There Are Three Main Realms of Hamlet's Personality

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In William Shakespeare's Hamlet we encounter a young man on the verge of discovering his own fate. Hamlets' growth is evident from beginning to end as he searches within himself for a deeper meaning to his life. His struggle with intense emotions deal with mortality and morality as he continually sought answers beyond his flesh. Mortality is relevant as Hamlet is willing to kill and die in the name of justice and morality is evident when he questioned his own motives before taking matters into his own hands. Introspectively speaking Hamlet is a man before his time as he analyzed the world around him and what he was meant to contribute to the world. There are many realms to Hamlet's personality, but three of his characteristics are crucial to the development of the play--he is introspective, spiritual, and determined.

Our first meeting with Hamlet proves him to be a sensitive and deep individual who does not ignore false fronts. In reference to his mother and uncle's

marriage in his first soliloquy in Act I, Scene II, Hamlet exclaims, "She married-O most wicked speed: to post/With such dexterity to incestious sheets/It is not, nor it cannot come to good/But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue"(1.2.156-159). Hamlet is an individual who notices his environment and the things the happening within it.

Hamlet foreshadows his own battle with morality as he speaks with Horatio in Act I, Scene IV, "From our achievements, though perform'd at height, The pith and marrow of our attribute. So, oft it chances in particular men, /That for some vicious mole of nature in them, /As in their birth, Wherein they are not guilty (Since nature cannot choose his origin), /By their o'ergrowth of some complexion /Oft br...

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References

McCloskey, John C. "Hamlet's Quest of Certainty." College English, Vol. 2, No. 5. (1941): 445- 451. JSTOR

Search Engine. UMUC's Information and Library Services. 7 Mar. 2005

Utter, Robert Palfrey Jr. "In Defense of Hamlet." College English, Vol. 12, No. 3. (1950): 138-144.

JSTOR Search Engine. UMUC's Information and Library Services. 10 Mar. 2005

Walley, Harold R. "Shakespeare's Conception of Hamlet." PMLA, Vol. 48, No. 3. (1933): 777-798.

JSTOR Search Engine. UMUC's Information and Library Services. 7 Mar. 2005

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark." The Riverside Shakespeare.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.

Wendell, Amy E. "Decisions, Decisions...." Hamlet's Dilemma, Week 5. (2005)

Worthington, Debbie. "A World Overturned." Hamlet's Dilemma, Week 5. (2005)

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