Show how Hamlet's encounters with other characters reveal different characteristics of his own personality

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Kiran. J 26/05/08 Show how Hamlet's encounters with other characters reveal different characteristics of his own personality During Hamlet, on many occasions, Hamlet encounters different characters. From these encounters, we (the audience) can observe the different characteristics or ‘moods’ that Hamlet has during this play. Some of the different characteristics of Hamlet’s personality that are observed are: Depression, disillusionment, vengeance seeking, anger and disconnectedness. Lots of these emotions are shown in encounters made with various characters such as: Ophelia, King Claudius, Horatio, The Ghost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. One of the encounters of the play which I find extremely important is the one where Hamlet meets The Ghost. During this encounter, The Ghost persuades the shocked Hamlet to avenge his death and murder King Claudius just as King Claudius did to King Hamlet. From this encounter, we easily observe the change in character from Hamlet. Before the encounter, he was quite surprised about what to expect, but once he saw his father’s shape in this ghost, he instantly became ‘possessed’. Hamlet was willing to do whatever this ghost, in the form of his father told him to do. He was emotionally ready to do whatever was necessary, showing exactly how much he valued his life. “Why, what’s to fear? I don’t value my life as highly as a pin”. From this point on in the play, Hamlet’s state of mind has completely changed, now only focused on nothing but avenging the death of his father. When Hamlet is at the wedding of his mother Gertrude and King Claudius, he is dressed in dark and gloomy colors. These colors reflect his mood immensely at this moment in the play as he is extremely depressed and sad over the loss of his father and also over his mother’s inability to stay ‘loyal’ to his father. He firmly believes that

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