Category: Hamlet

Hamlet brings many contrivesal topic to life during the story including death, depresssion, and suicide. The main characters bring these topics into the spotlight by the struggles they endure during the story. They show these points by the multiple monologues in the story, some being what Shakespere is known for.

Many people try to avoid death as a topic of discussion because it’s not a fun topic to think about. Everyone should talk more about it because one day it will happen to all of us and students need some realization on the topic. Everyone knows someone who has died. Hamlet allows us to see the grieving process of many people, Hamlet especially. This will give readers insight to how death can affect other people. It is beneficial to the reader because it brings up the topic and gets them to realize that one day they will meet the inevitable, rather it be for themselves or someone they are close to. In Hamlet, Claudius states; “Hamlet, you are so sweet and such a good son to mourn your father like this. But you have to remember, that your father lost his father, who lost his father before him, and every time, each son has had to mourn his father for a certain period.”, “It’s not what God wants, and it betrays a vulnerable heart and an ignorant and weak mind. Since we know that everyone must die sooner or later, why should we take it to heart?”, “And it’s irration-al, since the truth is that all fathers must die.” This provides insight to the way Claudius thinks of death and how he is reacting to it. It brings up that it is true that “all fathers must die”, and that shows that everyone will die at some point or another and we have to accept that. And with death comes the grieving process, and with that depression could come.

Depression is another topic that doesn’t get talked about often in the classroom because most students hate talking about it, even though statistically speaking teens are the ones who have it most. . Hamlet does an amazing job of letting us into the mind of someone with depression and the effects it can have on a person, it shows that Hamlet has depression and how crazy he acts during it and the signs you may see from depression in a person. In the story, Hamlet says; “Seem,” mother? No, it is. I don’t know what you mean by “seem.” Neither my black clothes, my dear mother, nor my heavy sighs, nor my weeping, nor my downcast eyes, nor any other display of grief can show what I really feel. It’s true that all these things “seem” like grief, since a person could use them to fake grief if he wanted to. But I’ve got more real grief inside me that you could ever see on the surface. These clothes are just a hint of it.” In this monologue it shows the insight to how Hamlet is depressed and the signs he is showing, such as his clothes, his crying, and so on. Many people with depression show the same signs in real life, but it never gets picked up on until it’s too late. Hamlet could let the reader see the signs someone could be showing and help them accordingly. If depression gets too far it can turn into something way worse, for example, suicide.

Suicide is the topic for one of the most famous speeches Shakespere writes, and it is performed in the story, the “To Be, or Not To Be” speech. It states; “The question is: is it better to be alive or dead? Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles by simply putting an end to them once and for all?. That’s certainly something to worry about. “That’s the consideration that makes us stretch out our sufferings so long.”, “After all, who would put up with all life’s humiliations—the abuse from superiors, the insults of arrogant men, the pangs of unrequited love, the inefficiency of the legal system, the rudeness of people in office, and the mistreatment good people have to take from bad—when you could simply take out your knife and call it quits?” Also another exerpt from another speech; “Ah, I wish my dirty flesh could melt away into a vapor, or that God had not made a law against suicide. Oh God, God! How tired, stale, and pointless life is to me.” This here is a great example to why Hamlet shows us real life scenarios, everyone knows someone who has gone through this if you haven’t gone through it themselves.

Hamlet does an extraordinary job of showing topics that are not usually discussed in school that should be. Topics like deression, death, and suicide are not disscued enough for students to know everything about it, and Hamlet is the perfect story for showing what it can do to a person and how it will effect them.

Work Cited

1. Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Hamlet.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 26 Oct. 2019.

Although revenge is the most obvious theme in Hamlet, Shakespeare writes extensively about madness. As the play progresses, the thin line between sanity and madness blurs, leaving readers to wonder if Hamlet is insane. Ophelia has a minor role in the play, but the theme of madness is central to her story. Even Claudius has moments of madness when he is not acting as the chief mourner of Denmark. Of these three characters, it is Ophelia whose madness is genuine. Hamlet is feigning madness, while Claudius is simply an evil man driven by his desire for power.

Scholars have been debating Hamlet’s sanity for centuries. Those who believe Hamlet was truly mad to cite his abrupt mood changes and erratic behaviour as proof that his father’s death drove him insane. Hamlet even reveals that he is feeling depressed following the king’s murder. He wails, “O God, God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!” Hamlet also says, “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.” By stating that he wishes his flesh would melt, he is indicating his desire to die. However, experiencing grief after a loved one’s death is hardly an indicator of true madness. The way Hamlet interacts with his mother is also used as proof of his insanity, but this is not a fair assessment. He has plenty of reasons to be upset with the woman, the least of which is her hasty marriage to Claudius shortly after her first husband’s death. Hamlet’s behaviour may be disrespectful and immature, but it is not a sign of madness.

Evidence of Hamlet’s sanity appears in several scenes. In the fifth scene of Act I, Hamlet says, “How strange or odd some I bear myself.” He is telling Horatio that he plans to behave like a crazy person so that he has the freedom to determine if Claudius is responsible for his father’s death. Acting like a madman would make him appear as less of a threat, drawing attention away from his investigation. Both Claudius and Polonius admit that Hamlet’s actions, while odd, do not seem to be related to genuine madness. Polonius even says, “Though this is madness, yet there is the method isn’t,” indicating that there seems to be a reason for Hamlet’s strange behaviour. Finally, Hamlet only behaves like a madman when he is around certain characters. His madness appears when he is with Claudius, Ophelia, Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Gertrude. Hamlet behaves normally when he is with Francisco, Bernardo, and Horatio. If he were truly mad, he would not be able to maintain such precise control over his behaviour.

Claudius is willing to kill his brother to take control of Denmark, but this does not mean he is truly a madman. His sanity is apparent in the brief moments of guilt he experiences when he is alone with his thoughts. “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, a brother’s murder. Pray can I not, Though the inclination is sharp as well. My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent; and, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. What if this cursed hand Were thicker than itself with brother’s blood…” Claudius worries about what effect his deeds will have on his soul. If he were truly insane, he would not be able to distinguish right from wrong.

Shakespeare provides a little background on Ophelia, making it difficult to determine the true extent of her madness. A superficial analysis links her madness to the death of her father. However, her insanity likely stems from her lack of power as a woman living in the late middle ages. In Ophelia’s world, men are responsible for making all the decisions. She grew up learning how to obey her father and brother, not how to make her way in the world. Ophelia is envious of Hamlet’s ability to say and do almost anything he pleases, as she has to suppress her emotions and behave as society expects. To Ophelia, madness represents the freedom to express feelings. It does not matter if people perceive her as mad as long as she has the opportunity to experience the full range of emotions she has been hiding.

Ophelia’s death is a clear indicator that she was not completely sane following the deaths of Hamlet and her father. Whether Ophelia intended to die is up for debate, but her madness played a significant role in her drowning. “There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke, When down her weedy trophies and herself fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, which time she chanted snatches of old lauds as one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and indued unto that element.” Even if Ophelia did not intend to fall into the water, her madness made her incapable of taking any action. Instead of fighting for her life, Ophelia sees her death as almost inevitable. She is not in the right frame of mind to fight against the current or try to shed some of the heavy clothes that are dragging her under the water.

Madness is a recurring theme in Hamlet, but it is not the title character who displays the characteristics of true insanity. Hamlet purposely alters his behaviour so that he can investigate his father’s death without Claudius thinking he is much of a threat. Claudius murders his brother, but he is well aware that his actions were illegal and immoral. Both characters have moments of madness, but they are able to maintain their grip on sanity. Ophelia actually succumbs to her madness, leaving her completely unable to fight for her life when she falls into the river. Although many scholars attribute her madness solely to her father’s death, it is more likely that she had a damaged psyche long before Polonius died. After years of coping with unfair expectations and conflicting advice, Ophelia was not strong enough to overcome her father’s death and Hamlet’s rejection of her love. This makes her the only character in Hamlet who has the characteristics of true madness.

The word “madness” or “insanity” can be linked with the malicious acts of many. Being mad can be defined as the state of being mentally ill, or unable to behave in a reasonable way (Cambridge Dictionary n.d.). In the setting of a courtroom, a culprit may plead insanity as an excuse for their wrong-doings, and they would have to pass certain tests (depending on where the crime took place) to determine whether their claim is valid. Insanity can be viewed as a mental illness too. Events in an individual’s life like a troubled upbringing or the loss of a significant person in their life can be the cause of madness.

