Hamlet 5

A detailed Summary of Hamlet 5

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist exhibits a puzzling, duplicitous nature. Hamlet contradicts himself throughout the play. He endorses both the virtues of acting a role and that of being true to one's self. He further supports both of these conflicting endorsements with his actions. This ambiguity is demonstrated by his alleged madness, for he does behave madly, only to become perfectly calm and rational an instant later. These inconsistencies are related with the internal dilemmas he faces. He struggles with the issue of revenging his father's death, vowing to kill Claudius and then backing out, several times. Upon this point Hamlet stammers through the play. The reason for this teetering is directly related to his inability to form a solid opinion about role-playing. This difficulty is not present, however, at the start of the play.

In the first act, Hamlet appears to be very straightforward in his actions and inner state. When questioned by Gertrude about his melancholy appearance, Hamlet says, "Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not `seems.' (1.2.76). This is to say, "I am what I appear to be." Later In Act I, Hamlet makes a clear statement about his state when he commits himself to revenge. In this statement t

In this praise of this player's ability to act, Hamlet is saying that, if he were such an actor, he would have killed Claudius by now. This link between vengeance and acting that is present here is what Hamlet struggles with until very near the end. He is then moved to swear that he should kill Claudius when he says, " I should have fatted all the region kites With this slave is off. Bloody bawdy villain! O, vengeance! Why, what an ass am I?' (2.2.581-585) He makes this big buildup of what he should have done and how he will be revenged and he shoots it down in the next line. This passage is the model of Hamlet's cognitive dissonance. After all of this swearing and support of the value of acting and words, he backs out of it again. He can't decide whether or not to play the role. Words are further condemned when he says, "Must, like a whore, unpack my hart with Words" (2.2.587). So, he is now condemning role-playing. Being caught in the middle, he decides that he needs more proof of the Kings guilt when he says, "The play is the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King" (2.2.606-607).

After Hamlet backs out of killing Claudius, Hamlet says to his mother, "O shame, where is thy blush?"(3.4.72). He is voicing his distaste for Gertrude, not only for marrying his uncle, but also for not being true to herself. Hamlet believes that she should show some shame for her sins, but she does not. Hamlet is contradicting himself in this. He has been duplicitous and untrue for two thirds of the play. At this point, he is still not sure as how he is to proceed. Hamlet is caught in the middle of acting and objectivity. Hamlet finally gets his act together, and decides to act the part his father had given him, after he sees the soldiers going off to war to die.

He is again to talk of killing, and he says, "Now I could drink hot blood" (3.2.379). He again associates this with a role, that of Nero. "The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom" (3.2.383). Later, Hamlet again talks himself out of character and does not kill the King. He puts it off until later and says, "When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, At gaming, swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in it, Then trip him that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be dammed and black" (3.3.89-94) He is waiting until Claudius fits the part of a villain. His action is paralyzed whenever something does not fit the part. He needs his revenge to be dramatic, so that he may get into it and finally play it out, and it takes him the next scene and an act to finally do this.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2216
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English