For your intent in going back to school in Wittenberg,/it is most retrograde to our desire,/and we beseech you bend you to remain/here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,/our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. (1.2.113-117)
Later however, he states, “Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England/For the demand of our neglected tribute.”(3.1.171-172) The changing of his decisions leaves the audience unaware of his knowledge (or lack thereof) regarding Hamlet’s suspicion. By using ambiguity in the conflicts of Hamlet, Shakespeare highlights the conflicts within the play. The ambiguity makes the audience critically think about the conflict in order to form an opinion in an attempt to understand the subject matter. The unknown draws attention; therefore by omitting certain details about conflicts, he draws the attention of the audience to key points of the play he wishes to emphasize. He forces the audience to pay closer attention to the parts of the play with important information, or that help build the play’s themes.
Shakespeare uses ambiguity put a stronger emphasis on the themes of Hamlet. He uses it to force the audience to question the values of society, even life itself. The ambiguity also works to make mankind reassess the value of the truth, and proof. The theme of revenge is very prominent in Hamlet. Fortinbras, Hamlet, and Laertes all seek revenge for the deaths of their fathers. “Revenge should have no bounds.” (4.7.127) Claudius’s statement reflects the beliefs of society at the time. Because revenge would reclaim lost honour, it was a just cause. However, those who sought revenge often perished because of this. It could be that Shakespeare wished to convey a dislike for the idea of revenge. Hamlet is constantly searching for truth throughout the whole play. The constant use of questions by every character, but especially Hamlet demonstrates this search for truth. The ambiguity in the truth itself leaves a question for the audience to ponder, “what is true?” The ghost is said to be Hamlet’s father’s spirit, though through the play, Hamlet questions the validity of this claim. Though it is later discovered that Claudius was guilty, this still does not prove the identity of the ghost. Ghosts were thought to be demons in disguise in Elizabethan times. They were sent to make a person stray from the righteous path. Despite Claudius’ guilt, murdering him in revenge remains a sin. The fact that the ghost told Hamlet to take revenge against Claudius for the crimes committed against him (1.5.7), and that Hamlet had it in his mind that he was to kill Claudius when his soul was impure, just as his father’s was as seen in the lines,
And am I then reveng’d,/To take him in the purging of his soul,/When he is fit and season’d for his passage? No. (3.3.84-88)
The fact that this act would, in most circumstances, send him to hell supports the idea that the ghost may not have the noble intentions that Hamlet is led to believe, but the knowledge it possesses of the method of the late king’s death makes the validity of the ghost ambiguous. Hamlet’s theme of death is also shrouded in ambiguity. Best shown in Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” (3.1.56) soliloquy. Shakespeare shows the struggle between the two extremes as Hamlet wrestles between the decision of living, or committing suicide. When Hamlet says, “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,”(3.1.83), Shakespeare makes a statement about all of mankind. His audience is forced to reflect on the worth of their own existence. They question if life is worth living “when he himself might his quietus make/with a bare bodkin”(3.1.75-76) Hamlet never reaches a definite decision over whether it was better to die or live when faced with such hardships, and this leaves the audience to decide which side was ideal. Through his use of ambiguity of theme, Shakespeare makes statements directed at society’s views on death, truth, and revenge. As a result, audiences begin to reflect their own moral and belief systems. The ambiguity also works to emphasize the importance of the themes within all of society.
Within Hamlet, characters provide another base for ambiguity. Ophelia’s character is riddled with ambiguity. From her actions and words, as well as Hamlet’s actions around her, it is possible to make several hypothesises about her character. When Hamlet tells her, “Get thee to a nunnery,”(3.1.121) he may either be telling her to go to a convent, ergo protecting her purity, or nunnery may also mean brothel, this case condemning her for promiscuous behaviour. When also betrays a possible promiscuous side she tells Laertes
Do not as some ungracious pastors do,/Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,/Whiles like a puff’d and reckless libertine/Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,/And recks not his own rede. (1.3.47-51)
The knowledge she seems to possess regarding the topics that her brother wish for her to remain ignorant of suggests that she is not as innocent as she may outwardly appear. Even Hamlet, the title character, is extremely ambiguous. Hamlet’s entire character rests on his madness. If he were mad, his character would mostly be defined as what appeared before he spoke with the ghost. His values could be identified through his proclamation that “this heavy-headed revel east and west/Makes us traduc’d and tax’d of other nations”(1.4.17-18) with regards to his uncle drinking in celebration. His thoughtful nature may be seen through his “O that this too too sullied flesh” (1.2.129) soliloquy. Much beyond that is uncertain, as after his encounter with the ghost, it cannot be distinguished whether he acts by the hand of madness or sanity. If however, his encounter with the ghost does not throw him into true madness, and his ploy is to pretend to be mad, he has a much more brash nature that can show itself. Though his thoughtful, grieving nature remains true, it is also shown through his killing of Polonius (3.4.23-24) that he can act with much less forethought than originally believed. Shakespeare’s use of ambiguity gives many of his characters multiple possible personalities that are often stark differences to each other. This allows him to further explore the depths of characters. Also, where the two personalities share similarities, these are magnified to show the predominant, and important traits of all his characters.
CONSIDER A BIT IN P.2 ABOUT INNER CONFLICT OF HAMLET
REVISIT THESISS
