Hamlet

1. Introduction

Hamlet is one of the most famous play by Shakespeare. Hamlet is the main character and everything seems to be revolving around him, he is a loyal prince of Denmark. This play has been by analyzed by two critics, Bradley and Jones. These two critics answer questions such as, who is Hamlet, what is his problem, what is his dominant conflict, how does this conflict manifest itself and lastly, how doe this conflict account for the delay in action that the readers see. These two have their own different answers pertaining these questions. Their arguments differ and both have different thesis.

2. Hamlet’s character

In Bradley’s essay, he describes Hamlet as a person longing for death and full of grief but he was not grieving due to his father’s death nor for loosing the crown. He was grieving because his mother was not the good-natured woman, she knew but an adulterous woman.  He is portrayed as a character with loathing for the world. He is describing as a character who was so full of love for his mother until the time when he learns of her bad nature (169). This definition of Hamlet’s character is similar to that of Jones since at the introduction of his essay he describes Hamlet as a person who had enjoyed the affection of his mother while he was a child.

3. Hamlet’s problems

According to these two essays, Hamlets problems are not exact, and pinpointing them is difficult. There are many problems that are contributing to the dilemma he is in. the first of his problems is that he is disappointed in his mother’s adulterous nature. His morality becomes a problem since it delays him from killing the current king, Claudius. The other problems he faces is that he is not able to act on his instincts, he tends to over think a lot. Another problem he faces is the constant appearance of the dead king, his father to him. Hamlet suffers from melancholy which makes him second guess himself almost all the time, it can be said that the appearance of his father’s ghost is the cause of his melancholy. Another of Hamlets problems arise from his relationship with Ophelia, the fact that he suffers from Oedipus complex cannot be disputed. This relationship comes with a lot of grief. His problem of Oedipus complex is only talked about by Jones (204). All these problems arising in his life makes him lack the haste of killing the current king (172). The appearance of his fathers’ ghost and the fact that his bound to his command is the beginning of all his problems.

The problem arising from his morality is based on the fact that, he feels like he has to morally justify murdering Claudius before he can even kill him. His morality is restraining them from fulfilling the vengeance that the ghost of his father seeks. The fact that he could not satisfy himself by avenging his father’s death also restrained him. His morality connects with his other problem of overthinking matters (171). He fears acting on his instincts because if the ghost was wrong, he will have killed an innocent man and on the other hand he is bound to obey his father.

4. Hamlet’ s dominant conflict

Reading from these two essays, there are dominant internal and external conflict surrounding Hamlet. His father, the old king Hamlet is killed by his brother, Claudius who within a span of two months marries Hamlet’s mother. The brother takes the throne of Denmark that would have belonged to Hamlet. The fact that his father’s ghost is appeared to him and narrated to him how he was killed by his own brother, up until the day this ghost appeared everyone had believed that he had died a natural death (171). This learning of his father’s cause of death leads to an internal conflict as he wonders what actions to take and how to take them.

5. How Hamlet’s conflicts manifest themselves

This internal conflict is evident by the soliloquies and recurring motifs in the play. Hamlet is always having a conversation with himself, an example of these conversations is “The time is out of joint! O cursed spite. That I was ever born to set it right” (171) and “What is a man if his chief good and market of his time, be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more” (174). These monologues are evidence that he is conflicting internally. There is a sad and grieving mood that is occurring repeatedly, this mood is repeating itself because hamlet is conflicting internally over the same matters. His external conflict is with his uncle, Claudius and it is not resolved until he kills him in return for killing his father. These conflicts can be said to be caused by the clash between his own personal grief, and his father’s ghost wish for vengeance (175). Killing Claudius is the only way his internal and external conflicts can be resolved.

6. How Hamlet’s conflicts account for the delay of his action

One of the things that captivate a reader while reading this play is the fact that he delays his revenge and this makes the readers question his reasons for doing so. His internal conflict is accountable for the delay of his revenge. From the time he learned of Gertrude’s  adulterous behavior and killing of the old king, he sought out avenge this murder however, he has for a long time delayed his revenge to the point at one time he feigns madness in order to escape the reality he was living in. due to his internal conflict Hamlet is a depressed person, depressed by his mothers marriage to the king’s brother only three months after the death of his father(201). This marriage was not even allowed by the canon law and the bare fact that his mother was part of the ploy to kill his father depresses her much further.

Another factor contributing to Hamlet’s delay is the fact that he views himself as a philosopher who thinks situations over and over a gain instead of a man of action who acts on his instincts and was also paralyzed by his grief.  He is intellectual and reflects on things before he can act, he prefers to go over his thought’s countless times rather than act on them. His morality is always a problem that has always being a hinderance to his revenge. He is unsure if killing Claudius is a moral action or an immoral action. His morals and the fact that he is an idealistic person have been always been hindering his revenge since they are at the top of his problems that are also responsible for his conflicts. Also, his need to prove or disapprove whether the ghost was right or wrong before he acts (172). He already had suspicions that his dead father’s ghost was either his father or a ghost from hell, therefore he had to be sure before bending to its will.

It can also argue that on of the reasons that he delayed in taking vengeance is because he was a religious person. he had at one point found an opportunity to kill Claudius but he did not act on it, due to his Christian beliefs he hesitated and decided that he should kill him in a stage of grace for him to be able to sanctify his uncle and be able to clear his own path to heaven. He decided to wait instead of killing in sin which would result to him to condemning his soul to an eternity full of suffering.  Also, the fact that Hamlet might have been weak because he was heartbroken by the series of unfortunate events in his life (200). Also, after killing Polonius, he is sent to England therefore he is unable to reach Claudius despite all the factors that delay his revenge he finally manages to kill Claudius.

7. Conclusion

Hamlet is a play by Shakespeare, Hamlet is a character full of grief and in a dilemma. He his mother has greatly disappointed him by being part of the ploy to kill his father and three months later marrying his uncle. He has many problems that cannot be pin pointed although the appearance of the ghost of his father. He learns about the killing of his father by his uncle and he vows to avenge this act. He struggles with internal conflict to the extent he feigns madness in order to escape the reality he was living in, he is greatly confused on the course of action that is morally right. All the conflicting factors make him delay his revenge by along shot but finally he accomplishes it.

 

 

 

 

 

Work cited

Hamlet -criticism-2.pdf