Francis Ogaban Mr. Sieker Engl. 1519-1150 14 December 2015 “To Be or Not To Be”: Hamlet’s Indecisiveness and Inconsistency Indecisiveness is an inner conflict that inhibits a person from choosing a decision and acting on it. This inner conflict is easily relatable; however, explaining the fuel that ignites the conflict is much more difficult. Every human being must make decisions every day. Moreover, some of these decisions are tougher to choose than others. Psychologically, a decision is not tough because the situation is difficult, but the way the mind perceives the situation is what makes the choice baffling. In other words, humans make decisions more arduous than they seem. Also, the mind of every individual is unique and processes information …show more content…
differently. Therefore, explaining one’s indecision is very complex and layered. In Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the hero named Hamlet argues profusely within himself, often through soliloquies, causing many critics to argue explanations for Hamlet’s inconsistency. These inner arguments lead to indecisiveness and lack of action by Hamlet throughout the play. Although at times one can argue that Hamlet is decisive and certain, the entire play mostly surrounds Hamlet’s inability to take action and his ultimate downfall from it. His lack of action thus can be explained through the drive of his unconscious desires, his questionability of morals, and his personality. One explanation for Hamlet’s indecisiveness is constructed on the conception of man’s unconscious desires.
According to psychologist Sigmund Freud, who is known for his theory of psychoanalysis, the human mind contains “a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories” (Meyers 597). These unconscious desires then resurface and develop into the impulses for one’s actions and thoughts. Moreover, one of the most prominent and often times controversial ideas of this theory is the Oedipus complex. In Meyer’s textbook of psychology, the Oedipus complex is described as affecting young males by causing the development of sexual desires for their mothers and also jealousy towards their fathers …show more content…
(599). Critics argue that Hamlet suffers from an Oedipus complex. They maintain that Hamlet’s thoughts and actions throughout the play, especially through his soliloquies, suggest that he suffers from such condition. One example is located in Act 1 scene 3. Hamlet, expressing disappointment, states Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, She married. (I.i.158-161) Hamlet is distraught upon his mother’s quick marriage.
Oddly, it appears that Gertrude possess more significance to Hamlet than one first anticipates. Her swift call to matrimony leads Hamlet into a spiraling quarry of depression and grieving. This mirrors the Oedipus complex. Gertrude sexually commits herself to Claudius causing Hamlet to feel a sense of jealousy and disappointment. In retaliation, he expresses his repressed desire of love through his unruly comments. He even goes as far as to say that the love is incestuous. Furthermore, in Act 3 scene 4, Hamlet confronts his mother directly in a closet. Addressing concern over her sexual actions, he exclaims “In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, / Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love / Over the nasty sty” (III.iv.104-106). Not only does this quote show that Hamlet disapproves his mother’s marriage, but also that he believes Claudius is a wicked criminal. Aligning with the Oedipus complex, Hamlet strangely obsesses over his mother’s love life while viewing his uncle in
dissatisfaction. Hamlet’s diagnosis of the disorder is explained to be the reason that Hamlet hesitates to kill Claudius in the play. He sees Claudius as accomplishing “two deeds-killing Hamlet’s father and possessing sexually his mother-that were desired by the infant Hamlet himself” (Desmet 364). Completing Hamlet’s yearning and eventually the Oedipus complex, Hamlet cannot bring himself to murder Claudius because he would be killing everything he aspired to be. In a sense, Hamlet would be killing himself. Indecision is the result as Hamlet is torn between the choice to kill or not to kill his father’s murderer. In addition to the reasons for Hamlet’s hesitation of action is the interpretation that Hamlet questioned his morality. In response to his depression, Hamlet says, “O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew” (I.ii.133-134). He feels that his only option to escape his feeling of misery is to commit suicide. However, in the next line he explains, “the Everlasting had not fixed / His canon ‘gainst [self-slaughter]” (I.ii.135-136). Hamlet is hesitant to end his life because of his belief that God condemns those who do. The situation consequently becomes