''Hamlet'' Critical Analysis

Name: Vora Hirva 

SEM :1

Roll no:12

Submitted to : Department of English 

                        Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji

                         Bhavnagar University. 

  

"Hamlet" : Critical Analysis

               Introduction  :

          The play Hamlet certainly produces in us too many feelings and thoughts. It was written by Shakespeare. A Shakespearean tragedy has been defined as a story of exceptional clarity leading to the death of many occupying a high status or position. A tragedy by Shakespeare is concerned chiefly with one man and is a tale of referring and misfortunes leading to that man's death and of the deaths of a few others also. Hamlet feels a responsibility to avenge his Father's murder by his uncle Claudius, but Claudius is now the king and thus well protected. Hamlet struggles with his doubts about whether he can trust the ghost and whether killing Claudius as the appropriate thing to do. The ghost appears to Hamlet and talls Hamlet to revenge his murder, Hamlet pretends madness to his intentions. There were same themes, motifs and symbols in the play. The impossibility of certainly. The mystery of death, the natron as a diseared body are major themes of the play. Incestuous desires, ears and hearing, death and suicide, darkness and they supernatural misogyny are motifs. The ghost and Yorick's skull are symbols.

          There is tension, supernatural mystery in the beginning of the novel. Tension in the opening scene Francisco feeling nervous. He is sick at heart. An element of mystery is introduced when Marcellius asks : "What has this thing appeared again tonight ? "    Horatio is the skeptical scholar who doesnot believe in the existence of a ghost unless he sees it with his own eyes. The appearance of a ghost constitutes an important supernatural element in the play. The supernatural element is heightened when Haratio refers to the stange things that were witnessed in Rome before the assassination of Julius Caesar. This first scene supplies some information regarding the war of the late king who had killed  the Norwegian Monarch. Young Foutinbras of Norway now threatens to invade Denamark. The appearance of the Ghost is regarded as a kind of eval omen for the state of Denmark. The Ghost has been described as a portent. The belief that disturbances in nature accompany disturbance in human affairs has its source in astrology and religion and this belief was current in Shakespeare's play.

          Then scene supplies some information regarding the marriage of Hamlet's widowed mother to Hamlet's uncle. Hence we meet Hamlet, the hero of the play. The two most stricking qualities of Hamlet are his melancholy and his speculative nature. His melancholy has been noticed by the king and the queen and his speculative nature appears in his two soliloquqes. He considers this marriage to be an incestuous relationship. There is a bittor irony in his conversation. The queen loves her son Hamlet and thinks about the welfare of him. Hamlet is not happy because of her Mother's Lasty marriage. As Hamlet puts it, "O God! a beast that wants discourses of reason, would have mourned longer." Hamle's soliloquies show his reflective and speculative nature.

          Hamlet's first soliloquy describes his state of mind before his meeting with the Ghost. He had no idea that his father had been murdered our his mother had committed adulteuly. He compares the world to Eden after the fall ; he contracts Gertrude's two husbands. The god-like and the bestial. But his melancholy and disillusionment that apparent in this soliloquy are not part of his normal state of mind. Before his mother's second, marriage, Hamlet had in ophelia's words, a noble mind" "The courtier's soldier's scholar's eye, tongue, sword." He was an ideal Renaissance nobleman. But the discovery of his mother's lust and the fact that the kingdom is in the hands of an unworthy man shattere his picture of the world. The state and the individual. His sense of evil in all spheres is closely interwoven in his first soliloquy. He thinks of the excellence of his father as king and his animal like uncle. He thinks of the lustfulness of here marriage. Shakespeare uses an interwoven series of reference to the world, the state and the individual.

          There is an introduction of three characters in Domestic scene. Laertes is a very affectionate brother. Who thinks of here loving sister Ophelia. He is not able to judge Hamlet's character. He think that prince will human his sister's honour. His advices seen valuable advices Ophelia is a very simple-minded girl who gives correct answers to her Father's questions. Here we see her subinissive  nature when she fells her father that she will obey him not to encourage Hamlet.

