Hamlet's strengthens and weakness - Essay Example

Hamlet Review A lot has been said and written by many concerning the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The whole play is about the theme of revenge which starts when Hamlets father is killed by Claudius who quickly marries Hamlet’s mother and takes over the reign as the King. For this reason, hamlet is furious over the act and wants to revenge. During this time, his father in form of a ghost reminds him that it is indeed Claudius Hamlets uncle that killed him. In order to confirm this, Hamlets composes a play similar to that that led to his fallen fathers dead. During this time he watches over the reactions of King Claudia and confirms through personal reactions that Claudia is responsible for his father’s death. He then plots revenge which leads to the entire royal family’s death. Apart from the theme of revenge, authors and analysts have been keen to review this play and come up with different views. This paper will therefore review one of the literary works by Ruth Nevo and make give its opinions. According to Ruth Nevo, “passion is the powerhouse of the soul, the generator of all deeds. But control of passion is above all requisite for any effective expression or action. Without such temperance a man is no more than passion’s slave” (Harold Bloom, 2002). I agree with the words of Nevo and believe that this power that stems directly from the heart of Hamlet is what makes the backbone of the whole play. Without this passion, Hamlet would have not decided on revenge. Through the passion which is the powerhouse of the soul, it is possible for the dead king Hamlet’s father to communicate through his son in the spirit world and inform his son about the person responsible for his death. Hamlet spends most of his time plotting revenge. He cares no more about what his fellow citizens are feeling. I agree with the author since Hamlet develops an obsession and begins to struggle mentally. He shows sign of not being able to handle his grief over his father’s death and he is so much depressed and lacks interest over so many things. Because of this Hamlet develops a feeling of revenge over his family and he behaves so aggressively. He is debating about the pros and cons of living vs ending his life. This is seen when he uses such words like “to be or not to be”. In addition to this, this compassion is revealed in how he trains his players in the play. He tells them to be very “torrent and tempest, the whirl of passion, you must acquire the beget a temperature that may give it smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious periwig pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings”. Hamlet takes this world as a painful place and would wish to move to the world of the dead but he is uncertain whether the world of the dead is also painful. I agree with the author’s assumption that “Hamlet’s production at all events is a failure. What Hamlet does do is as fatally erroneous as what he does not do; the premeditated action that he does take. The good he would do he does not, and the evil that he would not do he does”. This is indeed true in the entire play. Hamlet planned to revenge on Claudius by killing him but in the event of trying to do this he does thing s that he should have not done. Hamlet lets go a clear chance of killing Claudius while he is praying thinking that the King will go to heaven when he is killed while consulting with God. However, when he thinks that the opportunity has arrived, he does what a man should ever do; killing your girlfriend’s father. Hamlet stabbed Polonius thinking that he had avenged on Claudius. This makes Hamlet’s life more complicated. Ophelia Hamlet’s girlfriend commits suicide by drowning herself in a pool of water since she could no longer cope with Hamlet’s circumstances. Laerte should have not poisoned his sword with the help of Claudius since this is what led to their death. In this scene I still affirm the author’s position on the phrase, what you should not do you do, while what you do you should not do. In addition to this the author states that Hamlet’s recognition and fallibility emerges when he mistakenly kills Polonius. During this time the author believes that Hamlet is Chastened by the ghost and he quickly acknowledges his blunted purpose. Due to this guilt, Hamlet asks his “assume a virtue, if you have it not”. I also agree with the author in this article when he claims that the King triumphed all over till the end of the play. This is true when we compare the tragedy that has befallen Hamlet compared to King Claudius. The author says, “He is master of reality, making his will prevail, no fool of fortune”. King Claudius managed to evade Hamlet’s wrath and exposed Hamlet’s weakness. Hamlet of all the people fails to distinguish seeming from being and is trapped in fatal deceptive maze of appearances that is the phenomenal world. For example, when Hamlet does not kill him and kill his father’s girlfriend. In addition to this, the play only ends when Ophelia’s brother reveals to him that it was the entire King’s plan and not his. Before Polonius is killed by Hamlet the King says that,” our thoughts are our own, their ends none of our own”. This further reveals Hamlet’s weaknesses expressing the brightness of the King. He is the master of all and he watched clearly as the story unfolded. Things got further complicated for Hamlet when his own mother tasted a drink that was meant to kill him. For, this reason, his mother dies. The author says that Hamlet orchestrated seven other deaths in addition to Ophelia’s madness. The king was also behind the poisoning of the sharp blades that Hamlet and Ophelia’s brother used in the fight. This was a backup plan that was meant to kill Hamlet only that this time the King was wrong in his judgment since he was also killed by the same poison. The third of scene of this play further exposes Hamlet’s weaknesses. He is unable to understand his girlfriend Ophelia properly. Because of confusion and the rage of revenging, he is confused not knowing when to act and act in the right way. Hamlet though that Ophelia was lying to him when he asked her the whereabouts of Polonius. Because of his inability to be sure he ends up killing the wrong person. The author affirms this by suggesting that Hamlet is tormented by doubts and not confirmations. In conclusion, the author of this article believes that no revenge has taken place at all since the whole family has been engaged in a tragedy that began with Polonius killing his own brother. His action led to the death of 7 persons including him. Ophelia’s brother wanted revenge but does not live to see it since he dies. This is also true when we look at Hamlet. He does not live to see the fruit of his revenge that also claims the lives of other beloved people. The King plots his own death and does not live to enjoy his revenge since he is killed by Hamlet with a poison that he has applied in the sword. I therefore agree that nobody has enjoyed any revenge in this play as the entire throne dies out of fallacies and misjudgments. Read More