Hamlet's Faculty of Intellect
Hamlet’s Faculty of Intellect
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet is a man of thought, reason and intellect. Throughout the play Hamlet utilizes his Christian knowledge to plan for different alternatives to action such as waiting to catch Claudius in sin to murder him. Hamlet also uses his Christian comprehension to terminate action all together like when he comes to a conclusion in his famous soliloquy that committing suicide would not follow Christian dogma. Despite Hamlet’s use of religious rational throughout the play, Hamlet’s impulsive actions do not portray a Christian character but depict a crazy villain. Coleridge clearly did not recognize that Hamlet’s impulsive actions that showed no previous thought were dangerous and aggressive. Thus Hamlet’s faculty of intellect can be considered valuable.
Hamlet shows us that humans, including him find themselves scared of “the undiscovered country from whose bourn/ no travelers returns, puzzles the will” (Hamlet, page 105). Hamlet’s thoughts on afterlife stem from the Christian dogma, that conveys that an eternal afterlife is present after death. Even though he states that a human’s natural boldness “is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought” that “pale cast of thought” restrains him from committing suicide (Hamlet, page 105). Thus intellectual thought before action prevents rash, impetuous actions such as suicide.
His religious belief of a devil figure lead him to suspect that the ghost of his father “may a devil—and the devil hath power/ T’assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps/ Out of my weakness and my melancholy/… abuses me to damn me” (Hamlet, page 97). Through thought and reason, Hamlet devises a plan to figure out whether Claudius is guilty or innocent which consists of throwing a play that closely resembles the murder and betrayal of his father so that Hamlet can “catch the conscience of the king” (Hamlet, page 97). This plan will effectively gives Hamlet the justification he needs to carry out
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet is a man of thought, reason and intellect. Throughout the play Hamlet utilizes his Christian knowledge to plan for different alternatives to action such as waiting to catch Claudius in sin to murder him. Hamlet also uses his Christian comprehension to terminate action all together like when he comes to a conclusion in his famous soliloquy that committing suicide would not follow Christian dogma. Despite Hamlet’s use of religious rational throughout the play, Hamlet’s impulsive actions do not portray a Christian character but depict a crazy villain. Coleridge clearly did not recognize that Hamlet’s impulsive actions that showed no previous thought were dangerous and aggressive. Thus Hamlet’s faculty of intellect can be considered valuable.
Hamlet shows us that humans, including him find themselves scared of “the undiscovered country from whose bourn/ no travelers returns, puzzles the will” (Hamlet, page 105). Hamlet’s thoughts on afterlife stem from the Christian dogma, that conveys that an eternal afterlife is present after death. Even though he states that a human’s natural boldness “is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought” that “pale cast of thought” restrains him from committing suicide (Hamlet, page 105). Thus intellectual thought before action prevents rash, impetuous actions such as suicide.
His religious belief of a devil figure lead him to suspect that the ghost of his father “may a devil—and the devil hath power/ T’assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps/ Out of my weakness and my melancholy/… abuses me to damn me” (Hamlet, page 97). Through thought and reason, Hamlet devises a plan to figure out whether Claudius is guilty or innocent which consists of throwing a play that closely resembles the murder and betrayal of his father so that Hamlet can “catch the conscience of the king” (Hamlet, page 97). This plan will effectively gives Hamlet the justification he needs to carry out