Hamlet: Misunderstood And Multifaceted Man

Hamlet, the main character introduced in Shakespeare’s, is a misunderstood and multifaceted man. Hamlet first appears as a victim of circumstance but soon after plunges into the depths of the spiraling human mind. Through Hamlet’s state of self-torment, Shakespeare allows the audience to travel with the character through his tortuous obsession of mortality and faced with the need for fatal vengeance.

Life has dealt Hamlet a bad hand, he emerges as a character that feels grief to an extent that is paralyzing. Coupled with his grieving is a deathly feeling of betrayal from those closest to him. His sense of family has been violated by his mother’s remarriage so soon after his father’s death. Even more of an insult is the fact that she married his father’s brother whom Hamlet surmises may have had a part in the king’s early demise. This overwhelming set of circumstances leads him to question the worth of life. This is best seen in his infamous soliloquy “To be, or not to be, that is the question…”1

To a great extent, Hamlet is possessed with his inner thoughts that him captive. These feelings are expressed at the start of the play when Hamlet relays to his mother that mourning (for his father) is normal, but in addition he has vengeful feelings stirring in him that cannot be
“My hour is almost come/When I to sulfurous and tormenting flames/ Must render up myself.”2 From this point on, he is a tragic character of contradiction. For example, he sets out to feign madness, but manages to portray a sense of humor that is so brilliant the recipients are unaware they have fallen victim to his insults. No mad man could conjure up this dry, understated type of humour that Hamlet possesses. Hamlet’s humour aids him in his deception of madness; the majority of those around him think his behavior is just plain mad not