Hamlet Essay

"To be or not to be that is the question," but to be or not to be what exactly? I guess Hamlet doesn't really have a clear point of view of what he's trying to get out from this soliloquy, since he jumps to different places during this reflection. Whether he chooses to live or die is what he is saying from the "to be or not to be" part, but so many questions arise when he makes this bold statement. Hamlet makes a lot of religious innuendos about sins and heaven and hell but still debates ending his life because he cant handle what Claudius and his mother have done to his father and how they've coped with King Hamlet's passing. To be this person he should be or to not be at all are in a way equal at this point of the play. Hamlet has so much on his mind and has endured so much pain and emotions already that the easier choice for him might be to end his life rather than turn into somebody that everybody expects him to be. In this moment for Hamlet he has a very gloomy and questionable tone that leads to a bigger theme between doing what's right or doing what's wrong but no matter which one he chooses they will both have consequences.
Hamlet clearly analyzes taking his own life or staying in his own personal form of hell. He goes into more detail about ending his suffering by saying, "To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks." He is stating that if he chooses to end his life now he will be taken away from this place he once loved that has now taken away the one person he loved the most. His father's death has already cause him enough mentally and emotionally damaging pain, but now with finding out what Claudius is doing to the kingdom and how his mother has dealt with her husband dying has caused him to question the people closet to him. Directly after he says "to die" he says "to sleep" meaning when a person is dead it's like they are sleeping for the rest of their lives but they aren't living. Then he goes onto saying "no more" and "and by a sleep to say we end." By taking his life he would be in a dead sleep but not actually sleeping because a dead person can't sleep so he would end all connection he ever had to life to then end " the heartache and the thousand natural shocks." Hamlet is very emotional at this time because he is saying to end his life he would be gone and end his suffering, but still it wouldn't be morally right for him to commit suicide because of the religious injustice it would do to him.
Throughout the whole soliloquy Hamlet's tone and theme he is trying to get across is pain, suffering and life and death. he continues to restate what life would be like if he ended it. Which he really wouldn't have a life but the after life, and he questions whether killing himself is worth it." But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveller returns." From this phrase in his soliloquy he sort of turns around what he was saying in the beginning about completely ending his life and now he is stating that whatever comes after death might be worse than the life he's living now. "But that the dread of something after death," can be seen in two ways as Hamlet saying that there might be something more after death and he just wants to be gone and done forever or that that whatever after death might not be worth dying for. " The undicover'd country from whose bourn no traveller returns," In this phrase "the undicover'd country" is wherever Hamlet would be heading after he kills himself and he says "no traveller returns," meaning that once he commits this sin there is no going back from it so he would have to face the consequences. Hamlet later on in his soliloquy begins to rethink the idea of taking himself out of the world and dealing with his demons on it rather than facing the horror of whatever would be waiting for him.
"Be all my sins remember'd," is the line that Hamlet ends with and it's strange in a way because he gets interrupted by Ophelia and is talking to her at the end. So he doesn't end his soliloquy when she walks in he continues it and includes her in it. He states this, I think because he knows he's a sinner and if he were to kill himself he needs to remembered for all the sins he has committed as well because if he wasn't he would be lying to himself and everybody would be lying to themselves as well. He would be continuing to sin even after he's gone and people would try to paint over the person Hamlet really was, if they didn't remember his sins. Even at the conclusion of his soliloquy he is still emotional and frustrated because he has to face reality and not take the easy way out and die.  Hamlet's "to be or not to be" soliloquy gives the audience a more insightful outlook and Hamlet an even more vengeful agenda since he doesn't choose to end his life yet.