In “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet is faced with some crucial decisions that the average person would prefer not to deal with. All of his choices had some type of meaning behind them or some sort of justification. With this said, if insanity means not being able to behave in a reasonable way, with his decisions being reasoned and justified, Hamlet does not fit the description of a mad person.

At the beginning of the story, Hamlet was grieving for his father. Unaware of the cause of his death, Hamlet was also in a state of confusion. On top of all this, prior to his father dying, his mother married his uncle, Claudius, less than two months after his passing which left Hamlet questioning the murderer of his father even more, since they didn’t show much remorse for the former King’s death. Upon the ghost telling Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius and is seeking revenge, Hamlet tells Horatio that he plans on pretending to be crazy to fulfill his father’s orders: “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on” (Shakespeare I.v.179-180). The simple fact that he’s aware he’s going to act out of line on purpose to kill Claudius shows that he’s a sane person. Polonius also justifies Hamlet’s behaviour by saying that there are reasons behind his actions, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” (Shakespeare III.i.203-204), the reason being that he’s killing Claudius for allegedly murdering King Hamlet. Although he interprets it as madness, he also understands that Hamlet has a plan.

When grieving the death or loss of someone we care about, we go through five different stages: 1. Denial and isolation; 2. Anger; 3. Bargaining; 4. Depression; 5. Acceptance. People who are grieving do not necessarily go through the stages in the same order or experience all of them (Axelrod 2019). While grieving due to his father’s passing, Hamlet is experiencing something similar to the “Bargaining” stage when the ghost of his father tells him that Claudius was responsible for his death. Specifically because in the bargaining stage, people tend to think of what they would’ve done differently to save their lost one’s lives. In this case, Hamlet is thinking of killing King Claudius, not only because his father instructed him too, but because he may feel some sort of responsibility for his father’s death.

A reason for Hamlet being not sane is the fact that he’s speaking with a ghost. Firstly, Hamlet is not the only one who is able to see the ghost, various others saw it as well. But if this encounter with the ghost was truly a hallucination, it’s not uncommon for people to imagine their loved ones being present after their passing to cope with the loss. Going back to the grieving stages, Hamlet was still in denial of his father’s death, so this could have caused him to see and speak with him.

An insane person probably wouldn’t hesitate when being asked to commit a murder, even to someone as close as an uncle. However, Hamlet wasn’t completely on board with doing this. This is shown by how long he puts off the murder from the day he was demanded by his father to kill Claudius. He constantly procrastinates the murder and even questions if the encounter he had with the ghost was actually a devil, “The spirit that I have seen may be a devil and the devil hath power” (Shakespeare II.ii.585-586). If Hamlet was truly mad, he would not contemplate the spirits intentions. He shows his reasonable thinking by wanting to get proof that Claudius actually killed his father before getting revenge. Some may argue that he was pressured by the ghost to kill his father, as the ghost checks on him not once, but twice to see if he got the job done, which makes a case for Hamlet’s justification. Previously, Hamlet was lost and confused, but after encountering his father, he found a sense of direction. Even though he ended up killing his uncle, the fact that he took the time to really think about what he was going to do and tried to find reasons not to do it brings out the humane side of Hamlet.

While killing Claudius was justified, killing Polonius was not, but it had a reason. Obviously, Hamlet didn’t plan on killing Polonius, this death can be considered as an accident. Hamlet was a rookie in the murderer game so he obviously didn’t have experience taking someone’s life. Hamlet’s adrenaline was probably through the roof when he stabbed him, and it didn’t help that Polonius was hidden behind a curtain when it happened. For this reason, Hamlet’s decision-making ability was very limited so he assumed that the counselor was Claudius spying on him.

When Ophelia discovered that Hamlet, the love of her life, murdered her father, instead of understandably feeling sad, she started to sing and dance. If anything, based on the circumstances of the situation, this should be considered as insanity, as it is not normal and she ended up killing herself after acting like this. “To be or not to be–that is the question” (Shakespeare III.i.56), this famous quote can be interpreted as Hamlet contemplating suicide. This contemplation shows that he’s a logical person who thinks before he acts, in comparison to an insane person that’s driven by madness. He weighs out the options of being alive or ending it all and starting the afterlife. But by staying alive, he has more self-control over his life and future.

Hamlet’s mother can agree with the fact that he’s a sane person as well “I doubt it is no other but the main, His father’s death and o’er-hasty marriage.” (Shakespeare II.ii.56-57) “I essentially am not in madness, But mad in craft” (Shakespeare, III.iv.189-190), this quote by Hamlet is not false, as he is a sane person. The antonym of insanity is sanity, which can be defined as the ability to think and behave in a normal and logical manner. Hamlet is pretending to be insane, and even in instances where his actions appear to be questionable, they are justified and reasoned.

Introduction

Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark can be analyzed through many critical approaches, positions, and lenses. For instance, it is commonly recognized by critics as one of the most diverse works in English literature. Shakespeare illustrates the topics of feminism, insanity, power, romance, and religion. However, one issue discussed in its pages often goes unnoticed but plays a large role in the mechanics of the plot. The ghost of Hamlet’s Father inspires and persuades major actions in the play and is used to show ideas of spiritual visitation and purgatory. When investigating Hamlet’s religious background ideas on Protestantism and Catholicism commonly come up. These mixed ideas of his religious background are believed to be due to the events of the Protestant Reformation in England during Shakespeare’s life.

Shakespeare’s indecisive approach to Religion

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England on April 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. According to the historical record, both of Shakespeare’s parents were practicing Roman Catholics. However, after King Henry VIII’s son, Edward VI took power after his father’s death in 1547 at the early age of nine. Due to his young age, the Nation was ruled by a council of regency. Which was controlled mostly by his uncle Edward Seymour (mother’s side of the family). Hiding behind the mask of King Edward VI, Edward Seymour helped add fire to the Protestant Reformation of England. However, when King Edward VI became of age he too showed his devotion to the Protestant faith and pushed the reformation. This created religious persecution for Catholics and more than likely lead to Shakespeare being a closet Catholic. (even though most of the citizens were Catholic) Due to his environment, it can be seen in his writing that he leans between Catholic and Protestant beliefs to suit both audiences.

Shakespeare shows two distinct Catholic beliefs in regards to Purgatory in Hamlet. King Hamlet brings attention to his situation as a time of purging and preparing for entrance into heaven. This idea of purging and preparing for heaven is directly a Catholic belief. After Hamlet asks his father about his situation, he answers:

GHOST: I am thy father’s spirit,

Doomed for a certain term to walk the night

And for the day confined to fast in fires

Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature

Are burnt and purged away. (1.5.14-18)

His position appears to be explicitly Catholic in that he is confined to roam the night “For a certain term”, which will relieve him of his “Foul crimes… are burnt and purged away.” The ghost even goes as far as explaining his place of confinement as a “prison-house”. Shakespeare uses the idea of Hamlet’s father’s ghost to convey his Catholic beliefs.

King Hamlet’s Ghost can be seen as the main reason for Hamlet’s personal struggle with his religious identity. In the play it is stated by his mother,

QUEEN: Let not thy mother lose her prayers,

Hamlet. I pray thee, stay with us. Go not to Wittenberg. (1.2.122-123)

That he was living and studying in Wittenburg during the time of his father’s death. Wittenburg is the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation. Implying that during his studies he adopted the Protestant Faith. Protestants do not believe in Purgatory but do believe in Angels and Demons. Explaining Hamlet’s line in his soliloquy:

“May be the devil, and the devil hath power

T’ assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps

Out of my weakness and my melancholy,”

Hamlet’s religious beliefs are seen as only including Angels and Demons. This shows that he could be in fact Protestant, creating a difficult moral question. Will he trust the possible Demon or will he make his own decisions? This moral question drives the plot of the play and ultimately leads to Hamlet’s and the downfall of the kingdom.

Shakespeare’s uses of Allusions to the Bible to describe his present society

In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare used allusions to the bible to directly target Christian audiences in order to share Hamlet’s personal struggle with religion. In the play, Shakespeare uses the biblical story of Cain and Abel to convey the severity of King Claudius’s actions.

