Hamlet Character Analysis Essay

murder in a rash mood. It is not seen by Gertrude. It tries to urge

Complete desolation, agony and laughter are only some of the emotions brought to the reader’s attention whilst reading William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Born in 1564, the world’s most famous playwright has written many renowned pieces of theatre, with Hamlet arguably being the most celebrated. The drama follows the sufferings of a young prince by the name of Hamlet. His father, the king, has just died, and his uncle, Claudius, has taken the throne and married Hamlet’s mother and father’s widow, Gertrude, just a few days after the funeral of the previous king. Hamlet detests Claudius and describes him as a goat-man, not even a human. By examining several passages from throughout the play, one can conclude that Claudius’ character clarifies Hamlet’s

The final way that Laertes acts as a foil to Hamlet occurs once again when Claudius and Laertes are discussing Laertes’ actions to achieve his vengeance. Claudius gives Laertes advice saying, “That we would do/ we should do when we would; for this ‘would’/ changes” (4.7.134-136). Claudius is warning Laertes that if he waits long enough, he will probably end up not doing anything at all and will not achieve his goal of vengeance. This quote spoken by Claudius is quite similar to when King Hamlet’s ghost meets with Hamlet earlier in the play to warn him about how he was killed by Claudius and that he must get revenge. King Hamlet’s ghost also warns Hamlet saying, “Taint not thy mind” (1.5.92), telling him to not over think his plan because otherwise he will not pursue his vengeance. After Claudius warns Laertes to not get side tracked, the audience is reminded of King Hamlet’s ghost telling Hamlet to not over think because then their plans will not be pursued. This scene acts as a foil towards Hamlet because soon after the conversation, Laertes does pursue his plan of seeking vengeance, whereas Hamlet has been working on his plan the whole play, and has still not started to execute it.

“To be, or not to be, that is the question,” (3.1.64). This famous line in William Shakespeare's Hamlet perfectly encapsulates Hamlet’s internal struggle throughout the play. Hamlet tells the story of the young prince of Denmark and his desire for revenge on the uncle, Claudius, who murdered his father. As is the case in many works of literature, Hamlet changes greatly throughout the play. However, because of his attempts to act insane, it can be difficult to precisely map the changes in Hamlet’s character. By carefully investigating his seven soliloquies, where he is alone and has no need to “put on an antic disposition,” one can understand and interpret how Hamlet’s character develops throughout the play.

Hamlet proves himself a temperamental, twisted character in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. The Prince of Denmark conveys his facetious demeanor with his behavior and sharp tongue, especially in scenes with Ophelia and Gertrude. Although Hamlet’s situation is difficult and easily sympathized by viewers, his aggression should ultimately be focused on his murderous uncle.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a work of immense depth in character development, most notably the personal, moral and psychological battles

Throughout Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, Hamlet’s emotions, actions, and thoughts cause much trouble during the play. Hamlet encounters stages of sarcasm, inanity, suicidal tendencies/self-deprecation, and procreation/indecision which develop not only his personality but the play itself. Hamlet uses sarcasm to express his emotions, pretends to be insane (ultimately leading him to become truly insane), self-deprecates throughout the play due to family events, and procrastinates because he is indecisive. Hamlet encounters many life-altering events throughout the play such as his uncle poisoning his father and quickly remarrying Hamlet’s mother, to accidentally killing Polonius thinking it was Claudius, all the way to debating upon: his own

Hamlet’s personality, while hinted at by other characters and his own actions, remains something of an enigma throughout the play. His soliloquies are necessary, therefore, to gain a fuller understanding of it. One of two main aspects of his personality revealed this way can be found in the most iconic lines of the play. Hamlet is shown to be depressed before the “to be or not to be” soliloquy, but it is this speech in which he shows the depth of his grapple with life. He contemplates killing himself outright, questioning “[w]hether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer [t]he slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, [o]r to take arms against a sea of troubles, [a]nd, by opposing, end them?” (Act 3, Sn. 1, ln. 58-61). This soliloquy exposes the depressed mood he has had throughout the play up to this point and shows it for what it really is. Another key point of Hamlet’s personality emphasized through soliloquy is his devout loyalty to his father, the king. When Hamlet speaks to the ghost of his father, his suspicions seem to be true: Claudius, the king’s brother, murdered the king in order to gain his crown. Upon learning this, Hamlet is initially shocked, but then flies into a rage, cursing his uncle and calling him a “smiling, damned villain” (Act 1, Sn. 5, ln. 25-112). The fact that Hamlet is willing to kill his own uncle in order to avenge his father goes great lengths to show his devotion. It is clear from this that loyalty is a crucial element of Hamlet’s character. As well as allowing the audience a much better understanding of what type of person Hamlet is, this insight into his personality gives a glimpse of his

