Essay on Hamlet and Play

Submitted By jasmith345
Words: 2097
Pages: 9

Hamlets Revenge
William Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet, is the story about the Prince of Denmark’s struggle for revenge against his murderous uncle, who is now the new King of Denmark. Hamlet is stricken blind with revenge and has even been considered mad. Hamlet’s fall into insanity is a result of many different, tragic reasons. Throughout the entire play, Hamlet seems to be a loner, with a lack of true companionship. Most everyone seems to be against him throughout the play. They mistrust Hamlet, as he does them. He does not fully trust anyone, which will ultimately lead to his downfall. Hamlet does in fact have a tragic flaw that may lead him to disaster. Hamlet has a tendency to over think every thing he does. With every thought and process he goes through he must have a reason of doing it the way he does, and if they are not done how he likes, he will not attempt the task. Hamlet is portrayed as intelligent. This is shown through Hamlet’s use of his obviously superior mind and knowledge to deceive most everyone in the kingdom. He is clearly more intelligent than any other character in the play, and to us, the most human. His intelligence does get him into a great deal of trouble though. He must always prove for himself every thing that he is told. He cannot take anyone’s word for granted. Hamlet is meant to seem more psychotic and delusional the farther into the play the reader gets. Shakespeare meant for this. Without seeming crazy, Hamlet would not have the opportunity of revenging his father’s death. Hamlet’s pseudo madness is the very means for his revenge. Hamlet seems to be a loner throughout the play. The first time that this is seen is through Hamlet’s mistrust and even disgust of his uncle and mothers wedding. In Shakespeare’s time it was considered incest, even though they were not blood relatives. Hamlet shows his dislike by saying “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (I, ii, 65). This shows that he has an initial dislike to his uncle, which will later help Hamlet with achieving his revenge. The next time that this distance from others is seen in Hamlet is when Ophelia is talking with Laertes and later Polonius. They both tell her that Hamlet and her cannot and will not be together, it is not possible because of the difference in class. This is confirmed when Laertes tells her, “Perhaps he loves you now… but you must fear, His greatness weighted, his will is not his own…” (I, iii, 14 – 24). He tells her not to trust Hamlet’s false love, for he is a subject of the kingdom, and must marry royalty and do what the state requests of him. Polonius furthers this claim by adding “Ay, springes to catch woodcocks… You must not take for fire,” (I, iii, 115- 120). In this he basically tells her that she is stupid, and should not believe Hamlets words nor his vows. By the end of the speech he even tells her to stay away from Hamlet, basically so she will not look stupid, therefore he will not look like the fool. Hamlet’s trust further dwindles when he encounters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom were sent to him by the King. He knows that these “friends” are acting under the kings will, and gets them to spill the beans. The conversation that starts “Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thank,” and ends “My lord we were sent for,” (II, ii, 283 – 306) shows the mistrust building even more. Hamlet now knows that he cannot trust these men anymore both because they lied to him, and were sent by the man Hamlet despises, as spies. The same event happened to Ophelia as well. She was sent by Polonius, the King and the Queen so that they could prove Hamlets madness is for the love of Ophelia. Hamlet senses this, and loses all trust in Ophelia as he has done with many others. Throughout the conversation that goes “Ha, ha. Are you honest? Are you Fair?…” (III, i, 103 – 156) Hamlet discovers the king’s plot and acts as if he were crazy, and not in love with Ophelia. He is acting in this scene because later in act five