          The atmosphere of horror is again created when the Ghost appears once more. Our heart is fall with great apprehension when we find Hamlet deciding to Follow the Ghost. The comment of Mareellus "Something is rotten in the state of Denamark is significant."

          The disclosure made by the Ghost to Hamlet forms the very basis for the action of the rest of the play. Melancholy and depressed through Hamlet had been feeling even before the Ghost has spoken to him. He had never suspected his uncle of having murdered his Father or his Mother's crime of adultery. Now he decides to avenge his Father's murder. Through the arrival of ghost and its meeting to Hamlet we come to know about the character of the present king who is a perfect villain. Here we get a brief constrast between the character of the dead king and that of the present. Here from this scene Hamlet decides to pretend that he has gone mad. There is a lot of controversy about the nature of Hamlet's madness. Whether it is feigned or genuine. There is some information of the character of polonius described by Shakespeare that he is a suspicious and cunning man. He sets a spy on his son.

          There is a question of Hamlet's Madness : Real or Feigned ? Ohelia's description of Hamlet's condition suggests that Hamlet has suffered. What may be called a mental collapse. This indicates that Hamlet's madness is genuine. The only person from whom he could expect some, sympathy, namely Ophelia, has rejected him in obedience to her Father's advices. Polonius feels that his madness is the result of Failure in love with Ophelia.

          The king now set spies on Hamlet to try to find out the cause of Hamlet's distraction. Hamlet pretends that he is not in his right mind in conversation with polonius. Shows his satirical wit. Hamlet's susloicion regarding the motives of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in coming to him shows Guildenstern in Coming to him shows Hamlet's wisdom and his understanding of human nature, motives. Hamlet's philosophical and poetic nature is seen in the mannery in which he describes. The world as he used to see it before he was sized by a fit of melancholy. His interest in the theatre in seen in the fact that the news about the arrival of the players cheers him up. Hamlet again ridicules polonius by making remars which seems to have little meaning but which are actually satirical thrusts, When polonius coines to announce the arrival of the actors. Through the delaine Hamlet can get. The idea and confirmation of the Ghost's account of the manner in which Hamlet's Father was murdered. He in his soliloquy condemns Claudius in strongs hems. Now his main objective and intension is to catch the conscience of the king. He consoles himself with the thought that he will, through the play that he is going to arrange. He also thinks of the ghost he has seen may be a devil who wishes to exploit his weakness and his melancholy. The king's brief soliloquy shows that the king's conscience is not utterly dead and that the sin committed by him is weighing upon his mind. Hamlet's famous soliloquy also shows his wavering mind. This soliloquy shows a loss of purpose in Hamlet's mind.

          Hamlet's relation to Ophelia has been described excellently in the play. It is not that Hamlet thinks too much but that he thinks to no purpose : When he sees Ophelia he speaks about her, not of his present attitude to her but of here post. But his manner changes and he speaks to Ophelia in an insulting manner, asking her to go to a nunnery instead of getting married. Ophelia's high praise of Hamlet in her soliloquy shows the contrast between what Hamlet used to be and what he has now become under the tress and strain of the Ghost's revelation. He speaks of himself "I am myself indifferent honest; but yet  I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me; I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious". The king polonius has a plan in his mind to get rid of Hamlet by packing him off to England. Polonius wants the queen to have a private talk with Hamlet and he will overhear their conversation before  Hamlet is sent to England.

          The most famous soliloquy of Hamlet is debatable whether he is discussing suicide in the soliloquy "To be or not to be" Hamlet is not discussing whether to kill himself or not but whether to kill Claudius or not, the attempt many probably will, cost him his own life; so he goes on thinking. But if death is a sleep, sleep may be accoinpanied by nightmares. No wonder, then, a man chooses to endure the miselies the miseries the miseries of long life rather than invite, by suicide. At this point Hamlet is not speaking primarily of himself but of everyman as the generalized list of human miseries indicates the oppressor's wrong. The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay etc. Thus Hamlet continues to generalize : Consequence does make cowards of us all." This is to say, man's dread of somethings after death prevents him from suicide. Hamlet's is answering in the question in his previous soliloquy "Am I a coward ? " He is not afraid of dying, but of what may happen after death. Shekespeare presents the character with the ambiguity that we do not know whether Hamlet is right about himself, or whether it is the another example of the self-laceration in which he indulges because of his delay in carrying out his task.

