Hamlet's Character

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A swimmer’s moment is defined as when you are faced with a decision that will define the rest of your life… A swimmer’s moment is defined as when you are faced with a decision that will define the rest of your life. The swimmer is forced to make a decision whether he will enter the whirlpool, or “By their refusal they are saved from the black pit.”(Avison, 5-6) In “Hamlet”, the swimmer’s moment is when Hamlet is deciding what he thinks he should do about his father’s death and Claudius. Whether he should enter the whirlpool and make the decision to kill Claudius, or do nothing and turn away from the whirlpool. Hamlet does not make a decision either way, in fact, he is pushed into the whirlpool by Laertes and Claudius when he is challenged to a fight. Rather than make a clear and concise decision, Hamlet just goes along with it until he is poisoned, and then he is fully engulfed in the whirlpool. In Act V Scene 1 Claudius says to Laertes, “Strengthen your patience in our last night’s speech; We’ll put the matter to the present push.” (V. i 281) He is talking to Laertes about the deal that they made to kill Hamlet. Without any action from Hamlet, nothing would have happened. He had simply taken refuge away from the country, and had caused madness in the country of Denmark. But he had not taken any action in proving the king’s guilt, rather he had simply made himself appear raving mad. When Osric comes to tell Hamlet that the king has agreed to a duel between Laertes and Hamlet; Hamlet has no other choice. He resists, and he gets arrested. He agrees, and he begins to enter the whirlpool, without his knowledge. But he still doesn’t make a decision about Claudius. Osric says, “my lord, his majesty bade me signify to you that he has laid a great wager on your head;” (V, ii, 102) and then when Hamlet states, “How if I answer ‘no’,” (V, ii, 162) Osric says, “I mean, my
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