Hamlet also knew that he could not tell anyone that Claudius has murdered his father or that he had seen the ghost of his father because no one would believe him. Throughout the play Hamlet expresses his “madness” an example would be when he meets Ophelia in the court. In the beginning of their conversation he tells her that he once loved her but then is also confused saying that he didn’t love her at all. This is due to the fact that he sees woman as deceivers because of his mother’s relationship with his uncle. When Hamlet discovers that Polonius and the King are hiding nearby he explodes in a fit of rage, violently attacking her verbally and physically almost like a mad person would.
In the soliloquy, Hamlet is at first upset with himself about finding ways to avoid avenging his Father’s murder, like his spirit in ghost form told him to. This complaining turns into self hatred and then Hamlet is insulting himself outright. The main reason for this is he has agreed to get revenge on Claudius so his father’s spirit can be at peace, but he hasn’t done it yet. The fact that the Player seems to be more able to get into the mindset of revenge than he can further discourages him. This on top of the fact that Hamlet’s dad is dead and his mother married that man he hates most in the world makes for a pretty melancholy fellow.
Hamlet also expresses the possibilities that the ghost could have been the devil. Although hamlet gets upset with himself he believes that the play he arranged would display Claudius’ guilt and then he will know for sure he killed his father. This reveals to the audience that Hamlet is a procrastinator and he is a coward. In Hamlet’s fifth soliloquy he contemplates the idea of suicide, he suggests that maybe the only reason we choose life is because we know so little about death other than it Is final. After contemplation Hamlet decides not to take his own life.
This method of obtaining knowledge about someone else’s plans defies morality and weakens any bond of trust formed within Hamlet’s home. Secrets are supposed to be kept, but when eavesdropping is present, it becomes virtually impossible. Hamlet’s family and piers have considered him insane within his house. He is suffering from internal struggles about his father’s death, and the task he has been given. Hamlet has been instructed by the ghost of his late father to avenge his death by killing King Claudius.
This is apparent through the appearance of his father. The apparition claims that “I am thy [Hamlet’s] father’s spirit” (I.v.14). This shows that the king’s physical body is dead but not his soul. But the king admits that he had done some bad things in his life therefore he is “doomed for a certain term to walk the night” (I.v.15). As hamlet figures it out that the husband of his mother is a murderer—Uncle Claudius—he realizes that his mother is at fault.
However, a tragic hero is a character who experiences conflict and suffers greatly as result of his/her choices. Despaired through the death of his father and his mother’s marriage to his uncle Hamlet then begins to possess feelings of grief, anger and frustration. With these flaws weighing on his conscience it contributes to the making of a tragic hero. This is due to the forced objective of avenging his father’s murder and his mother’s incestuous marriage, Hamlet’s lack of being able to dictate his own choices and his cowardly sense of committing suicide to avoid the suffering. Hamlets anger, which stems from his mother marrying Claudius, bears him serious thoughts of suicide.
Hamlet assumes these actions from the actor because these are the actions that Hamlet would use to express his feelings. Hamlet then feels that he is not courageous enough to bravely kill Claudius and all he can do is mope. He puts himself at the peak of frustration since he has not accomplished anything yet and begins to doubt his ability to for revenge and calls himself a coward. He says he should have killed Claudius a long time ago. He then comes up with a plan to have the actors put on a play that is similar to the Murder of King Hamlet.
Soon after, the young prince is visited by a ghost that resembled the appearance of his dead past father. To increase confusion on Hamlet’s situation even more, the ghost gives details about the truth of King Hamlet’s death; the King was murdered by Claudius while asleep. Because of this and other similar factors, like betrayal, Hamlet began to fall down into a sense of insanity. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, indication of Prince Hamlet’s true madness is seen in his feelings of abandonment and betrayal from the relationships he has with his family and friends, the unstable emotions and thoughts of avenging his father’s “unnatural” murder, and the unbelievable appearance and meeting of the presumably ghost of former king of Denmark Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. The character of Hamlet has
Ophelia drowned in the river, which causes Laertes to flee the room, overcome with grief. With the deaths of his only beloved family members, Laertes is in a rage and is overcome with grief and tragedy. Now that he knows Hamlet killed his father, he also blames Hamlet for driving Ophelia insane, which leads her to her death. So, he is probably on a bloody rampage, wanting to kill Hamlet in an instant. Everyone pities Laertes as his father and sister die; however Claudius uses this as an advantage to have Laertes kill Hamlet.
These feelings follow Hamlet throughout the play as he tries to overcome many of the hurdles that he faces. With this behavior of Hamlet, conflict is created in the play with Hamlet and self, Hamlet and Claudius, and Hamlet and nature. These conflicts ultimately lead to the demise of Hamlet and the destruction of the royalty. Hamlet’s sanity is questioned through much of the play as he tries to grasp his next steps following his father’s death. The entrance of the ghost has the audience questioning if the event is creditable or if it is Hamlet’s imagination.