Challenges
“A Discussion of Hamlet's Challenges”
The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a very interesting play about a man with problems that run through his family and he has to figure out a way to fix what is going wrong. The way that he has to figure out what is wrong is by acting mad and getting revenge on the person who killed his father. The first thing that happens in this story is we find out that old King Hamlet is killed by his brother Claudius. After this we are told Hamlet's mother Gertrude marries not long after King Hamlet's death to his brother Claudius. As we are first introduced to the story we find out that now King Hamlet has to live in purgatory because he was killed by his own brother. When Hamlet and his father finally
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The reason why Hamlet is so agitated about this problem is that he thinks that his mother should have mourned over the death of her husband longer than she did. Another reason why Hamlet has a problem with his mother getting married so quickly is because he thinks that his mother may be apart of how his father died. The first time we meet Hamlet we get to see how much Hamlet is still mourning over the death of his father by the way he dresses is all white and he is as white as a sheet. With seeing how Hamlet and his mother both dealt with the death of King Hamlet in different ways. As Hamlet starts to talk in his soliloquy we get to see how alone Hamlet actually feels. The way that we see this is explains how alone he feels because he can't tell his mother how he really feel because he is afraid of hurting his mother. We can see how Hamlet is afraid of hurting his mother because when he wanted to insult his Uncle Claudius he did not because he knew that Gertrude would defend him. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Hamlet stated, “A little month; or ere those shoes were old; With which she followed my poor father's body; Like Niobe, all tears; — why she, even she, — O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer,” (Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 149-153) The reason why this is …show more content…
The reason why this is important in the play is because here is where Hamlet has to consider his conscience of either wanting to kill his uncle of not wanting to kill his uncle for his father. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare he stated, “Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, And fall a-cursing like a very drab,”(Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 571-575) This is important in the play because here we get to see both sides of Hamlet fighting each other. By this it means that hamlet wants to kill his uncle for killing his father but on the other hand he does not because he is afraid of what will happen if he is killed. This is such a worry to Hamlet because the reason why Hamlet will not kill himself is because the gods say that it is a sin if someone kills themselves. Another way that we see the controversy that is going on in Hamlet is by the way he will always want to do something but then he doesn’t do it because he is afraid of what will happen to him. Another way that we see this is because in this act Hamlet stated how people are starting to procrastinate the things that they do so that they do not have to do it. The reason why Hamlet does not like this
Hamlet has also idealized his mother, and it seems like that they have had a close relationship before this incident. Hamlet really loved his mother, and I think he put her on a pedestal. In the play, this delusion that he has about his mother's character is quickly shattered. She, "within a month" (1,2,145) marries Hamlet's uncle who has for some odd reason become king after Hamlet's father's death. Hamlet is sickened and disillusioned by his mother's behavior saying things like "O that this too too sullied flesh would melt" (1,2,129) and "frailty, thy name is woman"(1,2,146). But the realization that he has about his mother also ties into the realization that he has about his father and ultimately
Hamlet was deeply depressed about his father's death, in this quote he couldn't even speak in complete sentences so you can see how much this affected Hamlet and how it took a toll on him. Hamlet overcome this obstacle by taking revenge for his father and killing his uncle for the murder of his father. Hamlet was also going through other obstacles because right after his father death his mother married his father's killer which is his uncle. Hamlet was bummed about this and really disappointed in his mother's actions. In the Play Hamlet said “she married.
Hamlet begins play by breaking bonds with his family. The death of his father, the former king of Denmark, leaves Hamlet in a state of depression. During Gertrude’s, Hamlet’s mother, and Claudius's, the new king and Hamlet’s paternal uncle, wedding ceremony, Hamlet is the only one wearing “nighted colour” (1.2.68), which are clothes for mourning. He isolates himself from the joys of everyone and instead chooses to wallow in his own dark world, with his initial grief for his father being the catalyst for his descent into isolation. Hamlet begin to have hopes to commit “self-slaughter” (1.2.132) as he is frustrated with his life in its current state. Hamlet is rejecting his family as it is, instead lamenting on his father, to the point where he contemplates suicide. By isolating himself from the land of the living, Hamlet believes he does not have a purpose anymore. When his mother comments on Hamlet seeming sad during the ceremony, Hamlet replies that he “know not ‘seems’” (1.2.76), commenting on his mother’s use of the seem and saying that his depression is not an act, but genuine. His mother notices that “His father’s death and our o’er-hasty marriage” (2.2.57) could be the cause of his emerging familial isolation and regrets to not have been able to do anything to help her son. Having seemingly lost his purpose in life, Hamlet begins his isolation by removing himself from his family.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia.
His mother and his uncle have married after only 2 months of Hamlet’s father’s death. This has caused Hamlet to be in a heavy state of anger, mixed with his already deep state of mourning. According to Theodore Lidz, these two states can lead to one thinking back on all the negative wishes one may have had in the past. Considering Hamlet’s relatively young age, death wishes upon a parent are not serious but they are common among children. “…and as most, if not all, children have sometimes had death wishes toward a parent, guilt over such wishes can become intense when the parent dies.” (Lidz 48) All of these emotions mixed together so early in the play could lead to a sense of depression.
