Hamlet

Discussion

Hamlet as the Anti-Hero

Unlike traditional revenge play hero’s, Hamlet is an anti-hero, defined as much by moral doubt ad self-critisism as he is by courage and virtue.

He does not act of pure righteousness but from conflicted motives that make him painfully and realistically human.

His hesitation, morally grey actions, and self reproach mark him as a figure who defies heroic convention.

Hamlet’s moral intelligence alienates him from action and his sharp wit often undercuts his nobility. However, it is precisely this complexity that makes him so timeless.

Hamlet’s heroism lies not in strength or courage, but in his awareness of human fragility.

Shakespeare conveys psychological realism through Hamlet.

Compulsive/Depressive Behaviours.

Hamlets psychological complexity is presented through his constant oscillation between impulsive action and profound melancholy. 

At times he is paralysed by introspection and grief, sinking into despair and fixating on death and meaning, yet at other times, he acts with startling compulsiveness, such as in his killing of Polonius and confrontations with Gertrude and Ophelia.

These rapid mood shifts reveal Hamlet’s emotional instability. His compulsive behaviour seems to emerge when thought gives way to instinct, while his depressive episodes arise when intellect overwhelms emotion.

This quality reflects the Renaissance idea of the divided self. Hamlet is both a rational philosopher and an irrational man.

Shakespeare’s presentation of these extremes serve as early exploration of manic-depressives, emphasising Hamlet’s humanity and unpredictability.

Claudius’s guilt, desire and morality.

Claudius is a deeply conflicted character, who’s actions are driven by ambition, lust and the desire for power even as he remains painfully aware of it’s moral consequence.

Act 3 Scene 3: ‘O my offence is rank it smells to heaven; it hath the eldest primal curse upon it, a brothers murder.’

Despite his guilt, Claudius is ultimately unwilling to relinquish the fruits of his crime ( the crown, status, his queen ). This makes his preyer futile.

Highlights his inner torment revealing a man who knows right from wrong, but allows his worldly desires to override his conscience. His villainy is not a consequence of his lack of morality, but a failure to act on it, making him a muti-faceted and layered character, riddled with guilt for his wrong doings.

Biblical Allusion to Cain and Abel

Claudius’s murder of King Hamlet mirrors the story of Cain and Abel, in which Cain Kills his brother (Abel) out of jealousy and desire. This leads to Cain living a life marred by guilt and isolation, alienated from god and those around him, much like Claudius in Hamlet.

This allusion casts Clausius as a figure of fraternal betrayal and divine offence, therefore situating Claudius’s crime within a larger moral and theological framework.

Furthermore, this emphasises the crimes unnaturalness and its disruption of ‘divine order’ - link to Great Chain of Being.

The Biblical reference intensifies the plays exploration of sin, punishment, and the impossibility of redemption without true repentance, which Claudius ultimately fails to achieve.

Claudius’s relationship to Gertrude

Claudius’s relationship to Gertrude is complex, marred by a mix of genuine affection, political convenience, and moral ambiguity.

While Claudius speaks tenderly to her and appears to care for her, she is also a tool in his consolidation of power. 

Claudius’s treatment of women aligns with wider patriarchal dynamics. With his disregard of women’s agency linking him to the masculine and problematic structures that dominate the Danish court. 

Claudius’s political skill and manoeuvring

Claudius is politically adept, pragmatic, and persuasive. All qualities that make him an effective ruler on the surface.

His inaugural speech demonstrates his ability to control public perception as he strategically balances the mourning of his brother with celebrations of his marriage to Gertrude. 

Furthermore, he is able to navigate the political tensions and manipulates key court figures and countries for his own means (Fortinbras, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, England).

Claudius’s political success reveals a cunning and calculated personality. He understands the importance of appearance and diplomacy as he uses these skills to reserve power, suggesting that he values control and image over truth and justice. It is these traits that seperate him as the villain.

Hamlet’s Presentation of Claudius

Hamlet consistently portrays Claudius and a corrupt, deceitful, and cowardly usurper.

He never refers to him as ‘father’ or ‘king’ without contempt, and his language is always fulled with disgust and insult, framing Claudius as not only a morally weak murderer, but a spiritually inferior man to the late King Hamlet.

Hamlet describes Claudius as a ‘satyr’ in act one in contrast to his noble ‘hercules’ father. This demonstrates that Hamlet views Claudius’s rise to power as lustful, illegitimate, and incestuous. 

