Vacillation and Determination of Hamlet Essay - 661 Words

Vacillation and Determination of Hamlet What is mankind? Who am I? What is the meaning of life? These are multifaceted existential questions that ancient and modern philosophies have yet to adequately answer. The character Hamlet from Shakespeare’s tragedy explores these profound questions, seeking truth and understanding as he tries to avenge his fathers death. Throughout the play, hamlet’s perpetual challenging of himself and his actions makes him unable to act on his inclinations consistently. Hamlet is restrained by his excessive consideration of religious morals and beliefs as well as his fear of fatality. This indecisiveness is a crucial part of Hamlet’s character for most of the play, but he eventually undergoes a transformation†¦show more content†¦These defects of his characteristics originated after the death of his father and the unfaithfulness of his mother. His stress comes with frustration, unpredictability and loneliness while he was oblig ed to weigh everything anew. Foremost is the death of his father, after which he sinks into a deep melancholy that traps his mind and spirit. Hamlet’s confidence in the moral world was frail, and his moral faith was devastated. Everything that was most beloved to him had apparently been deserted of heaven, and he was abandoned to struggle alone. Under these adverse circumstances he wishes he were departed, and exclaims against the world: How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world! (Hamlet I; ii; 133-134) His motives combined with the overwhelming feelings of aversion to the world creates an ostensibly undoable mode of action, reflectively indicating Hamlet is in a state of confusion and desires for guidance. However, Shakespeare conveys a far more mature and accepting perspective towards death that Hamlet appears to adopt in Act V, which becomes a turning point in the play. A realization is reached in his contemplation over the Yorickâ€℠¢s skull, that death is inevitable for all. Shakespeare verbalizes this exquisitely as Hamlet describes how both Alexander the Great and the court jester Yorick â€Å"returneth into dust† (Hamlet V; i; 212.) in the same way when they died, and as every character in