Prince Hamlet: An Irrational Rationalist
Prince Hamlet: An Irrational Rationalist
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare created many complex characters in his play Hamlet. One of these complex characters being the protagonist, Prince Hamlet. Hamlet has many contradictory traits, two of them being that Hamlet sometimes thinks rationally, and that being overcome by the command left by the ghost of his belligerent father, King Hamlet, he tends to make irrational decisions. When Hamlet is first introduced to the ghost’s commands in scene one, act 5, they begin to consume him with thoughts of vengeance, to murder Claudius, his father’s murderer. Throughout the play, Hamlet acts in such a way to provide evidence supporting both traits. Conflicted by these two opposing traits, Prince Hamlet has a war of two spirits in his mind, deciding which side is right. During the length of the play, Hamlet frequently argues with himself. Many of his soliloquies are debates between Hamlet and the warring side of his mind that believes he should listen to the vengeful plan of his father’s ghost.
At the beginning of the play, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a rational scholar from Wittenberg. When he returns from Wittenberg, his mother, Queen Gertrude confronts him concerning his melancholy. He replies “Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not ‘seems’” (1. 2. 76) He is very straightforward with her and speaks in a sensible and rational manner. This conversation happened before Hamlet encountered the ghost; therefor the militant and vengeful spirit has not yet influenced him. When Hamlet is preparing to rig the play to gage a reaction from Claudius to prove he is guilty of murdering his father, he is thinking rationally. “I'll have these players/Play something like the murder of my father/Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks; /I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, /I know my course.” (2. 2. 601-605) it takes and intelligent, sensible, and rational person to develop such a precise and functioning
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare created many complex characters in his play Hamlet. One of these complex characters being the protagonist, Prince Hamlet. Hamlet has many contradictory traits, two of them being that Hamlet sometimes thinks rationally, and that being overcome by the command left by the ghost of his belligerent father, King Hamlet, he tends to make irrational decisions. When Hamlet is first introduced to the ghost’s commands in scene one, act 5, they begin to consume him with thoughts of vengeance, to murder Claudius, his father’s murderer. Throughout the play, Hamlet acts in such a way to provide evidence supporting both traits. Conflicted by these two opposing traits, Prince Hamlet has a war of two spirits in his mind, deciding which side is right. During the length of the play, Hamlet frequently argues with himself. Many of his soliloquies are debates between Hamlet and the warring side of his mind that believes he should listen to the vengeful plan of his father’s ghost.
At the beginning of the play, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a rational scholar from Wittenberg. When he returns from Wittenberg, his mother, Queen Gertrude confronts him concerning his melancholy. He replies “Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not ‘seems’” (1. 2. 76) He is very straightforward with her and speaks in a sensible and rational manner. This conversation happened before Hamlet encountered the ghost; therefor the militant and vengeful spirit has not yet influenced him. When Hamlet is preparing to rig the play to gage a reaction from Claudius to prove he is guilty of murdering his father, he is thinking rationally. “I'll have these players/Play something like the murder of my father/Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks; /I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, /I know my course.” (2. 2. 601-605) it takes and intelligent, sensible, and rational person to develop such a precise and functioning