g and puzzling. Does he pretend to be flippant or boorish in order to keep his thoughts to himself, or to contain his pain? Or does he express rational criticism in savagely sarcastic comments spoken only to himself? Or is the energy of his mind such that he thinks and speaks with instinctive ambiguity? Words are restless within his mind, changing meaning, shifting form, extending reference, awaking others close in sound but different in meaning.
             • This part of Hamlet's character--for ambiguous and complicated speech is a distinctive element of the "mind" with which Shakespeare has endowed his hero--this characteristic operates on various levels.
             • The energy and turmoil of his mind brings words thronging into speech, stretching, over-turning and amalgamating their implications.
             • At the risk of sounding too unambiguous for such a play, I would say that, through Hamlet, this tragedy affirms the world of the mind over against the world of matter, the unresolved and independent conscience over against the answers that can be provided by ot
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