          We see Hamlet's critical judgement with regard to the theatrical performances of the time. According to Coleridge, the dialogue of Hamlet with the actors in scene is one of the happiest instances of Shakespeare's power civerifying the scene while he is carrying on the plot. Hamlet has high opinion of Haratio and it can be seen in Hamlet's speech in which he seeks Haratio's co-operation with his efforts to catch the conscience of the king. He seems to very thankful to Horatio, who is his best friend and Hamlet, shares his talks with him. Hamlet shows his impatience with the two spies. Who have been set upon him and he hates them. His hatred has been shown in his speech by playwright. Hamlet's soliloquy which closes shows that he is in a bloody mood.

          Claudius is troubled by his conscience. We find him suffering from his conscience for the cribe he has committed. The king expresses his state of mind in his soliloquy. He is praying but his efforts are futil. He is unable to suppress his singul thoughts. We were introduced about Hamlet's will and lack of Determination. He has no decision power. He does not take his decisions quickly. Hamlet finds an opportunity to kill the king, but Hamlet shrinks from the deed. But if he kills, the king now, the king will go straight to heaven. It shows his, lack of will and determination. Hamlet's plea is some what unconvincing and it shows that he is not really cut out for the role which the Ghost has assigned to him.

          Hamlet kills polonius and it shows that he is creatinly capable of impulsive action. The man who could not kill his quilty uncle, kills the innocent polonius, even though he does so without knowing, the identity of his victim. Hamlet should have repented that he has killed the father of the girl whom he has loved but, instead of repenting he goes on discussing with his mother Geutrude. His brutality and rudely behavior have been described by playwright. He scolds his mother with very hard words for here having married a man. Who is a villain. He almost becomes brutal in his language when he condemms her mother. The Ghost makes another appearance in this scene, though this time is variable only to Hamlet, while the queen cannot see it. On previous occasions the Ghost is variable only to Hamlet. One possible explanation of this is that in the present care the Ghost is only mentally virible to Hamlet and that it is not intended to be seen by the audience.

          A scene when polonius is killed accidentally in the course of time is widely admired scene. Hamlet is in his violent manner indicated to his mother the displeasure which he felt at her conduct. Hamlet here reveals to his mother his knowledge of his uncle's guilt and his purpose of revenge. She agrees to assist. From this time on the queen keeps up appearances with here husband, but is secretly a friend to Hamlet.

          The quuen is shielding Hamlet by tiling the king that Hamlet by taling the king that Hamlet has killed polonius in a fit of madness. The reason given by her is reasonable because the king himself feels that Hamlet is not in his right mind. So thus Hamlet is shielded by the queen.

          Halet's capacity for bitter and cynical wit has been described through one scene in which he is being asked what he has done with the dead body of polonius, when Resencrantz asks where the body of plonius is Hamlet makes cryptic reply: "The body is with the king but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing." If we assume that Hamlet's madness is feigned. We shall find this scene most amusing. If Hamlet's madness is genuine this scene is partly amusing and partly pathetic.

          Although the villainous king has not yet been able to overcome his conscience over the mirdew of his brother. He is now planning the murder of his nephew. He wants to send Hamlet to England because he has a mind in his mind to kill him.

          Hamlet's nature is introspective also. Like his other soliloquies, in this soliloquy we can see Hamlet's penetrating insight, his mind, mentally, thinking his tendency to generalize and his capacity for self arraignment. He would be a beast, he says if does not perform the action that his sense of honour and duly demands from him.