Hamlet’s character drastically develops over the first four acts of Hamlet, and his character development is most evident through the soliloquys he delivers throughout the play. The most character development can be seen from the first soliloquy, to the second, the third, the sixth, and the seventh and final soliloquy. Hamlet’s inner conflict with his thoughts and his actions are well analyzed in his soliloquys, as well as his struggles with life and death, and his very own existence. He begins the play wondering what purpose he has in life now that his father is dead and his mother has remarried to his uncle. After finding out foul play was involved in his father’s death, he is motivated by revenge. Finally, he wonders how he can enact his revenge while continuously overthinking and overanalyzing his actions.

Hamlet fascinates many readers and the first thing to point out about him is that he is mysterious. Shakespeare's work demonstrates Hamlet's dilemma as the role of revenger showing a man of thought forced to be a man of action. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and introspective. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle's guilt before trying to act. He is equally overwhelmed with questions about the afterlife, about the wisdom of suicide, and about what happens to bodies after they die.

Shakespeare has done an absolutely fantastic job with capturing true human characteristics with Hamlet. Hamlet bounces back and forth with his emotions so inconsistently that one never knows what he is about to do next. One moment he is rational, and the next he is not. One moment he wants to plan things out, and then he does things

A lot about a character shows when that character steps back and says what they are thinking aloud. This is the case for Prince Hamlet. William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” features Prince Hamlet, who is depressed about his father’s death and his mother remarrying so soon. Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father and is ordered to get revenge for his father’s death. Hamlet devotes himself to the task, but because of his nature,he enters deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Throughout the play, Hamlet can be seen being very noble but indecisive at the same time. Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal a lot about his character. However, they mainly show the readers how he can be noble but is indecisive. He can also be viewed as someone in a deep state of depression. These values are shown through his actions of insulting himself for not acting upon what he believes in and continuously reassuring himself that what he does is correct, as well as his word choice and feelings that are expressed out loud to himself during the seven soliloquies.

For many of us, our parents are our role models and the people we look up to. They take care of us and know what is best for us. For that reason, we should obey them and listen to their advice. We all have heard that before, but what if that is not true? What if our parent's decisions are not for the best of us? That is what Shakespeare proposes in the play Hamlet. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, parents' flaws lead to the destruction of their loyal children. Ophelia, Laertes, and Hamlet's lives are hijacked by their filial piety.

“To be, or not to be: That is the question”(3.1.58). This is probably the most famous quote in all of Shakespearean literature and was uttered by the main character, Hamlet, of the play “Hamlet” written by Shakespeare. It demonstrates his instability and suicidal thoughts. Throughout the play he comes off as a very unpredictable and complex character. He makes many rash decisions, but at the same time often takes a lot of time to contemplate many of his choices. Through Hamlet’s language and voice, we can examine what type of character Shakespeare created. Hamlet acts differently towards people in contrast to his actual thoughts, which are projected through his soliloquies. Due to the insanity

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare is categorized as a royal catastrophe. As a power-hungry barbarian, Claudius murdered his own brother to steal the throne, and his wife. At the beginning of the play, Old Hamlet visited Young Hamlet to request him to avenge his intentional death. Therefore, the Prince of Denmark spent the entirety of the play scavenging for the strength to terminate his uncle’s life, although time after time he managed to lose the motivation at the last minute. Throughout the whole play, Shakespeare portrayed Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, as an oblivious and pure wife who could not construct decisions on her own, which was a complete lie. Queen Gertrude automatically married her brother-in-law after her first husband’s death, creating more than just the obvious arguments. Characters who knew the truth about Old Hamlet’s death formed the conclusion that Claudius acted alone for the total of the plot, however this cannot be the case. Hamlet’s mother is directly linked to the concealment of Old Hamlet’s murder.