Hamlet As Victim Essay, Research Paper

Shakespeare?s Hamlet is a complex story of revenge, the lack of love, and the

?madness? of Hamlet. Hamlet is a victim of his own humanity. The decisions

he must make, make him human, and his indecisiveness makes him a man. His

father?s ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death, and Hamlet?s procrastination

to do so adds to his humanity. ?What we have in Hamlet is the exploration and

implicit criticism of a particular state of mind or consciousness. In Hamlet,

Shakespeare uses a series of encounters to reveal the complex state of the human

mind, made up of reason, emotion, and attitude towards the self, to allow the

reader to make a judgment or form an opinion about fundamental aspects of human

life? (L.C. Knight, 192). Hamlet had many opportunities to kill Claudius but

he decided not to and rested the justification on his morals. Hamlet tries to

logically think of a way to rid the world of the treacherous King, and his

logic, and intelligence were his downfall. Like any tragic hero these were his

tragic flaws. ?Hamlet?s primary dilemma is that of every human being…? (Cahn

69). Hamlet is presented by Shakespeare as the ideal man. He is described by

Ophelia in Act 3 Scene 1 lines 163-167 ?O, what a noble mind is here

o?erthrown! The courtier?s, soldiers, scholar?s, eye, tongue, sword, (Th?

expectancy) and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mold of

form…?. Hamlet is what every man should be and as such an extreme , he is

also presented with an extreme situation. ?He is a superman among men? (G.W.

Knight 38). Hamlet is a very smart individual, and he uses his intelligence to

try to solve the mystery of how to expose his uncle, and prove what the ghost

said. In trying to prove Claudius?s guilt, Hamlet aroused suspicion. His uncle

tried to get rid of Hamlet by sending him to England on a ?diplomatic?

visit, which was really a plea by Claudius for the King of England to execute

Hamlet. Hamlet figured this out, and came back to Denmark, only after sending

his escorts to their death, ?For in the war of logic it will be found that he

(Hamlet) has all the guns? (G.W. Knight 39). Hamlet is the only character that

is true to himself, his beliefs, and his principles. This is why he

procrastinates, it not his nature to kill, and he feels that if he does murder

Claudius he will be no better than Claudius. ?The play dramatizes the

perpetual struggle to which all civilization that is genuine is doomed?

(Alexander 184). His principles make him human, and as such he must suffer what

all humanity suffers from, a conscience. This led to his ultimate, yet

victorious end. Hamlet was a respected and loved man. Fortinbras said ?For he

was likely…To have proved most royal.? Hamlet?s humanity brought Hamlet to

his tragic death. Hamlet?s humanity is also what helped make Hamlet a

masterpiece, T.S. Elliot I believe said it best when he proclaimed Hamlet to be

the ?Mona Lisa of literature?.

Alexander, Peter Hamlet, Father and Son. The Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1955.

pp.183-185 Cahn, Victor L. Shakespeare The Playwright: A Companion to the

Complete Tragedies, Histories and Romances. Greenwood Press, New York 1991

Knight, G.W. ?The Embassy of Death? in The Wheel of Fire Methuen ~r Co.,

Ltd. London 1954. Knight, L.C. Some Shakespeare Themes & An Approach to

Hamlet. Stanford University Press, San Fransisco 1966 Elliot, T.S. The Sacred

Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism. 1922 Shakespeare, William Hamlet

Washington Square Press, New York 1922