Hamlet Thesis

Hamlet Character thesis
The tragedy of Hamlet is the most famous in English plays, focusing on the complications arising from betrayal, love and death without giving the audience a final and positive resolution to them. Conclusion of this play will be a no definitive answer to life’s most alarming questions. Hamlet’s world is a perpetual enigma.
Hamlet is indecisive and doubtful.
Hamlet is generally characterized as indecisive, a man who is always doubtful about things. Inititally Hamlet decides, after his meeting his father in a form of a ghost, to take revenge of his father’s death. He said:
"...from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, that youth and observation
copied there; And thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain, Unmix'd with baser matter...."
This is a pressurizing statement for Hamlet, coming from his father. Nothing else would occupy his energies or time except this. Until his friends joined him, he requests them not to “let on” if he begins to conclude and give up.
Starting with the noblest motivations which were to punish his father’s murderer. Hamlet had a deep association with his words and language which caused him to base his perceptions of reality on his judgment and understandings of his actions which allowed him to become frantic with conceiving meaning.
After judging by some incidents and judgments we get to know that he has started to enact his “mad” plan. However an effort of revenge is missing, which is continued since the whole duration of the play. Hamlet had also started to doubt the Ghost, thinking if he is trustworthy and truthful. So he plans to “catch the conscience of the king” by making the players execute “The Murder of Gonzago”. As he saw Claudius’ convicted reaction, Hamlet is once again compelled to take revenge.
Even having a perfect opportunity, he discovers Claudius in a period of illusory confession, but he still does not take benefit from that. Although he does get his revenge; however; his lack of decision making power gets nearly everyone killed, he cared about.
Hamlet’s inability to enact actions was his religious analysis. He had his afterlife in mind, and the quality of it. He himself considers suicide and wished that the ““the Everlasting had not fix’d/ His cannon ‘gainst self- slaughter!”.
He was struggling in himself, after detesting his state of living and wishing to end it. He wanted to rather live in “an unweeded garden” than in hell as a result of suicide. Similarly he wanted to take revenge of his father’s death yet desired to execute in a moral and an acceptable way. His indecisiveness was a form of reconsideration. His high-morale can be seen, but there is obvious impossibility of murdering Claudius within his book of morals.
He was very thoughtful to the point of worship. Hamlet also behaved impulsively and rashly in the play. It is surprising when he does act, when he stabs Polonius through a curtain without even confirming who he is. He steps very easily into the role of a madman, upsetting the other characters with his obvious innuendos and wild speech. He behaves erratically too sometime in the play.
However it is also important to note that he is extremely discontented with the affairs in Denmark and of his own family. He got very disappointed in his mother for marrying his uncle soon after his father’s death. He also repudiated Ophelia who was once he claimed to love wholeheartedly. He considers his own death and even committing suicide. He portrays his distrust and disgust in women through his harsh words. Even him professing dissatisfaction, it is notable that he should think about the threats to Denmark’s national
security.

Although hamlet is a protagonist, Hamlet is the weakest character in the play.
In the beginning he seemed to be a strong character in the play but readers realize that he was the weakest amongst all. What makes hamlet so weak is that first taking revenge for his father seemed a pride but after some events he proved to very weak from inside because he thought of himself as a slave and a quiet, weak, humble servant. Hamlet played a drama which resulted death of many people. Secondly, through the planning of Laertes and Claudius, a battle began. Hamlet did fight Laertes but that fight resulted in the death of Queen Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes and later death of himself. As Hamlet states "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”
In the play Hamlet blames himself for the lack of passion and dedication. However being a protagonist his should not think like that, but every person has a darker side in him. Furthermore his weakness made Ophelia commit suicide because being weak made him careless. He is partially responsible for everyone’s death because if he was strong he could’ve saved his father from being killed and other deaths.
While Hamlet is a baffled character full of thoughts and lack of action, he was successful in overcoming his tragic flaw. He realized that he was wrong with listening to people, and trusted them readily. Hamlet failed to judge the intentions of others in the initial course of time. He becomes aware that his lack of decision making power is because of lack of dedication to put every other matter of his life aside and focus only on what his father told him to do.