Sunday, December 14, 2008

Hamlet's philosophical/spiritual development

Hamlet transitioned from mourning life, to devaluing the meaning of life.

On page 853, Hamlet is talking about the fake emotions that the King and Queen are showing towards his father's death. He says , "For they are actions that a man might play. But I have that within which passes show; These but the trappings and suits of woe". Being a protestant, Hamlet views life as valuable and therefore spends his time mourning his father, and being angry at King Claudius and Gertrude for moving on so quickly. He is a "black" character since he is melancholy. On page 854, Hamlet wishes he could commit suicide but knows that God says that is wrong. He states, "Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon gainst self-slaughter! O God, God.". Yet he says "to be or not to be, that is the question" on page 889. Here, his value on life is diminished and the only thing keeping him from not killing himself is the mystery of what happens after death. The unknown. When his father's ghost speaks to him, he is truly tormented. He is Protestant(who dont believe in ghosts) yet he sees this ghost for sure. He does not know whether it is really the ghost of his father, or a demon. He tries to rationalize what the ghost says and tries to figure out if Killing Claudius is God's will or not.
When Hamlet visits Ophelia-weirdly- and looks her up and down, is he really pretending or is his conscious dealing with all of its inner turmoil? He knows that murder is wrong, but he thinks it might be God's will to kill Claudius-thus creating confusion.
His value of life is lessened with the killing of Polonius without emotion, his own criticizement when he lacks passion to kill the king-unlike the passionate actors, and Hamlet talks to Yorick in the graveyard as if life is meaningless. All are born to die. Actions are futile.

And even though Hamlet does not value life anymore, he still thinks that everything is part of God's divine plan.

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