KING: O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven;

It hath the primal eldest curse upon ‘t, A brother’s murder .(3.3.40-42)

This is a direct allusion to when Cain leads Abel out into a field to kill him. Similar to the biblical story King Claudius killed his brother King Hamlet out of lust and jealousy.

5 Yet in truth, he did not look with favor on Cain and his gifts. And Cain was vehemently angry, and his countenance fell.

6 And the Lord said to him: ‘Why are you angry? And why is your face fallen?

7 If you behave well, will you not receive it? But if you behave badly, will not sin at once be present at the door? And so its desire will be within you, and you will be dominated by it.’

8 And Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go outside.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and he put him to death. (Genesis 4:5-8)

The stories of Hamlet and that of Cain and Abel share the common theme that mankind’s actions are shaped by there own personal motivations. This becomes a common theme in the play and begins to becomes yet another factor in Hamlet’s personal struggle with his religion. Due to his desire to avenge his father’s death, he must decide whether to kill and take revenge or follow his faith and go against his own personal motivations.

Shakespeare’s allusion to Cain and Abel can be found throughout the play. While Hamlet was at the graveyard he encounters a gravedigger that is being too rough with the bones. Hamlet responded in outrage, saying:

HAMLET: That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once.

How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if

it were Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder! (5.1.77-79)

In Hamlet’s response, Shakespeare alludes to the biblical story again. Using it this time to describe that the gravedigger is being too rough with the bones and that only murderers should be treated in that manner. This shows the audience that Hamlet is not a cold-blooded killer but yet sensitive to the idea of how people should be treated after death.

The Enduring Influence of Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Although written over 400 years ago, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has remained one of the most imitated and relevant plays in contemporary society. Interpretations of Shakespeare’s classic tale of revenge have popped up in some surprising places: children’s television programs and films, a beloved Sunday comic strip, a popular television series about a corrupt motorcycle gang, and other well-known shows, motion pictures, and best-selling contemporary novels.

William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around the year 1600, telling the story of a prince grieving the death of his father and the all-too-quick remarriage of his mother to his uncle. The play utilizes mental health issues, both real and faked, as a means to illustrate the nuances of human behavior. Commonly studied in high schools all over America, although written as a play for entertainment value, Hamlet has had a perhaps unintended but nonetheless profound effect on the way mental health is viewed. The complicated story and its plot twists and turns have captivated many readers and have shaped views for centuries with no sign of it losing its relevance. The novelty of Shakespeare’s work lies within the complexity of the character Hamlet. His struggles, although certainly different from this era, have resonated and continue to reach audiences even today.

Hamlet’s Timeless Appeal and Humanistic Narrative

One aspect of Hamlet’s appeal over the ages lies in him being trapped in an impossible situation and how he works to resolve that predicament in his own way. In this way, the play is legitimately seen as one of the most humanistic stories ever written. All of its characters are relatable people, even after 400 years, with motivations one can understand and appreciate, and with reactions that make sense, then and now. As an example, Ophelia’s illness is very real and dealt with sympathetically, culminating in her death being treated with the utmost respect. Shakespeare’s treatment of her mental health condition is truly powerful, particularly considering that it was written at a time when people with mental health conditions were anything but respected, and instead often abused or neglected. The grief demonstrated after her death is another instance of Shakespeare’s understanding of the human condition and how people actually behave. Hamlet’s angst at her passing is a feeling that all that who have lost someone dear has shared, and thereby provides a connection to readers who may have experienced similar loss by letting them know that he or she is not alone in having disturbing feelings when confronted with a terrible loss. Obviously, Hamlet’s solution isn´t perfect, but it forces the reader to confront their own situation: how would we do any better?

Hamlet’s Reflection in Modern Movies: The Lion King and The Godfather

With the incorporation of Hamlet’s plot into movies, television shows, and modern music, it is abundantly apparent that Hamlet has become deeply and permanently entrenched in today’s modern culture. Movies such as The Lion King and The Godfather closely resemble the plot of Hamlet. Released theatrically in 1994 (and thereafter on theatrically as a musical in 1997), The Lion King closely parallels some of the key plot points of Hamlet, including the death of King Mufasa at the hands of his scheming brother, Scar. In The Lion King, the protagonist, the young lion cub Simba, has an evil uncle named Scar. The scar is jealous of his brother, Mufasa, who is King of the Pride Lands, and aspires to be king in his stead, ultimately killing his brother to get what he wants. Like Simba, Hamlet also has an uncle, Claudius. At the beginning of the play, Claudius already has become king— possibly by killing his brother, who was previously the king. In The Lion King, Mufasa’s young son, Simba, is visited by his dead father’s ghost, and there is even comic relief provided by two supplemental characters – Timon and Pumba (“The Lion King”). Many debates if the references to Hamlet were intentional or not, but either way the story resembles that of the elusive Shakespearean play.

Perhaps one of the most similar modern pieces of work to Hamlet is The Godfather, the 1972 classic movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The Godfather is the category-defining mafia crime film about Michael Corleone, a war hero of World War II, who openly volunteered to take control of his father’s (Vito Corleone) mafia business, after the death of his father and his older brother. In the film, the protagonist, Michael Corleone, is not typically looked at as a tragic hero. Although he does not have an obvious definitive “fatal flaw,” many similarities can be drawn between him and Hamlet, one of the most Shakespeare’s most famous tragic heroes. Their roles as troubled heirs to power, the theme of revenge, and the concept of a fall from “grace” are but a few examples of how these two figures – Hamlet and Michael Corleone – share the same story.

Television Adaptations: Sons of Anarchy and The Simpsons

The most high-profile television series paralleling Hamlet is FX Network’s Sons of Anarchy, which aired between 2008 and 2014. Its creator, Kurt Sutter, was quoted on numerous occasions stating that Sons of Anarchy is loosely based on the story in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the play, Claudius becomes both the king of Denmark and the husband of Queen Gertrude after his brother, Hamlet the Elder, dies under questionable circumstances. Prince Hamlet is conflicted in his relationship with his uncle/stepfather, as well as by his mother’s seeming complacency about all of this. Prince Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father who informs him that Claudius was responsible for his death and that he needs the prince to avenge this death in order to escape from purgatory. In the Sons of Anarchy series, Clay Morrow becomes the president of Sons of Anarchy, an outlaw motorcycle club, following the death of the club’s founder and president John Teller in a motorcycle accident, Like Claudius and Hamlet the Elder, Morrow, and Teller were ‘brothers’ to one another via their mutual association with the club. Like Claudius, Clay marries Teller’s widow, Gemma, and becomes stepfather to her son, Jax, who, like Hamlet to the throne, is the vice-president of the club and thus second in the line of succession. Through the discovery of a long-lost manuscript written by John Teller as well as a series of old letters, Jax begins communing, in a sense, with the ‘ghost’ of his long-dead father and discovers that Clay was responsible for John’s death by sabotaging his motorcycle. Jax then begins setting very complicated plots in motion to both oust Clay from the leadership of the club and potentially kill him as well. It also becomes apparent as the show develops that Gemma herself also had some complicity in John’s death.

One of the most popular and longest-running television shows, the animated comedy The Simpsons, has an episode entirely dedicated to Hamlet. In that episode, the characters reenact the play with substantial liberties, making for great comedy. Bart Simpson portrays Prince Hamlet in The Simpsons version of William Shakespeare’s classic. His uncle Claudius (bartender Moe Szyslak) marries Gertrude (Marge Simpson) after killing King Hamlet (Homer Simpson) by way of poison. The King returns to his son as a ghost, telling him of the betrayal and asking that his death be avenged. Prince Hamlet (Bart Simpson), with the help of a professional actor (Krusty the Clown), puts on a play to make Claudius (Moe) reveal himself to be guilty; however, Hamlet’s (Homer’s) reaction leads everyone to believe that he is crazy, so Ophelia (Lisa Simpson) decides to ‘out-crazy him by prancing around and singing a stupid song, eventually jumping out the window and into the moat where she drowns. Because Hamlet knows what he did, Claudius attempts to kill him. Hamlet, aiming to kill Claudius, accidentally kills Polonius (Chief Wiggum). Polonius implores his son, Laertes (Ralph Wiggum), to avenge his death, who, in Ralph Wiggum’s classic simpleton fashion exclaims, “I like revenging!.” Set to duel Hamlet, Laertes accidentally kills himself taking his ‘practice stab,’ and Hamlet proceeds to murder Claudius. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Carl and Lenny) meanwhile have been covered in poison and kill each other with a high five. Hamlet walks away to celebrate, but he slips on some blood and dies. Seeing a big mess she does not want to clean up, Gertrude commits suicide by hitting herself in the head with a mace (“The Simpsons Does Hamlet”). At the conclusion of this absurd episode, Bart expresses that he thinks Hamlet was boring, despite every character being murdered, but Homer tells him that the story became a great film called Ghostbusters, and all the Simpsons dance to its Ray Parker Jr. theme song.