While Hamlet’s view is clouded by grief and resentment, it aligns with the audience’s knowledge of Claudius’s guilt, further isolating him as the corrupt centre of Denmark’s diseased court. 

However, some may consider that Claudius is an atypical villain, his guilt calling to question the nature of morality and villainy seperate to Hamlet’s perception. 

Claudius and Hamlet Senior

Claudius serves as a foil to the late king, who is described in idealised, almost mystic terms by his son. 

Where Hamlet Snr is presented as brave, honourable, and godlike, a ‘hyperion’, Claudius is framed as corrupt, manipulative and morally bankrupt ‘mole’.

The contrast between the two brothers underscores the plays themes of legitimacy and decay, with Claudius’s ascension marking a turning point in the politics of Denmark.

While King Hamlet relied on strength and justice in his rule, Claudius relies on deceit and diplomacy, embodying a modern, Machiavellian form of Kingship that lacks morality and the genuine authority of his predecessor.

Laertes Honour and Loyalty

Laertes is a man focused on traditional masculine honour, as well as loyalty, revenge, and action. He is prepared to take up arms and assert dominance when nessesary. 

Furthermore, as soon as Laertes’ family is harmed, his sense of loyalty shows its darker more violent side. His intense loyalty to his family, which initially seems an honourable quality, blinds him to any course of action but violence in retribution. 

This sense of honour and loyalty is first introduced to the audience in his conversation with Ophelia in Act 1 Scene 3.

Laertes as a foil to Hamlet

As a fellow son of a murdered father, Laertes serves as a foil for Hamlet, however, unlike Hamlet who is plagued by a more introspective nature, Laertes is single-minded in his quest for retributive justice.

While Hamlet grapples with the moral implications of revenge and violence, Laertes is driven by a thirst for justice, and seems not only unwilling, but unable to embrace anythign but violence to acheive his goals until his final moments. 

Laertes methods for achieving revenge are simple and blunt, as is demonstrated in how he wastes no time in seeking the person at fault for his families deaths. 

However, while this decisiveness seems preferable to Hamlet’s wallowing and procrastination, Laertes also dies in the end, indicating that his obsession and rash decisions his family cause the same result as Hamlets inaction. 

Laertes relationship with Ophelia

There is a clear love between the two siblings, with a touch of healthy rivalry and protection. When Ophelia’s death is revealed, Laertes is consumed by grief and seeks revenge against Hamlet who he deems to be at fault for both of his family deaths. 

Laertes is concerned about Ophelia’s potential vulnerability to Hamlet’s romantic entreaties, advising her to be cautious and guard her virtue. Warning her of Hamlet’s position and status. This advice is somewhat hypocritical, as he is also a young man known to engage in the same reckless behaviour. 

Both Laertes and Polonius undermine her intelligence and keep her in a state of naivity out of fear for her honour and chastity, representative of what was expected of women during the Elizabethan period. 

Ophelia’s obedience

Ophelia’s character is fundamentally shaped by her obedience which defines her relationships and ultimately contributes to her tragic death.

Throughout the play she consistently submits to the men around her, her Father and brother in particular.

This obedience, in which many viewers may deem as weak, is not born from a lack of strength, but of social conditioning and expectation, which equates female virtue with compliance, chastity, and silence.

Ophelia’s submission to male authority becomes exploited, leaving her little agency over her own life and growth as a coming of age woman.

Because of her obedience she is not taught to think critically for herself, which ulitmately leads to her decent into madness after she is left stranded without the men who have made her key decisions for her.

Ophelia’s male influence and contribution to her decay

The male figures in Ophelia’s life each play a part in Ophelia’s decent into madness and ultimately her death.

Polonius treats her as a pawn in his effort to secure favour with the king, prioritising his reputaiton over her safety and wellbeing, and forbids her from talking to Hamlet, who she loves.

Laertes through more affectionate and seemingly protective reinforces damaging ideals of female purity and reputation, pressuring Ophelia to guard her chastity, rather than supporting her autonomy or judgement.

Hamlet subjects Ophelia to emotional cruelty and manipulation in his act of madness, rejecting her with brutal language and making her feel complicit in the corruption he is observing in Denmark

Collectively these men strip Ophelia of her independence and isolate her emotionally, her death is a direct consequence of this sustained male dominance, exploitation, and betrayal. 

