On one level it helps develop the reader’s understanding of some of the play’s key themes. The first of these is revenge. At this point in the play, after Hamlet has earlier been told by his father’s ghost that he was murdered by his brother, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, Hamlet has taken no significant action to claim that revenge the ghost has demanded. He believes he has established grounds for taking the appropriate revenge, yet
Most often, Hamlet makes comments that suggest he is going to seek immediate revenge from his father’s murderer, but he remains stagnant. Early within the play he states that “with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love” he will “sweep to [his father’s] revenge,” but his indecisive nature thwarts his efforts (Act I. Scene v. Line 31). Because of his Protestant religious background, Hamlet considers the possibility of the ghost being a devil. Resilient against having his soul damned to hell, Hamlet second guesses himself and his decision loses “the name of action” (Act III.
In this quote Hamlet tells them that no matter how strange he is acting, they should not be alarmed because he is going to feign insanity. He tells them this so that they do not go around telling people that a ghost made him mad. Pretending to be mad will help hamlet in revenging his father. Hamlet choses when he acts mad and puts thought to his actions. He greets the players warmly and instructs them on a
The struggle to act upon his father’s murder is a key factor in Hamlet’s disillusionment with the world. The Elizabethan period was a time that demanded revenge and this is even true in our present time to some extent. An eye for an eye approach was considered socially correct which Hamlet initially suggests ‘May sweep to my revenge’. Since Claudius has become the new king, he is considered a false king and imposter to the throne by Hamlet and this leads to the collapse of the natural hierachy that was in place. He states ‘tis an unweeded garden’ alluding to the fact that a false king leads to corruption which finally leads to the collapse of the hierarchy.
But he comes back as Sweeney Todd wanting to seek vengeance on the man who sent him away from his family. In Hamlet, Hamlet struggles with his fathers death. He is the only one able to talk to the ghost of his father. Everyone around notices his absent mind, and believes he is crazy, even his own mother, “Alas, he is mad.” (III.iv.106). But later on, we discover Hamlet is not mad, and that it was all just an act.
The reason for this is simple, Hamlet is not mad but rather he just pretends to be mad in order express his feelings and think of ways to gain information about Cladius and the murder of his father.. In which Claudius poisoned his father to become king. Hamlet is sane from the moment the play begins to the moment he dies. He just wants people to think he has gone mad so they dont find his behavior suspicious, but there are instances when he goes over board. At the beginning of Hamlet, before Hamlet is told by the ghost that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet is broken up over his father’s death, and the marriage of his mother and Claudius his uncle.. “The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.” At this time he doesn’t show any signs of madness, only sorrow.
He even contemplates suicide but his rational mind stops him from doing so. Hamlet is painfully aware that committing suicide will damn his soul to hell. Shortly after, Hamlet meets with the ghost of his father. The ghost of King Hamlet tells Hamlet that Claudius, the brother of King Hamlet, killed him. The ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his “most foul murder.” However, he warns Hamlet not to let revenge consume his mind.
he expresses his sourness against the treachery of his uncle. Critics suggest that the first soliloquy is an outline of the coming tragedy of Hamlet's life. In the second soliloquy, Hamlet appears to be a man of decision. When the Ghost discloses the secrets of King Hamlet's murder, Hamlet decides to take revenge. he puts on a mask of madness to mislead the world.
Freud notes that "Hamlet is able to do anything—except take vengeance on the man who did away with his father and took that father's place with his mother, the man who shows him the repressed wishes of his own childhood realized." In addition to Hamlet's oedipal anxiety, his delay in obtaining revenge as commanded by the ghost is also a source of psychoanalytical study. C. L. Barber and Richard P. Wheeler (1986) introduce their analysis of Hamlet by reviewing Freud's views on individual and social development. The critics assert that the psychological framework of Hamlet is informed by Hamlet's efforts to "cope with the desecration of his heritage." While they argue that Hamlet's problems cannot be simply reduced to the Oedipus complex, Barber and Wheeler state that an understanding of Hamlet "must be consistent with the presence of that complex, for the Freudian explanation clearly works."
While speaking the ghost Hamlet asks, “O all you host of heaven! O Earth! What else?/And shall I couple hell?” (I.v.25). Hamlet does not believe the ghost until Act III, when Hamlet tricks Claudius into revealing that he is the cause of his fathers death through the use of his play, “The Murder of Gonzago.” Even though Hamlet knows the truth, he still has trouble acting on his thoughts. It seems that Hamlet does not want to extract revenge and he regrets promising the ghost that he will do so, “O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right!