Hamlet’s Echo in Contemporary Music: The Lumineers’ Ophelia

Shakespeare’s classic tale can even be seen reflected in current music. “Ophelia,” the first single released from The Lumineers’ album, Cleopatra, is a hauntingly beautiful song with lyrics that tell the story of Hamlet. The song originally started out as a slower instrumental demo that Jeremiah Fraites (one-third of The Lumineers), sent to Wesley Schultz (lead vocalist of The Lumineers), in 2011. According to Schultz, the demo generated enough excitement to work on the project. While playing at a local bar in Los Angeles alongside The Lumineers, Schultz wrote the song’s hook, “O-o-Ophelia, you’ve been on my mind girl, like a drug. O-o-phelia, heaven help a fool who falls in love.” The song is named after the ingenue of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The lyrics state, “And I don’t feel no remorse/And you can’t see past my blindness,” which parallels the undying love Ophelia had for Hamlet, who did not regret ending their affair prematurely. The emotional distance between these two characters from the tragedy is evident in the song.. Whether a Shakespeare scholar or not, any listener to this interpretation of the Hamlet story comes to realize the message – that love’s pain is universal.

Hamlet’s Continued Relevance and Impact on Society

Although Hamlet is centuries old, it has had a long-lasting and continuing impact on today’s culture. After all of these years, artists continue to appreciate the well-crafted plotline, which many movies, television shows, and songs use to reach their audience. Hamlet is relevant today for many reasons. One of the most important is that we still feel inspired to ponder the purpose of life and to wonder what we would do in horrendous circumstances. The tragedy of Prince Hamlet is timeless in that respect. Shakespeare’s Hamlet also provides modern readers with an opportunity to connect history to the present. The relatability of Hamlet’s struggles within the play makes it the perfect example for current and future stories. Society is able to connect to his character and understand the complexity of his nature and situation. This same characterization and plot can be seen in classics such as The Lion King and revered television shows like The Simpsons. Surely without intention but nonetheless, Shakespeare created a play that has impacted society for generations.

The human nature, a through an interweaving of good and evil, a mingling of kind and cruel, a bundle of two very dissimilar ways of thinking and acting, it has it all. The sophistication of the human mind, the way how of its working system, the questions of morality mutating with its very nature, never ceases to amaze indeed. And that is what we all witnessed in the Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, a play by William Shakespeare, which is considered to be one of his best works of Tragedy all time. On this play, mankind’s naked true and filthy nature is served to the plate, without any single piece of wool neither to cover nor to clean up the messes made by his filthiness. This does not mean that human being is a cruel animal as a whole, but what history has to offer is not the deeds of humans which may cause the fields of heaven to be crowded with the souls of the good people, but what is heard and seen is the total reverse of it. And that is all that Shakespeare is talking about throughout the play. He is reflecting his frustration and disgust towards humanity and its nature. Stay tuned, it is Judgment Day.

The story revolves around the internal dilemma that the character Hamlet is going through, on avenging his father’s death. And this is the sauce that Shakespeare had used throughout the play, in building up the story plot and at the same time making the theme of the story in exemplifying the sophisticated system of the human mind and pointing out sharp critics to that time’s most sensitive issue Humanism.

At the beginning of the play, it shows that human nature to be a greedy, self-involved and vengeful creature. And it is on this idea that all of the conflicts are all set to happen in the plot of the story. Claudius, driven by his greed to commit murder, for the sake of seizing power. Even the way he killed his brother, can be considered as one of the ‘Mother of Murder’ cases in modern times. Pouring a poison inside the King’s ear is a true definition of cruelty. And his right hand Polonius is self-involved as far as it gets to giving up his daughter just for the sake of filling his loyal personality in the eyes of the new king. And on the other hand, Hamlet has bought to be blind in vengeance, from the moment he confirmed that Claudius is one who murdered his father. And I think that these are the three building blocks of the storyline. Human nature has been all of these and has also similarly evolved through the ages. From the very first time Adam and Eve took a bite of the apple from the forbidden tree, for their boundless wishes of unlimited power, till to those tiny drops of poison dripping down in the sleeping King’s ear, humanity has been all about that. That, ‘I’ is always far greater than ‘You’. Keeping in mind that, we can be base and cruel, but we also can show a great deal of compassion and kindness towards each other too. But this time let us focus only on the bad and evil figures that we all share, according to the play. Excluding the fact that whether it is hidden deep down us, or it is all crumbling in our personality through our day to day life.

Analyzing the king’s character, Claudius kills his brother so that he can claim the crown and the queen. The fact that the true nobility of the King towards the nation, and even the bloodline they both share of him being his brother did not stop his greedy nature to take over. Knowingly or not, most people, at one point or another will be driven by greed. Most, however, will not have the determination and desperation that Claudius displays in the play. What is meant to change is only the form and structure that it takes through ages of different times and period. In the time that Shakespeare wrote the play, murder was heavily frowned upon as it is now. Greed is part of all people. It is the inescapable prison of human nature, but we control it to a certain degree.

And when we see Polonius, Shakespeare characterizes him having one of the main aspects of human nature that is self-concern; constantly looking for ways to ingratiate oneself to the person that one might think that he/she would benefit him/her in the future. Polonius sacrificing his own daughter’s happiness so that he can prove his theories about Hamlet’s madness to the king is truly the barely naked selfish nature of him that is contemplating and reflecting the self-concerned human nature, in this character. And that is one of the viruses we live in our day to day life. Self-concern is another inherent trait that humans cannot escape. People are constantly thinking about themselves and how things are going to affect their lives. We care deeply about our well-being. Certainly, there comes the occasion that we think about others, but most of us live in our world that we always come first.

Vengefulness is yet another inexorable human trait. Hamlet’s entire character is changed by his need for revenge. He has set his mind to one and only one goal, he always tells himself that ‘Revenge is Everything!’. He eats, he wakes up in the morning, and he breathes to avenge his father’s death. And that’s it. That is his life. This, in turn, characterizes the brute and bold human nature towards revenge.

There are so many aspects of humans behavior revealed in Hamlet which makes it so difficult to point out only some. But most would agree on both the irrationality and the unpredictability of people’s behavior reflected in Hamlet. Hamlet’s character is like a puzzle. Here is what I have read in an article written about Hamlet. It says, ‘He appears as a sensitive and brilliant young man who is seething with an inner self-loathing and perhaps a generalized hatred of other people around the world. After all, he is not only the key character but the driving force behind most of the questions that are asked about human nature. He has many traits that contribute to the success of his character and the success of the play in general. The three most important characteristics are his indecisiveness throughout the play, his fatalistic views, and his overdramatic persona.’

And I couldn’t agree more on these three behavioral aspects of Hamlet. And I will try to describe them in a bird’s eye view manner, including the already stated points by the article, which I think I should not change the overall views.

Hamlet’s indecisiveness is evident throughout the play, especially during his dilemma of whether the Ghost is real or has been sent by Satan to trick him into doing something he shouldn’t do. He spends too much time worrying about situations, on their ‘what if’ sides, rather than focusing on their mere appearances as they are meant to be in the first place. And for that, he is seen shingling between two ends indecisively, till the last sip of breath he had.

His fatalistic views are utterly spread all over the story, which has led to the ending of the play to be a total tragedy. Which many argue as Hamlets bold and blind vengeance is a set up by the author William Shakespeare to show a deep critic and disgust of the society he has lived in and make a toe to head clearance of the sins and all the peoples with any kinds connected with the sin (without any forgiveness based on size and kind of sins they made or contributed to), and gave out his wish of a fresh new start for the wide nation.

Besides, the one thing that makes Hamlet either an exciting or depressing story is because of a completely overdramatic persona it had in it. The article argues that, and I quote; ‘Granted, part of his drama is since it was just Shakespeare’s writing style, and if it seemed dramatic it was probably because the play was a dramatic-tragedy. Beyond that though, Hamlet threw almost every situation out of proportion. By the end of the play, the drama around him seems to finally catch up with his drama, but throughout the rest of the play he is caught up in his drama.’

