Hamlet - Character Analysis

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Asli Colak

Hamlet has been portrayed as a man with a fatal flaw, a misfit in a treacherous world, and a weak revenger. Examine these areas taking in to consideration the Elizabethan views and your views based on your reading.

  William Shakespeare's Hamlet can be defined as a revenge tragedy. Hamlet was established

in the Elizabethan era, during a time of religious reformation. For this reason, areas of society

such as entertainment were scrutinized. Revenge although thought to be unlawful and against

the Church was adored by Elizabethan people. Plays containing aspects of political and

religious nature were censored. Due to the circumstances Shakespeare had to very subtly

convey Hamlet's attitude disguising his view points in soliloquies and events in the play. An

example of this would be when Hamlet allows a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius to slip

away as a result of his procrastination. Hamlet, like all other revenge tragedies stemmed from

the Greeks. Seneca was very influential to the Elizabethan tragedy, especially to Shakespeare.

The Spanish Tragedy Hieronymo, written by Thomas Kyd is another example of a revenge

tragedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet reflects areas of Hieronymo such as the ghost asking for

vengeance. But unlike Hamlet, the revenge is far less premeditated.

  In the opening scenes of the play the Ghost tells Hamlet that his father's death was caused by

Claudius pouring poison into his ear. He exhorts Hamlet to avenge the murder. Hamlets

initial response is to act on the Ghost's exhortation quickly. Hamlet says; "Haste me to know't

that I with wings as swift. May sweep to my revenge”, Yet by the end of the same scene, his

reluctance to murder King Claudius is evident. Hamlet’s words betray him, “This time is out

of joint, O cursed spite, that I was ever born to set it right”. Here Hamlet resents having been

given this duty of avenging his father, and is deeply overwhelmed and trapped. He is not only

trapped in to a situation he is now unable to break out of, but also trapped in the wrong epoch.

  Hamlet’s first soliloquy accentuates his internal conflict caused by preceding events such as

his father’s death, and distaste for Claudius. Wilson Knight believed that Shakespeare’s

Hamlet was an ‘Ambassador of death’, the ghost being the one to admonish as it corrupted

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Hamlet with his 'thirst for vengeance' and his instruction to kill.

  The troubled traits of Hamlet are communicated well by the imagery. Hamlet says that he

wants his “too too sullied flesh” to “...melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew” or “How

weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world”, where the chain of

dismal adjectives, display how difficult Hamlet’s emotional state is. These references and

desire to words do not merely present his dejection, but additionally bring his thoughts of

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