Hamlet: A Good Man With Evil Actions

Erika Ngujo

Mrs. Pastorius

ENG3U1-01

November 14, 2014

Hamlet: A Good Man With Evil Actions The conflict between good and evil is a common theme in literature. It is an archetype that is found in many works of the famous author William Shakespeare. In one of Shakespeare’s works, Hamlet, the main character Prince Hamlet embodies the conflict between good and evil in himself. Hamlet is full of need for revenge and hatred but has his doubts which haunt him throughout the play causing him to postpone his schemes and harm innocent people along the way. Hamlet’s uncertainty and doubts on whether the ghost is telling the truth delays his vow to avenge his father’s death. Being the cautious man that he is, Hamlet considers the ghost’s words before

He feels devastated by the fact that his father just died and his mother married his own uncle. The lad takes the advantage of expressing his feelings carelessly because he is showing the people that he is a mad man. On the night he gets to talk to his mother alone in the castle, Hamlet lacks self control eventually hurts his mother with his harsh words. “Such an act / That blurs the grace and blush of modestly, / Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose / From the fair forehead of an innocent love / And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows / As false as dicers’ oaths … “ (III.IV.41-46) Hamlet unintentionally hurts his own mother with his harsh words but his intention really is to convince her to stop sleeping with his uncle. Hamlet does this out of love but it only shows how insensitive a man he is. Hamlet’s lover Ophelia also goes mad after being distressed of Hamlet’s mad behavior. With Ophelia’s unconditional love for Hamlet, she loses her mind from worrying too much about her lover. According to the gentlemen, “... Her speech is nothing, / Yet the unshaped use of it doth move / The hearers to collection, they yawn at it, / … /Indeed would make one think there might be thought, / Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.” (IV.V.7-13), Ophelia has gone mad but it is obvious that the reason behind it is not good. Ophelia’s mad behavior eventually leads to her death. As soon as

On the first time he attempts to kill King Cladius, no one was harmed. However, on the second time Hamlet tries to kill his uncle is a case of mistaken identity. Poor Polonius who is hiding behind the curtains in the Queen’s castle, gets stabbed by Hamlet. Hamlet thinks that the person behind the curtains is king Cladius so he stabs him through the curtains without checking who the person really is. “Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger. - / Leave wringing of your hands. Peace, sit you down, / And let me wring your heart, for I shall, / If it be made of penetrable stuff, / If damned custom have not brazed it so / That is be proof and bulwark against sense.” (III.IV.34-39). As soon as Hamlet finds out that he killed the wrong guy, he feels guilty but he can’t show it. Instead he uses his “mad behaviour” scheme and acts like he does not care. The third and final time Hamlet tried to kill the king, he succeeds. However, Laertes who is an innocent man dies in the middle of the fight. “It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain / No med’cine in the world can do thee good; In thee there is not half an hour’s life. / The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, / Unbated and envenomed … “ (V.II.316-320) As Laertes dies, he tells Hamlet that he got poisoned with the sword that Hamlet is holding. With this, Hamlet goes on to attack King Cladius and eventually kills him. He may have succeeds in