Justice Vs. Rage in Hamlet

A detailed Summary of Justice Vs. Rage in Hamlet

From the very beginning of Shakespeare's Hamlet, the title character feels anger over his mother's quick transition from mourning her dead husband to marrying his brother. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, he berates the hasty marriage, crying "a beast, that wants discourse of reason, would have mourned longer." When the ghost of his father issues demands that Hamlet avenge his murder, Hamlet's pre-existing anger overwhelms this sacred mission, corrupting it and ultimately rendering it an act of angry indulgence.

Hamlet's generally dry, melancholic demeanor blunts the rational, just nature of his vengeance. Seeing the player in act two so impassioned in his oration on Hecuba, Hamlet realizes that he is not properly incensed over the pernicious actions of his uncle. He resolves to forget his cause no longer and hatches a plot to test Claudius's guil

These contradictory currents reveal Hamlet's dilemma. Whenever his passion burns so that he feels on the brink of rash action, his rational nature catches him, yet the rational justification of his revenge is not enough to impel him to action. Perhaps Hamlet's most revealing action is his complement of Horatio: "Thou hast been...a man that fortune's buffets and rewards has ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those whose blood and judgment are so well commenddled...Give me that man that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core." Hamlet reveals his awareness of his own tragic flaw: that while his will is not strong enough to impel him to fulfill his vengeance, it is strong enough to arrest the full action of his passion. Similarly, he justifies vengeance in the sacred charge of his disembodied father, while it truly is the whim of his sp

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hamlet Claudius, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hecuba Hamlet, Horatio Thou, Rage Justice, hamlet reveals, rational nature, hamlet realizes,

Approximate Word count = 586
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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