Hamlet’s Stifling and Consuming Insecurities Are a Result of His Struggles to Navigate His Changing World.
“Hamlet’s stifling and consuming insecurities are a result of his struggles to navigate his changing world.”
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet (1601) explores Hamlet’s growing insecurities and uncertainties, which stem from his attempt to find certainty and order within his changing transitioning society. Hamlet’s strong moral code and genuine grief at the beginning of the play contrasts with his descent into madness and deceit, as the corruption of the court begin to deteriorate his integrity and eventually lead to his tragic downfall. Throughout the play Shakespeare explores universal notions of authenticity contrasted with duplicity, the struggle between action and inaction and challenging the archetypal tragedian. Through an exploration of these themes, Shakespeare attempts to use the characters in his play to reflect his view on humanity and the shifting, conflicting paradigms between Medieval and Renaissance thinking.
Shakespeare explores Hamlet’s struggle to exist in a morally vacuous world where duplicity is so easily masked by authentic appearances. Hamlet’s first soliloquy highlights his disgust for this “weary world” a world he compares to an “unweeded garden”. The metaphor emphasises Hamlet’s sense of entrapment within the court, which has now become rotten and lacks authenticity due to a change in leadership, where Claudius represents the Machiavellian political system of ruling. Hamlet’s father’s death and the hasty marriage between his Mother and Uncle instigates Hamlet’s sense of disillusionment and cynicism, which is made evident in his first soliloquy when he says, “She married. Oh most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets.” The imagery of “incestuous sheets” articulates Hamlets distress of the corruption spreading to his family. Shakespeare poses a confronting idea to his audience and positions us to feel sympathy towards Hamlet, the tragic hero, as he is forced to conceal his own anguish as Claudius criticises Hamlet's
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet (1601) explores Hamlet’s growing insecurities and uncertainties, which stem from his attempt to find certainty and order within his changing transitioning society. Hamlet’s strong moral code and genuine grief at the beginning of the play contrasts with his descent into madness and deceit, as the corruption of the court begin to deteriorate his integrity and eventually lead to his tragic downfall. Throughout the play Shakespeare explores universal notions of authenticity contrasted with duplicity, the struggle between action and inaction and challenging the archetypal tragedian. Through an exploration of these themes, Shakespeare attempts to use the characters in his play to reflect his view on humanity and the shifting, conflicting paradigms between Medieval and Renaissance thinking.
Shakespeare explores Hamlet’s struggle to exist in a morally vacuous world where duplicity is so easily masked by authentic appearances. Hamlet’s first soliloquy highlights his disgust for this “weary world” a world he compares to an “unweeded garden”. The metaphor emphasises Hamlet’s sense of entrapment within the court, which has now become rotten and lacks authenticity due to a change in leadership, where Claudius represents the Machiavellian political system of ruling. Hamlet’s father’s death and the hasty marriage between his Mother and Uncle instigates Hamlet’s sense of disillusionment and cynicism, which is made evident in his first soliloquy when he says, “She married. Oh most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets.” The imagery of “incestuous sheets” articulates Hamlets distress of the corruption spreading to his family. Shakespeare poses a confronting idea to his audience and positions us to feel sympathy towards Hamlet, the tragic hero, as he is forced to conceal his own anguish as Claudius criticises Hamlet's