Textual Analysis: Hamlet

Hamlet

            Shakespeare uses Hamlet to show that revenge is not as noble as it seems. The inner turmoil Hamlet faces throughout the play takes a toll on the young prince, questioning his sanity. While his morals were tested and strained, the framework of his sanity took a toll as he sought after expectant revenge.

            Young Hamlet has been rightfully troubled by his father’s death. His uncle questions how “the clouds still hang on [him],” and he remarks how he is covered with the “trappings and the suits of woe” (1.2). The king’s sudden death seems to be affecting Hamlet much more than it affects his mother and uncle. He admits to wishing his “flesh would melt,” while his mother was able to remarry nearly instantly after the funeral (1.2).

            When the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to him, he explains the truth about his death. Hamlet learns that the King did not die from a venomous bite, but rather was poisoned by Claudius in his sleep (1.5). Upon hearing this, Hamlet is eager to avenge his father’s death. He responds at once of his willingness for “swift revenge” (1.5). He is conditioned to believe that to honor his father, he must murder who murdered him. This is the only way he knows how to reconcile his death, though it proves to not be the most effective plan.

            Hamlet has now decided he must kill his murderous uncle. He finds him alone, praying, and sees this as an opportunity to act out his revenge. However, he deduces that Claudius’s soul will ascend directly to heaven if he is killed mid-prayer, and ultimately decides his revenge can wait another day (3.3). Hamlet cannot reason to kill Claudius with the probability of him going to heaven. He needs for his uncle to suffer in purgatory as equal payment for his father’s death.

            Though at first he was eager to avenge his father, Hamlet begins questioning the ghost’s reliability. He wonders whether the ghost might be fooling him, and decides he needs more substantial evidence that Claudius killed the king. This stutter in motivation could shed light on Hamlet’s wavering stability. In Act One, Shakespeare establishes Hamlet’s eagerness for death. The historical view on mental health at this point in time was much different than the view society holds now. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume Shakespeare is suggesting Hamlet’s mentality is unreliable in itself. His recurring exclamations of worthlessness and suicide would suggest to the audience that his mentality cannot be trusted in the first place. This degradation of character sets up Hamlet himself for fatal flaws, including how easily he can succumb to the idea of honorable revenge.

            In theme, Hamlet questions his own sanity in regards to his despair. He wonders whether the ghost has taken note of his “weakness and melancholy” and chosen to manipulate him, that the ghost might “abuse [him] to damn [him]” (2.2). Here, Hamlet has acknowledged his own “weakness” in the form of sadness. He can agree that he is in a compromised state of mind after his father’s recent death. He understands that something malevolent might leech onto this weakness and abuse his vulnerability. To ensure his revenge is rightful, Hamlet seeks to find proof of his uncle’s actions. This way, he can know for sure whether or not his despair had been taken advantage of.

            To uncover more evidence about his uncle, Hamlet seeks to stage a scene that will allow him to judge Claudius’s conscience. A troop of actors has arrived at the castle to entertain the king and his family. Hamlet reaches out to one actor and asks him to recite a scene in which a son seeks revenge for his father by killing a king. The actor becomes so emotional within the scene that he begins to cry (2.2). This fact disturbs Hamlet. He cannot fathom how an actor could feel so emotionally involved with a fictional death, when he himself cannot avenge his own father. He exclaims that the actor’s tears were “all for nothing!” and that his own situation is far more deserving of emotion, though he is yet unable to follow through (2.2). This marks Hamlet’s struggle within himself – whether or not he truly believes in blind vengeance to prove familial honor.

            After the short recitation, Hamlet stages a scene for the actors to perform that should prove whether or not Claudius is guilty. In this play, the performers will reenact the King’s murder as told to Hamlet by his father’s ghost. Hamlet hopes to gauge Claudius’s reaction to the scene to determine his blame. As the murder scene unfolds, Claudius exits the theatre in a rage (3.2). This is all the proof Hamlet needs, and is now convinced that his uncle murdered his father. Though he still doesn’t take any action to avenge the late king, Hamlet has put his wariness at rest for the time being.

