Hamlet's Personality Faults

William Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet, is the story about the Prince of Denmark’s struggle for revenge against his murderous uncle, who is now the new King of Denmark. Hamlet is stricken blind with revenge and has even been considered mad. Hamlet’s fall into insanity is a result of many different, tragic reasons. Throughout the entire play, Hamlet seems to be a loner, with a lack of true companionship. Most everyone seems to be against him throughout the play. They mistrust Hamlet, as he does them. He does not fully trust anyone, which will ultimately lead to his downfall. Hamlet does in fact have a tragic flaw that may lead him to disaster. Hamlet has a tendency to over think every thing he does. With every thought and

This, in turn, exploits Hamlet’s similar flaw of ego and furthers the conflict, but what’s more, it illustrates Claudius’ sheer audacity and lack of repentance. He continues to try to cover up the sin and appease Hamlet into complacency rather than confess and ask for forgiveness. In a mark of pure arrogance, Claudius tells Hamlet to “throw to earth / This unprevailing woe and think of us / As of a father”, conceitedly requesting that Hamlet merely forget the murder and replace his father with the murderer himself (I, ii, 110-112). Similarly, instead of directly confronting Hamlet about his mental condition, the king more or less hires Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on the prince, again cementing his smug mindset. The king does not believe he can be caught or, rather, that Hamlet is competent enough to figure out his plan and foil him. Claudius, too, thinks only of himself after Hamlet’s inadvertent killing of Polonius, pondering “how shall this bloody deed be answered? / It will be laid to us” instead of considering the ramifications of the murder with respect to Hamlet (4.1.17-18). The other two paper-thin traps the king hatches only reinforce his failure to see beyond the apparent; his attempt to deport Hamlet to England and have him killed reeks of treachery and, luckily, Hamlet realizes the king’s subterfuge, crushing the plot and flipping it back on him. Claudius remains steadfast in his efforts to remove Hamlet, going so far as to set up a

Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who faces adversity and is destined to murder the individual who killed his father. Hamlet is a character who although his actions and emotions may be one of an insane person, in the beginning of the book it is clear that Hamlet decides to fake madness in order for his plan to succeed in killing Claudius. Hamlet is sane because throughout the play he only acts crazy in front of certain people, to others he acts properly and displays proper prince like behavior who is able to cope with them without sounding crazy, and even after everything that has been going on in his life he is able to take revenge by killing his father's murderer. In the play Hamlet by William

Hamlet soon resolves to take action. He sets up a play to trap Claudius so he can find out if the ghost was telling the truth. This is his intelligence and craft. He will not impulsively commit murder because of the word of a ghost who seemed to be his dead father. When he meets with his mother later, he is very angry and emotional and kills Polonius believing it was Claudius. Hamlet shows himself to be a man of action before thought in this case. He is rather cold that he is not terribly sorry about this accidental death but does show genuine concern for his mother which leads him to fits of intense emotion.

Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his

It is true that Hamlet becomes emotionally depressed regarding his father, mother, and uncle. However, his depression does not force him to go insane. In the beginning of the play, when the ghost informs him about the death of King Hamlet and Claudius’s involvement, Hamlet is aware that he needs to avenge his father. His emotions are hurt badly, and he plans to dig down to know the truth behind his father’s death. There are instances where a couple of castle guards and Horatio witness the ghost in the castle. Only after being informed from Horatio, Hamlet was able to see the ghost and converse with it. Hamlet plans so well to pretend to be insane that he tells his friend not to worry about his behavior; he is only acting. As the play progress, he becomes more successful in fooling people to believe that he is indeed insane. Nevertheless, this act of madness did not go out of his hands. He has an intended purpose of everything he is doing throughout the play. Also, he wants to know whether his mother is aware of his uncle’s crime and married him in spite of it. He suspects his own mother. What Hamlet actually did is, urge his mother to repent choosing Claudius over his father. “Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty. Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows As false as dicers’ oaths (3.4).” In this he tries to express his frustration and makes his mother realize that she has made a mistake by marrying Claudius. Furthermore, in one of the scenes in the play, Claudius confesses to killing King Hamlet. He says, “Oh, my offence is rank. It smells to heaven. It hath the primal eldest curse upon ‘t, A brother’s murder. Pray can I not. Though inclination be as sharp as will, My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent (3.3)”. This confession proves that what the ghost told Hamlet about his father’s death is true. Hamlet was not insane, he was however paranoid. In the article “Paranoid Personality Disorder”, it was mentioned that “people with paranoid personalities rarely confide in others, and tend to misinterpret harmless comments and behavior as malicious” (Paranoid Personality Disorder). This means that, when a person is emotionally

     When we first meet Hamlet, he is a sad, dark, loathsome figure; the loss of his father and the whoring of his mother have upset him indefinitely. Like a ticking time bomb, Hamlet’s noticeable temper reflects the storm of emotions and thoughts brewing in his head, and then like a catalyst, his meeting with the Ghost of King Hamlet brings his anger to a boil. With revenge in mind, Hamlet plans to fake his madness so that he may be free to pursue his father’s killer. Everyone, except his close friend Horatio, seems convinced that he is mad. Claudius however, fearful that someone will discover his evil deed, has also had his perceptions heightened by his guilt and he experiences chronic paranoia throughout the

The tragic flaw is a fault that a character has in a novel, play or story. In Hamlet, his flaw is that he is seen as reliable as well as unreliable due to fact that his actions do not always correspond with his thoughts. Hamlet demonstrates a back and forth mentality which allows the reader to understand that Hamlet is tragically flawed. Hamlet said that he was going to kill Claudius but then went against this word and did not. In Hamlet’s attempt to kill Claudius, he explains “now might I do it pat, now he is praying; and now I'll do't.

