THe unraveling of Hamlet

Hamlet (c. 1600) is perhaps the most famous of all the tragedies created by William Shakespeare. The main character – Hamlet -- may be the most complex and controversial character any playwright has ever placed onstage. Hamlet’s erratic behavior poses a question: is he being rational in his acts and sacrificing himself for the “greater good” or is he simply mad? How and why does Hamlet move from one state of mind to the other? What significance does this have for the play? Throughout the play Hamlet goes through several different stages of life, constantly being in a tortured mental state, caught between love, grief, and vengeance. His different states of mind are the result of his controversial personality and his ability to objectively analyze any situation.

Over the centuries there have been a multitude of different explanations for Hamlet's behavior. One of the views is that Hamlet is simply a victim of circumstances; the other presents him as a beautiful but ineffectual soul who lacked the willpower to avenge his father. Hamlet can also be viewed as something close to a manic-depressive whose melancholy moods, as his failure to take revenge continues, deepened into self-contempt. His disturbing gift of laughing a

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Both Marcellus and Horatio fear that the Ghost may be an evil spirit intending to damn or destroy Hamlet. He admits that he is not ready for this task: “The time is out of joint. Hamlet is a person of exceptional intelligence and sensitivity, raised to occupy a high station in life and then suddenly confronted with a violent and terrifying situation in which he must take drastic action.

Hamlet’s different states of mind are essential to the play. The Ghost appears before Hamlet at a very disturbing time in his life -- his father’s tragic death and his mother’s quick remarriage are more than Hamlet’s mind can bear. This powerful demand is countered in Hamlet's mind by three questions: Is revenge a good or an evil act? Is Claudius truly guilty and so to be punished? Is it Hamlet's responsibility to punish him? The fact that Hamlet is a thinking as well as a feeling person, conscious of the good and bad points in every step he takes, makes the act of revenge particularly painful for him. His inability to coop with reality because of his philosophical beliefs causes Hamlet’s state of mind to constantly change. With the full acceptance of the idea of revenge came the acceptance of fate. His dilemma is in his unsuccessful attempts to create a tangible bond between his passion, which would spur him to immediate vengeance, and reason, which is God-given, and which would soothe Hamlet’s action with sensible judgment. Whether its advice was good and heaven-sent, however, is unclear, considering the death and destruction to which its desire for revenge has led. The spirit that I have seen

May be a devil, and the devil hath power

T’ assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps

Out of my weakness and my melancholy,

As he is very potent with such spirits,

Abuses me to damn me.

Approximate Word count = 1741
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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