Literary essay on Hamlet's inability to act. Why does Hamlet fail to act and what are the driving reasons?
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Module
English Home Language
Institution
10th Grade
Book
Hamlet
This is a literray Essays that examines and presents the reasons for Hamlet's inability to act in the play Hamlet.
It prsents the reasoning for this lack of action by using:
- themes such as Revenge, Morality, Incest and Melancholy; along with
- the characters of Gertrude, the Ghost of Hamlet...
The argument of the inability to act in the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet is central to the
play- where this inability is the fatal flaw that binds the play together. Influences within the
protagonist Hamlet and those that surround him externally assist in highlighting the topic of
his inability to act; thus introducing themes of revenge morality incest, melancholy and the
ghost of his father.
Hamlet is a man of morality and does not see any morality in the notion of revenge- which he
is tasked with. Revenge is an ideology that requires one to inflict pain or suffering of equal
magnitude or more to the recipient; as experienced by one who is on a quest for revenge.
However, this is not considered moral. Perfectly illustrated in Hamlets soliloquy when he
reveals that he is in fact not the correct person to avenge his father’s death, he is merely a “
pigeon livered and lacks the gall”. This proves that Hamlet’s inability to act was because of
his internal code of morality refuting revenge. Although he does act, it is because his morality
has been pressured and succumbs to the existence of his father’s ghost.
The existence of the ghost is one that also delays Hamlet in acting to kill Claudius. Often
when approached by supernatural beings the mind struggles to comprehend this “strange
being” and contemplates the actuality of something like a ghost. Hamlet identifies the ghost
for the first time and is unsure of its actuality, he thinks “O cursed spirit” Hamlet’s inability
to realise that the ghost is that of his father delays him further from acting out the command
of the ghost- a ghost that he sees as an illusion of his mind.
An illusion in Hamlets mind may be the ghost however, Hamlet’s mind seeped in melancholy
is another contributing factor that stops him from acting. Experiencing the death of a family
member is a contributor to depression. This is evident when Hamlet wants his “sullied flesh
to thaw”. He is still in a state of nihilism that he wishes he was “never born to set it right”.
Death becomes the only way of escape and contemplating to die or live with his revenge is an
internal influence that stops him from acting. This is also seen by Gertrude.
Gertrude is another character that stops Hamlet from acting as he is preoccupied with his
mother’s incest. Betrayal of a parent may at times blur ones priorities and understanding.
Hamlet is too enthralled with his mother’s incest that he forgets his mission. This is another
external force that stops Hamlet from acting.
In conclusion, the inability to act is a central theme that pulsates in Hamlet. The play focuses
on different themes and ties them all together under one spine- “to be or not to be”; Hamlet’s
doubt. And without tackling this theme, the play seizes to exist in its glory.
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