Hamlet Flaws Essays (863 words) - Characters In Hamlet,

Hamlet Flaws Hamlet's Flaw: The Central Question of the Play? If the main question of the play is "Why doesn't Hamlet kill Claudius at once upon hearing the ghost's accusation?" The easiest answer is that if Hamlet had done so, the play would have ended in Act I. And then "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" would be a tragedy of plot writing skills. If we must find ourselves looking for an answer to the central theme, a long analytical expedition is in order In his 1904 work "Shakespearean Tragedy," *A. C. Bradley describes "Hamlet" as a play which includes eight violent deaths, adultery, a ghost, a mad woman, and a fight in a grave. Here are all the ingredients of a horror story. Bradley then asks the question, "But why in the world did not Hamlet obey the ghost at once, and so save seven of those eight lives?" The answer to this question lies not in the fact that had Hamlet done so the play would have ended in the first act. The answer lies in the character of Hamlet. Precisely, what is it that delays Hamlet from acting on his father's ghost's command? Let's look at some typical views. Is it the fact that at that moment Claudius is surrounded by courtiers and his Swiss guard? No, for throughout the play Hamlet never refers to any external trouble in drawing near and killing Claudius. Hamlet states in Act IV, scene 4 that he has "...cause and will and strength and means To do't." Does Hamlet want to bring Claudius to civil justice? Again, no. Hamlet organizes the play within the play not to persuade others of Claudius's guilt, but to convince himself: "if 'a do blench, I know my course." (Act II, scene 2). Throughout the play, Hamlet never talks of public justice. He talks instead of violent death: "To quit him with this arm?" (Act 5, scene 2) Hamlet's mission and his purpose is to kill his uncle, not to bring him to the bar of justice. Would slaying Claudius trouble Hamlet's conscience? Not at all. Hamlet may question the integrity of the ghost however, he never questions his course if the ghost is real. On the contrary, Hamlet blames himself for not acting quickly: "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" (Act 2, scene 2) and "How all occasions do inform against me," (Act 4, scene 4). Does Hamlet lack courage? Apparently not. Hamlet rarely misses a chance to insult the king. Hearing a noise behind the arras in his mother's bedroom he whips out his sword and thrusts, unhesitatingly through the curtain. He sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths without a second thought. When his ship is attacked by pirates, Hamlet is the first to board the pirate ship. He fights with Laertes in Ophelia's grave, duels with Laertes, and, dying himself, runs the king through completing his mission. Does Hamlet simply substitute thought for action? As we have seen, Hamlet is a man of action. Why, then does he not act promptly in executing his father's ghost's command? A.C. Bradley offers this explanation: "Hamlet has received a violent shock to his moral being. Hamlet adored his father; that father has met an untimely death." "So excellent a king," (Act I, scene 2) His mother has shown what to Hamlet is a despicable nature-marrying almost immediately following Hamlet's father's death: "O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer." (Act I, scene 2) and has married a man Hamlet finds utterly hateful and contemptible: "My father's brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules." (Act I, scene 2) Finally, there is the loss of the crown "Popped in between th' election and my hopes," (Act V, scene 2). These, especially the disclosure of his mother's weak nature, poisons Hamlet's mind and impregnates in Hamlet a despair of human nature. To Hamlet, life is ". . .an unweeded garden That grows to seed, things rank and gross in nature possess it merely." (Act I, scene 2) Thus weakened, Hamlet is unable to act on his father's ghost's command. So after all is said and done I wonder if we have truly found the answer we were looking for or is it simply put as this: "The central question of the play is, a question without an answer if one is seeking the answer within the play. Shakespeare was supposed to supply us with an answer, or at least with a reason why there is