep thought, and reasoning would help Bohannan come to an accurate interpretation of Hamlet, but when Bohannan relied on the senses to listen to the elders while storytelling she

The tragic flaw is a fault that a character has in a novel, play or story. In Hamlet, his flaw is that he is seen as reliable as well as unreliable due to fact that his actions do not always correspond with his thoughts. Hamlet demonstrates a back and forth mentality which allows the reader to understand that Hamlet is tragically flawed. Hamlet said that he was going to kill Claudius but then went against this word and did not. In Hamlet’s attempt to kill Claudius, he explains “now might I do it pat, now he is praying; and now I'll do't.

With Hamlet being generally labeled as the best tragic hero ever created, it is ironic that his tragic flaw has never been as solidly confirmed as those of most of his fellow protagonists. There is Macbeth with his ambition, Oedipus with his pride, Othello with his jealousy, and all the others with their particular odd spots. Then there is Hamlet. He has been accused of everything and of nothing, and neither seems to stick. Flaws are carved out of obscure conversations when he may or may not be speaking truthfully and alleged from instances of his own self-discipline. They are bored into him with the bits of psychological drills invented long after Shakespeare's hand crafted

Now that the pressure has been lifted, Hamlet has the opportunity to ponder death, something that has demanded his attention since his father's demise. In the famous soliloquy Hamlet attempts to discard the appearance of death to dissect the survival instinct of human beings. Why, when death appears to be the desired escape from "a sea of troubles," do human beings refuse to succumb? (III.1 ln 59) Hamlet quickly grasps the inherent fear of the unknown present in the human psyche. This display of insightquickly disappears once Hamlet again faces emotional pressure. He somewhat maintains his ability to separate reality and appearance, but his intense passions stunt his efforts to remain on a direct course to his goals.

Hamlet’s greatest flaw is his hesitation. He is unable to act. He remains philosophical to his detriment. When he should seek vengeance over his father’s murder he chooses to contemplate whether retribution is right or wrong. His inability to act and punish those who have sin against him is his tragic flaw. Even when his father appears as a ghost and demands Hamlet to avenge him, he chooses to think it over instead of acting on his father’s behalf. When he says "O wicked spite that ever I was born to set it right, (Shakespeare 1.5.190-191) " he acknowledges it is his job to set things right not only for his family, but also for his country. He procrastinates to much in his own thoughts and everything starts to slip away.

In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, he contemplates for a while whether to commit suicide. Hamlet’s unhappiness is caused by the people around him. His mother’s actions of marrying her brother-in-law made Hamlet extremely frustrated drawing him out of the right mental state. Meanwhile, his view of his father is godlike, but he distrusts the Ghost enough to think about killing himself instead of pursuing the Ghost’s request. In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “to be, or not to be;” he contemplates (3.1). “The Everlasting had not fixed, His cannon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (1.2). He is uncertain if things would be any better in the afterlife if he were to end his life. Hamlet’s hesitancy, especially concerning suicide, is the cause of his realistic and frightened nature. In this situation, his indecisiveness saves his life, but it also does not allow him to find another solution. Concluding, in his soliloquy he would rather

Hamlet feels the constant need to reassure himself that his beliefs are correct, especially in his soliloquies about death. It is stated, “O that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!...” (Act 1, Sn 2, 129-1559). Hamlet discusses how things were not good and he was just in mourning and despair in this soliloquy. In the noted to be or not be soliloquy he continues the decisions on death, “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?...” (Act 3, Sn 1, 56-89). As Hamlet continues through the play he gives up in a sense because of everything happening to the people he was close to and to him in general. He lost the people he cared about due to his uncle’s careless actions and his mother playing along with it. When he actually got emotion from his uncle things were only proven to be more complicated because his father’s ghost was correct. His soliloquies prove how Hamlet was overly depressed and wanted to die, although depression during this time period is completely different compared to now.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an interesting play in many ways. The character Hamlet is particularly intriguing in regards to his fatal flaw. Hamlet’s fatal flaw is a specific trait that forces him to postpone killing the king and it is this trait that drives Hamlet mad (Shakespeare 1.4.23-38). This Shakespearean tragedy is open to many interpretations of Hamlet’s fatal flaw. Two recent film productions of the play, Kenneth Branaugh’s Hamlet and the Zeffirelli’s Hamlet, each show a different fatal flaw in Hamlet. Branaugh shows his fatal flaw to be that Hamlet over thinks everything. Zeffirelli accentuates the Oepipus Complex in Hamlet meaning that Hamlet is jealous over his mother. Branaugh and Zeffirelli both use different methods to

Hamlet's fatal flaw is his inability to act. Unlike his father, Hamlet lets his intelligence rather than his heroism govern him. When he has a chance to kill Claudius, and take vengeance for his father's murder, he hesitates, reckoning that if he kills the man while he is at prayer, Claudius would have asked for pardon from the Lord and been forgiven of his sins, therefore allowing him to enter Heaven. Hamlet decides to wait for a better opening. His flaw of being hesitant in the end leads to his own death, and also the deaths of Gertrude, Ophelia, Laertes, and Claudius.

focussing on his purpose. As a matter a fact, a whole act is used to