The Importance Of Sleeping And Dreaming In Hamlet
Sleep is habitually restricted, if not neglected entirely, to a limited spectrum of interpretations in literature; dreams suffer a comparable fate as the act of dreaming is discounted while the substance of the dream receives the majority of concentration. Contrarily, Shakespeare invests greatly in the significance of the performance of sleeping and dreaming through his numerous literary works. Recognizing the vital importance that the two actions play in life, Shakespeare constructs several significant connections to the actions of sleeping and dreaming, prominently the entanglement of the actions with morality, befitting the essential functions. William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark presents the strong relationship
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between the actions of sleeping and dreaming and morality, eminently focusing on the progression, or decline, of the morality of Hamlet as the tragic character encounters ethical confusion and suffers a moral death, and succeeding the ethical fatality, Hamlet enters a sleep-like state in which his further actions are skewed to his own analysis resembling sleep walking.
Sleep is a powerful renewing force that allows a mental reprieve of the tribulations of the day; Shakespeare acknowledges this unequivocal relationship between sleep and the psychological state of an individual and furthers this connection to relate sleep and moral state. For instance, sleep is traditionally considered to be a secure and pure state as it presents one of the most innocent moments in life. However, Shakespeare successfully shatters this conventional belief through the apparition’s accounts of his death and afterlife. According to the apparition as the king dozes in a garden which would be believed to be the epitome of purity and security an act of treachery befell him, which is sufficient to erase the perception of security in sleep (Parris 113). Moreover, the apparition address his afterlife stating that he had been murdered without being allowed to atone for his earthly crimes which he must now atone for after death; thus, the king in the sleeping state is staged as morally flawed. In this way, Shakespeare presents the association between sleep and moral depravity, or moral death. The elucidation allows for new insight and additional emphasis to be located on the events and sleep deprived situations of Hamlet as the Shakespearean metaphor can be extended further in order to incorporate the morality of Hamlet throughout the progression of the play. The existence and effects of sleep’s affiliation with integrity and its degradation is validated by Hamlet’s perpetual moral bafflement and eventual concessions of his virtues under the harmful consequences of sleep.
Initially, Hamlet solely suffers from moralistic bewilderment resulting from the appearance of an apparition claiming to be his murdered father and its attempt to convince Hamlet to take revenge on its hypothetical killer, Claudius. Hamlet has reservations towards the apparition, questioning its genuine identity and intentions and proclaiming, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be the devil: and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape” (Ham. 2. 2. 627-629). Hence, one of the essential decisions is Hamlet’s judgment of the apparition and its information. Mark Caldwell argues that the evidence appears to indicate the legitimacy of the apparition; however, Hamlet lacks the same conviction regarding the apparition and its intentions which begins his journey down the path of uncertainty that plagues him (144). Moreover, Hamlet struggles to accept any truthfulness behind the apparition’s acquisition as it would incriminate his uncle and further destroy his family, and the jeopardy of verification of Claudius’ guilt prompts Hamlet to ponder the loss of virtue associated with revenge. The copious number of troubling thoughts ware on Hamlet as he attempts to wade through the deceit and discover the truth; hence, Hamlet is struggling to receive respite for his …show more content…
exhausted mind which affects his reasoning and illustrates his moral confusion. As Hamlet debates the moral dilemma, he is oscillating, “between two worlds [the waking and the sleeping], unable to reject, or quite accept … his disposition with thoughts beyond the reaches of his soul” (Mack 119).
Hamlet faces another anxiety in the form of trepidation of sleep and dreams, which is consequential to his father’s vulnerable and indefinite death (Myers 145).
The death of Hamlet’s father in his sleep and the apparition’s expressions of unrest and horrendous fate in death, “confin’d to fast in fires” and worse insinuated, instill within Hamlet an immense apprehension towards the slumber resulting from a lack of security (Ham. 1.5.11). The appearance of the apparition provides strong evidence to Hamlet of the existence some form of an afterlife. Through conversing with the apparition, Hamlet has the dark and tortuous piece of this afterlife confirmed; since whether the apparition is truly his father serving out his pentene or a demon coming to deceive him, the apparition originates from a malevolent, otherworldly source. This is the foundation of Hamlet’s ultimate distress as Hamlet broodingly draws the parallel between the afterlife following death as dreams follow
sleep.
