The Importance of Fear in Hamlet Essay examples

Hamlet is considered to be Shakespeare's most famous play. The play is about Prince Hamlet and his struggles with the new marriage of his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle and now stepfather, King Claudius about only two months after his father’s death. Hamlet has an encounter with his father, Old King Hamlet, in ghost form. His father accuses Claudius of killing him and tells Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet is infuriated by this news and then begins his thoughts on what to do to get revenge. Hamlet and Claudius are contrasting characters. They do share similarities, however, their profound differences are what divides them.Hamlet was portrayed as troubled, inactive, and impulsive at times. Hamlet is troubled by many things, but the main source of his problems come from the the death of his father. “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter” (Act 1, Scene 2). In this scene, Hamlet is contemplating suicide, which is caused by the death of his father and the new marriage of Gertrude and King Claudius. This scene shows the extent of how troubled Hamlet is. Even though Hamlet’s father asked him to avenge his death, Hamlet is very slow to act on this throughout the play. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” (Act 3, Scene 3). This scene shows King Claudius praying, while Hamlet is behind him drawing his sword but decides not to kill

Hamlet realizes that he is dying and that he now has the excuse to kill Claudius

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, death is an essential motif in the play. By Hamlet grieving the loss of his noble father, King Hamlet, Hamlet throughout the play seeks to find meaning, in what he now perceives to be, a meaningless world. After the death of Hamlet’s father, Hamlet is revisited by his father’s spirit who has now become a ghost seeking vengeance. The ghost narrates the account of his death to Hamlet and informs him that he was heinously murdered by his brother, Claudius, in which “the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” (1.5.46-47) and has robbed him of his life, crown, and queen. Throughout the play, one can see the role that death plays in shaping Hamlet’s life in which it results in Hamlet contemplating his existence, finding the purpose in his life, and results in him having a discontentedness attitude towards which only be fulfilled by avenging his father’s death.

Hamlet always wants more information before he takes revenge. Hints of his true motivation first appear when the ghost appears and Hamlet says, “Haste me to know ’t, that I, with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge.” (I.v.29-31). Hearing of the murder, his first reaction is to gather more information about the identity of the murderer. After his meeting with the ghost, he starts to question the authenticity of the ghosts information. Thus begins his quest to confirm the truth by acting as if he is insane. His activity leads to the invitation of an acting troupe to improve. Hamlet takes advantage of their presence, convincing them to reenact a play similar to his father’s murder. During the play, Hamlet notes how the King and Queen

In Hamlet, William Shakespeare presents the main character Hamlet as a man who is fixated on death. Shakespeare uses this obsession to explore both Hamlet's desire for revenge and his need for assurance. In the process, Shakespeare directs Hamlet to reflect on basic principles such as justice and truth by offering many examples of Hamlet's compulsive behavior; as thoughts of death are never far from his mind. It is apparent that Hamlet is haunted by his father's death. When Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, their conversation raises all kinds of unthinkable questions, for example murder by a brother, unfaithful mother, that triggers Hamlet's obsession. He feels compelled to determine the reliability

Now that the pressure has been lifted, Hamlet has the opportunity to ponder death, something that has demanded his attention since his father's demise. In the famous soliloquy Hamlet attempts to discard the appearance of death to dissect the survival instinct of human beings. Why, when death appears to be the desired escape from "a sea of troubles," do human beings refuse to succumb? (III.1 ln 59) Hamlet quickly grasps the inherent fear of the unknown present in the human psyche. This display of insightquickly disappears once Hamlet again faces emotional pressure. He somewhat maintains his ability to separate reality and appearance, but his intense passions stunt his efforts to remain on a direct course to his goals.

