Hamlet

Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is based on a 12th century tale by Saxo Grammaticus, which Shakespeare most certainly never saw, and is part of a spate of revenge dramas which were extremely popular around the turn of the seventeenth century; the missing link between Saxo and Shakespeare may be an earlier play about Hamlet (called by scholars the Ur-Hamlet), which may or may not have been written by the Ur-Revenger himself, Thomas Kyd, based in turn on François de Belleforest's Histoires tragiques (1570), a free translation of Saxo.

The revenge drama derived originally from the Roman tragedies of Seneca but was established on the English stage by Thomas Kyd with The Spanish Tragedie (c. 1590). This work, which opens with the Ghost of Andrea and Revenge, deals with Hieronimo, a Spanish gentleman who is driven to melancholy by the murder of his son. Between spells of madness, he discovers who the murderers are and plans his ingenious revenge. He stages a play in which the murderers take part, and, while enacting his role, Hieronimo actually kills them, then kills himself. The influence of this play, so apparent in Hamlet (performed c. 1600-01), is also evident in other plays of the period.

Hamlet is the son of the late King Hamlet (of Denmark), who died two months before the start of the play. After King Hamlet's death, his brother, Claudius, becomes king, and marries King Hamlet's widow, Gertrude (Queen of Denmark). Young Hamlet fears that Claudius killed his own brother (Hamlet's father) to become king of Denmark, greatly angering Hamlet. Two officers, Marcellus and Barnardo, summon Hamlet's friend Horatio, and later Hamlet himself to see the late King Hamlet's ghost appear at midnight. The ghost tells Hamlet privately that Claudius had indeed murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ear. Hamlet is further enraged and plots of how to revenge his father's death.

In his anger, Hamlet seems to act like a madman, prompting King Claudius, his wife Gertrude, and his advisor Polonius to send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet and figure out why he is acting mad. Hamlet even treats Polonius daughter Ophelia rudely, prompting Polonius to believe Hamlet is madly in love with her, though Claudius expects otherwise. Polonius, a man who talks too long- windedly, had allowed his son Laertes to go to France (then sent Reynaldo to spy on Laertes) and had ordered Ophelia not to associate with Hamlet. Claudius, fearing Hamlet may try to kill him, sends Hamlet to England. Before leaving, however, Hamlet convinces an acting company to reenact King Hamlet's death before Claudius, in the hopes of causing Claudius to break down and admit to murdering King Hamlet. Though Claudius is enraged, he does not admit to murder. Hamlet's mother tries to reason with Hamlet after the play, while Polonius spied on them from behind a curtain. Hamlet hears Polonius, and kills him through the curtain, thinking the person is Claudius. When finding out the truth, Hamlet regrets the death, yet Claudius still sends him to England, accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with orders from Claudius that the English kill Hamlet as soon as her arrives.

After Hamlet leaves, Laertes returns from France, enraged over Polonius' death. Ophelia reacts to her father's death with utter madness and eventually falls in a stream and drowns, further angering Laertes. En route to England, Hamlet finds the orders and changes them to order Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed, as does occur, though Hamlet is kidnapped by pirates one day later. The pirates return Hamlet to Claudius (for a ransom), and Claudius tries one last attempt to eliminate Hamlet: he arranges a sword duel between Laertes and Hamlet. The trick, however, is that the tip of Laertes sword is poisoned. As a backup precaution, Claudius poisons the victory cup in case Hamlet wins. During the fight, the poisoned drink is offered to Hamlet, he declines, and instead his mother, Gertrude, drinks it (to the objection of Claudius). Laertes, losing to Hamlet, illegally scratches him with the poisoned sword to ensure Hamlet's death. Hamlet (unknowingly), then switches swords with Laertes, and cuts and poisons him. The queen dies, screaming that she has been poisoned and Laertes, dying, admits of Claudius' treachery. Weakening, Hamlet fatally stabs Claudius, Laertes dies, and Hamlet begins his death speech. Though Horatio wants to commit suicide out of sorrow, Hamlet entreats him to tell the story of King Hamlet's death and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths to all. Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, arrives from conquest of England, and Hamlet's last dying wish is that Fortinbras become the new King of Denmark, as happens.

