Shakespeare Hamlet example essay topic

Shakespeare Hamlet is a complex story of revenge, the lack of love, and the madness of Hamlet. Hamlet is a victim of his own humanity. The decisions he must make, make him human, and his indecisiveness makes him a man. His fathers ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death, and Hamlets procrastination to do so adds to his humanity. What we have in Hamlet is the exploration and implicit criticism of a particular state of mind or consciousness. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses a series of encounters to reveal the complex state of the human mind, made up of reason, emotion, and attitude towards the self, to allow the reader to make a judgment or form an opinion about fundamental aspects of human life (L.C. Knight, 192).

Hamlet had many opportunities to kill Claudius but he decided not to and rested the justification on his morals. Hamlet tries to logically think of a way to rid the world of the treacherous King, and his logic, and intelligence were his downfall. Like any tragic hero these were his tragic flaws. Hamlets primary dilemma is that of every human being... (Cahn 69). Hamlet is presented by Shakespeare as the ideal man.

He is described by Ophelia in Act 3 Scene 1 lines 163-167 O, what a noble mind is here overthrown! The courtiers, soldiers, scholars, eye, tongue, sword, (Th expectancy) and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mold of form... Hamlet is what every man should be and as such an extreme, he is also presented with an extreme situation. He is a superman among men (G.W. Knight 38). Hamlet is a very smart individual, and he uses his intelligence to try to solve the mystery of how to expose his uncle, and prove what the ghost said. In trying to prove Claudius guilt, Hamlet aroused suspicion.

His uncle tried to get rid of Hamlet by send in him to England on a diplomatic visit, which was really a plea by Claudius for the King of England to execute Hamlet. Hamlet figured this out, and came back to Denmark, only after sending his escorts to their death, For in the war of logic it will be found that he (Hamlet) has all the guns (G.W. Knight 39). Hamlet is the only character that is true to himself, his beliefs, and his principles. This is why he procrastinates, it not his nature to kill, and he feels that if he does murder Claudius he will be no better than Claudius. The play dramatizes the perpetual struggle to which all civilization that is genuine is doomed (Alexander 184). His principles make him human, and as such he must suffer what all humanity suffers from, a conscience.

This led to his ultimate, yet victorious end. Hamlet was a respected and loved man. Fortinbras said For he was likely... To have proved most royal. Hamlets humanity brought Hamlet to his tragic death.

Hamlets humanity is also what helped make Hamlet a masterpiece, T.S. Elliot I believe said it best when he proclaimed Hamlet to be the Mona Lisa of literature. Alexander, Peter Hamlet, Father and Son. The Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1955. pp. 183-185 Cahn, Victor L. Shakespeare The Playwright: A Companion to the Complete Tragedies, Histories and Romances. Greenwood Press, New York 1991 Knight, G.W. The Embassy of Death in The Wheel of Fire Methuen ~r Co., Ltd. London 1954.

Knight, L.C. Some Shakespeare Themes & An Approach to Hamlet. Stanford University Press, San Fransisco 1966 Elliot, T.S. The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism. 1922 Shakespeare, William Hamlet Washington Square Press, New York 1922.