The character of Hamlet, Danish prince in a Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name, is one of the most analyzed characters in a literature. Important part of his personality are his conflicts, inner and outer. The time passes by while he is occupied by his conflicts; that is one of the reasons for delaying the main task he gave to himself – the vengeance for his father’s death. Here we will talk about Hamlet’s introversion and alleged madness which are the parts of his inward conflict and about his attitude towards women and experience of a world as a prison which are the parts of his outward conflict.
Hamlet is partially introvert. He doesn’t have other friends besides Horatio and he spends lots of time in contemplations discussing important topics most often with himself. Even when he speaks with the other characters, his mother or Laert for example, he is often talking about his own preoccupations, without letting other characters to change his mind stream. He stays introvert even in communication. Not having another perspective than his own (and sometimes Horatio’s) is making his inner conflict deeper. The explicit example of his inward conflict is the famous monolog – ‘to be or not to be’, which might be simplified as a dilemma – to live and to act, or to annul everything in a suicide (Shakespeare). His other important dilemma is – to perform the vengeance and take the life of another human being, or to forgive. As a loyal son faithful to the memory of his father, he wants to act; but as an intellectual and sensitive person who considers murder immoral, he delays the action. All dilemmas he is considering in the essential solitude and introversion, even when he is among other people.
Madness is the convenient disguise for Hamlet’s plans. But soon after starting to play madness, it becomes more than a role. Madness is the vent for his internal battles. What he is not allowed to say as a sane, now he has freedom to say as a ‘madman’. In his declamations as a madman, he shows lots of melancholy and verbalizes his moral dilemmas in emphasized way. A while ago is noticed by the scholars that one of Hamlet’s main characteristics is a melancholy – “A deep-seated melancholy is fundamental characteristic of Hamlet’s nature.” (Tolman). “It appears, therefore, that in the first version Hamlet was not troubled with moral scruples” (Lewis 30). Moral doubts were not part of the initial idea, Shakespeare introduced them later in the developed version of the play, using motive of madness to emphasize them.
His external conflict with women starts with his relation with his mother, the Queen Gertrude. Her marriage with the brother in law, too soon and after the suspicious death of her husband, for Hamlet is a shocking fact that he can’t accept and comprehend. That is the beginning of his confrontation with women in general. He thinks that female nature is weak, and he spreads his negative feelings from mother to Ophelia and then to all women in general. In a long dialog between Hamlet and the queen Gertrude, his words are so sharp and painful to her that she repeats “O speak to me no more” (Shakespeare). His words are bare accusations of her act and his exaltation and animosity increase with every verse. The conflict is visible with another important woman in his life – Ophelia. In a past, he had romantic feelings for Ophelia and the best opinion about her. She is shown as a young girl with pure heart and mind. He is in love with Hamlet and she is even expressing her feelings when she gets afraid of his madness and wants to bring him back. But his answers are rough words and mocking to her noble attempts. He is showing certain contempt for her romantic aspirations. Ophelia is very much confused by his behavior and soon her confusion intensifies and pushes her into madness which ends with the suicide. Hamlet is sad when he realizes this income. But he was very cruel to the girl, just like the Ophelia’s misery was his intention. He wanted revenge, towards his mother and towards all the women. Ophelia was an easy victim.
Early in a play Hamlet expresses one of his biggest outward conflicts – the impression of the world as a prison. On a first level, the country is a prison, “Danmark’s a prison” he says; but so is the world – “in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons. Danmark being one o’ the worst” (Shakespeare). Hamlet’s nature is contrasted with a world as it is. He is an intellectual with a sensitive soul, which makes him contemplative, indecisive, incapable to make up his mind about the main action – performing a vengeance. Being like that makes him different from the surrounding world. World of his time demands action, not thinking, demands warriors, people who easily spill blood, not spending thoughts about it. Hamlet is different, he doesn’t belong to the world. He has all the reasons and motives to commit a murder but he is delaying. He wants his action to be meaningful, not random. He acts only after firm confirmation that uncle is guilty for his father’s death, after ‘The Mousetrap’ scene.
Equally important for his conflicts is his own mind seen as a prison. He says “For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me is a prison” (Shakespeare). From the beginning his educated mind seems to be on a way of his action. He is overthinking everything, he considers moral doubts, suicidal thoughts and morality of these thoughts and he contemplates his knowledge from the books. All these thoughts, constantly present in his judgment, make him a prisoner of his own mind. Thoughts are tying his hands, he is overwhelmed by them and they are making him indecisive and slow in a course of action.
Hamlet’s outward and inward conflicts are intertwined. Shakespeare builds their network from the first appearance of Hamlet’s character. He is shown as a sensitive intellectual man, who delays his main action. It was always a challenge for scholars to interpret – why does Hamlet delay the vengeance. Many found a reason in a Hamlet’s complex nature, based on his outward and inward conflicts.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, W. Hamlet, Complete Moby™ Shakespeare, Web, 29 July 2016,
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html
Tolman, A. H. The views about Hamlet and other essays, Internet Archive, Web, 29 July 2016,
https://archive.org/details/viewsabouthamlet00tolm
Lewis, C. M. The Genesis of Hamlet, Internet Archieve, Web, 30 July 2016,
https://ia800204.us.archive.org/9/items/cu31924013138122/cu31924013138122.pdf