Hamlet's Character

The character of Hamlet stands quite by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can well be: but he is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility-the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from the natural bias of his disposition by the strangeness of his situation. He seems incapable of deliberate action, and is only hurried into extremities on the spur of the occasion, when he has no time to reflect, as in the scene where he kills Polonius, and again, where he alters the letters which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are taking with them to England, purporting his death. At other times, when he is most bound to act, he remains puzzled, undecided, and sceptical, dallies with his purposes, till the occasion is lost, and finds out some pretence to relapse into indolence and thoughtfulness again. For this reason he refuses to kill the King when he is at his prayers, and by a refinement in malice, which is in truth only an excuse for his won want of resolution, defers his revenge to a more fatal opportunity, when he shall be engaged in some act 'that has no relish of salvation in it.' 'His ruling passion is to think, not to act: and any vague pretext that flatters his propensity instantly diverts him from his previous purposes. A further objection to the suicide theory, one that may be even more significant in its implications, is the form of the question Hamlet puts to himself. He states his dilemma as 'to be or not to be'- not as 'to live or not to live.' the issue, as he sees it is not between mere temporal existence and non-existence, but between 'being' and 'non-being.' In other words, he is struggling with a metaphysical issue: not the narrow personal question of whether he, an individual man, should kill himself, but the wider philosophical question of man's essence.

Hamlet is facing the moral question that has too long been thought irrelevant to the play: whether or not he should effect private revenge.

'To be'- what? To be a man, in the full metaphysical sense of 'being' as it was understood by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. 'Being' is what a thing is, its essence, that which defines it. 'Or not to be.' There is no middle position. A thing is or it is not. The first line of the soliloquy, so often droned in a tone of meditative musing, should be spoken as an insistent, emphatic, even passionate demand. The whole moral question is focused in this challenge.

Is it any nobler, Hamlet asks, to endure evil passively, as all the voices of Church and State and society have insisted, or does the true nobility of that which is man demand that he actively fight and conquer evil that beset him? Can it really be virtue to sit back and leave it to Heaven? On one level, we are debating the morality of private revenge, but on another we are thrown headlong into the metaphysical dilemma of the Renaissance.

Hamlet is trapped between two worlds. The moral code from which he cannot escape is basically medieval, but his instincts are with the Renaissance. Shocked from his unthinking acceptance of the commandments of Church and State, he is forced to find a new orientation. Can God have created man a thinking creature and yet have ordered him not to use the very faculty that raises him above the animals? What is it 'to be'?
The prince tries to make sense of his moral dilemma through personal meditations, which Shakespeare presents as soliloquies. Another perspective of Hamlet's internal struggle suggests that the prince has become so disenchanted with life since his father's death that he has neither the desire nor the will to exact revenge. Morality and disenchantment, both of which belong solely to an individuals own conscious, as two potential causes of Hamlet's procrastination, and therefore he offers support to the idea that Shakespeare is placing important emphasis on the role of individual perspective in this play. Hamlet's use of personal meditations to 'make sense of his moral dilemma", also helps to support contention that Shakespeare is attempting to use these dilemmas to illustrate the inner workings of the human mind. Hamlet's delay in seeking revenge for his father's death plays an important role in allowing Shakespeare's look into the human mind to manifest itself. In Hamlet, Shakespeare is attempting to make a comment about the complexity of the human mind, and the power that a person's mental perspective can have on the events of his life.

Madness in Shakespeare's Hamlet

Madness may be "mental incapacity caused by an unmentionable injury." Such wounds often are not easily perceived but may be revealed in time of stress. Hamlet's question, "have you a daughter?"(Act II. Sc2 182) Polonius about the Prince's emotional state. What is hidden will surely be told to Cloudius by his adviser. Laertes' search for revenge is sharper proof that madness in degrees of publicity causes harm to the observers. Claudius promise "no wind of blame"(Act IV, Sc.7, 66) once Laertes kills Hamlet; perhaps this is what the uncle has sought all along for himself. Ophelia has a unique, very powerful form of madness; she seems caught as a "baker's daughter,'(Act IV, Sc. 5, 42) between memories of her father and Hamlet who ought have spoken to her of events on "Valentine's day.'(Act IV, Sc 5, 48) She is doubly hexed and the madness she has infects the whole court. Once a person's mental state has been studied in public, there is no telling the injuries which may affect the viewers.