Ophelia’s Madness

Ophelia’s decent into madness is one of the most poignant aspects of her character arc, and serves as a tragic manifestation of her inability to navigate the conflicting and overwhelming demands placed on her by so many self-serving and ignorant men in the play. 

Her madness emerges after the death of Polonius, and Hamlet’s rejection, exacerbated by the cummulative prssures of grief, heartbreak, and the societal expectation of modesty despite it all. 

In her madness Ophelia is finally able to speak freely, her songs and the distribution of flowers expose the sexual and political undercurrents which have contributed to her downfall. 

Her lsnguage is fragmented and symbolic, revealing truths she had not articulated while sane. Her madness becomes both a rebellion against, and the direct result of the oppressive structures which governed her life. 

Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia

Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia is marked with contradiction and cruelty, reflecting his broader disillusionment with women and female sexuality after his mother’s remarriage.

Although he professes his love to Ophelia, he cruelly renounces this, telling her to ‘get thee to a nunnery’. His words convey his deep misogyny, projecting onto Ophelia his disgust with female sexuality and percieved duplicity.

Hamlet accuses her of deciet and mocks her virtue, failing to recognise her vunrebility and subordinate role in society. 

After her death, Hamlets guilt is seen as genuine by some, suggesting that he did care for her to some capacity, and was trying to protect her. On the other hand, the audience may interpret his display of grief as a showy and inappropriate exaggeration. 

Ophelia’s Femininity

Ophelia embodies the Elizabethan ideals and stereotypes of femininity; chaste, obedient, silent, and emotionally fragile.

Throughout the play she is both idealised and scrutinised for her purity, her value largely measured through this by the men around her.

However, Shakespeare complicates this presentation of female steryotype through her eventually breakdown and madness, herby exposing the suffocating effect of these experiences.

Ophelia’s death is often interpreted as symbolic of the ultimate failure by Elizabethan ideals to protect or sustain young woman, and underscores the plays critique of the limited roles assigned to women.

In death, Ophelia becomes a symbol of innocence destroyed by the corruption and cruelty of the world around her. 

Polonius corruption and manipulation

Polonius is characterised by his under-hand and manipulative nature, with the audience frequently witnessing him engage in espionage in order to maintain his position in the court and secure his reputation as a wise and loyal counciller.

His most nutorious acts of spying are; sending Reynaldo to spy on Laertes in Paris, his orchestrating of Ophelia’s interactions with Hamlet, placing his own political ambitions over parental care.

Polonius’s shady, surveillance driven behaviour align him with the broader theme of corruption within the Danish court, exposing the deciet that permeates Elsinore. 

Polonius’s need for control

Polonius’s actions within the play reveal a deep seeted need for control, both within the court, and the lives of his children.

This is most clearly demonstrated through his attempts to micromanage Laertes’ conduct while he is abroad, and his control of Ophelia’s relationship with Hamlet by dectating her behaviour and reprimanding her for trusting his intentions. He also schemes to stay in Claudius’s favour by presenting himself as wise and indespensable. 

This constant need for control reflects Polonius’s insecurities and desire to maintain his status through the careful orchestration of appearance and information.

Polonius’s verbose nature and pedantic speeches undermine his credibility, revealing a man riddled with insecurity, who hides beneath a facade of officious wisdom and ego.

Polonius’s fatal flaw

Polonius’s fatal flaw is his meddlesome nature along with his overconfidence in his own intelligence and schemes. 

He is convinced of his own shrewdness and constantly interferes in matters out of his depth. His tendency to insert himself irrelevently directly leads to his death, as he hides in Gertrudes chambers to eavesdrop on her conversation with Hamlet in Act 3 Scene 4.

Polonius’s inability to recognise his limited influence and his failure to grasp the extent of the courts dangers exposes the gap between his presented image as a cunning, integral advisor, and the reality of his comedic foolishness and vulnerability.

Polonius as comedic relief

Polonius provides much of the plays comedic relief, often through his long-winded speeches and pompous self-importance which Hamlet mocks.

His verbose ramblings are marred by contradictions and banal truths that expose the absurdity of his wisdom ‘brevity is the soul of wit’.

Hamlet frequently mocks Polonius, turning him into a regular figure of ridicule and emphasising the gap between his self-perception and how others view him.

