Hamlet’s Doubt: Helpful or Harmful?
The revenge theory is a theme used in many Elizabethan plays. Some would even say it’s a over used theme since it seems to call for the same characters: the ghost who wants revenge, the hero who disguises himself to fulfill the ghost’s wishes, a fragile female, and so on. The end of most revenge plays also have the hero die in his attempt to seek revenge, but Shakespeare’s Hamlet breaks the typical guidelines. Hamlet is and will always remain a unique revenge story because the protagonist has an internal struggle with an emotion that most revenge heroes don’t: uncertainty. Hamlet’s doubt revolves around the authenticity of the ghost of his late father, his uncle’s part in his father’s death, and his mother’s knowledge of his uncle’s wrongdoing.
Not to be perceived as a result of being too delicate, Hamlet’s doubt is a result of a more noble and philosophical mind than the typical militant hero. He even speaks of the struggle between his mind and his duty when he tells Laertes to “Give me that man/That is not passion’s slave”. Hamlet’s dilemmas start towards the end of Act 1, when the ghost of Hamlet’s father comes to tell Hamlet to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder”. Hamlet asks who he is supposed to seek revenge upon, and the Ghost tells him “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/Now wears his crown”. As Hamlet immediately realizes that the murderer cannot be anyone other than his uncle Claudius, the Ghost recalls his brother’s method, revealing that “Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,/With juice of cursèd hebona in a vial,/And in the porches of my ear did pour”. The Ghost also warns Hamlet not to hurt his mother Gertrude, to “Leave her to heaven”. Although Hamlet quickly promises that he’ll “wipe away all trivial fond records” and set his sights on killing Claudius, his better judgment leads him to wonder whether the Ghost is real or if he is the devil taking the shape of his late father. The way the Ghost tells Hamlet to avenge his death is questionable; he almost makes it seem as if it is very simple to do and shouldn’t cause mental strain. To not try and comfort him and understand that the task may be hard could be an indication that the Ghost was indeed an evil spirit. He also comes right after Hamlet kills Polonius to “whet thy almost blunted purpose”, which might be another implication of his treacherous nature. His uncertainty also has something to do with the Elizabethan belief that it is very dangerous to communicate with the spiritual world. However, the key factor that helps to reject the demon theory is the fact that he doesn’t want Hamlet to kill Gertrude; it shows that the Ghost’s wishes “indicate not the pursuit of personal satisfaction” but instead true justice as he sees fit in his eyes.
