FREE ESSAY ON THE COMPLEXITY OF HAMLET'S CHARACTER

THE COMPLEXITY OF HAMLET'S CHARACTER

Enclosed in William Shakespeare's Hamlet lies the greatest gallery of captivating
characters. The role of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, in particular is considered one of
theater's greatest acting challenges, as well as an aspect noted for the success of the
play. Shakespeare focused the tragedy on the deep conflict and complexity within the
thoughtful and idealistic Hamlet as he is torn between the demands of his emotions and
the hesitant skepticism of his mind. Hamlet's inconsistency is portrayed throughout the
drama in many different forms, one being his convenient inability to animate his desires.
A subsequent aspect of Hamlet's antic disposition that is put on trial is his trusting
constitution. Hamlet's character also raises inquiry with his madness, and whether or not
it is truly authentic insanity or exhaustively a facade. These three distinct
characteristics create and promote complexity within the persona of Hamlet.
Hamlet portrays the tendency to incongruously suffer from a lymphatic and inactive
temperament, wherein he at times lacks the energizing ability to act. His tendency to
procrastinate and excessive introspectiveness is shown extensively when Hamlet is unable
to seek revenge on his uncle Claudius, to avenge his father's murder. Hamlet promises
that when the Ghost tells the story of the murder, his revenge will follow:
"Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge"
(I.iv.29-31).
However, at the end of the scene he doesn't seem to be in a big hurry, he exits saying,
"The time is out of joint: O cursed spite/ That ever I was born to set it right!"
(I.iv.189). Hamlet continues to prolong the delay of the execution of his revenge because
of his inability to act; therefore his murderous rage is misdirected into a stream of
greatly contrasting impulsive actions. Hamlet releases his murderous impulse in a moment
of temporary insanity, where he loses control and kills the hidden figure of Polonius,
without a thought of reason. Hamlet's change of temperament and newly awakened ability to
act continues to develop while he is shipboard on his way to England with Claudius'
accomplices, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. Inspired by his restlessness, he discovers the
letter ordering his own death, and forges a new commission which substitutes for his
death the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet again puzzles the audience with
a nature that is both credulous and doubtful and definitely complex.
The trusting attitude of Hamlet is presented when Hamlet first encounters the spirit of
his dead father. Without a second thought, Hamlet is ready to execute an elaborate
revenge plot upon the king, as he trusts and believes the words said by the apparition of
Hamlet Senior to be true, and without infidelity. In contrast, Hamlet soon after begins
to doubt the words of his father, and starts to become suspicious and paranoid, believing
the ghost was really an evil spirit and not his father. This principle of trust is
recognized and is substantially beneficial to Claudius, who demonstrates his awareness of
Hamlet's trusting disposition whence he is plotting the demise of Hamlet with Laertes:
"..He, being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils, so that with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated,.."
(IV.vii.133-137).
Hamlet again exemplifies his disbelief when he first encounters Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern, and immediately believes that his friends have arrived in Denmark with
concealed motives. This inconsistent aspect of Hamlet's character also attributes to the
question of purity in Hamlet's insanity.
Preceding the unveiling of the vengeance plot, one is presented Hamlet, a model courtier,
soldier and scholar, as quoted by Ophelia "The glass of fashion, and the mold of form,/
Th' observed of all observers," (III.i.156-157). With the death of his father and the
hasty, incestuous remarriage of his mother to his uncle, however, Hamlet is thrown into a
suicidal frame of mind in which life seems boring and unpleasant, demonstrated when he
states:
"O God, God
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seems to me all the uses of this world!"
(I.ii.132-134).
All that Hamlet is able to do in this frustrated state of mild insanity is to lash out
with bitter satire at the evils he sees and then relapse into suicidal melancholy. It is
in this state that he meets the equally mysterious figure of his father's ghost with its
supernatural revelations of murder and adultery and its injunction upon Hamlet to revenge
his father's murder. The spirits effect on Hamlet was truly diabolical, and ensuing this
oppressing encounter he decides to play the part of insanity, which he implements in
order to prove his noxious uncle's guilt, without arousing suspicion:
"Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,"
(I.v.169-172).
In opposition to the beliefs of his authentic insanity, Hamlet puzzles the court with
what he claims to be an assumed madness. Which leaves it to be a difficult enigma in
distinguishing whether or not the insanity is of solid background, or is merely a hoax
played by the ingenious Hamlet. 
The mystery of Hamlet's complex character attributes intensely to the exultation and
success of Shakespeare's masterpiece. This mystery marks the essence of Hamlet's
character as it ultimately does for all human personalities. 
Bibliography
William Shakespeare's Hamlet