whether to escape this cruel miserable world or to obey his religious ideals. Undecided on which action to take, he continues to view life as a wretched prison in which he is entrapped in. This struggle between right and wrong continues with Hamlet wavering on the action of killing Claudius. As Claudius kneels down to pray before God, Hamlet approaches with an opportune time to end his life. Yet, Hamlet withdraws his sword because “purging of his soul” would send Claudius to heaven (III.iii.90). Here Hamlet is making the decision that his father suffering in purgatory is not equal to Claudius being forgiven and going to heaven; it would not be reasonable for his atrocious sin. Instead, he convinces himself to wait for a forthcoming moment to proceed with his plan. His religious beliefs once again prevent him from ending a person’s life. Inconstancy on this view leads to his indecision to act. Also, his hesitation of exacting revenge can be viewed as a dispute between the law and his heroic code of conduct. In Hamlet’s society, “rejecting…laws as meaningless and making higher laws for his own unfettered self” is viewed as the norm (Kiernan 44). As a result, it is believed that Hamlet’s revenge is justified and legal. Conversely, basic law prevents one man from taking the life of another. This hypocritical laws and codes create paradoxes. In other words, Hamlet is too intelligent to just out right murder someone, but he must uphold his duty to avenge the murder of his father. Hamlet therefore cannot act without defying at least one law and subsequently cannot decide which act to take. The final justification for Hamlet’s indecisive attitude is that his personality instigates reluctance. Simply put, Hamlet is a thinker who takes time to analyze everything around him. This is evident in Act 2 scene 2 when Hamlet doubts the integrity of his father’s apparition. Speaking to himself he ponders, “The spirit that I have seen / May be a [devil], and the [devil] hath power” (II.ii.627-628). After being informed of his father’s murder by a ghost, Hamlet promised to exact revenge. The quote though portrays Hamlet second guessing the ghost’s testimonial. He is hesitating because logically Hamlet understands that believing a ghost is not sensible. Instead, he extends his plan of revenge by having actors play The Murder of Gonzago and determining himself whether Claudius is guilty of murder. Moreover, after determining Claudius killed his father, Hamlet decides not to execute him while praying like aforementioned. These transitions from one plan to another shows Hamlet’s inconsistency to his word and strategy. He also continues this elongated thinking in his numerous soliloquies throughout the text which finally heightens with the infamous line, “To be or not to be – that is the question” (III.i.64). In this quote Hamlet digresses into inquiries of his proposal to avenge his father. Yet again, Hamlet is seen teetering back and forth on vowing to exact revenge and questioning the reason behind such action. The relationships between Hamlet’s actions and words have been closely dissected by critics for years and all have come to the same conclusion: “Hamlet himself…does not match his words with actions” (Desmet 369). This inconsistency is Hamlet’s foremost flaw and ultimate downfall. By the time Hamlet is able to kill Claudius, many people have perished and Denmark’s state of power has been dramatically reduced. One commentator even goes as far as to say “[Hamlet] is too sensitive, too poetical, too philosophical, and therefore incapable of action” (Desmet 369). Nevertheless, Hamlet’s personality acts as a barrier to his objectives and eventually leads him to become unable to make formidable decisions. In short, Hamlet’s reoccurring indecisions throughout the play is best explicated through his repressed wishes, his unduly questions of ethics, and his flawed persona. Nonetheless people have to recall that characterizing Hamlet is not conclusive. A culmination of diverse ideas is the greatest asset against this fault. Moreover, Desmet’s article warns that “performing character criticism can tell us much about ourselves as it does about the fictional Prince of Denmark” (368). And even though answers may never be given for Hamlet’s indecisions, character criticism allows the mind to journey across countless questions to find better understandings for ourselves.
Gertrude is the epitome of weakness to Hamlet because of her foolish act of remarrying, which Hamlet views as a betrayal. It all can be traced back to the murder of his father. This grief Hamlet has worsens his relationship with Gertrude, which makes him feel as though she is letting the murder of her first husband go without mourning. In conversation with the ghost of his father, Hamlet declares, “O most pernicious woman!
