The Many Faces of Hamlet Essay - 1597 Words

The Many Faces of Hamlet Of all the characters in the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character of Hamlet is without a doubt the most complex. His emotions are never stable, his feelings are constantly changing, and his behavior is confusing and inconsistent. Hamlet is described as a half a dozen characters rolled into one (Shaw 344) and with as many adjectives in one sentence as cruel, angry, tender, depressed, clownish, manic, and filled with loathing for women, humanity, life, and himself (Epstein 329). When put into perspective, however, perhaps this harsh description of Hamlet is justified. With all he has had to deal with (apparitions, deaths, deceit, and interference in his personal life,) it would be very†¦show more content†¦Such melancholic and fickle temperament may be part of the cause of his inability to take action, especially the revenge he was supposed to take on Claudius which got postponed on several occasions for sufficient periods of time. Sigmund Freud goes on to state that the plot of the drama shows us that Hamlet is by no means intended to appear as a character wholly incapable of action (349). This statement may seem true but to many readers it may also seem otherwise. Freud is correct yet it is painfully obvious that Hamlet is indeed marked by his incapability of deliberate, immediate, and decisive action as shown again by the delay of his revenge on Claudius. While Hamlet most certainly could have killed Claudius immediately upon learning he was the culprit involved in his fathers death, Hamlet preferred to think out his actions instead of jumping headlong into something with irreversible consequences. In fact, Hamlet passed up one specific and ample opportunity to take his revenge when he found Claudius alone, knelt in prayer. His scrupulous nature prevented him from taking morbid advantage of the situation. His is a nature more prone to thought than action (Clemen 113) and, as he said himself, thus conscience does make cowards of us all (H amletShow MoreRelatedComparison of a Play within a Play in Hamlet Essay779 Words   |  4 Pageseverybodys face. It seems to zoom in on characters that are speaking and does not try to capture the listeners reactions to those who are speaking. Also, the lighting is very dark and the scene is closed in. The background scenery of a castle room is very small and closed in. This makes the room not actually seem like a real castle room because castle rooms are always shown as big, lavish, well-kept rooms. In the second movie, the camera, instead of being on one persons face, usually staysRead More The Importance of Fear in Hamlet Essay examples1063 Words   |  5 PagesImportance of Fear in Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚   Fear plays an important role in Shakespeares tragic play, Hamlet. 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In all of Shakespeare’s astounding plays, Hamlet is by far seen as the most remarkable. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in its amazing eloquence, was finally produced and acted out in English in 1600. The tragedy, although remarkable, is twice the length of any other play on stage. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is based