Hamlet Study Essay Example For Students

Hamlet Study Essay The study of Shakespeares Hamlet has been one that is very extensive as wellas enormous. Books upon books have been written about this great play. About anequal amount of books, however, have been written about one character; Hamlet. Acritic of Hamlet once said, a man set out to read all the books about Hamletwould have time to read nothing else, not even Hamlet. What is the greatfascination with Hamlet and the characters contained within. The great intriguecomes from the ambiguity of the play and its characters. Hamlet is thetragedy of reflection. The cause of the heros delay is irresolution; and thecause of this is excess of the reflexive and speculative habit of the mind. (Halliday. 217) The reason that there are so many critics is that there are just as manytheories and speculations. Even in the twentieth century on could create ordiscover a new theory or criticism based on the play or its characters. The character Hamlet, alone, has over two dozen critics from Quinn to Coleridge. Some critics come up with sane interpretations of Hamlet while others use wildand crazy themes. Some conclude that the problem with Hamlet, and a classicthesis used by many students, is insanity versus sanity. The theories progressfrom there. The theories range from manic-depressant to homosexual. Some areeven very creative; such as the thesis that Hamlet is actually a female raisedas a male. But no matter how many theories, speculations, or thesis there are,many hold some ground. This thesis paper will not stress on any of thestatements I have listed above. However, I will take a stand with Coleridge andspeak about Hamlets genius and cognitive activity. Hamlets true dilemma isnot one of sanity -Vs- insanity; but one pressing his intellectual capacity. Being a scholar, Hamlet is prone to thought rather than actions. Cause ofHamlets destiny. . . in intellectual terms . . . is a tragedy . . . ofexcessive thought. (Mack. 43) Hamlets role was to make a transcendentalmove from scholarly prince to man of action. Hopefully this report will helpopen another, or even stress a classic, view as to Hamlets character and hisprolonged delay. When a student goes to write about Hamlets character theyoften begin by hitting a wall. Not the usual writers block in which the mindgoes blank, but one of information loaded upon information. Where does a pupilbegin? In this vast mound of information, where do we start? The Beginning wouldbe a proper place. The background of Hamlet may help to bring some insight ontohis character analysis. Hamlet is . . . a man who, at thirty, still livesamong students. As the play opens, Hamlet has just returned from WittenbergGermany, most likely attending Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg. Hamlet was in-fact so found of this Wittenberg university, that he had requestedfor his immediate return there. Hamlet probably felt a little out of place in apolitical environment. For the hasty marriage of his uncle and his mother mayhave been one only of convince. To add fuel to this enraged fire, Claudius soboldly denies Hamlets return to his asylum. This could not have angeredHamlet anymore. For where Hamlet saw that the time is out of joint, Hamlethimself was out of joint. How? Hamlet saw Elsinore as a prison rather thana sanction. Denmarks a prison. . . world. . . in which there are manyconfines, wards, and dungeons . . . Denmarks oath worst . . . I could bebounded in a nutshell and cut myself a kind of infinite space . (II.II.243-255) A man who is a mere prince of philosophical speculators,as F.E. Halliday puts it, would not feel at home in an incestuous tomb ofpolitics. Hamlet is so out of place and suffering from his newly lost andhomesickness of Wittenberg, that he must spend all of his days in deepcontemplation. As a university student, Hamlet is used to nothing but thoughtand contemplation. Hamlet is not accommodated with the environment of politics. Hamlet suffers from a superfluous activity of the mind. (Coleridge. 35) Heknows of nothing else but thought and reason. Unbeknown to Hamlet, his next taskwould soon bring him to be caught between being a man of though and a man ofaction. As the play progresses hamlets thought and reason takes on a greatform. Most of Hamlets thoughts, like that of many scholars, are about that ofthe world and those things contained within them. Characteristic ofShakespeares conception of Hamlets universalizing mind that he should makeHamlet think first . . . entirely. (Mack. 39) Hamlet has come to terms withthe fact that the world, even including his mother, is nothing but an un-weededgarden filled with evil. Hamlets one true problem is with himself. He seeshis character as something most desirable; and the character of Horatio as evenmore coveted. Hamlet does not understand the life of his uncle, mother, andothers within Denmark. For these people use no reason. What is a man if hischief good and mark et of his time be but to sleep and feed? A best, no more. Sure he that mad us with such large discourse, gave us not that capability andgodlike reason to rust in us unused. (IV.IV.33-39) . Hamlet believes that lifeis useless if men do not use their great power of reason and intellect. In-factmen become evil, stale, and flat. The next show of Hamlets intellect ishis question of everything. Whether it is the world as a whole or death itself;Hamlet finds a need to question all. The play Hamlet is filled with soliloquiesin which Hamlet is questioning some action or feeling. This problem ofHamlets comes from his over use of his brain. For, he has to contemplateevery action, prepare for the reaction, and also prepare for any consequences. Self-discovery through Adversity EssayBibliographyBevington, David. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. Prentice-Hall,Inc. Englewood Cliffs. N.J.1973 Boyce, Charles. Shakespeare A to Z. RoundablePress, Inc. New York. N.Y. 1990 Coleridge, Samuel T. Shakespearean Criticism. Vol I. J. M. Dent Sons, Ltd. London, England. 1960 Halliday, F. E. Shakespeare Criticism. Berald Duckworth Co, Ltd. London, W.C. Holland, Norman N. Psychoanalysis Shakespeare. Octagon Books. New York. N.Y. 1976 Jenkins, Harold. Hamlet. Methuen Co. Ltd. UK. 1982 Quinn,Edward. The Major Shakespearean Tragedies. The Free Press. New York. N.YTragedies of William Shakespeare and Sonnets: Commentary. Http://futures.wharton.upenn.edu/~tariq58/hamlet/cheat/criticism%20on%20hamlet.htm. 12/18/98