          Ophela's madness shows one of the most pathetic situations in the play. We feel sad to hear her singing of old songs with reference to the death of her Father. The king's analysis that Ophela's madness is due to her Father's death and because of her disappointment in love is correct. Laertes's anger on the king over the murder of his father is natural but true circumstances of that murder are unknown to him. His reacton to ophelia's madness is natural. The poor Laertes suffers a double domestic tragedy. Claudius Landles Laertes and claims him by promising him to acquaint him with the true facts  regarding the murdere of polonius.

          Hamlet is very lucky person because the ship by which he was sailing to England is attracted by pirates. He is saved from being murdered by the English authorities, but for his hauoic fight against the pirates he could have been killed in that battle. His boarding the pirate ship shows again his capacity impulsive.

          Claudius is a scheming villain. He does not take any action against Hamlet for the murder of polonius because he has another plan in his mind for putting an end to Hamlet's life, and Laertes readily becomes a partner in that plan because Laertes has a strong reason for doing so. Laertes's desire to avenge his father's murder it as natural as Hamlet's desire to avenge the murder of his Father. However the method which he has been convinced by Claudius and which he will try to murder Hamlet is by no means honourable.

          Ophelia suffers a lot because we can see hertragedy in her father, madness and death. Laertes's grief over the death of Ophelia is unbearable. The death of Ophelia is unbearable. The weader is overwhelmed by the tragedy.

          There is a comic relief after the tragedy effect of Ophelia's death and madness. While the grave digger's singing in the course of his digging a grave puzzles Hamlet, Horatio says that the grave-diggea is no longer sensitive to death because it has sensitive to death because it has become a habit of him to dig graves.  Hamlet's reflections on the skulls thrown up by the grave-digger in the course of his digging emphasis his speculative and philosophical tendency. But that amusing dialogue of Hamlet and the grave-digger gives place to a tragic situation when Hamlet comes to know about Ophelia's death that she is no more and dead and the new grave is meant for her. He leaps into the grave and speaks to laertes in a challenging manner we again see that he is a man of impulse. Hamlet's love for Ophelia was genuine and deep, true but he had to suppress his love due to circumstances. It was after the revelation by the ghost that Hamlet found it necessary to suppress his love for Ophelia till he has avenged the murder of his Father.

          The Haunting Mystery of life, of Evil and of Reality in the graveyard scene is wall-known scene in the play. Hamlet comfronts, and accepts the condition of being man. It is not simply that he now accepts death : First in the imagined persons of the politician, the courtier, and the lawyer. Who now lie here; then in Yorick. Whom he knew and played with as a child; and then in Ophelia. This last death beings a final cry of passion, but the contrast between his behavior and that of laertes reveals how deeply he has changed. The mystery of evil is present here- for this after all the universal graveyard, Where the seheming politician, the cartier, the lawyer, the queen, the emperor and the beautiful young maiden, all cone together in an emblem of the would. The mystery of reality is here. There is the mystery of human limitations. The grotesque nature of man's little joys and his big ambitions.

          Hamlet's has a capacity to device murderous schemes. Hamlet's action in replacing the king's letter which Rosenarantz and Guildenstern were carrying authorities to put an end to the life of these two men shows that Hamlet can be heartless. When occasion demands it. When Horatio remarks that Guildenstern and Resencrantz have gone to their death Hamlet feels no regret in having sent them to their death. His desire for revenge upon the king once again shows compulsive force. Hamlet's expressing regret to Horatio over the manner in which he misbehaved towards laertes shows his grace and finew feelings.

          We comes to know Hamlet's unsuspicious nature. His agreeing to the fencing-match shows that he is totally unsuspicious in spite of the fact that he knows the king to be a villain and in spite of the fact that he remembers having given offence to Laertes at the time of Ophelia's funeral. When Horatio tries to dissuade him from the fencing tries to dissuade him from the fencing match, Hamlet's reply is characteristic. We get further evidence of his finer feelings when he opologises to Laertes before the starting of the fencing-match. It is only when Laertes, who has been wounded, reveals the king's villainous plot against Hamlet, that Hamlet urged by an impulse, stabs the king's to death and in this way at last avenge his Father's murder, though at the cost of the life of his mother, the lives of all the members of polonius's family and his own life.