William Shakespeare's Hamlet Essay

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, although Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, he has little control over the situation of his mother country. His father is dead and his mother marries his uncle, Claudius, who succeeds his father. When Hamlet is still in grief, the ghost of his father comes to tell him that he was killed by Claudius. Young Hamlet, being called to take vengeance, is confined to the land of Denmark and fails to act. Throughout the play, Hamlet feels increasingly trapped by the confinement set by King Claudius, by his father's command to take revenge, and by his own thoughts; only when Hamlet is able to free from his own mind, is he able to take action and escape from these confines.

Individual reactions to situations of external or internal conflict are reflected in much of literature. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character of Hamlet must deal with both external and internal conflict. He faces the death of his father, the knowledge that his uncle Claudius is his father's murderer and the knowledge that he must take revenge. Hamlet's responses to these external conflicts and his own internal views proclaim his nature and character.

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet, a studious young man and Prince of Denmark, struggles to face the death of his father and the task to kill his father’s murderer, Claudius. He was once known as a charming, smart young man before his father’s death. However, Hamlet experiences depression and anger at the world, causing him to look outwardly on society but failing to look inwardly on himself. The death of his father and the task for vengeance leads him to question whether or not he should follow through in killing Claudius. He becomes a man of thought rather than a man of action. In addition, the delay of King Claudius’ murder leads the readers to believe that he wishes not to kill him; he

Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet, is known for his indecisive personality. It is a trait that humanizes Hamlet in the sense that every man is flawed. However, this feature is Hamlet’s main

Hamlet’s main difficulty throughout the play lies in his inability to complete his mission of killing Claudius. He frequently circumvents his problems and refuses to find the resolution of the problems. He stubbornly sticks to his paradigm, but this simply leave him in disarray. By not rising out of mediocrity, Hamlet leads to his imminent death. Although his father’s ghost brings solemn and portentous warnings, the prince’s forbearance to kill the king constitutes his failure to act. For example, when he finds Claudius praying, he does not kill him, however, while Claudius may act devout, he cannot pray due to his sins. Had Hamlet cogently dispatched of him, he would not have completed his pious action anyway. Hamlet may seem pithy in his

Hamlet is a suspenseful play that introduces the topic of tragedy. Throughout the play, Hamlet displays anger, uncertainty, and obsession with death. Although Hamlet is unaware of it, these emotions cause the mishaps that occur throughout the play. These emotions combined with his unawareness are the leading basis for the tragic hero’s flaws. These flaws lead Hamlet not to be a bad man, but a regular form of imperfection that comes along with being human.

This essay will discuss several literary criticisms of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. After skimming through several articles, I ended up with four peer-reviewed journal articles, each a different critical perspectives of the play: feminist, psychoanalytical/freudian, moral, and new historicism. My previous studies of Hamlet, as well as my rereading of the play this semester, has collectively given me a general knowledge of the text. My familiarity of the play made it easier for me to decipher the academic journals and see the connections each critic made with the play.

In his famous soliloquy, “to be or not be, that is the question” (Shakespeare 1599, 1.1.57). Could Hamlet really commit such a selfish act such as suicide? Hamlet has been raised to be a noble man, like his father, but now his father is gone, should he too die? Fear of the unknown, fear of what happens after death, creates a dilemma for Hamlet. The option of facing his fears or facing his uncle is a choice that Hamlet does not want to make. Even though Hamlet has plenty of reasons to commit suicide, and plenty of reasons to murder Claudius, he still can’t make a decision. Although, they are hard decisions to make, they are decisions that could be made, this is proven by Laertes. Shakespeare contrasts the indecisive behaviour of Hamlet with the decisive Laertes, to show just how much Hamlet could never make up his mind. Hamlet killed Laertes father and Laertes wanted revenge just as much as Hamlet did for his father. Laertes was the one who decided without a doubt that Hamlet would die at his hand. Shakespeare shows just how hard making choices can be through the acts of

Hamlet, the protagonist, must go through many different developments during the play. Because Hamlet is constantly being handed opportunities and choices, he must make decisions (sometime split second) on how he wishes to act. This leads him to fake madness, to have indecisiveness, and to contemplate his life.

as these lines relate back to the development of Ophelia’s character, as well as play an important role in the plot of the play, and a major conflict that is portrayed.

Hamlet's tragic flaw is his inefficiency to take action when it was needed the most. He is under different circumstances than his father because Hamlet himself is under the control of his emotions rather than his own sense of bravery. When Hamlet is given the chance to kill Claudius, who is his father's murderer, he seems to be unsure of what he should do. Claudius was at prayer at this time, which made Hamlet reevaluate whether or not to kill him. In this instance Claudius could begin to beg for forgiveness for murdering the King, King Hamlet. At this point in time, Hamlet decides that he will wait for a better time to get the revenge he wants against Claudius. Hamlet displays that he is very indecisive. This flaw will lead to his death and to the death of others, which could have been avoided if he were to murder Claudius the first chance he had.

Most productions present Gertrude and Ophelia as sympathetic victims of Hamlet’s cruelty. As your starting point, refer to either the closet scene or the nunnery scene and, paying close attention to the language, show how it reveals the interaction between Hamlet and the women characters here and throughout the play.

Have you ever felt as if your mind was pulling you in two entirely different directions? Has there ever been a moment in which your judgement lapsed and the decision made was more rushed, opposed to one being thought out? Was there ever a point in time where you simply did not know which choice to follow due to the abstract differences in the results they might bring? All of these occurrences happened repeatedly within the play Hamlet. The main character or protagonist, Hamlet, is overcome with two strikingly different feelings towards the situation his life is currently in following the death of his father. He is initially filled with feelings of innocent despair and depression; however, those understandable emotions soon morph into blinding craziness and unhinged rage. The significant change in Hamlet’s emotions both drive the storyline as well as push the implied meaning of how thought processes work differently for everyone.

How does the use of comic relief best contrast the tragedy of Hamlet? In great works of literature a comic relief is used as contrast to a serious scene to intensify the overall tragic nature of the play or to relieve tension. As illustrated in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, intense scenes are joined with character’s banter and vacuous actions as to add a comic relief. In Hamlet, Polonius acts as a comic relief by his dull and windy personality, Hamlet uses his intelligence and his negativity toward the king and queen to create humor, while on the other hand Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a comic relief by their senseless actions and naïve natures. Polonius, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are all used as a comic relief to

love, and mourning. Out of these, the most prominent theme in this play is death in the form of