            Hamlet is astonished to see an army of men marching off to their deaths for nothing but territory; he remarks his shame of seeing “the imminent death of twenty thousand men” before him (4.4). He finds their cause futile, believing these men are willingly walking into their graves like beds (4.4). Contrastingly, Hamlet believes that their sacrifice would be worthwhile if their honor was at stake. In his case, his life is worth surrendering in order to avenge his father, and he cannot believe himself for standing on the sidelines while his uncle continues to live freely. At Hamlet’s core, he believes revenge to be a perfectly valid reason to surrender yourself, if not the only valid reason. While he can’t imagine why the soldiers would willingly die for a piece of land, he surrenders his life to avenging his father’s memory. This commitment costs him much of his sanity and, ultimately, his life. However, the young prince shows that honoring your family holds the highest amounts of respect and dignity within the culture.

            In the first half of the play, Hamlet cannot get himself to commit to Claudius’s murder. He spends days contemplating the ghost’s true identity, whether Claudius was truly guilty, and the timing for the murder to take place. This hesitation is caused by Hamlet’s unwillingness to murder his own uncle. Part of him knows that by killing the new king, he would be a murderer, even if his intent was to honor his father. However, society has taught him that he must avenge his father, and killing Claudius is how he must achieve it. Shakespeare highlights Hamlet’s reluctance to demonstrate the unrest revenge introduces. Revenge cannot be executed seamlessly, nor does it create peace within the individual. Hamlet’s internal struggle in coming to terms with his quest reestablishes the idea of discontent through revenge.

            In Act 5, Hamlet has his two childhood friends killed and feels no remorse. He tells Horatio that the men brought their deaths upon themselves by “making love to [the king’s] employment,” and that “they are not near [his] conscience” (5.2). This statement shows a distinction in Hamlet’s character. At the graveyard, he mourns the death of an old jester from his childhood. But here, Hamlet does not show any sorrow for his old friends. He is able to compartmentalize his feelings towards the men who worked closely with his uncle and kill them without much of a second thought. Shakespeare uses this distinction to show what the act of revenge can change in a person. A man who was otherwise empathetic and held value for human life was easily able to arrange his friend’s murders. Though Hamlet has gotten one step closer to avenging his father, it comes with the cost of lost values and blurred morals.

            In addition to Hamlet’s value of honor and vengeance, Claudius also demonstrates the cultural need for revenge. After Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius speaks to Laertes about how he plans to retaliate. Laertes remarks that he plans to cut Hamlet’s throat in the church, to which the king replies, “Revenge should have no bounds” (4.7). Claudius doesn’t have a problem with Laertes committing murder in a place so sacred as the church. In part, he is placing the need for revenge about his religion, declaring it should not be bound by even the holiness that exists in the church building. His view of revenge is so lofty that it shadows even that of his religious systems. Shakespeare is able to highlight the societal emphasis on revenge and honor by reiterating the idea among many different characters. Claudius becomes more similar to Hamlet in that they both want the other dead in the name of familial revenge.

            Hamlet’s sanity is questioned from the beginning of the play. The historical opinion on a melancholy mind does not hold it at the highest standard. A person suffering as Hamlet suffered after his father’s death is seen as unhinged and unpredictable. Hamlet, seizing an opportunity, uses insanity as a ploy to uncover the truth about Claudius’s actions. Shakespeare shows a bit of Hamlet’s internal struggle to demonstrate how the longing for revenge can destroy a person even further. He lost hold of his morals and chased after an ending that he might not have fully agreed with. Murder as revenge is valued in this society, as Shakespeare demonstrated through the values of his characters. Though Hamlet was already disheveled after his father’s death, the effects of a demanding plot for revenge created a disaster out of his young life.