Hamlet went from a mourning Prince of Denmark over the death of his father, to a revenge seeking murderer as the play progresses. This transition in character is evident through Hamlets meaning of life; the desire for justice. After the meeting with the ghost, his worldview completely changed to a craving for revenge. In today’s ever changing world, people who act on revenge are no longer socially acceptable. These people who act on revenge often commit mortal sins and heavy crimes and are set to life in prison. Hamlet is the only person to blame for his death because of his worldview. “A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.” (Shakespeare 3.3 76-78) At this point, Hamlet’s worldview is completely based on getting revenge for his father. There is nothing more important in life at the time. Hamlet has just killed Polonius mistaking him as Claudius. Moments later Hamlet is face to face with Claudius, but chooses not to kill him because he wants the worst for him. Hamlet says “ I, his sole son, do this same villain send to

Hamlet is a suspenseful play that introduces the topic of tragedy. Throughout the play, Hamlet displays anger, uncertainty, and obsession with death. Although Hamlet is unaware of it, these emotions cause the mishaps that occur throughout the play. These emotions combined with his unawareness are the leading basis for the tragic hero’s flaws. These flaws lead Hamlet not to be a bad man, but a regular form of imperfection that comes along with being human.

Hamlet is an intensely cerebral character marked by a desire to think things through and pick situations apart. As such, for the first three and a half scenes of Hamlet, Hamlet broods over his father’s death instead of taking action against Claudius, his father’s murderer. Hamlet finally acts because he experiences three intense emotional jolts that allow him to view his situation from a new perspective and spur him to action. Together, these emotional experiences alter his personal philosophy about the nature of death and God’s relationship with creation, and compel him to finally take decisive action.

Likewise, this journal discusses the mystery of death as depicted in the play Hamlet. In the repercussion of his dad 's death, Hamlet gets obsessed with the notion of demise. All through the play, he considers demise from awesome various perspectives. He supposes both the profound result of death, represented in the phantom and the substantial stays of the dead, like the decaying corpses in the cemetery. And since death in the play is the cause as well as the consequence of vengeance, then it is intimately tied to the subject of vengeance and justice.

Fear of the unknown arises in the very beginning scene of the play with the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet's father.

Hamlet's view of death morphs through the course of the play as he is faced with various problems and troubles that force him to deal with life differently. This holds particular significance for a modern audience who, unlike the predominately Christian audiences of Shakespeare's time, contains an assortment of perspectives on the subject. For the majority of the play, Hamlet yearns for death, but there are different tones to his yearning as he confronts death in different circumstances; from his encounter with his father's ghost to the discovery of his beloved Ophelia dead in the ground, Hamlet feels an irrepressible urge to end his life. There are obstacles that get in his way, both internal and external, and Shakespeare's play is an

As the play goes on, Hamlet encounters his father's ghost. Upon discovering that his father's death wasn't natural, he says with much feeling that "Haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift/ As meditation, or the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge" (1.5.29-31). The ghost tells him that he was murdered by Claudius. His motives were his love for Gertrude, without her knowledge or consent. Hamlet is furious and seething with rage with the news of his father's murder. Knowing the truth makes Hamlet's subconscious realize that killing Claudius would be similar to killing himself. This is so because Hamlet recognizes that Claudius' actions of murdering his brother and marrying Hamlet's mother, mimicked Hamlet's inner unconscious desires. Hamlet's unconscious fantasies have always been closely related to Claudius' conduct. All of Hamlet's once hidden feelings seem to surface in spite of all of the "repressing forces," when he cries out, "Oh my prophetic soul!/ My uncle!" (1.5.40-41). From here, Hamlet's consciousness must deal with the frightful truth (Jones).

The "dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will" (3, 1, 78-80) and keeps people from choosing death due to the fear of the unknown. His entire monologue compares the two extremes: life and death. He analyzes both situations and thinks very much about the consequences of either action. This occurs not only in this speech, but also later in the play, and demonstrates that Hamlet’s indecisive personality is his fatal flaw. Hamlet does not only have a hard time choosing between life and death. He also can not choose between murdering Claudius or not. Even though Hamlet wanted to kill his uncle, he was terrified of the possible consequences and could not make a concrete decision. Consequently, he ended up procrastinating greatly with the murder.

Throughout the play, Hamlet undergoes a painful split between head and heart, caused by numerous family problems. When the prince returns home to pay his final respects to his dear and beloved father, he discovers a most terrible fate. He learns that his noble father whom he had loved so, is not only deceased, but his own uncle is to blame. Hamlet's mother, whom he also loves dearly, is now sharing an "adulterous bed" with the very murderer of her once beloved husband. Initially, Hamlet is driven to a state of ruin by