Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Hamlet — Analyzing the Complex Character of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Play
Analyzing The Complex Character of Hamlet in Shakespeare's Play
- Categories: Hamlet William Shakespeare
About this sample
Words: 401 |
Published: Feb 7, 2024
Words: 401 | Page: 1 | 3 min read
Table of contents
Appearance vs. reality, relationships, indecisiveness, tragic flaw.
Cite this Essay
Let us write you an essay from scratch
- 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
- Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours
Get high-quality help
Prof Ernest (PhD)
Verified writer
- Expert in: Literature
+ 120 experts online
By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email
No need to pay just yet!
Related Essays
2 pages / 721 words
3 pages / 1410 words
2 pages / 758 words
4.5 pages / 2155 words
Remember! This is just a sample.
You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.
121 writers online
Still can’t find what you need?
Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled
Related Essays on Hamlet
The ultimate stage of revenge is delayed when Hamlet goes into exile following Polonius's murder. During his absence, Hamlet's lover, Ophelia, goes mad and tragically drowns (Shakespeare 17). However, Hamlet eventually returns [...]
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is one of the most celebrated plays in literature, known for its complex characters, themes, and language. Written in the early 17th century, Hamlet has endured the test of time and continues to be [...]
The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, recounts the tragic story of a prince who seeks revenge for his father's death. The play, set in the Kingdom of Denmark, is one of the most renowned and revered works in the [...]
In William Shakespeare's renowned play, Hamlet, the protagonist's character development and actions drive the narrative, captivating audiences for centuries. Through a deep analysis of Hamlet's character, one can uncover the [...]
"Hamlet challenges the conventions of revenge tragedy by deviating from them" (Sydney Bolt, 1985) The typical Elizabethan theatre-goer attending the first production of 'Hamlet' in 1604 would have had clear expectations. The [...]
"Understanding kills action." With these three simple words, Nietzsche explains the idea behind Shakespeare's development of the acting of thought as inaction, and also the reason that Hamlet hesitates for over 3000 lines of [...]
Related Topics
By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.
Where do you want us to send this sample?
By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.
Be careful. This essay is not unique
This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before
Download this Sample
Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts
Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.
Please check your inbox.
We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!
Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!
We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .
- Instructions Followed To The Letter
- Deadlines Met At Every Stage
- Unique And Plagiarism Free
William Shakespeare: Hamlet’s Actions and Inactions Essay (Critical Writing)
- To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
- As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
- As a template for you assignment
“Hamlet” is a play for all times. Its protagonist is a contradictory and mysterious person. If he is guided by blind revenge or righteous feel of justice, why he hesitates and lingers to punish culprits if he is prudent or light-minded – these adages may be united under two maxims:” Look before you leap” and “He who hesitates is lost”. This paper is an attempt to analyze Hamlet’s actions and inactions to prove the authenticity of the application of these maxims to the protagonist.
Although the scene of the play is laid in the Danish Kingdom, the problems involve the whole of mankind to think over this play. In the first act, we get acquainted with Hamlet and it gives us some intellectual challenge. The protagonist is a noble hero, he has a philosophical set of minds, he judges everything from the height of moral virtues, but he has found himself in a complicated and even tragic predicament after having known about his mother and uncles betray. The old world is destructed, and the Ghost asks Hamlet to take responsibility and revenge for his father’s death and restore universal justice. Hamlet obeys the Ghost and is careless of consequences. Here we see the first “leap” of Hamlet because he takes too much upon himself. But this proves the Prince to be an ideal person of the Renaissance.
