Trauma In Hamlet

William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, tells the story of the Danish Prince Hamlet and his tragic attempt to seek revenge. Through Hamlet’s journey, Shakespeare addresses the psychological trauma that can be caused by internal turmoil. A dark personal desire mixed with a strong set of morals, tears at Hamlet’s sanity. This internal battle is capable of causing severe damage to a person’s psyche. War inside of one’s mind is able to create mass destruction, as the swords of conflicting thoughts strike at and cut one’s sanity into pieces. The catalyst of this violent struggle in Hamlet’s mind is his father’s death, more importantly, his murder. When an apparition visits Hamlet and divulges the dark secret that Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, the King of Denmark, has murdered Hamlet’s father to take the throne of Denmark,

Consequently, this inaction is responsible for Hamlet’s moral decay because he chastises himself for his inaction as it is preventing him from reaching his personal goal of vengeance. Resultantly, this begins the decay of his moral compass and his values gradually begin to lose the war for Hamlet’s mind. Furthering the trauma in Hamlet’s life, is the impact that his father’s murder and his quest for revenge has on the relationships with those Hamlet loves the most. Finally, the moral army breaks under the trauma and the pressure from desire leading to terrible actions along Hamlet’s path towards avenging his father’s death; additionally, this seemingly newfound dark side uses its sword to shred Hamlet’s sanity, as the death of his morals signifies the death of his rationality. As a final result of Hamlet’s internal struggle, with his morals slain and his sanity in tatters, Hamlet is able to achieve his desire of revenge, but at an extreme cost. In the end, Hamlet shows that his morals are what is “rotten in the state of Denmark” (Shakespeare