Hamlet's Indecisiveness

Hamlet Analysis Report

It is debatable whether or not Hamlet is one of the greatest dramatic characters ever made. The moment we are introduced to Hamlet, many readers can recognize his intensity and the passion that he possesses. Hamlet holds many negative qualities such as indecisiveness, hate, obsession, brutality, and spontaneity. Regardless of these negative qualities, Hamlet is still the tragic hero and the Prince of Denmark. On the other hand, he has remarkable qualities that a hero should have such as bravery, passion, loyalty, respect, cautiousness, and dedication. We can see all of his qualities throughout this tragic play, but when we are introduced to him, we are given such a mysterious impression and it sets the tone for the
When Hamlet had received the news that King Hamlet had died and his mother, Gertrude, had married the new king Claudius, his uncle, Hamlet is disgusted, cynical, and full of hatred. While everyone has gone on with their lives after King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet is still left to think and doubt about his father’s death. Gertrude tells Hamlet, “Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ‘tis common—all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity” (I.ii. 71-73), and Claudius says to Hamlet, “To give these mourning duties to your father, But you must know your father lost a father, That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound” (I.ii 88-90). Hamlets pain and misery is then more deepened because those around him are not mourning but quick to move on. Although Gertrude and Claudius have said those things, Hamlet is surely more hurt by the fact that his mother had married her brother-in-law within a short period of time after the Kings death. We cannot blame Hamlet for this emotion that he feels, for anyone in his situation would be disgusted and feel the same way that he does. Hamlet is then left to reminisce about his father on how much he had loved her queen, “But two months dead, nay, not o much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother, that he might not beteem the winds of heaven visit her face too roughly. Heaven and
When Hamlet first receives the news that King Hamlet had died, he returns home to find evidence of his father’s inexplicable death. Although the ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius had murdered his father, Hamlet seeks to prove Claudius’ guilt before taking any action against Claudius. Some may say he overuses his intelligence while ignoring his emotions and going with his instinct. This is what causes Hamlet to hold back on taking revenge against Claudius. Also, when Hamlet first encounters the ghost, his sight is telling him that what he is seeing is not possible, but his emotions think otherwise. “Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, have burst their cerements” (I.iv 47-48). Hamlet is then careful with his actions and thinks things through because he knows the value of having the accurate facts; otherwise, he may unreasonably kill his uncle and have to deal with the consequences. He then later plans a play for actors to re-enact the king’s murder, which the ghost had told him, to prove and actually believe what the ghost had said. At one point in the play, Hamlet considers about committing suicide saying these famous lines “To be or not to be, that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer…” (III.i 57-58). Hamlet begins to realize that his anxiety and pressures cause him to doubt that reason alone can solve his problems. He also realizes that he lacks the