Hamlet: A Selfish Fool
Hamlet is known as one of the greatest pieces of literature ever to be written. Perhaps the reason for its popularity and high reputation is because of the many underlying questions that Shakespeare leaves unanswered. Shakespeare forces the readers and watchers of the play to think about the occurring events. Shakespeare's style of writing often leaves his readers with questions, and Hamlet is no exception. Even today, people devote ther lives to deciphering Shakespeare's work. The most popular question found in Hamlet is undoubtedly the question of why Hamlet was so slow to act out the wishes of his deceased father. Could Hamlet have suffered from an Oedipus complex? Did Hamlet have a conscientious objection to the murder of another human being? Or could it be that Hamlet was too distracted by wallowing in his own self-pity to jump to action?An Oedipus complex is a Freudian theory where a child (usually male) has a romantic desire for the parent of the opposite sex and tends to resent the parent of the same sex. In other words, this theory states that Hamlet was in love with his mother. Could this really have been the reason for Hamlet's hesitation? I think not. Hamlet's first soliloquy was almost entirely devoted to the defa
Perhaps Hamlet was too much of a moral soul to commit the horrible crime of murder. But then again, maybe Hamlet wasn't so moral after all. If Hamlet is capable of showing disrespect and sarcasm to his mother's husband with the line, "A little more than kin and less than kind," Hamlet isn't quite the perfect little angel as you might think. Conscience had nothing to do with his delay of action; he found nothing exceptionally difficult about taking a man's life. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is obsessed with the idea of taking his own life. Before his third soliloquy, Hamlet seems pretty interested, if not eager, to take his own life. Obviously at this time Hamlet had no problem with death. Hamlet also wasn't big on morals either. Evidence of this is shown in Act 3, Scene 4 again with his attack on his mother. We are told to "honor thy father and mother," not abuse them. A solid reason against the theory of Hamlet's inability to kill another person is when Hamlet kills Polonius. When Polonius yells, Hamlet believes him to be the king and thrusts his sword into Polonius. Even after he had killed Polonius, Hamlet showed no remorse whatsoever. In fact, he even made jokes about it when he told Claudius that Polonius was "at supper not where he is eating, but where he is being eaten." Further evidence is when Hamlet replaces the orders sent to England with orders that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern be killed instead of Hamlet. Hamlet showed no
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Approximate Word count = 978
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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