New Way To Hamlet's Downfall example essay topic

To be or not to be-that is the question, Hamlet asks himself in this famous soliloquy what he should do the situation he is in. As we live, we make thousands of decisions each day, and each decision that we make makes a big difference in our lives. In the decision making process there has been a question that was raised by the Freudian psychologists. Is one following his or her pure conscious will, or is there something else that influences the decision making process The Freudians argue that there is such influence called unconsciousness. They argue that even though we cannot physically acknowledge our unconsciousness, it is probably influencing every move of one's life. Shakespeare demonstrates that doing what is against one's personal ethical code creates sense of guilt in unconsciousness and will eventually lead to one's downfall.

We live in series of conflicts. Norms and laws of the society often conflict with an individual's wills and desires. Even one's own unconsciousness could conflict with one's conscious motivation, or vice versa. Hamlet in the play has conflicting minds because he decides to murder Claudius, his uncle, in order to revenge for his father King Hamlet. Hamlet wants to get revenge on Claudius but he has trouble going through with it because his unconsciousness is telling him to do what is ethical.

He often has to remind himself that the King has killed his father and is also infecting his mother with filthy incestuous acts. Without reminding himself, he cannot complete the task of killing his relative, although he is the Claudius is the one who murdered his father. Hamlet cries and asks why he cannot act on his revenge unlike Fortinbras, feeling guilt in his consciousness because he cannot revenge for his innocent father. There is ano the kind of guilt, unconscious guilt, that is hiding and resisting to be pulled by his consciousness and that is the main reason why Hamlet cannot act right on his words and makes other people believe that he is genuinely insane.

According to Freudians, when one's having thoughts that one does not want to recall-anything unpleasant, one hides the thoughts and keeps them in the unconsciousness. Freudians also say the actions that one takes will reflect such conflict or problem stored in unconsciousness. When Hamlet has the perfect chance to kill Claudius he hesitates and lets him escape from the situation. Freudians would say that his deep wish in his unconsciousness state that doesn t want to harm people, especially his uncle, is preventing him from committing a crime that is against the society, the norms, and his own ethical code.

Hamlet, like his hesitation shows, does not realize that fact and thinks of himself as a coward. As Hamlet hesitates and goes through his little plays that delay his revenge, he is leading his own way to downfall. When his emotion is fierce, after finding out that Claudius did kill his father, he goes into Gertrude's closet to talk to her and throws a dagger at Polonius, thinking that he is the King. Killing Polonius opens a new way to Hamlet's downfall, getting Laertes upset and wishing to kill Hamlet, no matter how or where. If Hamlet didn t hesitate to kill Claudius when he was praying, Hamlet wouldn t have gotten killed by the poison on the sword, which was secretly planned by Laertes and the King, who later realize that Hamlet knows the truth behind his father's death. All the guilt that was created heads them to follow their downfall slowly and eventually setting other situations that fastens the event.

Gertrude usually does not show any guilt through out the play but in this particular scene, as her unconscious guilt is stimulated by Hamlet's bitter and sharp speeches daggers without forms feels that she is very guilty of incest. Hamlet was verbally attacking Gertrude and pinpoints her sin calling Claudius a mildewed for Blasting his wholesome brother. By raising the guilt that Queen tries to repress, Hamlet forces Gertrude to bring the guilt from her unconsciousness. It makes such a contrast with other answers that Gertrude made against Hamlet's bitter words. For example, before Hamlet talks about incest Gertrude answers: What have I done, that though dor's way thy tongue In noise so rude against me By making a guilty act, one walks his way to downfall because the guilty act conflicts with his ethical code of unconsciousness. That is what happened to Hamlet, Claudius, and the Queen in this play, and all three of them have committed crimes that make them feel guilty unconsciously, bringing them to follow and create other situations that lead their way to downfalls.