Furthermore, Hamlet is suffering from nightmares resulting from his turbulent state of affirms, confessing, “count myself a king of infinite space, /were it not that I have bad dreams” (Ham. 2.2.261-262). Hamlet begins to wonder if there is any type of escape from his nightmares and uncertainty which prompts the delivery of his famous soliloquy. Initially, Hamlet ponders suicide or death, the ultimate form of slumber, for as a type of escape or respite from his ethical dilemmas and tired mind. In his reasoning, Hamlet assesses death as the final state with nothing succeeding it, asserting, “ [that] by a sleep, to say we end/ The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to” (Ham. 3.1.61-63). Godshalk theorizes that Hamlet associates death with truth and seeks the true enlightenment of authentic death (229). However upon his contemplation of the last slumber, Hamlet encounters doubt resulting from the unpredictable nature of sleep adding to his list of mental grievances (Lewin 184). Hamlet finally comes to understand that death is not necessarily an end or escape by announcing, “To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there’s the/rub” (Ham. 3.1.64-65).
Succeeding his deliberation of major ethical conundrum, Hamlet’s unease in sleep resulting from nightmares and desire for concrete conformation induces him to promote events which allow him to investigate Claudius’ guilt. This is the first notable instance where Hamlet actively takes control of his grim situation and attempts to determine a further course of action for himself. Additionally, Hamlet’s action indicates his final verdict regarding his previous question of whether to live or to die as he decides to take control of his life and situation rather than accept the uncertainty in death. During his investigation, namely the performance of The Mouse-trap, Hamlet is in a state of unrest due to a lack of sleep which weakens his mental functions and assists in skewing his judgments. Thus upon witnessing Claudius’ supposed confession of guilt, Claudius’ reaction to schemed play, Hamlet immediately resolves to achieve revenge as the apparition had request, which signifies his moral death.
By ruling Claudius guilty of murder, Hamlet has conceded one of his most significant virtues, the pursuit of the truth, as he allows himself to be blinded by circumstantial evidence. Hamlet reinforces his moral decay through his murder of Polonius corroborating the lack of retreat available to Hamlet. As a result of his moral death, Hamlet stops debating the morality of his choices and ceases his oscillation between the waking and sleeping worlds, as he has morally fallen to the sleeping realm allowing for dreams to exist. Subsequently, Jennifer Lewin affirms, “sleep permits the avoidance of discrepancies between expectations and the way things really are,” which exemplifies Hamlet’s reasoning following his moral death as he chooses to avoid the confrontation between his reality and the truth and no longer desires to question or discern the morality of his decisions (186). Ensuing Hamlet’s moral demise and entry into the realm of dreams, Hamlet experiences an alteration in his perception of reality allowing his mind to create rapid, prejudiced judgments, similar to the act of dreaming. Originally, Hamlet is presented as a logical individual who has been decently educated in Wittenberg; conversely, Hamlet does not fail to demonstrate his deficiency in sensibility through his communications with the deceitful court of Denmark (Godshalk 224). As an individual who knows “not what seems” Hamlet’s psychological position is not exceedingly reliable (Ham. 1.2.77). Nonetheless, there is a distinct transition in Hamlet’s pattern of thought, especially his analyses of events. Prior to his moral death, Hamlet exhibits flaws concerning the deciphering of the cryptic world of the court, but he is able to remain rational to a large extent. For instance, when Hamlet encounters the apparition claiming to be his deceased father, Hamlet questions the reality of the apparition and the truthfulness behind its accusations. After the pivotal moment of his ethical demise, Hamlet ends his examinations of the world around him and decides to accept his initial impressions which are exemplified in Hamlet’s instantaneous decision to slay the spy, assuming it to be Claudius, hiding behind the tapestry during his conference with his mother. Consequently, Hamlet, who has transitioned to a dreaming state where his assumptions dictate his reality, loses his ability to discover the desired truth. Lewin corroborates this interpretation acknowledging that “[the] palpable reality of mental life greatly differs from its truthfulness” (194). Furthermore, Caldwell reasons that Hamlet’s mental functions often resemble the imagination which illustrates the glasses of fantasy through which Hamlet views the world (146). To a certain degree, Hamlet does recognize his distorted outlook and comprehends his inability to discover truth in his dreaming condition which provokes his consideration of death as he believes that it will be accompanied by clarification. In spite of these thoughts, Hamlet’s preoccupied mindset allows him to disregard the absence of explicit evidence and leads him to a seemingly truthful conclusion; hence, the conclusion is ultimately left engulfed in ambiguity exemplifying Hamlet’s biased state of mind at the time of his death (Godshalk 227).