And personally that is why many of us feel in such a way that the environment we live in, the society we are born and raised, almost all the situation that happens in our day to day life, is nothing but a drama which is written and directed by one supernatural author, and set us the characters to act the mysterious sets of plays on this huge stage, the earth and beyond. And that might be the reason why the terms fate and destiny make sense for us after all. Because we believe everything in life is meant to happen. There is an Arabic saying, which I have read in the book ‘The Alchemist’ that says it all. ‘Al Maktub!’ meaning ‘it is written!’.

And here is the moment, where Shakespeare used his one of the famous soliloquy ‘To be or not to be’ in Act 3 Scene 1, which is a deep critic about humanity. Hamlet directly addresses a fundamental and profound question on the human condition, mortality: and questions our mere existence is a blessing or a curse to this world. That’s pretty much the point of this speech. Hamlet is seriously considering those big questions about life and death, and what it means to live. Hamlet is contemplating suicide on and off throughout his soliloquies. After all, instead of obsessing about whether or not to kill himself, he’s exploring the reasons why people, in general, don’t commit suicide (because they are not sure about the world that is waiting for the next stage, not because they have a life worth living for) which might be one reason he doesn’t use the word ‘I’ or ‘me’ in this whole soliloquy. He’s not even talking directly about himself. He’s thinking more generally about life itself. When it comes down to it, he’s talking about you, us, and everyone else out there. That’s why the question is ‘to be or not to be.’ Essentially, Hamlet’s asking whether people should exist or not.

As the play unfolds, it also digs deeper for the search of the mysterious working of the human mind. L.C. Knight compares Shakespeare’s use of these encounters to a journey into the workings of the human mind when he says: ‘What we have in Hamlet is the exploration and implicit criticism of a particular state of mind or consciousness. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses a series of encounters to reveal the complex state of the human mind, made up of reason, emotion, and attitude towards the self, to allow the reader to make a judgment or form an opinion about fundamental aspects of human life.’

Some scholars argue that Hamlet does not seek his revenge when the opportunity presents itself, and it is the reasoning that Hamlet uses to justify his delay that becomes paramount to the reader’s understanding of the effect that Hamlet’s mental perspective has on his situation. The moment Hamlet hesitated to kill Claudius when the great opportunity sets on, when he was kneeling and praying for forgiveness for his deeds, and that was the perfect moment to kill him but he didn’t, because he wants him to rot in hell even in the afterlife, is a way that Shakespeare wanted to show that how much Hamlet (‘we’ are) is so vicious in his (‘our’) character.

As Victor L. Cahn writes, ‘Hamlet’s primary dilemma is that of every human being: given this time and place and these circumstances, how is he to respond? What is his responsibility? Hamlet’s delay in seeking revenge for his father’s death allows Shakespeare’s look into the human mind to manifest itself. If Hamlet had killed Claudius at the first opportunity, there would have been little chance for Shakespeare to develop the internal dilemma which he wants to comment on, that is, the complexity of the human mind, and the power that a person’s mental perspective can have on the events of his life.’

These all are the reasons that Hamlet is indeed one of the most influential works of art and literature of its time and also in the modern ages too. Due to the fact that for whom who are reading the book or watching the play, the set of the play is his/her life, the stage is the world that he/she lives in, and all the storylines are the situations he/she confronts within a blink of an eye, a touch or grab within a stretch of a hand of reality. From my perspective, the play is more of a true story rather than a mere imagination in the author’s mind. That is Shakespeare with his silky smooth artistic mind and creativity, touching one of the ever sensitive issues of all time, Humanity. For those who had a deep self-judgment in reading the story, it is crystal clear that the bends won’t mend, and the scars won’t heal. And I end,

‘So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,

Which have solicited, The rest is silence.’

One of Shakespeare’s most popular characters from one of his most timeless works of literature, Hamlet, is the center of some controversial discussion of whether the main character deserves to be remembered as a tragic hero or not. It can be concluded from further character analysis that Hamlet deserves to be viewed as more of a villain than a tragic hero today because of the role he played in almost every character’s death in William Shakespeare’s timeless play. From the very beginning of the play, Hamlet demonstrates time and time again that primary goal is to get revenge for the murder of his father and he goes to unheroic means to reach this goal. Initially, one can understand his reasons and possibly even want to admire this and even call it honorable. Most famously he is remembered as a “tragic hero.” However, by the end of the play, it becomes a lot easier to question how just how much honor and heroism he really had. The motives and reasons behind his actions reveal that his true character is that of a genuine villain, not an unfortunate tragic hero. Even though he might have honestly had good intentions at the beginning, when it is all said and done and the dust clears, Hamlet can easily be recognized as a villain.

In an article by Charles Reeves, the author quotes Aristotle in the “The Aristotelian Concept of the Tragic Hero” in that the role of a tragic hero as “a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment” (Reeves). It is hard to find a feeling of pity towards Hamlet because he had the choice to do what is right multiple times. He even leaves for long period of time in England getting an opportunity to get away and reshape his life but he still lets the anger and hatred boil inside of him. This story has its tragic characteristics, but Hamlet had control of his own destiny from the beginning. It’s the conscious choices that Hamlet makes that clearly reveals the villain that is the main character. Furthermore we see him have the opportunity to make the right choice and therefore have an opportunity to become a hero. The main character repeatedly shows a lapse of judgment even though he had chances to make it right, its this repetition of bad choices that kills his heroism.

Of course, it is understandable that some may want Hamlet to be a hero, not a traditional one but a hero still, after all he went through a lot. A hero can be defined in contemporary times by one who has bravery and selflessness. This definition lacks the more concrete science of Greek tragedy requiring epiphanies, flaws, and such characters as dragons and gods, but it is more relevant to the modern reader. When I think of a hero, I think of someone who is always willing to do what is right, but not at the expense of honor, or the safety of other people. Throughout the story of Hamlet readers are shown Hamlet’s own selfish desire for revenge that contradict what it means to be a true hero, by any definition, all the while impeding on the lives of the people around him. A hero is supposed to have morals and a sense of justice that influences his or her decisions. Even if Hamlet had these qualities at the beginning of the play, one sees these qualities that hero would have disappear by the end.

Hamlet owns more characteristics of that of a villain because his motives and actions are selfish and resulted getting a lot of people killed. According to the Macmillan Dictionary, “a villain is someone who behaves in an immoral way, or something that is responsible for a bad situation.” We see this immoral attitude develop more and more as the play goes on and it plays out multiple times. This definition is indeed more closely related to Hamlet than a hero. In the beginning Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, is the one who the audience already knows as the real murderer and rightfully so because of his reasons for killing Hamlet’s father. In his defense, Claudius is only guilty of the murder of one man. Hamlet ends ups killing three people and arranging the deaths of two others. Also, at the end of the play Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the poison from the cup even though he was already going to die from being cut by the sword that had the poison on it. One could say that even for Hamlet, this was a little on the sinister side. We also cannot forget about Ophelia, whose death Hamlet is also responsible for.

Hamlet uses the desire for revenge to justify his actions. When Hamlet met the ghost of his father at the beginning of the play, he made the oath to get his revenge. Hamlet made the decision not to go right at Claudius and face him man to man. Perhaps, if he did, he would not have ended up killing anyone and could have been remembered as a hero by somehow salvaging his honor. Mary Thomas Crane writes about how maybe this is just how Shakespeare wanted Hamlet to be viewed: “a range of spatially delineated possibilities…this self can, or cannot, be reliably expressed; actions do, or do not create the self” (117). This simply means that Hamlet was the product of his own actions, and maybe Shakespeare wanted people to see that sometimes good people can do bad things and not everyone can be a hero. This is extremely interesting, and it helps the readers come to the realization that it isn’t crazy to think that Hamlet could very easily be a villain.

Hamlet is incapable of processing the situation and coping in an honorable way, which ends up ultimately leading him to revert to revenge as the only way to get even. Kenneth Craven writes, “Revenge is basic to human interaction… revenge has always been the first reaction by the weak when oppressed by the strong” (Craven). Maybe Hamlet truly believed that the way he handled all of it was the only way he could have, because his uncle was now King and was much more powerful than him. Although maybe Hamlet thought his actions would be justifiable, they were not ones that a hero would do. It can be possible that the young prince just didn’t know how to handle the situation.

