Hamlet Mousetrap Essay
Hamlet’s feelings towards his father prompt him onto the path of revenge, but the immorality of revenge and his interaction with characters restricts him from taking action. During the Elizabethan times, revenge was not only considered a crime but was also considered an immoral act. Thus, for Hamlet, the idea of revenge plagues his mind as it questions his views on morality. At the start of the play, the ghost entices Hamlet into taking revenge for the late King Hamlet’s ‘foul and most unnatural murder’. However, he finds it hard to commit to the revenge because he has doubts that ‘the spirit that I have seen/ May be a devil, and the devil hath power’. Therefore, Shakespeare uses metatheatre staging the play ‘The Mousetrap’ in order to confirm
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the truth behind the ghost’s words. However, even after confirming Claudius’ guilt, he still delays his revenge. When Claudius is praying in Act 3 Scene 3, Hamlet of his scholar nature hesitates to kill him as he contemplates mortality after death thinking he must kill Claudius when he is denying his sin in order to send him to ‘hell’. I believe that Hamlet’s use of delay is because of his meticulous characteristic and in comparison to Laertes, he is considered rational. Upon hearing his father’s death, Laertes seeks action immediately as he utilises language befitting of a typical revenger: I dare damnation / Let come what comes; only I’ll be revenged/ Most thoroughly for my father.
Shakespeare utilises dark imagery throughout the play to illustrate the consequences of revenge within the corruption of Denmark.
The characters within Shakespeare draw upon connections between moral corruption and the health of the state. The marriage between Claudius and Gertrude is the embodiment of moral corruption as it impacts Hamlet’s comparison of life to ‘an unweeded garden/ that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature/ possess it merely’. The appearance of the ghost monopolises ‘if thou didst ever dear father love’ in order to corrupt Hamlet into dedicating his life to getting revenge on the ‘villain dwelling in all Denmark’. Also, the presence of the ghost as a supernatural being indicates that ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’. Rozencrantz and Guildenstern easily ‘give up ourselves in the full bent. To lay our service freely at your feet. To be commanded’ by the embodiment of corruption, Claudius himself shows that corruption can infect other people. The use of Yorick’s skull leads Hamlet to contemplate about human mortality as he looks upon the physical remains of the dead. Hamlet’s experience at the graveyard causes him to express disgust at the physical corruption of the body following death with ‘Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind
away’.
There is a duality to the character of Hamlet, as his madness changes from an act to true insanity throughout the duration of the play. When Hamlet is compelled by the ghost to take revenge for his father, he adopts an act of madness in front of others. This is the main form of dramatic irony in the play, as only the audience and Hamlet himself know that the madness is feigned. Different language structure is used when Hamlet is ‘mad’. Hamlet talks in rhyming couplets when he is sane however, he talks in blank verse when he is feigning ‘madness’ symbolising the struggle and conflict in Hamlet’s mind. However, Hamlet’s performance of madness soon turns into reality when he murders Polonius, thinking that it was Claudius. However, he does not react like a sane person as he shows no emotional reaction. When the ghost appears later in the scene, only Hamlet can see it. For the ghost to be real, Gertrude must be able to see it however Hamlet ‘bend his eye on vacancy’. From the beginning of the play, the watchmen and Horatio could see the ghost. However, the use of dramatic irony shows that over time, the ghost has become a part of Hamlet’s imagination where it corrupted his mind into madness.
the truth behind the ghost’s words. However, even after confirming Claudius’ guilt, he still delays his revenge. When Claudius is praying in Act 3 Scene 3, Hamlet of his scholar nature hesitates to kill him as he contemplates mortality after death thinking he must kill Claudius when he is denying his sin in order to send him to ‘hell’. I believe that Hamlet’s use of delay is because of his meticulous characteristic and in comparison to Laertes, he is considered rational. Upon hearing his father’s death, Laertes seeks action immediately as he utilises language befitting of a typical revenger: I dare damnation / Let come what comes; only I’ll be revenged/ Most thoroughly for my father.
Shakespeare utilises dark imagery throughout the play to illustrate the consequences of revenge within the corruption of Denmark.
The characters within Shakespeare draw upon connections between moral corruption and the health of the state. The marriage between Claudius and Gertrude is the embodiment of moral corruption as it impacts Hamlet’s comparison of life to ‘an unweeded garden/ that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature/ possess it merely’. The appearance of the ghost monopolises ‘if thou didst ever dear father love’ in order to corrupt Hamlet into dedicating his life to getting revenge on the ‘villain dwelling in all Denmark’. Also, the presence of the ghost as a supernatural being indicates that ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’. Rozencrantz and Guildenstern easily ‘give up ourselves in the full bent. To lay our service freely at your feet. To be commanded’ by the embodiment of corruption, Claudius himself shows that corruption can infect other people. The use of Yorick’s skull leads Hamlet to contemplate about human mortality as he looks upon the physical remains of the dead. Hamlet’s experience at the graveyard causes him to express disgust at the physical corruption of the body following death with ‘Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind
away’.
There is a duality to the character of Hamlet, as his madness changes from an act to true insanity throughout the duration of the play. When Hamlet is compelled by the ghost to take revenge for his father, he adopts an act of madness in front of others. This is the main form of dramatic irony in the play, as only the audience and Hamlet himself know that the madness is feigned. Different language structure is used when Hamlet is ‘mad’. Hamlet talks in rhyming couplets when he is sane however, he talks in blank verse when he is feigning ‘madness’ symbolising the struggle and conflict in Hamlet’s mind. However, Hamlet’s performance of madness soon turns into reality when he murders Polonius, thinking that it was Claudius. However, he does not react like a sane person as he shows no emotional reaction. When the ghost appears later in the scene, only Hamlet can see it. For the ghost to be real, Gertrude must be able to see it however Hamlet ‘bend his eye on vacancy’. From the beginning of the play, the watchmen and Horatio could see the ghost. However, the use of dramatic irony shows that over time, the ghost has become a part of Hamlet’s imagination where it corrupted his mind into madness.