Ever since the death of King Hamlet young Hamlet has been what appeared to be in a state of madness. In a discussion between Hamlet and Polonius Hamlet questions Polonius by asking him "have you adaughter."(Act II, Sc.2, 182) In this discussion Hamlet shows anticbehavior towards Polonius by mocking him when Hamlet would usually show great respect for him because of the age and he is high position in the court. This sudden question to Polonius has caused Polonius to believe that Hamlet has a form of love-sickness and that Polonius is sure to tell Claudius of his condition. Hamlet also accuses Polonius of being the "Jephthah, judge of Israel,"(Act II,Sc.2, 399) meaning that Polonius would put his country in front of his daughter. Hamlet has now convinced Polonius that he is in a state of madness because he knows that Polonius cares for his daughter very much and would never put her second. By convincing Polonius that he has no consideration for the well-being of others, Hamlet is then hoping that Polonius will tell the court of his emotional madness.

Unlike Hamlet, Laertes has developed a different kind of madness, a madness that is controlled by revenge. When Laertes is talking to Claudius, Laertes gets so much revenge building up inside him against Hamlet that Laertes now wants to "cut his throat."(Act 4,Sc.7,125) Laertes' behaviour is caused by the sudden death of his father who was without a due ceremony,and his sister who has been driven mad, has contributed to the madness that is being built up inside Laertes. This madness grows even stronger when Claudius promises "no wind of blame"(Act IV.Sc7,66) when Laertes kills Hamlet. With Claudius being the puppet holder and Laertes being the puppet, Claudius turns Laertes into a savage beast to avenge for his fathers' death; perhaps this is what the Claudius has planned all along. Laertes has a form of madness that is escalating because Laertes knows that he has the capabilities and motivation to act on what he believes on.

Ophelia has a unique form of madness unlike Hamlet's and Laertes' because it a mixture of love and hate. An example of hate is when she sings about a "baker's daughter."(Act IV,Sc.5,42) Ophelia is referring to the way her father used to treat her before the tragic incident of his death. A love within her madness is when she speaks about the events on "Valentine's day."(Act IV, Sc.5,48) When Ophelia speaks about Valentines day she is referring to the events of romance that she was denied. Ophelia's madness is brought on by her lack of being able to demonstrate any maturity in trying to cope with her losses and in return can only inflict her madness on the court.

By stating that Hamlet could have controlled his fraudulent madness, he then had the capability of controlling his conscious mind into acting traditional. Where Laertes was very influential by others and had no real control over the mental state he was developing by the sway of Claudius. Ophelia was the most innocent victim of all because she was the side affect of everyone else's actions and had no idea that she was mentally disintegrating. It can be noticed that within each of these three people there can be no reassurance on what the affect they may have on others due to their mental state in public.

Horatio, Claudius, Gertrude

Horatio is Hamlet's friend, he cames to Denmark to partecipate Hamlet's father funeral. He ramains in Denmark to confort and to calm Hamlet.Hamlet defines Horatio as person in which passion and judjement are goodly mixed up. Horatio always temper Hamlet's sensitivity saying "Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so". He accepts fairly the events, and he must survive for wielding his positive influence over the state of Denmark.

Gertrude is a loving mother who isn't involved in her husband's murder but she is the cause of Hamlet's moral torment. She only sees the positive sides of life trying to avoid the negative ones. She is positive spirit who does not believe her husband apparition. Gertrude answers proudly her son's accusation "What have I done that thou dar'st wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me?" showing a lack of self-criticism and an innocent conscience. At the end-dying poisoned- she'll realize Claudious guilt.

At the beginning of the tragedy Claudious appears as a man who has been able to conquer a reign- what he greatly wanted- and at the moment he trusts in mantaining it. He appears as a successful man because he succeeds in politics and in love. He is pragmatic man who loves life and his pleasures and he doesn't control his own instincts. He trusts too much in himself but at the end all his designs overwhelm him.