Hamlet: a Man of Many Qualities

Hamlet: A Man of Many Qualities

Tanya Tugwood

Hamlet is a man of many different qualities and he reveals only certain
qualities to certain people.   Hamlet draws his audience, the reader, into
noticing the different qualities that he has.   His qualities are shown through
his conversations with other characters as well as through his soliloquies.
These words of wisdom and revealance help to distinguish how Hamlet feels about
each other character that he encounters.   The phrases and speeches that Hamlet
addresses are both poetic and piercing.   So when Hamlet is speaking, he is
constantly revealing his qualities which range from love, to respect, to hate.
Hamlet's most powerful qualities seem to be revealed through his conversation
with the people that he cares about, namely his family and friends.

The queen, Gertrude, is hamlet's mother and she is probably the living being
that he cares about the most.   Unfortunately, one of Hamlet's qualities, which
is revealed in conversation with his mother, is a negative one and that is anger.
His quality is displayed through Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 2, Lines
131© 161.   Hamlet is angry at his mother for marrying a new husband, his uncle,
Claudius, so quickly after his father's death.   This anger shines through in
such phrases such as "Frailty, thy name is woman!"(Act 1,Sc 2, L148) and "Like
Niobe, all tears."(Act 1, Sc 2, L151).   At the end of his soliloquy, Hamlet
switches qualities from one of anger to one of fear.   This is evident when
Hamlet states, "With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!", and "It is not, nor
it cannot come to good", and finally "But break my heart, for I must hold my
tongue"(Act 1, Sc 2 L157© 161).   Hamlet expresses his fear for his mother's
hasty marriage.   Hamlet realizes that his mother marrying his uncle can have no
good result.   Respect is another quality that Hamlet displays in conversation
with his mother.   This occurs when his mother asks him to remain at home rather
than return to... [continues]

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