One of the main things that stands out in this story about Hamlet that leads one to believe he could not be a hero was the way he treated Ophelia. I think most people would agree that the way he treated her was not how a hero treats a woman. He was very blunt and mean to her saying “I did love you once” (3.1.113). A hero is one who can control his emotions, and at this point, Hamlet let them get the best of him. He even tells her to go be a nun later in their conversation and takes a shot at her beauty. He lets this revenge plot boil inside of him so badly that he even starts to hurt the feelings of the ones he loves. Later in the play Ophelia is found dead, where Gertrude said a willow tree branch broke off and took her down. Ophelia was heartbroken, and she committed suicide. Obviously we can conclude as readers that she was deeply affected by the actions of our main character. These actions remind us of the true villain that Hamlet eventually came to be.

The prince goes on to kill three different people in his journey for revenge against Claudius. Hamlet is outraged that his mother Gertrude has married Claudius, and feels he has been betrayed by his own mother. Hamlet ends up stabbing Polonius through a curtain, thinking it was the King Claudius. Then he goes on to hide the body and doesn’t tell Claudius where it is when he is confronted by him. Later in the play he kills Claudius, but not before he sends Rosencrantz and Guildentsern to die. The two men were sent with Hamlet to England to make sure he would have been executed. Once again we see the villainy of Hamlet, he escapes and heads back to Denmark, at the expense of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who end up dying in his place. Being that Hamlet orchestrated the plan for them to die just so he could get back and kill Claudius is just anther example of how Hamlet is a villain.

Going back a few scenes, one sees the event that really makes it clear that Hamlet is a villain and not a hero. Claudius is praying to God for forgiveness for murdering Hamlet’s father, and at this point, Hamlet has his opportunity to end it all but decides not to because he didn’t want Claudius to go to heaven. In Mirrors of Revenge, Anthony Miller writes, “Here first appears a new image of the revenger: the tigerish, treacherous, man of blood, whose acts are monstrous, hellish, and promiscuously visited on guilt and innocent alike” (Miller). He literally denied the opportunity to kill Claudius and completing his task of revenge but didn’t. If anything can make it clear that he is a villain it is this scene. Not only is he supposed to be a man of honor, but he takes it upon himself to decide the fate of another man, which might be seen as even evil for some. Hamlet does not have the right to determine who goes to heaven or not no matter what crimes or wrongs they have committed. God is the one who has the right and power to forgive. Hamlet doesn’t want the new king just to die, but also go to Hell. The revenge he has in his heart is starting to turn him into a man that is not full of heroic qualities and it’s becoming more and more clear to the audience. At this point It is clear for the reader that all honor Hamlet thought he had was long gone, and he only got worse.

Could Hamlet have avoided all of this? Was he doomed from the beginning? Was he supposed to be a villain and not a hero? All of these questions the reader may ask when analyzing Hamlet trying to decide what kind of man he was. There is no doubt out main character is under a lot of pressure from the very beginning, one author writes, “Hamlet’s struggle is an intellectual one and by the very terms of that struggle, willful ‘practical’ action becomes impossible” (Levine). Readers expect heroes to be the ones who can rise above their own struggles, even if it takes a while, and triumph over evil. The truth is that Hamlet is not someone the world would see as a hero. Hamlet’s poor decision making and selfishness gets worse as the play goes on. I think most people would agree with me when I say a hero is someone who is noble, honorable, and selfless. Above all else, a hero is someone who does what is right, even when it is the hardest thing to do.

Let’s take one of the more popular hero’s of modern times for example, Batman. Batman’s situation is very much like the one Hamlet found himself in. Both of Batman’s parents were killed right in front of him when he was a young man. Batman had to grow up without either of his parents for the rest of his youth and adult life. He lives in a city where corruption and wrongdoers are not a rare sight, much like Hamlet’s kingdom. Batman made the decision that he was going to change that, kind of like Hamlet did, however, as the reader knows, Hamlet’s reason was strictly for revenge, and he would try to get it at any cost. Batman’s drive was centered on the virtue of justice, not revenge. That is the difference between a hero and villain. Batman has plenty of opportunities to kill his enemies and rid the world of them and the chaos they bring. That is not what a hero does. Batman knows he cannot do that because if he did he would be just like those people he dedicated his life to put away. In the end, Hamlet turns into someone not just as bad, but even worse than Claudius, the man who was the target for his revenge.

Hamlet had the opportunity to be a hero, but the fact is he made not only one but multiple decisions not to be. Hamlet could have been honorable and came straight to Claudius at the beginning of the play and this whole story would have turned out so much differently. One can also notice how Hamlet never really felt any remorse for his actions, even when he accidentally killed Polonius. His tunnel vision was so set on revenge he didn’t even bother to take other people into consideration. Adam Cole writes, “Hamlet did not concern himself much over Polonius’s death. Instead, Hamlet makes light of the murder with word games” (Cole). Hamlet’s selfishness shows without even a glimpse of remorse for any of the numbers of tragedies that has stemmed from his actions.

If the reader were to only look at the high points of the story of Hamlet, it would be hard argue against the notion that Hamlet embodies villainy more than heroism. Not only will the story be highlighted by deaths and events that point back to Hamlet’s actions, but if we look deeper we can see even more evidence; The way he shames his mother when she marries Claudias, The way he treats Ophelia telling her to “Go to a nunnery!” Also the way he not only wants to get revenge and kill Claudias, but make sure he goes to Hell and not Heaven. The reader may want to give Hamlet the benefit of the doubt at some point in the story, claiming that he is just indecisive and it all is just too heavy for the prince. At the end of the day, if one is truly looking for a hero it is nearly impossible to find one in this story.

Recognizing Hamlet for the villain that he is does not necessarily take away from the immaculate play that made such an impact on literature of the world. It still provides an exhilarating tale of a character who people of all walks of life can relate in some way or another with in the struggles with real feelings and decisions that for some are very real. It can indeed make the play even more compelling. As one author describes, “The quest for vengeance satisfies an audience’s most primitive wishes for intrigue and violence” (Kirsch). Analyzing this character in this way gives a unique perspective into a well known story that can possibly inspire others, as a powerful story can in fact do, to learn from the mistakes of others that they may look up to.

Readers finally see the dark side of Hamlet come out and the villain he is at the end when he does finally end up killing Claudius. Hamlet finally gets his revenge but not before he is cut with the poison sword and he too ends up dying. This scene where multiple people are on the floor dead and this is an important part because it can all be put back on Hamlet and the decisions he made throughout the play. He had the opportunity to be the hero—multiple times, but he was selfish and let his desire for revenge blind him from being truly good. At the end of the play when it all of his works comes to a visual scene, one can easily see why Hamlet should be seen as a villain and not a hero.

Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the writer displays the protagonist as someone who thinks of himself inferior to others, yet he rationalizes the choices he makes in his life. On these two occasions you either can contemplate whether or not he is even mad or is he just putting it off as an act to prove a point. Hamlet undergoes several tragedies that lead him to act increasingly mad rather than feigned. His madness is revealed in his identity crisis and his inability to revenge his father’s murder due to his constant overthinking.

Hamlet is a self-loathing character who thinks very low of himself and constantly compares himself to other individuals. This continuously affects his anger and how he reacts with it upon others in life. In his second soliloquy Hamlet expresses severe hate towards himself; he believes that he is the only one to blame for his father’s death. Hamlet does not seem to comprehend why he of all people has to avenge his father’s death, and expresses himself as someone who is nothing. He assumes his life has no meaning. Hamlet immediately states, “oh, what a rogue and peasant slave I am!” (Shakespeare. 2.2. 545). Hamlet compares himself to a slave, someone who has no identity, which demonstrates that he believes he does not deserve what he has in life. Hamlet constantly wonders why he was faced with all of his priorities and compares himself to others; such as the actor that tells a fake tale, but in his mind he relates it to his own life and struggles to conclude his actions cannot match with the actor’s emotions towards the story. Hamlet clashes as he says how “it not monstrous that this player here, but in a fiction, in a dream of passion, could force his soul so to his own conceit that from her working visage wanted, tears in his eyes.” (2.2. 546-550) He cannot seem to recognize how an actor can bring out so much emotion when expressing a fake story, whereas his is a real-life version of the tale, and assumes that it is much more challenging to find any meaning to it. Hamlet speculates how the actor could easily make people feel guilty from his expressions, and he will not grasp how he is supposed to meet up to his levels of empathy. His anger is brought into perspective because he is angry at himself for not being able to do what others can do and he thinks he needs these traits in order to avenge his father.

