Hamlet: Duplicity
In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist exhibits a puzzling,
duplicitous nature. Hamlet contradicts himself throughout the play. He
endorses both the virtues of acting a role and that of being true to one's
self. He further supports both of these conflicting endorsements with his
actions. This ambiguity is demonstrated by his alleged madness, for he does
behave madly,only to become perfectly calm and rational an instant later.
These inconsistencies are related with the internal dilemmas he faces. He
struggles with the issue of revenging his father's death_vowing to kill
Claudius and then backing out, several times. Upon this point Hamlet
stammers through the play. The reason for ...
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himself to
revenge. In this statement the play makes an easy to follow shift. This
shift consists of Hamlet giving up the role of a student and mourning son.
Hamlet says,
"I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms,
all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there, And thy
commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain"
(1.5.99-103).
Hamlet is declaring that he will be committed to nothing else but the
revenge of his father's death. There is no confusion about Hamlet's
character. He has said earlier that he is what he appears to be, and there
is no reason to doubt it. In the next act,however, Hamlet's status and
intentions suddenly, and with out demonstrated reason, become mired in
confusion.
When Hamlet appears again in act two, it seems that he has lost the
conviction that was present earlier. He has yet to take up the part
assigned to him by the ghost. He spends the act walking around, reading,
talking ...
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is given by one of the players. About this
speech he says, "Whatis Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should
weep for her? What would he do Had he motive and cue for passion That I
have? "(2.2.561-564)
In this praise of this players ability to act, Hamlet is saying that, if he
were such an actor, he would have killed Claudius by now. This link between
vengeance and acting that is present here is what Hamlet struggles with
until very near the end. He is then moved to swear that he should kill
Claudius when he says, " I should have fatted all the region kites With
this slave is off. Bloody, bawdy villain! O, vengeance! Why, what an
ass am I?' (2.2.581-585) He makes this big ...
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"Hamlet: Duplicity." Essayworld.com. April 20, 2007. Accessed December 1, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlet-Duplicity/63615.
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