Hamlet 19
Hamlet, the timeless tragedy by William Shakespeare, has at its core an amazing internal struggle within its title character. As a result of this quandary, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, contradicts himself many times throughout out the play. As well as trying to be true to himself, Hamlet is proficient at acting out roles and making people falsely believe The roles that he plays are ones in which he feigns madness to ultimately accomplish his goal. While one second Hamlet pretends to be under a strange spell of madness, seconds later he may become perfectly calm and rational. These inconsistencies are directly related with the internal dilemmas that he faces. He struggles with the issue ...
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appears to be very straightforward in his actions, inner state, and role. When his mother questions him, Hamlet says, "Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not seems" (Act I, Scene 2). By saying this, Hamlet lets Gertrude know that he is what she sees, distraught and torn over his father’s death. Later, he makes a clear statement about his state of mind when he commits himself to revenge. "I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, that youth and observation copied there, and thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain" (Act 1 Scene 5). In that statement, Hamlet is declaring that he will be committed to nothing else but the revenge of his fathers death. There is no confusion about Hamlet’s character. He has said earlier that he is what he appears to be, and there is no reason to doubt it.
In the next act, however, Hamlet’s intentions suddenly become mired in confusion. In the first ...
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is faking madness, he is ultimately saying that is comfortable with it.
The idea of feigning or faking madness has a lot to do with acting. Faking, or in other words, playing a role, is at its root a way of acting. It is ironic how in a play, something entirely composed of acting, the theory of acting is brought up so much. By "faking madness," Hamlet is, definitely acting. It is strange that Hamlet is comfortable with playing at this point, but the crucial concept here is that he is not acting out the role that he so resolved in act one.
However, when the traveling theater troupe comes around, the resolve Hamlet once had returns. Hamlet is prompted to vengeance, again, by the moving ...
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"Hamlet 19." Essayworld.com. May 10, 2004. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-19/7593.
"Hamlet 19." Essayworld.com. May 10, 2004. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-19/7593.
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