The Madness Of Prince Hamlet
In Hamlet, Prince of Denmark the protagonist exhibits a puzzling duplicitous nature. Hamlet contradicts himself throughout out the play. He endorses both of the virtues of acting a role and being true to oneis self. He further supports both of these conflicting endorsements with his actions. This ambiguity is demonstrated by his alleged madness, for he does behave madly, only to become perfectly calm and rational an instant later. These inconsistencies are related with the internal dilemmas he faces. He struggles with the issue of revenging his fatheris death, vowing to kill Claudius and then backing out, several times. Upon this point Hamlet teeters through the play. The reason for this ...
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In this statement the play makes an easy to follow shift. This shift consists of Hamlet giving up the role of a student and mourning son. Hamlet says,
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
(1.5.99-103)
Hamlet is declaring that he will be committed to nothing else but the revenge of his fathers death. There is no confusion about Hamletis 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, Hamletis status and intentions suddenly and with out demonstrated reason becomes mired in confusion.
When Hamlet appears again in act two, it seems that he has lost the conviction that was present earlier. He has yet to take up the part assigned to him by the ghost. He spends the act walking around, reading, talking with Polonius, Rosencrantz, ...
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About this speech he says,
What is Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do
Had he motive and cue for passion
That I have? (2.2.561-564)
In this praise of this players ability to act, Hamlet is saying that if he were such an actor he would have killed Claudius by now. This link between vengeance and acting that is present here is what Hamlet struggles with until very near the end. He is then moved to swear that he should kill Claudius when he says,
I should Čai fatted all the region kites
With this slaveis offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I? (2.2.581-585)
He makes this big buildup of what he should have ...
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"The Madness Of Prince Hamlet." Essayworld.com. August 3, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Madness-Of-Prince-Hamlet/50145.
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