This comedic aspect serves to critique the hallow nature of those in power who disguise their lack of wisdom beneath elaborate verbosity and meddlesome actions. 

Polonius’s relationship with the royal family

Polonius’s relationship with the king and queen is characterised by self serving, conditional loyalty and manipulation.

With Gertrude, Polonius’s manipulation is less direct, but he aligns himself with her through his supposed care for Hamlet’s welfare, once again using the family’s troubles to secure his own status and security. 

Polonius’s relationship with those in power works to demonstrate his opportunistic nature, always looking to strengthen his position through flattery and meddlesome action. 

Gertrude’s ambiguous motives for marrying Claudius

Gertrude’s decision to marry Claudius so soon after King Hamlet’s death is one of her central mysteries, in which Shakespeare never provides a definiative explaination, leaving her intentions to the audiences interpretations. 

It is unclear whether she was complicit in the murder, entirely unaware of it, or soply politically pragmatic in her decision to remarry.

One possible interpretation is that she married Claudius out of her desire to maintain stability in the court, herby protecting her and Hamlet’s positions. 

She may be motivated by a fear of loosing power and status in a patriarchal society where widows influence is significantly limited.

Alternatively, she could be perceived to genuinely care for Claudius, emotionally dependant on him, or is motivated by sexual desire, the latter of which Hamlet ardently portrays. The speed of her remarriage provokes suspicion, but the lack of clarity surrounding her inner thoughts means that one much weigh whether she is calculating or naieve.

Gertrude’s political skill

Although not overtly political, Gertrude exhibits signs of political skill and awareness, indicative of the role of women in Elizabethan society.

Her ability to retain her position despite the transition from King Hamlet’s reign to Claudius’s suggests diplomatic accomplishment and adaptability. Furthermore, it works to credit the view that is was political skill which motivated her hasty marriage to Claudius, her loyalty to whom reflects political foresight in aligning herself with the reigning monarch, potentially in an attempt to protect her insubordinate son.

She plays the role of queen with discretion and dignity, choosing to work within the limits of her role to maintain courtly decorum and smooth tensions between Hamlet and Claudius. This makes it apparent that much like Claudius, Gertrude is also aware of the value of reputation and appearance. 

Gertrude’s Ambiguity

Shakespeare achieves significant dramatic tension and thematic depth by keeping Gertrude’s motives, internal thoughts, and extent of knowledge ambiguous, by inviting a range of interpretations about her character and what she presents, especially as the audience must judge her character on limited and largely bias perspectives. In doing so, Shakespeare reflects the limitations place on women in both society and literature of the time. 

Gertrude could be seen as complicit, innocent, pragmatic, or passive as she exists largely throguh the perceptions of men, including her past marriage to Hamlet Snr, yet she quietly subverts this by surviving and adapting to maintain control. 

Furthermore, her lack of resolution in death leaves the audience unsettled and Gertrude forever ambiguous. 

Gertrudes final moments are additionally ambiguous as her final words ‘I am poisoned’ could be read to be a simple announcement of her fate, a realisation of Claudius’s guilt, or a final warning to Hamlet. Her death ultimately reinforces her elusiveness to the audience sealing her tragic arc as a women caught in the crossfire of male ambition and vengeance. 

Hamlet’s presentation of Gertrude

Hamlet presents Gertrude in intensley critical terms, portraying her as a symbol of female frailty and weakness, unfortunately, it is through this perspective the audience views her.

His disgust at her remarraige and obsession with her physical relationship with Claudius reflects the wider Elizabethan anxieties surrounding female sexuality, autonomy, and moral strength. Some argue that Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s perception of Gertrude to critque societal expectations and generalisation of women. 

Hamlet’s declaration ‘frailty thy name is women’ generalises her perceived moral failings into a contemporary on all women. It is in this line that Hamlet’s growing misogyny is made abundantly clear.

Despite his disdain Gertrude shows consistent maternal concern for Hamlet. However, her failure to understand the depth of Hamlet’s inner turmoil and philosophical realisations creates distance between them.

The Ghost - Foreshadowing and Superstitions

Horatio and the guards are afraid of the ghost, their fear due to the supernatural superstitions creates suspence as they are concerned for the significance of the ghost in a ‘corrupted’ Denmark.

They take the ghost’s appearance as a sign that the former king’s soul is in a state of unrest, linking to the catholic notion of purgatory.

