Analysis Of Hamlet's Change In Hamlet

Hamlet is a character who has a strong desire to act to avenge his father’s death, but for the vast majority of the play finds himself unable to do so. However, by the end of the play, there is a distinct shift to a much more active Hamlet. This active Hamlet is caused in part by another change in Hamlet’s character, that he grows from a skeptic who questions the natural order of the world to someone who yields to and accepts God’s will. Particularly, these changes in Hamlet are emphasized in the contrasts between act 1, scene 2 and act 5, scene 2, as Hamlet finally finds comfort in accepting a divine will, which leads to a more active approach in regards to both killing other people and responding to the unnecessarily fake language of others.

In the first act, Hamlet is completely distraught by his father’s death and his mother’s marriage to Claudius. Claudius accuses Hamlet of having “a will most incorrect to heaven” (II, ii, 99). Everyone dies eventually, and it was God’s will that Hamlet’s father died at that time, so by showing grief, Hamlet is defying God. Furthermore, in his soliloquy, Hamlet wishes that “the everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (II, ii, 135-136), that he could kill himself, directly contrary to God’s will. He uses language critical of the natural world, calling it “an unweeded garden that grows to seed” (II, ii, 139-140), which paints a negative image of sitting back and letting things happen (that is, letting weeds grow). In act 5, when Hamlet explains how he ordered the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he says that “there’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will” (V, ii, 11-12). This is a complete turn around from the beginning of the play; here he is totally trusting that God’s plan will make everything good regardless of human actions. He also says the words “let be” (V, ii, 238). Earlier, the word “let” (I, v, 89) was used by the ghost to place the authority in Hamlet’s hands, but here Hamlet is effectively ceding that authority to the natural course of the

Specifically, he no longer cares about the consequences of the words he uses, and is not afraid to mock people and draw attention to their flattery or two-facedness. Claudius’s first speech of act 1 is filled with him pretending to pay respect to the brother he murdered. Laertes kisses up to Claudius when asking permission to return to France. Hamlet comments on none of this. Claudius then makes a long speech rebuking Hamlet for his excessive grief over the death of his father. Hamlet has no response. In fact, at the end of his first soliloquy, Hamlet remarks “but break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue” (I, ii, 164). This quote sums up how he feels at the beginning; he wants to speak and be active, but has all of this anxiety pent-up inside about what will happen if he does. Similar flowery language is seen in act 5, but Hamlet’s responses stand in sharp contrast. First, Osric takes his hat off as a sign of respect and refuses to put in back on even after Hamlet’s insistence. Osric also uses extremely flowery language to flatter Hamlet, including a “sir” practically every other word. Hamlet, though, strikes back with an extremely over-the-top, mocking tone, such as responding to Osric’s praise of Laertes by saying “his semblance is his mirror” (V, ii, 131-132). Later on Hamlet uses similar exaggerated language to