The Madness Of Prince Hamlet Essay Research — страница 3

some act That has no relish of salvation init, Then trip him that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be dammed and black (3.3.89-94) He is waiting until Claudius fits the part of a villain. His action is paralyzed whenever something does not fit the part. He needs his revenge to be dramatic so that he may get into it and finally play it out, and it takes him the next scene and an act to finally do this.After Hamlet backs out of killing Claudius, Hamlet says to his mother, ?O shame, where is thy blush??(3.4.72). He is voicing his distaste for Gertrude not only for marrying his uncle but for not being true to herself, she should show some shame for her sins but does not. Hamlet is contradicting himself in this. He has been duplicitous and untrue for two thirds of

the play. At this point he is still not sure as how he is to proceed. Hamlet is caught in the middle of acting and objectivity. Hamlet finally gets his act together, and decides to act the part his father had given him, after he sees the soldiers going off to war to die. The imminent death of twenty thousand men That, for fantasy and a trick of fame, Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, Which is not tomb enough and continent To hide the slain. O, from this time forth My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth! (4.4.51-57) Those soldiers fight and die for an insignificant plot of land, and they do it because they are soldiers, no other reason. Hamlet realizes that he should do what his role dictates strictly because it is his

role. He does not falter in his conviction after he returns and fully embraces the act. Upon confronting Laertes he says ?This is I, Hamlet the Dane? (5.1.53-54). The ?Dane?, meaning the King. He is claiming his right to the throne. This is the appropriate action for someone as wronged as he, albeit late. In reaction to Opheliais death he is again behaving as he should have. She was his love interest and as such he should have loved her more than her brother. This is shown when Hamlet says ?I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers /Could not, with their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum? (5.1.256-258). Hamlet should have loved her, but he did not. Had he loved her he would not have not treated her so poorly earlier. He is now committed to acting, and loving Ophelia fits the

role.In the rest of the play Hamlet does not mess around. He barely has time to tell his story of escape to Horatio before he is challenged. He does not refuse the challenge because as nobility, which he is finally claiming to be, he cannot refuse and keep his honor. Hamlet goes to the match and because he has now accepted the role he does not hesitate to kill the King when prompted to.It would seem that being a good actor is paramount to survival in this play. Polonius could not stick to the role of adviser and was trying to convince the King that Hamlet was in love with his daughter. This leads him to spy on Hamlet, and because he could not do that right either, is killed. Ophelia could not handle the role of mourning for her father, goes mad and dies as a result. The King

could not cover up his guilt, so Hamlet has the proof he needs to spur him on. Finally Hamlet, who if he would have acted as the ghost instructed him to in the first place, instead of flip flopping, would have killed Claudius outright. Had Hamlet been truly comfortable with acting, Claudius would have been the only causality.