Hamlet (The Madman?) Essay

Angry, upset, reckless, foolish, uncontrolled, are just a few words that coincide with the word mad, and then there's the word, man. It's a simple word with a simple definition, a male human being. On one end of the spectrum there's a word with multiple meanings and on the other there's one that can be a one word definition. Just by hearing the word man or mad people can automatically give close to the same explanation of what both words mean. By going more in depth, and thinking about each word and either the emotion or person they are connected too makes a simple meaning turn into a complex one. Then the tables are turned a man is no longer just a male human being, he is a person with thoughts, emotions, actions, and words. Then the word mad is just a word that can be used as an adjective for describing a man. Combining two separate words that when said are the complete opposite of what their true meanings resemble, goes to show that a madman is not just a simple word to describe a crazy person. A madman is a person that is extremely reckless and has an intensity that can't be explained without going more in depth and knowing the story leading up to how that person became one. Hamlet in many ways can be seen as a madman for his thoughts, emotions, actions, and words that he uses in the play, but there are many outside factors that have contributed to him being a man that's mad. Searching and going beyond the bounds of Hamlet, is necessary to uncover the truth about the person Hamlet really is.
A lot of people believe Hamlet to be a madman because of his irrational behavior and that he tends to be impulsive, and nobody can quite figure him out or what he's going to do next. We as readers just know the background story and as we read can only place our judgments and opinions from the context we are given. Hamlet is portrayed through his soliloquies, dialogue, and actions, but that is all. A reader can never truly get into a character's head because the reader isn't the character. A viewer can act and become the character in the way that they see fits. Nobody can ever fully know the way Hamlet felt in certain scenes or the way he carries out certain actions, besides the writer who makes the character up. Nobody can never truly know Hamlets though process because Shakespeare is dead and all we have to go off of are the words and reenactments that have been captured throughout the years.
It's not very valid to call Hamlet a "madman" it is all based off of opinions and whether the reader takes a side of Hamlet thinking and acting rationally or irrationally with everything that he has gone through. Although I may not agree with the way Hamlet is dealing with his father's death because my morals are different from his. I wont ever know how Hamlet feels until I am put in his situation. For Hamlet to seek revenge upon Claudius and his mother in a way seems pretty rational to me. Even though some of his actions such as killing Polonius because he mistakes him for Claudius and how he talks in a very provocative and demoralizing way toward and to Ophelia, seem to be wrong, Hamlet is mad, confused, rebellious, and those are all normal feelings for the pain he has endured. He contemplated suicide and has many questions about life after death, which is a pretty low point. For all the information he has gained about the people he loved the most, it's hard to be able to think straight and try to understand their thoughts and actions, when he is trying to control his own. He seeks answers to try to fulfill his fathers wishes, which may or may not be Hamlet's subconscious trying to talk to him and have him do what he truly believes will bring justice and pride to his father. He tries to avenge his father's death while trying to keep himself from completely giving up.
A madman can be interpreted in many different meanings, from a person that is mentally ill to a person who is foolish and reckless and to a person who does something very fast and intensely. As a readers all we can do is characterize Hamlet as either a madman or just a man whose mad because both use the same words but take on two totally opposite meanings. Everybody has a little bit of madness in their life and everyone gets mad once in a while. Then there is this idea of a madman who acts recklessly and uncontrollably and cant be helped and who is spinning out of control. I believe Hamlet to be someone who is trying to seek justice through what he believes is right based on the knowledge of the one person he truly loved, his father. Love makes a person to do crazy things and obviously Hamlet has gone off the road a bit. In a way Hamlets sane for acting out is this subtle yet flamboyant way because wouldn't it be even stranger if he was calm and didn't have this intense revenge seeking attitude about him. Hamlet is a very round character who is unexpected and mysterious. He himself doesn't even know what he is going to do next but yet it seems like he has a plan but then he acts irrational. Hamlet's  a mystery that everyone is trying to figure out and he might not even know it, but Hamlet knows who he is and what he is meant to do aside from every distraction and obstacle that's thrown at him. Hamlet may be portrayed as mysterious and uncontrollable, yet the real mystery is that Hamlet is the only sane one and everybody else is isn't. Only a rational and sane person would be able to act the way Hamlet does. So in the end can Hamlet actually be seen as the craziest person but be the sanest out of them all.