Hamlet disguises himself as a madman. He should convince everybody that he has gone insane. Being a jester gives an opportunity to tell everything he thinks about. The Prince gives praise to Human beings, calls him perfect, but here we hear the disappointment in life values. All Universal lacks any sense. Hamlet became animated when remembering an old play about the murder of Priam by Pyrrhus. This scene has a very emotional moment when the Prince remembers Priam’s wife Hecuba. For Hamlet it is very important: Hecuba is a faithful wife and Queen Gertrude – not. Anguish comes to the surface again, but reproaches about inaction mingle with this anguish. Why does he linger? Why not avenge his father’s death? He is angry with himself and calls himself pejorative names: “what a rogue and peasant slave am I” (Hamlet, Act II). This is an example of his hesitations.
The famous soliloquy “To be or not to be” is the culmination of Hamlet’s doubts. “To suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (Hamlet, Act III) directly refers to the situation Hamlet is in: to fight against evil or avoid struggle. Desires controvert virtues. Hesitation is grounded on fear. The Prince is afraid to suffer a defeat. His views on life are destructed, and his goddess Justice is blind. Does he have enough powers to resist the temptation of inactivity and sleep peacefully? Once again, the Prince is prevented from action by his hesitancy. Hamlet does not moralize. He is lost in the world, lost in his hesitations. He cannot draw a demarcation line between reality and his feigned insanity. Hamlet chooses “to be”, but “to be” means to die. He claims that death is inevitable, but hesitates because it is unknown as well. The soliloquy expresses Hamlet’s torment of mind. He is determined to kill the King, but he is unsure if it will bring good or harm.
Now nothing can stop Hamlet and there is a right moment. Hamlet finds Claudius praying, but he cannot kill him. The prayer defends the King and Hamlet does not want him to die sinless. It leads to Heaven, but Claudius does not deserve it. And here Hamlet should think before he leaps. The Prince just excuses his hesitation by waiting for some other appropriate fatal occasion. He wants his revenge to be perfect and edifying. If not – he refuses it completely. He has no time to consider the circumstances and kills Polonius, once more “leaping” before thinking.
Laertes wants to compete in fencing with Hamlet and kill him during this duel. Laertes’ sword will be poisoned and the Prince will die from the wound. Hamlet is tortured by forebodings of evil. Horatio suggests declining the duel. But Hamlet’s response astonishes by its wisdom. Come what may, what must be will be, there exists some Divine power that rules the world – such thoughts occur in Hamlet’s mind for the first time.
Hamlet is uncertain whether he can believe the Ghost. He scruples to trust everybody: Ophelia, Horatio, Gertrude. He is even unsure of himself. When a troupe of actors comes, he gets inspired with his new intention. To re-act, the murder of his father means to punish the culprits. Hamlet mocks the evils of life, thus trying to delete them from reality. He is just satisfied when everybody sees that it is his uncle who has killed Hamlet’s father. His suspicions are confirmed, but he never tries to return for evil. And it happens but by an accident. Hamlet makes no attempt to punish the King. So Hamlet “leaps” into the struggle, but with much hesitation. On one hand, he is a loser, because he died, on the other – a winner, because culprits endured the punishment. He reflects upon his infirmity but does not try to put his intentions into practice. He is obsessed with thinking, not acting. This is his essence and escapes from reality. Only death can bring deliverance and oblivion from uncertainty.
Hamlet is not remarkable for willpower or determination, foresight and deep consideration. But we enjoy refined thoughts and genuine sentiments of his. The Prince lacks deliberateness in actions; he rushes to the whirl of life on the spur of the occasion. If Hamlet were a man of action, he might have killed Claudius at once together with the Queen. And everybody would think him to be a cruel murderer. If he were more prudent, he could have avoided his death and become a King himself. But could he be a good King for his people? A hesitating and indiscreet king can ruin his kingdom. He could save Ophelia, innocent victim of his indifference, Laertes, noble and loving brother. But Hamlet breaks the equilibrium of imaginative and authentic worlds, and reality turns out to be crueler than his fictional insanity. Skepticism, accompanying Hamlet, makes him vulnerable, as only strong beliefs can bring to actions. What if Hamlet has not believed the Ghost at all? Maybe it is conscience that came to him, and if he had not listened to it, his life would be full of scruples of remorse facing his father’s memory. Hamlet, the flesh and blood of his mother, wanted to sentence her to death, and if he had not been stopped by the Ghost, a fatal mistake could have been made.