Typically in the Elizabethan era when a ghost appears it foretells tragedy on the kingdom, which in this case becomes true.

The Ghost’s effect on characters.

The ghost is highly particular about how he delivers his message, only speaking to Hamlet and ensuring he is alone before they converse. Furthermore, it is only after Hamlet agrees to help him that he reveals Claudius to be ‘the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown’. 

The ghost uses strong language to describe Claudius’s lustful and obscene designs on both the throne and Gertrude. The use of the imagery of ‘serpent’, is a biblical allusion to the devil in the garden of eden, thus hinting at the Christian morality that underpins Elsinore and comes to be a central consideration in the play.

His instruction for Hamlet to enact revenge on Claudius on his behalf is in service of political justice, but also is about personal justice. While Hamlet is concerned primarily with the latter motive, the ghost is keenly aware of both principles, showing his nuanced understanding of the Great Chain of Being and a king’s divine rights.

Horatio’s relationship with Hamlet

Horatio represents rationality and emotional steadiness. He serves as a loyal friend. intellectual equal, and the voice of reason in contrast to Hamlets tumultuous introspection. The two share a bond of genuine respect that stands apart from the surrounding manipulation and distrust.

Hamlet values Horatio’s calm and rationalised opinions which reflects his yearning for this emotional control that he himself lacks. 

Horatio serves as a dramatic confidant, allowing Hamlet’s soliloquies and inner thoughts to externalised through dialogue, giving the audience insight to his psychology as well as highlighting the contrast between this friend and his family.

Shakespeare uses Horatio as the moral and intellectual balance of the play, a figure untouched by the corruption in Denmark, as the only surviving member of the court.

The significance of Horatio’s survival

When Hamlet is dying he urges Horatio to live on and tell his story. Thus, by surviving Horatio becomes the vessel through which Hamlet’s legacy endures, transforming private tragedy into public narrative. 

This commitment to the truth is Hamlet’s final act of vengeance. 

‘Horatio, I am dead, thou livist; report me and my cause aright’ 

On a symbolic level Horatio’s survival represents the endurance of reason, loyalty and truth in a world destroyed by corruption. 

Hamlet as enigmatic

Hamlet remains one of literatures most elusive figures, a character who’s motive and nature defy basic interpretation.

His actions and motives often contradict one another, he feigns madness yet speaks profound truths, he professes love to Ophelia yet inflicts great cruelty on her, he delays revenge yet acts violently when provoked.

Through Hamlet Shakespeare explores the tensions between action and thought, morality and instinct, and love and resentment. 

Hamlet’s elusiveness serves the dramatic function of sustaining the plays philosophical richness. He is a character meant to be contemplated, rather than understood.

Hamlet’s fatal flaw

Hamlet’s fatal flaw lies in his tendency to think rather than act as his intellectual brilliance and introspection make him incapable of decisive action, especially when moral or philosophical implications are involved. 

His self-awareness and morality become paralysing at every opportunity for revenge as he delays because of his reflection and contemplation. 

‘thus conscience makes cowards of us all’

Hamlet constantly weighs alternatives, examines motives (soley in men), and doubts appearances.

Shakespeare presents this as more than a weakness, but as a tragic trait of humanity, fatal for Hamlet and consequently for many others. 

Oedipus Complex

This theory, posed by Jones and Freud, suggests that Hamlet suffers from an unconscious sexual desire for his mother and consequent rivalry with his father and Claudius, as Hamlet’s disgust with her marriage borders on obsessive.

Hamlet views Gertrude’s remarriage as the centre of the corruption in Denmark. Furthermore, his obsession with the physical aspect of Gertrude’s marriage, exceeds conventional moral outrage and indeed seems to trump the crime of the murder itself. 

According to this theory, Hamlet cannot kill Claudius because he has enacted Hamlet’s own subconscious desire. 

Hamlet’s attempts to mirror his father

A significant aspect of Hamlet’s actions link into his obsessive desire to mirror his father and live up to his image as a noble warrior and leader.

His longing to emulate his father intersects with the Oedipus complex. Hamlet subconsciously identifies with the very man he idealised and envied.

In order to fufil his duty he must symbolically replace his father, but in doing so runs the risk of aligning himself with Claudius, whose act of fratricide mirrors unconscious desires of Hamlet himself.