Hamlet - Enstragement In Hamlet
In Shakespeare’s "Hamlet", the main character, Hamlet, is burdened with attaining revenge on his murdered father’s behalf from the king of Denmark, King Claudius. In attempting to kill Claudius, Hamlet risks enduring estrangement occurring within himself at multiple psychological levels. The levels of estrangement that risk Hamlet’s psychological sense of identity are religious estrangement, moral estrangement, estrangement from countrymen, estrangement from his mother, and estrangement from women in general.
Hamlet feels self-actualized from following basic religious principles of living. This is shown by Hamlet’s refusal to commit murder thus preventing Hamlet from committing ...
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and risks himself being estranged from his religious principals as he begins to think of suicide. If Hamlet were to kill Claudius, he would be violating a central religious principle against murdering another human being. Both suicide and murdering King Claudius would make him feel guilt at having violated religious coda, thus representing estrangement at the level of his religious consciousness (Knight 14). As Hamlet has the duty to avenge his father’s death by killing his father’s murderer, the King, Hamlet risks estrangement at the religious level.
Hamlet is also principled in a moral sense. To kill a king would mean violating his internal conviction against committing crimes that might harm the hierarchical order of a state's government (Scott 56). This is one of the reasons that Hamlet with a sword in his hand does not kill Claudius while he finds him in an act of praying. Deceit is also one of the main moral issues Hamlet has to face in order to avenge his father’s death that ...
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army of soldiers, spies and friends (Sterks, "Enstragement"). Against such odds, he faces the serious risk that "palace intrigue" could work against him according to L.C Knight. A suspicious Claudius could, for example, have some of Hamlet's colleagues in the royal household go out and spy on him, or assassinate him. Thus, in attempting to kill Claudius, Hamlet risks estrangement in the form of his former colleagues of the royal household turning against him (Knight 123).
" Beggar that I am, I am even poorer in thanks;/ but I thank you; and sure, dear friends, my thanks/ are too dear a halfpenny…/ Why, anything, but to the purpose. You were / ...
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"Hamlet - Enstragement In Hamlet." Essayworld.com. January 31, 2005. Accessed November 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-Enstragement-In-Hamlet/21459.
"Hamlet - Enstragement In Hamlet." Essayworld.com. January 31, 2005. Accessed November 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-Enstragement-In-Hamlet/21459.
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