An in-depth analysis of Hamlet

An in-depth analysis of Hamlet

Society forms the core of our sense of being and the moral values we perceive in our daily routines. The environment that the community surrounds us with forms the center to the character and the character traits we take up. These factors can vary from the people we associate ourselves with the actions and outcomes of a particular situation; all these affect us in one way or another in developing our self-understanding. Self-concept is the image we all have of ourselves, an individual’s behavioral perceptions, and personal characteristics. Self-discovery is an ever-changing theme in our lives that become cemented with age (Oyserman et al.). Through such, every individual will understand and exemplify their personas accordingly and the way they reveal themselves to the world around them.

The Tragedy of the Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, is often known as the Hamlet and is one of the most extended plays ever written by Shakespeare. The plot talks of Prince Hamlet, who is in a quest to revenge his father’s demise. The siting King Claudius through greed and hunger for power, murders the Prince’s father to seize the throne and also marry his Queen, Gertrude. The play is a tragedy since it is a concept of realism. The game augurs with the legend of Amleth. The play invokes a society that is governed by self-concepts, and the existing moral values are through the teaching of the community. Characters depict different perceptions, all of who help in understanding the self-concept that gets portrayed in the play. These characters with different personas provide ample ground for understanding the self-concept in their society and how they are manifesting it amongst themselves or within themselves and the various forms of self in the community.

Forms of the self in the society

There are two significant forms of self-concept in society, which are personal identity and social identity. Basing it on the social identity theory, these two are highlighted in the play Hamlet by the community and individuals themselves. The personal identity refers to the character traits and other characteristics that make an individual unique in their ways. The social status, on the other hand, refers to how we all identify with a collective aspect. These can include the political-religious and community elements (Oyserman et al.).

Personal identity

William Shakespeare portrays Hamlet as a well-educated character who is more of the brain than brawns. The above gets highlighted well when he chooses not to consort to using fists but uses brains in devising ways to kill Claudius, thus highlighting a personal self-understanding of intelligence. Hamlet uses his knowledge to understand things before confronting them. Albeit the fact that he is angry at the death of his father, he still chooses to understand the importance of being peaceful. He understands that the approach of violence has consequences and opts for other measures, using the mind over fist.  In contrast to Laertes, who swears to resort to violence upon hearing the news, hamlets intelligence exemplify him over Laertes (Lee). They respond to grief differently; Laertes is the angry one and often resorts to the use of violence to absolve himself.

Prince hamlet, in his perception, sees himself being different as compared to the other nobles; Fortinbras and Laertes a gives the subject of identifying real friendships. In Hamlet’s way, the theme of indecisiveness comes in when he cannot function without having to scrutinize something deeply. He takes a long time to execute his plan of revenge and further plunges into his mindset. At some point, he even contemplates committing suicide, but his religious beliefs stop him. In his monologue, he talks about suffering and the option of ending his suffering. Religion forbids suicide; this shows the moral values he has developed by being religious. Morality trounces the notions of death, and he does not go through with it.

Cunningness is also another personal identity that Prince Hamlet is synonymous with and often portrayed. Having met up with some individuals, he concocts a plan which will alter the play and deliver a particular message. He sets up the game to show a scene that is similar to the way his Uncle, King Claudius, murdered the KingKing and seized power (Lee). The idea of Hamlet is to instill a sense of guilt in the KingKing and some ways, make him suffer for all his wrongdoings.

Dishonesty is another identity that comes up in character found in the play. The characters in their ambitions resort to the various devious ways to achieve their targets. The case of King Claudius magnifies the concept of dishonesty and betrayal in the play. His power-hungry nature pushes him to do the abominable and commit the murder of his blood brother. The desire to sit on the throne shows his true self, and the extent of the harm he can do to reach his ambitions. Killing your blood is not easy and requires the worst of us to come out and push us.

Shakespeare brings out the character as being power-hungry and betrayer of the society. The Kings Ghost helps the audience to properly understand what went on and why King Hamlet is dead. The sitting King Claudius also shows the extent of betrayal in society by killing his brother and even the plans to kill Prince Hamlet. He feels that the Prince has come to realize his actions and therefore comes up with a plan to eliminate the young Hamlet. These actions are not standard in any society but are shown by the characters, having etched itself amongst the few these create identities that are morally wrong and do not conform to the norms of normalcy. The KingKing himself is in danger, and feel guilty; he seeks to atone for his mistakes through religion. Morality jets in and the KingKing Claudius takes up religious atonement for his errors and betrayal of his brother. Amidst all these chaos, there are still moral values that are observed by the society; the guilt pushes the KingKing to seek remorse and forgiveness for the wrongs that he has committed.

Social identity

The society is underwhelming the women, and their statuses are no better. In a patriarchal society, the position of women is shallow and always under men. Shakespeare portrays women to be individuals who cannot make their own decisions and have to live by the rules that are set by the men. Society recognizes women as beings meant to live by the laws of man and their governance. The marriage of Gertrude by King Claudius is the typical setting that signifies the amount of power a woman holds. In this society, they are powerless and only live by the authorities of their men. Although being the Queen, Gertrude still cannot escape marrying Claudius. Having been the wife of the late King Hamlet, she is Queen, but all these do not stop her from being married to the new KingKing.  Although she is not exactly having any sexual contact with the KingKing, she is not seen as such by her son. The ambiguousness in her morality and society as a whole does not present any judgment to her. She asserts herself as the wife of the KingKing, ignoring the virtue of the marriage (Leverenz, p.298). Having been the wife of the King’s brother, it is not morally right, as shown by the anger of the nobles towards the KingKing. They detest what Claudius has done, but the Queen is just okay with it and has no problem.

Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius, is another victim of the power yielded by the men. She is forced into an affair by her father, Polonius. Having had no motherly figure in her life, Ophelia has to consent to whatever her father says. Through her father’s advice, she ends up into a relationship with Hamlet. Although the latter does not respond to her relationship, it highlights the powers of women in society (Leverenz, p.301). They are powerless, and their wants not heard. They resort to living in the hand of the men. Women are to obey men, and the men are the sole decision-makers in society.

The society is patriarchally causing a lot of political tensions amongst its people. The death of the KingKing brings in a new King, and the community reacts to the issue.  Many see the new KingKing as being a politician for having just his ways with words, and on the other hand, there are individuals in the society who want the kings of action. Hamlet, Fortinbras, and Laertes are seen by the community as the men of action and possess a political twist. The KingKing considers the presence of Hamlet as being a threat to his throne, therefore, making King Claudius very wary of him. This prompts him to create a plan involving Laertes to ensure that the Prince Hamlet is killed. The society has accepted the leadership of whoever sits on the throne, and Shakespeare does not elude any judgments form the public about the issue (Fernie, p.204). They are content with anyone, even if not rightfully. The play shows a society that does not question the death of their KingKing and does not intend to find out what happened to him that lead to his death. They also do not ask the essence of the Queen is married to the King upon ascending the throne.

Criticism of the play

Shakespeare’s play the Hamlet divides the understanding of the readers and the critics alike. Using an abstracted language to convey his messages provides a wide area of knowledge and does not get to the point. The author has perfected the art of contorting the language he uses in the play. The characters adopt a style that is not direct but instead brings a wide are of understanding, and this forces the readers to conform to the game based on their knowledge. This use of the language is not definitive, and the readers might sometime fail to grasp the idea that the author was trying to convey. The above can lead to misrepresentation of the play and away from different understandings that the one intended. One such is when Hamlet is trying to bring the idea of his father’s murder to the new KingKing Claudius. In the conversation, the KingKing calls the Prince “my son,” to which the Prince Hamlet responds, “A little more than kin and less than kind” (Shakespeare, I.II.64). The answer is not a direct one, and the readers get left without understanding whether the message was well understood or not by the KingKing.

The decision by Prince Hamlet to kill the King is also another that is facing a lot of critics. The character Hamlet plots to murder King Claudius and revenge his father’s demise. The story comes up good, but the ideas drag along for a very long time. He battles with won judgments and plans to execute him without violence but by first fully understanding the situations. These readers lean with the idea that the Prince is reluctance because of what he feels for his Uncle and that his perceptions make him feel the fear of killing. He fears that if he avenges his father’s death, he will be no better than King Claudius himself.

Feminism is another issue in the play. The depiction of the women in the play is not well off at least based on the modern concept. Gertrude is not a loyal woman to her husband, and this has a significant influence on the life of her son, Hamlet, who now sees women from a different perspective. His effects are visible by the way he treats Ophelia as if she were a common prostitute or she has wronged him. The play vilifies the women. The imagery in the play is also too much, with the readers having to conform themselves with various situations. Through lines such as describing Denmark as being a prison, Ophelia ordered by Polonius to lock herself from Hamlet’s pursuit all exemplify imagery.

Psychoanalytic approach

Shakespeare writes down a creative masterpiece, poetic, and well-analyzed for the readers. By the own psychoanalyst perception, the use of creative arts can get adopted to express personal opinions and conflicts that are within ourselves. Through this, it seems that the author is using the character of Hamlet to express his battle in life. The play meant to show the tragedies that are rooted and present in society. He wants to bring out or arouse the innermost passion of the readers and allow them to mull over the happenings in the community.

Using the behaviors of King Claudius, readers get put in a scenario where they have to battle their moral values and test them. Shakespeare also uses incest among family members to amplify the ethical perspective of the readers and leave them questioning their stand about it. Oedipus Rex is the fantasy of a child that is brought to light and met as it is in the dreams, Hamlet is, however, repressed by the various activities and deeds that occur around him. The behavior of his mother makes him have a wrong notion towards Ophelia and treats her without respect. He is a victim of situations bred around him (Edgar, p.354).

Works cited

Edgar, Irving I. “The psychoanalytic approach to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.” Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal 6.6 (1961): 353-355.

Fernie, Ewan. “The last act: presentism, spirituality, and the politics of Hamlet.” Spiritual Shakespeares. Routledge, 2005. 202-227.

Lee, John. Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Controversies of Self. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Leverenz, David. “The Woman in Hamlet: An Interpersonal View.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 4.2 (1978): 291-308.

Oyserman, Daphna, Kristen Elmore, and George Smith. “Self, self-concept, and identity.” (2012).

Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Wellington, 1703.