Hamlet has absolutely no faith in himself, in which is also shown through his melancholy. It is presented throughout the whole play, however, when connecting it to his anger it truly affects his thought and his action towards others. This is mainly presented in his first silioquy when he is first dealing with his fathers death and the incest his mom committed instantly after. He repeatedly criticizing his mother and the acts she has done with his uncle Claudius, he looks at her with disgust because she is one of the reasons why he feels so helpless to this situation. He thought this out as if he and his mother would mourn together though, “Within a month, Let me not think on’t, Frailty, thy name is woman! A Little month; or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father’s body.” (1.2 145-148) He illustrates here that the shoes she wore to his beloved fathers funeral were not worn before the shameless marriage Gerturude and Claudius shared. Hamlet’s anger starts out here because it’s as if his mother never loved Hamlet Sr, she showed no empathy towards his death and moved on as though he was never in her life. He constantly reminded his mother of what a loathsome marriage she was presenting to Denmark that was based off of incest. The new king and his mother have set out a poor representation of Denmark and have brought Hamlet into it, and he wants no part of it. This affects who he is and he shows how he feels through his anger, the one person to blame is his gruesome uncle who has turned the one place he used to call home, a peaceful and democartic place into a corrupt place he never could never have imagined that he would be forced to represent.

One of Hamlet’s tragic flaws is most definitely his inability to act upon any given situation, which leads to his melancholy. He constantly overthinks his plans and talks himself out of what he is “destined” to do. He knows he should avenge his father’s death, however, second-guesses himself every chance he receives. Even when he is faced with several opportunities of seeking revenge for his father’s death he still continuously backs away from it, due to fear of rejection from his loved ones. His first cause of anger can be seen in his second soliloquy when he says “who calls me villain? Breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face? tweaks me by the nose? Gives me the lie i’th’ throat as deep as to the lungs? Who does this to me this?” (2.2. 574-577) He fears of being seen as the fool instead of Claudius and suspects that no one will believe him. This forces him to second guess himself because of him overthinking every possible out come of his plan to find out the truth about his uncle.

Whether or not if Claudius did murder his father, although he is unaware of the truth, he fails to act upon his plan of descovering who killed his Hamlet Sr because of this flaw. Hamlet certainly has an idea of who he is, a melancholic and what he is obligated to do but is constantly hard on himself because he can’t let go of his thoughts of what if?

Hamlet suffers from this flaw again when his uncle Claudius is praying and he is sitting right beside him as he acknowledges his sins during his confession. Hamlet is opened to a great opportunity to avenge his father by killing Claudius. All he had to do was push the dagger through the screen, though, once again he steps back and rethinks his plan. He contemplates whether he should kill him or not when Hamlet states “and am I then revenged, to take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No,” (3.3. 84-97) he illustrates the fact that Claudius will not receive the full punishment he deserves if he goes through with the act. This is due to the fact that if he kills him during the act of prayer then he will ascend to heaven. Hamlet wants to avoid this for reasons that Claudius will instantly be forgiven for his sins, this would be the complete opposite of the revenge he contemplates he deserves. He wants Hamlet to suffer in every way possible and give him the same circumstances his father was faced with before his death. Hamlet gets frustrated with himself because at this point he is defeated by the fact that he has failed with is goal and worries that he wasn’t put out for this task. He takes out his anger on himself mainly as a result of him not fulfilling Hamlet Sr’s wishes.

With this recurring thought that Hamlet can not complete his goal of killing Claudius, it follows him through Act 4 Scene 4 in his soliloquy when he compares himself with the brave acts of Fortinbras. Fortinbras story that presents the devotion he served his people when he saved a small piece of land that forced him to sacrifice his entire army. Hamlet immediately resents himself due to the fact that he cannot show the same determination in killing Claudius. He then announces “oh this time fort, may my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth, (4.4. 64-66) which presents that due to these honourable acts of Fortinbras he needs achieve the same standards that he has and honour his father by killing the man who took him away. This could easily be a turning point for Hamlet, depending on whether or not he will go through with killing his uncle.

Conclusion

Hamlet is faced with several obstacles throughout his life which started with the death of his admired father. His main goal throughout the play is to avenge the death of his father by killing the man who is to blame, his uncle Claudius. This goal of his is constantly set back due to his flaw of over analyzing every opportunity he is presented with to killing Claudius. Followed by Hamlet’s feelings towards himself and how he defeats his pride by not being able to go through with his task. These factors are observed throughout the play repeatedly which force him to take out his anger on the people he loves most, including himself. His madness is presented throughout his actions as well as his soliloquies about his feelings towards each conflict in the play. Nevertheless Hamlet proves to his readers that he is in fact mad and frustrated because his life has been falling apart as soon as his father was killed.

Introduction

Shakespeare’s Hamlet has become a story for the ages. The play, written sometime between 1599 and 1601, has been produced thousands of times on stage and adapted into countless musicals, films, ballets, and the past four centuries. The story behind Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been around for longer than the play, predating it by more than 500years. The purpose of this essay is to discuss if Hamlet is truly mad or is just merely acting to be mad.

In this play, we are introduced to Hamlet’s character as a sad protagonist. He has just returned from school and has been informed that his father has deceased and his uncle Claudius has taken his mother’s hand in marriage. I think Hamlet is not mad; he is just pretending to be mad. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, the main character, Hamlet, is confronted with the obligation of attaining vengeance for his father’s murder. He decides to feign madness as part of his plan to gain the opportunity to kill Claudius. As the play progresses, his depiction of a madman becomes increasingly believable, and the characters around him react accordingly. However, through his inner thoughts and the apparent reasons for his actions, it is clear that he is not really mad and is simply an actor simulating insanity in order to fulfill his duty to his father.

The Question of Hamlet Madness

Evidence of Hamlet’s sanity appears in several scenes. In the (fifth scene of Act I), Hamlet says, “How strange or odd some I bear myself.” He is telling Horatio that he plans to behave like a crazy person so that he has the freedom to determine if Claudius is responsible for his father’s death. Acting like a madman would make him appear as less of a threat, drawing attention away from his investigation. Both Claudius and Polonius admit that Hamlet’s actions, while odd, do not seem to be related to genuine madness. Polonius even says, “Though this is madness, yet there is the method isn’t,” indicating that there seems to be a reason for Hamlet’s strange behavior. Finally, Hamlet only behaves like a madman when he is around certain characters. His madness appears when he is with Claudius, Ophelia, Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Gertrude. Hamlet behaves normally when he is with Francisco, Bernardo, and Horatio. If he were truly mad, he would not be able to maintain such precise control over his behavior.

Hamlet acts perfectly sane when acting insane is unnecessary. When he talks to Horatio about watching Claudius for signs of guilt during the play, he says “Give him a heedful note, for I mine eyes will rivet his face, and, after, we will both our judgments join in censure of his seeming (ACT3, Scene 2.87).” His words to Horatio are those of a sane man. Horatio is one of the few people to whom he does not need to prove he is “insane,” and as such, he does not try. Also, when he is explaining to the players how to act, he is surprisingly organized and natural sounding. For example, he asks “You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would set down and insert in ‘t, could you not (2.2.565)?” His question is direct and simple as all his instructions are, and it seems that the player not only understands completely but also is comfortable with Hamlet and what he asks. It is much more plausible that a sane man could play an insane one than an insane man could play a sane one, and so reason would deem Hamlet sensible.

Additional proof that Hamlet must be sane is that even in his “madness” he is clever in his retorts and speech, and has a full understanding of the situations around him. He plays his madman character almost too well, and each phrase he utters appears to be an attempt towards conveying his madness or confusing his adversaries. Not one of his remarks, although laden with hidden meanings, made to Claudius for example, is a normal statement that would not be considered insane. When he talks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, not only is Hamlet clever enough to realize their true purpose for visiting, he tells them he is not really mad – in a manner that would be considered insane! “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. (2.2.401). Hamlet is able to toy with his two friends through his illusory madness and, thus, free from their questioning, able to maintain the secrecy of his thoughts and goals. Later, he is even able to have them killed in his place using his father’s seal, through the method cunning for even a sane man, let alone an insane one. In fact, Hamlet, in the same conversation with Polonius mentioned above, is so creative in his responses made to convey a countenance of madness that Polonius remarks on their ingenuity. “Though this is madness, yet there is method isn’t (ACT 2, Scene 2.223).” Hamlet’s wit and role-playing of a madman combine to make them too witty of an exaggerated madman, for him to actually be insane.