In conclusion, William Shakespeare ingeniously abandons customary beliefs regarding sleep and dreams through his allusions to the impressive liaison among sleep, dreams, and morality allowing for novel insight to arise upon a brush with any member of the coalition. Resulting from the exploitation of the life of Hamlet as he falls from his morality, Shakespeare forges new symbolism with the idea of sleep and dreams exemplifying the moral state of an individual. Shakespeare delves tremendously into conundrum of the tangle with death utilizing sleep and dreams as a metaphor to present the ethical dilemma. With the assistance of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare emphasizes the ambiguity that clouds sleep and dreams preventing them from ever being entirely defined. It is this uncertainty of sleep and dreams that make life astonishingly exhilarating and burning as Hamlet personally discovers (Lewin 184).
between the actions of sleeping and dreaming and morality, eminently focusing on the progression, or decline, of the morality of Hamlet as the tragic character encounters ethical confusion and suffers a moral death, and succeeding the ethical fatality, Hamlet enters a sleep-like state in which his further actions are skewed to his own analysis resembling sleep walking.
Sleep is a powerful renewing force that allows a mental reprieve of the tribulations of the day; Shakespeare acknowledges this unequivocal relationship between sleep and the psychological state of an individual and furthers this connection to relate sleep and moral state. For instance, sleep is traditionally considered to be a secure and pure state as it presents one of the most innocent moments in life. However, Shakespeare successfully shatters this conventional belief through the apparition’s accounts of his death and afterlife. According to the apparition as the king dozes in a garden which would be believed to be the epitome of purity and security an act of treachery befell him, which is sufficient to erase the perception of security in sleep (Parris 113). Moreover, the apparition address his afterlife stating that he had been murdered without being allowed to atone for his earthly crimes which he must now atone for after death; thus, the king in the sleeping state is staged as morally flawed. In this way, Shakespeare presents the association between sleep and moral depravity, or moral death. The elucidation allows for new insight and additional emphasis to be located on the events and sleep deprived situations of Hamlet as the Shakespearean metaphor can be extended further in order to incorporate the morality of Hamlet throughout the progression of the play. The existence and effects of sleep’s affiliation with integrity and its degradation is validated by Hamlet’s perpetual moral bafflement and eventual concessions of his virtues under the harmful consequences of sleep.
Initially, Hamlet solely suffers from moralistic bewilderment resulting from the appearance of an apparition claiming to be his murdered father and its attempt to convince Hamlet to take revenge on its hypothetical killer, Claudius. Hamlet has reservations towards the apparition, questioning its genuine identity and intentions and proclaiming, “The spirit that I have seen/ May be the devil: and the devil hath power/ To assume a pleasing shape” (Ham. 2. 2. 627-629). Hence, one of the essential decisions is Hamlet’s judgment of the apparition and its information. Mark Caldwell argues that the evidence appears to indicate the legitimacy of the apparition; however, Hamlet lacks the same conviction regarding the apparition and its intentions which begins his journey down the path of uncertainty that plagues him (144). Moreover, Hamlet struggles to accept any truthfulness behind the apparition’s acquisition as it would incriminate his uncle and further destroy his family, and the jeopardy of verification of Claudius’ guilt prompts Hamlet to ponder the loss of virtue associated with revenge. The copious number of troubling thoughts ware on Hamlet as he attempts to wade through the deceit and discover the truth; hence, Hamlet is struggling to receive respite for his …show more content…
exhausted mind which affects his reasoning and illustrates his moral confusion. As Hamlet debates the moral dilemma, he is oscillating, “between two worlds [the waking and the sleeping], unable to reject, or quite accept … his disposition with thoughts beyond the reaches of his soul” (Mack 119).
Hamlet faces another anxiety in the form of trepidation of sleep and dreams, which is consequential to his father’s vulnerable and indefinite death (Myers 145).
The death of Hamlet’s father in his sleep and the apparition’s expressions of unrest and horrendous fate in death, “confin’d to fast in fires” and worse insinuated, instill within Hamlet an immense apprehension towards the slumber resulting from a lack of security (Ham. 1.5.11). The appearance of the apparition provides strong evidence to Hamlet of the existence some form of an afterlife. Through conversing with the apparition, Hamlet has the dark and tortuous piece of this afterlife confirmed; since whether the apparition is truly his father serving out his pentene or a demon coming to deceive him, the apparition originates from a malevolent, otherworldly source. This is the foundation of Hamlet’s ultimate distress as Hamlet broodingly draws the parallel between the afterlife following death as dreams follow
sleep.
Furthermore, Hamlet is suffering from nightmares resulting from his turbulent state of affirms, confessing, “count myself a king of infinite space, /were it not that I have bad dreams” (Ham. 2.2.261-262). Hamlet begins to wonder if there is any type of escape from his nightmares and uncertainty which prompts the delivery of his famous soliloquy. Initially, Hamlet ponders suicide or death, the ultimate form of slumber, for as a type of escape or respite from his ethical dilemmas and tired mind. In his reasoning, Hamlet assesses death as the final state with nothing succeeding it, asserting, “ [that] by a sleep, to say we end/ The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to” (Ham. 3.1.61-63). Godshalk theorizes that Hamlet associates death with truth and seeks the true enlightenment of authentic death (229). However upon his contemplation of the last slumber, Hamlet encounters doubt resulting from the unpredictable nature of sleep adding to his list of mental grievances (Lewin 184). Hamlet finally comes to understand that death is not necessarily an end or escape by announcing, “To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there’s the/rub” (Ham. 3.1.64-65).