Hamlet's sickness is also shown through his strong relationship, bordering on obsession, with his mother. Throughout the play he constantly worries about her, and becomes angry when thinking of her relationship with Claudius. In his first soliloquy, Hamlet becomes enraged when he thinks about her "incestuous sheet," and in frustration he makes the irrational generalization that, "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (I, ii, 146). In the closet scene, Hamlet treats his mother cruelly, and he accuses her of being involved in the plot to kill his father. Once again, he dwells on her "enseam'd bed/ Stew'd in corruption" (III, iv, 92-93).
The Troubled Relationship Between Gertrude and Hamlet In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Claudius murders his brother, the King of Denmark, and subsequently usurps the Danish throne. Shattering the purity of the royal family, he allures Queen Gertrude into an incestuous wedding so hastily that “The funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” (I.ii.180-1). Lost in this sullied household is Prince Hamlet, shrouded in the black of mourning, who condemns his mother’s quick, lustful willingness to marry his uncle. Hamlet’s abject tears melt into vengeance, however, when the ghost of his father orders him to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Iv.25).
Are you too quick to make important decisions? Do you act before you think? These quick decisions are common in the play Hamlet. Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare in 1589. The play takes place in Denmark. The protagonist is a prince named Hamlet. Hamlet’s father suddenly dies, and Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, decides to marry Hamlet’s uncle, King Claudius. Hamlet slowly goes insane, and he wants revenge on the murderer of his father. Laertes, the son of the king’s associate, makes a bad decision in the play. When Laertes’ father, Polonius, is killed, Laertes is outraged and seeks vengeance. Laertes made a bad decision in the play, but he could have tried using the decision-making process, weighing possible alternatives, and he could have changed the outcome of the play if he had made careful decisions.
Hamlet takes control of the conversation from the very beginning of the scene although it is Gertrude who was meant to be rebuking him and doing much of the talking. Hamlet succeeds in shaming her until the point when she begs him to stop. Hamlet having the upper hand in the conversation, asks his mother to change her ways, which she agrees to and asks for his advice, showing that she has submitted herself to her son. Hamlet does not really show much respect for his mother while reproving her and forcing her to sit down but he does love her. Some critics believe that his love shows sexual connotation and that is a reason why he gets so upset at her remarriage. There is a point in this scene when Gertrude thinks her life is in danger of Hamlet and gets frightened, which shows us that she considers him to be mad and harmful. After this scene she becomes aware that Hamlet isn't mad and starts trusting him as opposed to Claudius. This is exactly how Shakespeare has presented women throughout the play: they are easy to convince, very meek and become submissive to the men (as we can see Ophelia and her response to her father and brother). They are depicted as weak and inferior in comparison to the male figures, who control their lives. After the closet scene Gertrude keeps faith to her son and lies to her husband Claudius for Hamlet saying he killed Polonius in his madness:
Hamlet is seen as one of the most complex literary character of all time. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude can be interpreted in many ways. Hamlet’s motivation for killing Claudius is not to avenge his father’s death, but because of his love for his mother Gertrude. This is where the Oedipus complex comes into play in Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
Essentially, a boy feels like he is competing with his father for possession of his mother. He views his father as a rival for her attention and affection. In psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex refers to the child’s desire for sexual involvement with the opposite sex parent, usually a boy’s erotic attention to his mother (Wood et al, 366). Freud’s complex is named after a character in an ancient tragedy, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. The main character accidently kills his father and marries his mother. But when it is referencing to females, the complex is called the Elektra complex, it is also after a similar play but a woman is the main character. These plays were popular during the 19th century in Europe, and Freud believed their popularity was because of the repeating theme, love for one’s opposite-sex parent. This represented a universal conflict that all human beings must resolve early on in their development (Cherry). With this assumption, Freud claimed that during the phallic stage, boys seek their mother’s attention and behave in a hostile way towards their fathers. Usually, boys resolve the Oedipus complex by identifying with his father and suppressing his sexual feelings for his
Is Hamlet a momma’s boy or is he secretly in love with his mother? Throughout the entire play Hamlet’s jealousy of his mother’s second husband who also happens to be his uncle, Claudius, is apparent. The prince displaces his maternal rage onto Ophelia because he has an abnormal and intense fixation for his mother. Hamlet has an unnatural love for his mother, which emphasizes the real reason Hamlet wanted to kill Claudius. Analysis of this play through a psychoanalytic lens reveals the inner states of Hamlet’s mind and his true intentions. In Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the strategic combination of the Oedipus complex and displacement of maternal rage to illustrate that Hamlet has an unconscious erotic love for his mother.