The internal conflicts prevalent in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet are the reason why the play is viewed as a classic. Conflicts are imperative in tragic plays as conflicts are the stimulus for catastrophe in the end. The characters in Hamlet face inward conflicts that are equally important as their outward conflicts. Three characters who especially exhibit this are Hamlet, Claudius, and Ophelia. The conflicts that these characters face play a major role in their downfalls and, ultimately, their deaths. Through Claudius’ struggle to conceal the murder of King Hamlet, Ophelia’s guilt for Hamlet’s madness, and Hamlet’s inaction due to fear, Shakespeare conveys that each character faces a dilemma, in which there are no simple solutions.
Initially the reader can understand Hamlet’s anger with Gertrude when she marries his uncle. “O, most wicked speed, to post / with such dexterity to incestuous sheets,” says Hamlet in disgust towards his mother’s marriage (1.2.161-12). Gertrude did marry the king’s brother quickly after his death, so any resentment Hamlet feels towards his mother is justified. The reader sympathizes even more with the character when Hamlet says of the union, “It is not, nor it cannot come to good. / But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue” (1.2.163-164). It appears that Hamlet is attempting to be respectful towards his mother, so it’s easy to appreciate his character in the beginning.
The second possible reason could be that after his father's death, all he wants in life is to be dead. He doesn’t want to be alive because he doesn’t have his father and the fact that his mother moved on super fast, has gotten to him. He wants to kill himself, but he knows that is against what God wants. He’s stuck between being numb and not having anyone there for him. From Hamlet there are three main challenges that Hamlet is facing in Act one.
Hamlet continuously throughout the play not only self-deprecates himself, but he also talks about committing suicide and the reasons he has for and against it. Hamlet self-deprecates for multiple reasons consisting of: Claudius killing his father, Gertrude marrying her husband’s brother after his death, his complications with Ophelia, and his very own insanity. From Hamlet’s self-deprecating tendencies, it is evident that he is not only depressed, but suicidal. Hamlet has many things going on in his life, and to him, he doesn’t know if his life is even worth living. Hamlet states, “To be or not to be? That is the question…Be all sins remembered.” (3.1.57-91), meaning that Hamlet really couldn’t care less what happens anymore. Hamlet summarizes the pros and cons to suicide, and he questions what he should do. He does this because he has changed – primarily his personality – and the events occurring around him are
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was
We see in Act 1 that Hamlet is depressed by how he is taken the death of his father so hard that he feels betrayed by his mother because she remarried so quickly. Hamlet is so upset that his mother has moved on so quickly and to not just any ordinary person to Hamlet's Uncle and new
She married. “O, most wicked speed, / to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets! / It is not nor it cannot come to good: But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue” (i.ii. Lines 161-164 Shakespeare). Hamlet greatly disapproves of his mother and uncles positive attitudes towards his beloved father’s death. Hamlet is outraged that “but two months dead—nay, not so much, not two. / So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr. / So loving to my mother” (i.ii. Lines 142-144 Shakespeare).The hasty marriage between Claudius and Gertrude hurts Hamlet deeply and is only one of many things that Hamlet must battle between his thoughts and his instincts. Part of the reason Hamlet is so melancholy is his mother's marriage and throughout the play he is forced to deal with the feelings that have arisen from the conflict he is in. In a way, confronting his mother provides Hamlet with a way to vent his anger and let loose some of the rage he has held in. The conflict that he had with Gertrude and Claudius is mainly projected upon Gertrude because Hamlet is more focused on dealing with murdering Claudius to avenge his father than he is angry and disgusted by Claudius’ incest marriage he is in with
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character Hamlet must deal with both external and internal conflict. Hamlet encounters many struggles and has trouble finding a way to deal with them. With so many corrupt people in his life, Hamlet feels as if there is no one that he can trust and begins to isolate himself from others. A result from this isolation leads Hamlet to become melancholy. Hamlet struggles with suicidal thoughts, wants to kill King Claudius, and is distraught over his mother’s hasty marriage with his uncle Claudius.
By Hamlet’s third soliloquy he still has not taken action to avenge his father’s death and hates everyone around him, including himself. He begins his soliloquy with the famous line “To be, or not to be?” With this line Hamlet is asking whether is it better to be alive or to be dead. In this soliloquy Hamlet contemplates suicide and discusses the trials of life. He wishes not to have to deal with the hardships of life, but realizes that he is not brave enough to take his own life. Not only is he, like most humans, afraid of the unknown, but he is also afraid of committing a sin and damning his soul. At the end of his third soliloquy Hamlet has yet to do as his father’s ghost told him and Hamlet is still angry with himself for being such a coward.
Shakespeare writes in a way that is difficult to understand for anyone that speaks the modern language. His story Hamlet is understood through the emotions felt by his characters. Hamlet is the main character who is conflicted with revenge and conspiring friendships. Hamlet returns home from Germany for his father’s funeral only to find far more troubling things. Hamlet is a conflicted character but that doesn’t stop him from knowing what he wants. Revenge is the main cause of his confliction but with great reason, which is important to understand about this play because it helps explain all the betrayal and tragedy.