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Analysis of Hamlet

The “Hamlet - Prince of Denmark" is a play written by William Shakespeare. The play is

about a Danish prince who, running nearly mad, sets out to avenge for the murder death of his

father, although he does not accomplish it. The protagonist in the play is Hamlet, the son of a

murdered King. The antagonist is Claudius, the brother to the murdered King. The primary

themes in the pay are revenge, death, and the afterlife.

Hamlet is indisputably one of the greatest characters ever created by Shakespeare.

Hamlet is a man of multiple contradictions. He is indifferent yet cautious, courteous yet

unbecoming, tender yet vicious (Amanda). Hamlet’s varied contradictions come into play when,

after his father’s murder, he sets out in outrage to perform an act of revenge against the killing.

While the move to acting in retaliation against his father's death can be justified, it, however, lies

in stark contrast with Hamlet’s atrocity. Hamlet is responsible for the murder of Guildenstern,

Rosencrantz, and Polonius (Amanda). Hamlet has, in effect, hidden his real character with a

cloak of tenderness. Inwards, he is a man full of atrocities and harboring a vicious character. At

best, he is a man full of faults of every kind. It is strange that despite his hastiness,

indecisiveness, brutality, and hate, Hamlet is still considered a 'prince among men' (Amanda).

The first impression of Hamlet sets the stage for the entire play. To start with, the

physical impression of Hamlet, his pale face, moody attitude, and all-black attires implies that he
is in grief for losing his father. However, he reveals that his physical appearance does not, in the

least sense, show the sorrow that is inside him. "For they are the actions that a man might play,

But I have that within which passes show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe”

(Shakespeare, 1.2.84). Even when everyone has forgotten, Hamlet cannot forget his father. Even

Hamlet’s mother herself shows that she does not care much about his husband’s death. She says,

“Thou know'st tis common, all that lives must die/Passing through nature to eternity"

(Shakespeare, 1.2.71-72). This outright indifference by her mother makes Hamlet the more

grievous. To add to his pain, Hamlet’s mother marries her brother in law in less than one month

after losing her husband. This very act makes Hamlet so angry that he almost runs mad. Hamlet

feels that he has been betrayed. His hatred is pointed towards his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle

Claudius. He thinks that he has been let down by the very people whom he once loved,

respected, and trusted. All these occurrences drive Hamlet towards making revenge.

Hamlet starts his revenge mission after his father's ghost appears to the guards on duty

but refuses to speak to any of them. Horatio, Hamlet's friend, brings him the information about

the appearance of his father’s ghost. However, Hamlet seems to doubt the information. Almost

as a confirmation of his personage, Hamlet's father reappears and speaks to him in private

(Tearle). The ghost reveals to Hamlet that it was Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, who murdered him.

The ghost then directs Hamlet to revenge for his death by killing Claudius, the man who usurped

the throne by murder. The ghost, however, commands Hamlet to spare Gertrude, Hamlet's

mother, to 'leave her to heaven' (Tearle). This means that Gertrude was to be left to suffer God's

judgment. Hamlet is charged to treat the appearance of his father's ghost with utmost secrecy.

Hamlet is, however in confusion, and does not know whether the ghost that he saw was

indeed his father's or a prank. To ascertain the truthfulness of the information that the ghost
delivered to him, Hamlet decides to play a trick on Claudius to confirm whether it was indeed

Claudius who was behind his father’s death. He organizes for a play, The Murder of Gonzago,

that depicts a brother who murders a king and marries the King's wife. According to Hamlet’s

plan, when Claudius would watch the play, he would be so shocked and will be forced to confess

his atrocious act. Fortunately, the play makes Claudius admit his guilt, and Hamlet is convinced

that the ghost was indeed true. Hamlet, however, does not kill Claudius as directed by the ghost;

he instead denounces his mother for getting married to Claudius.

In my view, Hamlet seems to be sympathetic, but the atrocities that he has committed

deny him sympathy. In the first place, Shakespeare has spent more lines in his work talking

about him than he does talk about all other characters. Indeed, Hamlet is the prince in the play.

He appears as the ideal protagonist in the play, as he takes center stage in the greater part of the

play. Perhaps the question that should be asked is, 'is Hamlet the real protagonist, or is he the real

prince? Or, should we expect anything less from a prince? However, Hamlet reveals so many

flaws; his recklessness, misogyny, and cruelty- all these qualities (only evil), strangely enough,

make him come out in the play. The irony is that Hamlet’s rather wicked character makes him

the most fascinating and the most popular character in the play.

Shakespeare presents Hamlet in such a manner that, were he a real person, the reader

would have known all his inner life. Shakespeare has thrown Hamlet's inside out so much that

the reader of the novel will not lose Hamlet from memory without a struggle. Every reader of the

play must come right into the mind of the protagonist and the ‘prince’ in the play – Hamlet

features everywhere. Hamlet is tightly knit with the flow of the play such that it sometimes

becomes impossible to imagine whether something can happen in the play if Hamlet is not

thinking about it.

 From the play, several themes come into play. One of the themes is mortality. The

complexions of life and death re played out in the play, with death introduced at the very start of

the play. In the realization of the murder of his father, Hamlet gets into deep thoughts about the

murder of his father, and the meaning of life. He could not understand how a potent man like his

father could be so easily defeated by death. As a result of this, several questions emerge as the

play progresses. Such questions as ‘what happens at death?’ ‘when one is murdered, does he go

to heaven?’ ‘Do Kings really have the power that they purport to have?’

Another theme that comes out clear in the play is madness. Initially, Hamlet plays out

mad (angry, or crazy). He acts as if he were mad to deceive people that he is potentially non-

objective in seeking to avenge his Father’s blood. Initially, the imposing Polonius had said,

“although this is madness, yet I see a method in’t” (Shakespeare, 2.2.71). Polonius’s belief that

Hamlet’s point of madness is because of the love relationship that Hamlet sustains with Ophelia

is wrong. However, Hamlet’s behavior starts to become more erratic as the play progresses. His

acting as mad starts to take toll on him as he starts to behave mad. The fact that Hamlet

succumbed to physical violence when he was subjected to extreme stress reveals that Hamlet was

dealing with other deeper issues than just ‘playing mad.’

Political livelihood is another significant theme that comes out in the play. After the

murder of Hamlet’s father, the nation is in jeopardy, and power usurpation is rife. With a self-

imposed new king on the throne and the dead King’s son acting suggestively, trouble is cooking.

When Marcellus, one of the guards, says that “something is terribly rotten in the state of

Denmark,” (Shakespeare, 1.4.39), he knows what he is saying; he is not trying to be ironic. His

word shows how evil is lurking nearby. This tense moment can be interpreted as carrying the

harbingers of death of the principal characters in the play.

 The major themes in the play are revenge, mortality, afterlife, madness, and political

instability.. Shakespeare's deft usage of Hamlet's soliloquies and the ingenious use of doubling

add more realism to the play. Overall, the play tells us that revenge is supposed to be left to God.

In the play, Hamlet does not revenge against his father's death, although he goes to great lengths,

almost actualizing the revenge. However, Hamlet's initial plan to revenge for his father's death

shows that it is expected in the Danish society that a son was supposed to avenge his father's

murder (Tearle).

Works Cited

Mabillard, Amanda. Introduction to Hamlet. Shakespeare Online. Retrieved from

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/hamletcharacter.html. Accessed on 14th

April 2020.
Oliver Tearle. ‘A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet’ 2020. Retrieved

from from https://interestingliterature.com/2019/06/summary-and-analysis-of-hamlet-

shakespeare/. Accessed on 14th April 2020.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Clarendon Press, 1912.