Examples Of Passion And Reason In Hamlet

Every day, time is spent getting to the essence of things. Perfumers spend months, sometimes years finding the right balance for a new scent. Scientists keep searching for smaller and smaller things hoping to get to the centre of what matter is. People are curious about what things truly are at their core. They wonder who people are, quintessentially. Shakespeare answers this question in Hamlet by displaying two opposing forces in people’s lives: passion and reason. Reason, for the purposes of this essay, is the drive to make decisions based on what is ethical, logical, and observed. Passion, on the other hand, is the drive to make decisions based on the heart, momentary feelings, and what will bring personal gain regardless of anyone else.

As the whole kingdom celebrates Claudius’ wedding and subsequent coronation, Hamlet walks around in dark clothes talking about death. He is still mourning his father’s sudden death. He sees his life as holding a low value because no one else is mourning his father, his uncle took away his right to the throne, his uncle married his mother, and both Claudius and Gertrude are trying to tell him how to live his life. Hamlet contemplates suicide, but fears the afterlife that the ghost has described. He imagines death being as easy as falling asleep. The ghost, however, convinces Hamlet that it is not his own life that he should be taking, but rather Claudius’. As soon as Hamlet accepts the ghost’s words, he throws away reason and gives in to passion. It is passion that drives him to stab Polonius who is hiding behind the curtain. Passion drives him to manipulate the players to tell a story that parallels his father’s death. He passionately mourns Ophelia when he finds her grave and passionately struggles with Laertes in the final battle. Hamlet’s passion and its control over his life directly or indirectly results in the death of at least five people and destroys the kingdom of

In the beginning of the story, all of the characters had some actions that were reasonable. It was not Ophelia’s romantic love for Hamlet that killed her. It was not Hamlet’s mourning for his father that killed him. It was not even Claudius’ lustful desire to become king that killed him. All of these passions had some level of reason to them. It was Ophelia’s hopelessness after losing all that she loved that killed her. It was Hamlet’s desire to avenge his father that killed him. It was Claudius’ prideful grip on the throne that killed him. In the end, these three characters in Hamlet meet their demise because they gave in to the rule of passion in their