Most importantly, Hamlet does not think like a mad person would. When he sees Claudius praying, he thinks logically and realizes that he will not attain full revenge if he kills Claudius and sends him to heaven. “Now might I do it, now he is a-praying, and now I’ll don’t? And so he goes to heaven, and so am I revenged…A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven (Act 3, Scene3.77).” His thoughts to himself are common sense, follow a logical progression, and are in no way jumbled or erratic in nature. He is a sane man acting only for the audience around him. In each of his soliloquies, he thinks through the same inner debate a sane man would. For instance, he realizes that his father’s ghost may have been a devil in disguise, so he plans to watch the king during the play he engineered for his own means. “I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks; I’ll tent him to the quick…The spirit that I have seen maybe a devil… (2.2.623).” Hamlet even goes further to ask Horatio to watch with him in case he is biased. I think a madman would not have had the foresight, reason, or possibly even care, to think in this very organized fashion. Even when questioning whether “to be or not to be (3.1.64)” Hamlet is sane in his thinking. He measures the “pros and cons” of his situation, and although he appears mad to most everyone at this point, he is most definitely sane in thought.

Evidence Supporting and Refuting Madness in Hamlet

Another evidence pointing to Hamlet’s sanity is that he reveals to his mother in Act 3 scene IV that he is not in madness, but mad in craft (Hamlet, Act 3. Scene 4 Lines 187-188). This is admission to his mother that he is feigning his insanity, and he asks her mother that not to reveal this to Claudius so that he can continue to use his true purpose. Unfortunately for Hamlet, Claudius himself does not believe that Hamlet is insane. Another piece of evidence pointed out by Alexander Crawford in his analysis of the play is that Hamlet maintains his humor throughout the play. He argues that Shakespeare was too good a judge of character…to mingle such humor with madness; Even in his false bouts of insanity, Hamlet maintains his witty banter with other characters and because humor and madness do not travel the same road. Hamlet can surely only be demonstrating one of these two qualities humor. Hamlet remains sane throughout the entire play and uses his false insanity as a way of tricking Claudius and his cohorts. At no point during the play does Hamlet display signs of actually being insane, he simply uses the false pretense of insanity to attempt to achieve his goal of revenge.

Also, another piece of evidence is in (Act 1, Scene 5) when Hamlet plans on acting mad to confuse his enemies and who are his real friends. I know the good King and Queen have sent for you. Hamlet instantly knows that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not playing a social visit to Hamlet, but was in fact sent as spices for the former king of Denmark to find out the cause of his sudden madness. Hamlet immediately knows that he cannot trust his former school friends and that he must take caution in what he says when is around them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern talk with Hamlet but with a crafty madness (Hamlet) keeps aloof and they are unable to find the cause for his odd behavior. Hamlet’s true intellect is brought out in Act 3, scene 2 when he plans on putting on a play. If his occulted guilt does not itself uncannily in on speech Hamlet only claims madness because it allows him to say and perform actions he otherwise would be prohibited from, while keeping people from taking his actions seriously. This seems to be part of his initial plan that is first mentioned when he asks Horatio and Marcellus not to make any remarks in relation to his “antic disposition (ACT 1, Scene 5.192).” Hamlet’s madness allows him to talk to Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, and Polonius in a manner unsuitable for a prince. He is often disrespectful and insulting in his remarks.

Madness or Craft?

Although his acting backfires during his speech to Gertrude, Hamlet is able to severely criticize her for her actions because she thinks he is insane. During the play, he also makes many sexual innuendos and even blatantly sexual remarks towards Ophelia such as “That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs (ACT 3, Scene 2.125).” His convincing insanity act gives him the chance to vent his anger towards Ophelia for her abandonment. Similarly, in another scene, he is able to tell Polonius his true feelings through his guise. Upon Polonius deciding to “take leave” of Hamlet, Hamlet replies, “You cannot take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal (ACT 2, Scene 2.233).” Furthermore, Hamlet uses his madness as almost an excuse, and definitely part of his apology, towards Lacerates for his murdering of Polonius. Would a madman be able to realize he was mad and call his actions uncontrollable? Were it not for his “madness” he would have been reprimanded rather than feared, pitied, or ignored. Hamlet’s madness redirects attention away from what he is thinking about his father’s death and puts it on why he has gone insane. This allows only himself to know what he is truly thinking, does not require him to answer any questions as to why he might be acting strange and allows him to continue to plan his assault on Claudius. His plan to maintain an appearance of a madman is ingenious, and the fact that he does a good job in his portrayal only makes him more ingenious, not insane.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, Hamlet can be considered no worse than an eccentric, determined, and possibly single-minded man, who was made so by his father’s murder and his request for revenge. His feigned madness is maintained because it allows him to continue with his plans. This madness is not, however, sustained when the guard is unnecessary.

William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark has seven soliloquies throughout the play with the purpose of providing a more personal understanding of Hamlet. Hamlet’s “Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” soliloquy is the most important because it provides insight into his feelings about his inaction, reveals his future plans, and creates an anticipant mood for the readers.In his soliloquy, Hamlet compares himself to the actor who teared up over someone he did not even know, allowing him to reflect on his own inaction of his father’s death. He states that he is “pigeon-livered and lack[s] gall,” (2.2.554). He utilizes a metaphor to compare himself to a pigeon, also known as a dove.

Like a dove, he has a small liver and is meek. During this time period, it was commonly believed that emotions came from the liver instead of the heart. So, by saying he has the liver a pigeon, he conveys that he lacks the courage to seek revenge for his father’s death. Hamlet reveals how ashamed he feels for being too cowardly to do anything to get justice for his father. This quote from the soliloquy allows the readers to understand the emotions he is going through that eventually inspires him to finally do something about the information he received from the ghost. Continuing on, Hamlet says, “I…peak/ Like a John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,” (2.2.542-544).

Using a simile, Hamlet equates himself to a daydreamer, who is too busy dreaming about unimportant things to think about actual pressing matters. Not only is he a coward, but he has been too distracted to even think about planning his father’s vengeance. The disappointment in his lack of action is reflected in this soliloquy, which is crucial to the understanding of the play.Hamlet reveals his upcoming plans in this particular soliloquy, which set up the rest of the play. He describes his plan to make the actors reenact the murder of King Hamlet in front of Claudius and says, “For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak/ With most miraculous organ,” (2.2.571-572).

By personifying murder and giving it the ability to speak on its own, Hamlet magnifies the significance of this event that will take place later in Shakespeare’s play. The tongue is the organ a regular person would use to speak but he chooses to label the schemed play as the “miraculous organ” murder uses to “speak,” or uncover, the truth. The soliloquy discloses the process of how the reenactment of King Hamlet’s murder to entrap Claudius came to be, which is a key element to the plot. Without this soliloquy, the origin of the play would’ve been left as a mystery and could’ve tremendously altered the whole interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Hamlet explains the purpose of his plan when saying, “I’ll observe his looks…if he but blench,/ I know my course,” (2.2.575-577).

If Claudius reacts to the play, Hamlet will know that he is guilty of murder. Although he does not explicitly it, Hamlet implies that he will kill Claudius,Hamlet begins to have doubts about the credibility of the ghost, so before he does anything permanent, he wants to have better evidence. He states, “I’ll have grounds/ More relative than this: the play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,” (2.2.582-584). The last bit of the soliloquy makes the readers anticipate to find out whether or not Claudius actually committed the murder and if Hamlet will step up to the plate to kill him if the ghost was right.

Hamlet, so far, has been known to be cowardly and indecisive, so his words can be perceived in two different ways. It could be him developing into a braver person or it can be seen as him still being a coward and trying to stall from having to kill Claudius. The atmosphere intensifies the curiosity and expectations of what’s to come. Because of this, the soliloquy keeps the reader guessing, and therefore, engaged.Hamlet’s third soliloquy contains a better understanding of his state of mind, a description of what lies ahead in the play, and an expectant atmosphere of what’s to come, making it the most crucial soliloquy of the entire play.