It is controversial if Hamlet is a hero or a pure madman with judicious observations; his motives are mixed and vague. But we can find Hamlet in ourselves. Like him, we hesitate before an important decision and overestimate our powers. It is in human nature and when Hamlet speaks, he speaks on behalf of all people.
Works Cited
Shakespeare William. Hamlet. NY: Dover Publications, 2004.
- Summary & Analysis
- Genre & Literary Analysis
- Important Quotes
- Essay Topics
- Essay Samples
- Hesitation and Indeterminacy of Hamlet
- Hamlet And Laertes: A Comparison
- Hamlet: The Circumstances That Lead Hamlet to Soliloquy
- “Oedipus the King” Drama by Sophocles
- “Journey’s End” by Robert Cedric Sherriff
- Friar Lawrence in “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare
- People Get What Deserve. “Oedipus the King” Play
- “Oedipus the King”: Life Is Ruled by Fate Alone
- Chicago (A-D)
- Chicago (N-B)
IvyPanda. (2021, November 28). William Shakespeare: Hamlet's Actions and Inactions. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hamlet-critical-analysis/
"William Shakespeare: Hamlet's Actions and Inactions." IvyPanda , 28 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/hamlet-critical-analysis/.
IvyPanda . (2021) 'William Shakespeare: Hamlet's Actions and Inactions'. 28 November.
IvyPanda . 2021. "William Shakespeare: Hamlet's Actions and Inactions." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hamlet-critical-analysis/.
1. IvyPanda . "William Shakespeare: Hamlet's Actions and Inactions." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hamlet-critical-analysis/.
Bibliography
IvyPanda . "William Shakespeare: Hamlet's Actions and Inactions." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hamlet-critical-analysis/.
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play is known as a tragic hero due the fact that he was bound for greatness, but his fall came as a result of his personality flaw of over thinking and complicating each situation and not being able to act in desperate times.
What is a tragic flaw and how does it relate to Hamlet's downfall? How does Hamlet's failure to distinguish between 'seeming' and 'being' contribute to his downfall in Shakespeare's Hamlet?
This essay will analyze Hamlet's character, focusing on his fatal flaws and the impact they have on the unfolding of the play. Understanding Hamlet's flaws is crucial in unraveling the complexity of his character and the overarching themes of the play.
Given Hamlet’s character and situation, would another outcome of the play have been possible? The idea of the “tragic flaw” is a problematic one in Hamlet . It is true that Hamlet possesses definable characteristics that, by shaping his behavior, contribute to his tragic fate.
What is Hamlet's tragic flaw? Does Hamlet realize his tragic flaw during the play? How much is Hamlet responsible for his own downfall and the play's tragic ending?
Quick answer: Hamlet is partly responsible for his own downfall and the many tragic deaths, but he is mostly the victim of circumstances. A much larger share of the responsibility belongs to...
Written as the author taught Hamlet every semester for a decade, these lightning essays ask big conceptual questions about the play with the urgency of a Shakespeare lover, and answer them with the rigor of a Shakespeare scholar.
The play's protagonist, Hamlet, is a complex and multi-dimensional character, whose significance in the play cannot be overstated. In this essay, we will analyze Hamlet's character and explore the various themes that are associated with him.
Immediately after the spirit of Hamlet’s murdered father calls Hamlet to “revenge his most foul and unnatural murder” (1.5.25), the wronged prince vows to move quickly: “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift/As meditation or the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge” (1.5.29–31).
This paper is an attempt to analyze Hamlet’s actions and inactions to prove the authenticity of the application of these maxims to the protagonist. Although the scene of the play is laid in the Danish Kingdom, the problems involve the whole of mankind to think over this play.