Succeeding his deliberation of major ethical conundrum, Hamlet’s unease in sleep resulting from nightmares and desire for concrete conformation induces him to promote events which allow him to investigate Claudius’ guilt. This is the first notable instance where Hamlet actively takes control of his grim situation and attempts to determine a further course of action for himself. Additionally, Hamlet’s action indicates his final verdict regarding his previous question of whether to live or to die as he decides to take control of his life and situation rather than accept the uncertainty in death. During his investigation, namely the performance of The Mouse-trap, Hamlet is in a state of unrest due to a lack of sleep which weakens his mental functions and assists in skewing his judgments. Thus upon witnessing Claudius’ supposed confession of guilt, Claudius’ reaction to schemed play, Hamlet immediately resolves to achieve revenge as the apparition had request, which signifies his moral death.
By ruling Claudius guilty of murder, Hamlet has conceded one of his most significant virtues, the pursuit of the truth, as he allows himself to be blinded by circumstantial evidence. Hamlet reinforces his moral decay through his murder of Polonius corroborating the lack of retreat available to Hamlet. As a result of his moral death, Hamlet stops debating the morality of his choices and ceases his oscillation between the waking and sleeping worlds, as he has morally fallen to the sleeping realm allowing for dreams to exist. Subsequently, Jennifer Lewin affirms, “sleep permits the avoidance of discrepancies between expectations and the way things really are,” which exemplifies Hamlet’s reasoning following his moral death as he chooses to avoid the confrontation between his reality and the truth and no longer desires to question or discern the morality of his decisions (186). Ensuing Hamlet’s moral demise and entry into the realm of dreams, Hamlet experiences an alteration in his perception of reality allowing his mind to create rapid, prejudiced judgments, similar to the act of dreaming. Originally, Hamlet is presented as a logical individual who has been decently educated in Wittenberg; conversely, Hamlet does not fail to demonstrate his deficiency in sensibility through his communications with the deceitful court of Denmark (Godshalk 224). As an individual who knows “not what seems” Hamlet’s psychological position is not exceedingly reliable (Ham. 1.2.77). Nonetheless, there is a distinct transition in Hamlet’s pattern of thought, especially his analyses of events. Prior to his moral death, Hamlet exhibits flaws concerning the deciphering of the cryptic world of the court, but he is able to remain rational to a large extent. For instance, when Hamlet encounters the apparition claiming to be his deceased father, Hamlet questions the reality of the apparition and the truthfulness behind its accusations. After the pivotal moment of his ethical demise, Hamlet ends his examinations of the world around him and decides to accept his initial impressions which are exemplified in Hamlet’s instantaneous decision to slay the spy, assuming it to be Claudius, hiding behind the tapestry during his conference with his mother. Consequently, Hamlet, who has transitioned to a dreaming state where his assumptions dictate his reality, loses his ability to discover the desired truth. Lewin corroborates this interpretation acknowledging that “[the] palpable reality of mental life greatly differs from its truthfulness” (194). Furthermore, Caldwell reasons that Hamlet’s mental functions often resemble the imagination which illustrates the glasses of fantasy through which Hamlet views the world (146). To a certain degree, Hamlet does recognize his distorted outlook and comprehends his inability to discover truth in his dreaming condition which provokes his consideration of death as he believes that it will be accompanied by clarification. In spite of these thoughts, Hamlet’s preoccupied mindset allows him to disregard the absence of explicit evidence and leads him to a seemingly truthful conclusion; hence, the conclusion is ultimately left engulfed in ambiguity exemplifying Hamlet’s biased state of mind at the time of his death (Godshalk 227).
In conclusion, William Shakespeare ingeniously abandons customary beliefs regarding sleep and dreams through his allusions to the impressive liaison among sleep, dreams, and morality allowing for novel insight to arise upon a brush with any member of the coalition. Resulting from the exploitation of the life of Hamlet as he falls from his morality, Shakespeare forges new symbolism with the idea of sleep and dreams exemplifying the moral state of an individual. Shakespeare delves tremendously into conundrum of the tangle with death utilizing sleep and dreams as a metaphor to present the ethical dilemma. With the assistance of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare emphasizes the ambiguity that clouds sleep and dreams preventing them from ever being entirely defined. It is this uncertainty of sleep and dreams that make life astonishingly exhilarating and burning as Hamlet personally discovers (Lewin 184).