William Shakespeare was a writer known for his comedies and tragedies. Throughout many of his tragedies his character suffer from hamartia, which is the fatal flaw associated with the downfall of a tragic hero. Three major characters of Shakespeare's that demonstrate this characteristic are Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth. In many ways these characters all have many similarities, but one above the rest had a harder fall. Hamlet faced many obstacles in his life at a younger age than most. Dealing with real world issues including death and family troubles without overanalyzing, and his lack of life experience lead to his tragic downfall. Hamlet is the character whose flaw was most fatal compared to Lear and Macbeth.

At first when the reader sees Hamlet's motives and course of action it is ambiguous whether or not he is mad or not. His motive is to get revenge on the murderer of his father, the King of Denmark by Claudius. However, as the play goes on a noticeable trend in Hamlet's insanity appears; it becomes more and more of a reality rather than a chimerical guise Hamlet puts on. The first symptom of this is seen when he fools Polonius and makes him think Hamlet is naive and drunk in love. " He knew me not at first; he said I/ was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and/ truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for/ love; very near this." In this quote Polonius thinks he has Hamlet figured out, that the cause of Hamlet's quasi-insanity is his love for Ophelia (Hamlet II. ii. 180-183). A second development in his madness is when he is talking to his mother, Queen Gertrude, and suddenly sees the ghost of his father. "Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,/ You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?" says Hamlet (Hamlet III. iv. 105-107). Although a speculation can be made that only Hamlet is able to see this apparition, there were times where other characters were able to see the ghost before. This occurrence is due to Hamlet's guilty that he isn't able to finish the task he was appointed with and justification for his delay. It isn't long before Queen Gertrude sees his madness and proclaims "This is only a figment of your imagination. Madness is good at creating hallucinations" (Hamlet III. iv. 139-141). Hamlet's madness is acknowledged by multiple characters when the King(Claudius) senses something amiss and sends Hamlet off to Britain. Soon thereafter the fiasco with the pirates and confrontation with Ophelia's death, Hamlet is to duel Laertes. Hamlet's insanity comes full circle at the end of the battle, after killing both Laertes and Claudius, when he

The literary definition of a “tragic hero” is the main protagonist in a story or play that has a fatal flaw that leads to their demise. Shakespeare is especially known for his tragic plays like Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet is about the king of Denmark being murdered and his son seeking revenge for his father’s death. Hamlet sees his father’s ghost and discovers who the killer is and then Hamlet begins on his journey to gain revenge for his father’s death. Although Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet was based on Hamlet and his tragic flaw of hesitation it could also be based on Claudius, Polonius, Laertes and their tragic flaws.

Hamlet’s character drastically develops over the first four acts of Hamlet, and his character development is most evident through the soliloquys he delivers throughout the play. The most character development can be seen from the first soliloquy, to the second, the third, the sixth, and the seventh and final soliloquy. Hamlet’s inner conflict with his thoughts and his actions are well analyzed in his soliloquys, as well as his struggles with life and death, and his very own existence. He begins the play wondering what purpose he has in life now that his father is dead and his mother has remarried to his uncle. After finding out foul play was involved in his father’s death, he is motivated by revenge. Finally, he wonders how he can enact his revenge while continuously overthinking and overanalyzing his actions.

From the beginning of the play until the time Hamlet kills Polonius, Hamlet feigns madness when around people close to Claudius, but demonstrates the ability to think rationally during his soliloquies. While he does reveal his emotional side, Hamlet expresses patience with the development of his plan for killing Claudius. After he listens to the ghost, Hamlet does not let his emotions take over and impulsively murder Claudius, but rather decides to have the actors reenact his father’s murder to ensure that Claudius is guilty. This decision demonstrates Hamlet’s ability to set aside his emotions to make the logical decision,

Hamlet's tragic flaws are his inability to move forward and his amount of procrastination. For example once King Hamlet told him to seek revenge on his mother and Claudius he prolonged it for months. Hamlet spent more time grieving and less time moving on. He also put on a play called ¨The Mousetrap¨ to procrastinate even more for the killing of Claudius and his mother Gertrude. Understanding the play lead to Claudius's guilt of killing King Hamlet once Claudius had to stop the play, so that would be an understable point of view but Hamlet still is procrastinating to kill him. So do we know if Hamlet killing Polonius in Act 3 Scene 4, worried Hamlet about death to other or did he feel okay about it. What we do know is, Claudius was worried

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness