Hamlet
King Hamlet's death turns Hamlet's world from one of order to one of chaos. He knowsClaudius killed his father, and he knows it is his duty to avenge his fathers death. He does notknow when he should act. Therefore a major conflict arises within him, the conflict of passion vs.reason. The theme of passion vs. reason is prevalent throughout the play, and Hamlet is drawn toboth sides of his reason and passion: reason being that he should wait to achieve revenge until aperfect time, passion being that he should revenge his father immediately, and face theconsequences later. Throughout the play, Hamlet's passion almost overtakes his reason. SeeingFortinbras and Laertes act on their passions, he is continuously distraught. He thinks himself acoward and goes as far as to say he should not live. Amidst Hamlet's confusion and passioncomes Horatio. Being the only trustworthy person in Hamlet's life, Horatio is able to reign inHamlet's passion with his reason, inciting Hamlet to act more logically, and therefore be able to In the first scene Hamlet and Horatio are in together, Horatio shows that his reason is ableto win over Hamlet's passion. When Hamlet is conversing with the ghost a
Although it is never obvious until act V that Hamlet isguided by Horatio's reason, throughout the play, when Hamlet wrestles with his feelings, hisreason almost always wins until the point where he knows he is going to die, and meet his destiny. Hamlet draws a conclusion at the end of his very powered and impassioned speech in act 3; "thusconscience does make cowards of us all/And thus the native hue of resolution/Is sicklied o'er withthe pale cast of thought. He that hath kill'd my king and who'rd my mother,/Popp'd in between theelection and my hopes, Thrown out his angle for my proper life/And with such coz/nage-is't notperfect conscience/To quit him with this arm? And is't not to be damn'd/To let this canker of ournature come/In further evil?"(V,ii,123) Hamlet has apparently made a clear decision, andalthough he is acting upon his passion, Horatio's influence comes into play because Hamlet is nolonger confused about what he must do. But, at the end of all of this, Hamlet still goes back to reason. Hamlet portrays that Horatio is driven by reason; he is in balance, and not biased. "(3,i,59) This revolves around Horatio. " Although a simpleresponse, Horatio shows that he does not think this unknown uneasiness should be acted on, andif a person decided to take action, they would need to know what it is first, and then not try toactively make it right. Horatio has a strong conscience,and usually when one has a strong conscience, it also means they have a strong balance betweentheir passion and their reason. Itis strange that Hamlet suddenly goes into a jest in this serious conversation, and Horatio sees this,therefore using his reason to bring Hamlet back into the seriousness of the conversation. " (4,iv,94), also prove Horatio's guidance in Hamlet's life.
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