Paper no: 1-The
Renaissance Age
Topic:- Character of hamlet
Hamlet is the prince of
Denmark the title character and protagonist about thirty years old at the start
of the play ,hamlet is son of queen Gertrude and the late king hamlet and the
nephew of present king Claudius .hamlet is melancholy ,bitter and cynical full
of hate red for his uncles scheming and dis gust for his mother’s sexuality . A
reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied atthe university of Wittenberg,.
Hamlet is often intensive and hesitance but at the other times prone to rash
and impulsive acts, hamlet is arguably the greatest dramatic character ever
created from the moment we meet the crestfallen prince we are enraptured by his
elegant intensity .shrouded in his inky cloak, hamlet is man of radical
contradiction he is recalls yet cautious, courteous yet uncivil, tender yet ferocious.
He meets his father’s death with consuming outrage and righteous indignation,
yet show no computation when he himself is responsible for the deaths of the meeting
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and the pontificating lord chamber linePolonius. he
uses the fragile and innocent Ophelia as an outlet for his disgust towards the
queen and cannot comprehend that his own vicious words have caused her insanity
hamlet is full of faults .but how is it that even seemingly negative qualities
such asinfectiveness, hastiness, hate brutality and obsession can enhance
hamlets position as a tragic hero a prince among men? To answer these questions
we must journey with hamlet from beginning to end examine the many facets of
his character.
Our first impression of
hamlet sets the tone for the whole plays
even without Shakespeare providing an elaborate description of hamlet features
we can envision his pale face and intense brooding eyes .dressed totally in
black , hamlet displays all the forms ,moods and the shapes of grief . his
mother cannot help but notice hamlets outward appearance of mourning but hamlet
makes it clear that the overt signs of
of grief do not come close to conveying how much sorrow he feels inside
.
For they are the actions
that a man might play,
But I have that within
which passes show
These but the trapping and
suits of woe.
Hamlet cannot forget his
father even when all those around him have resumed their merry lives content to
offer the occasional conciliatory words of wisdom. The queen considering she
has lost a husband offers up the rather unhelpful
Thou knows tis common all
that lives must die passing through nature to eternity and Claudius adds
amongst other things we pray you throw to earth this unrevealing woe and think
of us as a father, hamlet hamlet s tremendous grief is intensified by this lack
of feeling by those around him and more significantly by the cold hearted
action of his mother who married her brother in laws within a month of her husband’sdeath
.This act of treachery by Gertrude whom hamlet obviously loves greatly at one
type rapes the very fabric of hamlet’s being
Hyperion to a satyr, so
loving to my mother,
That he might not be teem
the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly
heaven and earth
The respect and awe hamlet
has for his father is seen in above passage as the prince compares that late
king to Hyperion’s anti thesis the satyr , a creature half goat and half man
known for its drunken and lustful behaviour the behaviour of the new king
Claudius it is no wonder then that hamlet
develops disgust for not only Claudius the man but all of the behaviours and
excesses associated with Claudius .hamlet begins to find revelry of any kind
unacceptable ,but particularly he loathes drinking and sensual dancing . As
they await the ghost on the castle wall, hamlet hears the king engaging in
merriment down below and tells horatio that the whole world is feeling the same
contempt for his drunken countrymen;
This heavy headed revel east and west
Makes ustraduced and tax d
of other nations
They clepe us drunkards,
and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition and
indeed it takes
From our achievements
though performed at height, the pith and marrow of our attribute.
It is unfortunate for the
innocent Ophelia that the actions of Claudius and Gertrude have also tainted
forever hamlets thoughts and feelings towards the women. based on the letters
and gifts hamlet gave his one cherished Ophelia .it is apparent that he did
love the girl and likely felt those feelings of sweet devotion that his father felt
for his mother, but whether due to some overwhelming desire to become to mouth
piece for his father who cannot himself chastise his traitorous wife or due to
the sad fact that all the love in him has truly dried up hamlet turns on
Ophelia and destroys her with cruelty almost unimaginable
Various interpretations
Hamlet – best reflects the
universality of the dramatist geniuses it remains an enigmatical work what has
been called grand political puzzle and monalisa of literature
Hamlet has caused more
discussion than any other character in fiction dramatic or non-dramatic
Hamlet the
victim of external difficulties
Claudius was too powerful
and only once before the final scene placed himself in a defenceless position
How could hamlet convince
the people that he justifiably has executed revenge?
Hamlet the
victim of excessive melancholy
The hasty marriage of his
mother –his moral nature receives a terrible shock and his whole mind is
poisoned a nature morally corrupt would
have felt it less keenly but in the case of hamlet it comes as a terrible shock
and leaves behind a boundless weariness and sick longing for death.. He becomes
subject to melancholia and depression .he grows sarcastic, callous and bitter incentive
even to the feeling of those he loved .the prince melancholy is the very centre
of the play and the cause of tragedy in it.
Hamlet is
victim of Oedipus complex
Dr. ernest jones –
disciple and biographer of Sigmund freud concisely stated in hamlet Oedipus the
prince of Denmark suffered from the
Oedipus complex an undue and unhealthy attachment of son for his mother which
is apt to be morbidly suppressed and cause great mental distresses .
Hamlet is
sentimental dreamer
According to some critics,
Gothe- hamlet is Youngman
of lovely, pure and moral nature without the strength of nerve which forms hero
Coleridge – hamlet suffers
from an over balance of the contemplative faculty and like any man there by
becomes the creature of mere meditation and loses his power to action.
Hamlet has fascinated
audience and readers for centuries and the first thing to point out about him
is that he is enigmatic. There is always more to him than the other characters
in the play can figure out even the most careful and clever readers come away
with the sense that they don’t know everything there is to know about his character.
It is also important to note that hamlet is extremelymelancholy and discontented
with the state of affairs in Denmark and his own family. Hamlet is ready to confront
the paradoxical truth that to avenge his father’s death he must commit the very
same act for which he seeks revenge .using fate as the scapegoat ,hamlet can
distance himself from the act of Claudius .when hamlet does finally die it is
princely qualities that make the lasting imprint in our minds .
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