Gertrude influenced Hamlet significantly throughout the course of the play. Hamlet was very angered by his mother's remarriage. A few months after his father's death, Gertrude married Claudius, Hamlet's uncle. He was driven mad when his father's ghost appeared to him and revealed that Claudius was responsible for the death of Old Hamlet. Hamlet even termed the marriage as incest. Hamlet's fury is displayed when he throws his mother on the bed and says, "Frailty, thy name is woman" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). This shows his extent of anger because he makes a generalization that all women are weak. As a result of his mother's actions, Hamlet strives to seek revenge against Claudius for the death of his father. In order to marry Gertrude, Claudius kills his brother. Therefore, Gertrude is the driving factor for the whole setup of the play.
Jones writes, “Whereas the murder of his father evokes in him indignation and a plain recognition of his obvious duty to avenge it, his mother’s guilty conduct awakes in him the intensest horror”(2). Hamlet must be more infuriated at news of the affair because it demonstrates to him Gertrude’s attraction to someone other than
Gertrude and Ophelia both love Hamlet, yet they love him in different ways. Gertrude, his mother, loves Hamlet in a motherly way, placing his honor under her current husband Claudius, which is Hamlet’s uncle, and also the brother of Gertrude’s deceased husband and Hamlet’s late father. Hamlet thinks of his mother as a whore because she married Claudius right after her husband’s untimely death. Gertrude is not a whore;
In many of his plays, especially tragedies, William Shakespeare examines the relationships people have with one another. Of these relationships, he is particularly interested in those between family members, above all, those between parents and their children. In his play Hamlet, Shakespeare examines Prince Hamlet's relationships with his dead father, mother and step-father. His relationship with Gertrude, one of the only two women in the play, provides Hamlet with a deep sense of anger and pain. Hamlet feels that Gertrude has betrayed his father by marrying with his brother. Throughout the play, he is consumed with avenging his father's death and all the mistreatment the former King had suffered and still suffers after his life is over. Gertrude adds to the dead King's tarnished memory by not mourning and instead rejoicing in her new marriage. Hamlet is thus extremely angry with Gertrude and expresses this anger towards her directly and indirectly through his words, both to himself and to other characters.
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than four months since the death of his biological father, yet she is already remarried to Claudius. He feels his father is being betrayed from her lack of mourning. She tells her son to "cast thy nighted color off" (I.ii.68) and "all that lives must die" (I.ii.72). Clearly, she isn't grieving over her late husband's death and instead puts forth an optimistic attitude to her new husband and life. Gertrude's concern with Hamlet's odd behaviour after his encounter with Ophelia in act II scene i also shows the strain in their relationship. For example, she agrees with Claudius' words that "of Hamlet's transformation" (II.ii.5) and suggests Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and find out the underlying cause of her son's problems. In addition to that, she consents Polonius to hide behind the tapestry in act III scene iv without Hamlet knowing. These two decisions suggest their inability to communicate. Instead, spying is required for Gertrude to find out about her son's inner mentality. The mother and ...
Hamlet’s indecisiveness and hesitation turn out to be his ultimate flaw; therefore making Hamlet a tragedy play. Hamlet himself is a scholar, an alumni from Wittenberg university, so killing to him does seem challenging.
Decisions loom over individuals with their many prospects, outcomes and consequences of these decisions consequently indecision is the reality many will face. Indecision is a common thing everyone struggles with. In our lives, we are constantly facing so many decisions, every day, some tiny that won’t even matter tomorrow and some life changing. Indecision can occur either because it is thought of as a fear and because even though people believe they want to make a decision their brains are tricking us.