Hamlet

A detailed Summary of Hamlet

From his four large soliloquys, Hamlet's character is presented as that of someone who has a never ending internal battle between his head and his heart, someone who would much rather follow his heart, but finds it extremely difficult to forget his head. He is a pessimist, and gets no enjoyment from life, seeing life as fruitless and so continually contemplates suicide. He is highly intelligent, and it seems almost as if the planned revenge against his uncle is just a test of himself, his strength, his ability of commit a crime of passion. Despite revenge becoming Hamlet's motive for living, his every thought, he cannot bring himself to commit the murder. Perhaps this constant emotional stress in the end affects his internal balance, or perhaps he just realises that killing Claudius will not solve his problems. In the end, reason triumphs, but Claudius becomes the victim of his own fate, and Hamlet's death soon follows as a natural progression - there is nothing left for him to live for after his uncle's death, revenge was all he lived for.

The characterising trait of Hamlet is his inability to find a comfortable balance between his emotions and his reason. During the first soliloquy, it is obvious that the balance has been upset

By the third soliloquy, Hamlet once again contemplates suicide- "to be or not to be, that is the question." (III.i., 56) He has realised that by killing his uncle, Hamlet will not solve his problems, they are buried deep within himself, so he sees death as the preferable option. Once again, reason wins over with the decision to stay alive, disguised once again as just so he can see his uncle dead.

by the death of his father, but we can see by the last line- "But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue"(I.ii.159) that the reason is still hanging on to control, even though it is an endless internal battle. In all of the following soliloquys, Hamlet is trying harder and harder to tip the balance. His meeting with his father's ghost leads him to start trusting his emotions, he sees his emotional self as a prisoner inside reason, trying to escape. For his father's memory and his own happiness, he must break free and seek revenge.

Hamlet's pessimism is the main cause of his extreme unhappiness. He sees the faults in himself, in others and in Denmark before he sees anything good. He sees Denmark as "an unweeded garden/ that grows to seed, things rank and gross in nature/ possess it merely." (I.ii., 135-7). Hamlet sees the death of his father as the cue for things to start going wrong in Denmark, and he sees the memory of his father's kingdom through rose coloured glasses. Revenge of his father's death will not only be for his father's sake,

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 978
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English