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The madness of prince Hamlet.In Hamlet, Prince of Denmark the protagonist exhibits a puzzlingduplicitous nature. Hamlet contradicts himself throughout out the play. Heendorses both of the virtues of acting a role and being true to oneis self. Hefurther supports both of these conflicting endorsements with his actions. Thisambiguity is demonstrated by his alleged madness, for he does behave madly, onlyto become perfectly calm and rational an instant later. These inconsistenciesare related with the internal dilemmas he faces. He struggles with the issue ofrevenging his fatheris death, vowing to kill Claudius and then backing out,several times. Upon this point Hamlet teeters through the play. The reason forthis teetering is directly related to his inability to form a solid opinionabout role playing. This difficulty is not present, however, at the start of theplay. In the first act Hamlet appears to be very straightforward in hisactions and inner state. When questioned by Gertrude about his melancholyappearance Hamlet says, +Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not +seemsi+ (1.2.76).This is to say +I am what I appear to be.+ Later he makes a clear statementabout his state when he commits himself to revenge. In this statement the playmakes an easy to follow shift. This shift consists of Hamlet giving up the roleof a student and mourning son. Hamlet says,Iill wipe away all trivial fond records,All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,That youth and observation copied there,And thy commandment all alone shall liveWithin the book and volume of my brain(1.5.99-103)Hamlet is declaring that he will be committed to nothing else but the revenge ofhis fathers death. There is no confusion about Hamletis character. He has saidearlier that he is what he appears to be, and there is no reason to doubt it. Inthe next act, however, Hamletis status and intentions suddenly and with outdemonstrated reason becomes mired in confusion. When Hamlet appears again in act two, it seems that he has lost theconviction that was present earlier. He has yet to take up the part assigned tohim by the ghost. He spends the act walking around, reading, talking withPolonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the players. It is not until the veryend of the act that he even mentions vengeance. If he had any of the convictionshown earlier he would be presently working on his vengeance. So instead ofplaying the part of vengeful son, or dropping the issue entirely, he hangs outin the middle, pretending to be mad. This is shown when he says to Rosencrantzand Guildenstern +I know not-lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise+(2.2.298-299). Later he tells them that he is just feigning madness when hesays, +I am but mad north-north-west, when the wind is southerly, I know a hawkfrom a handsaw+ (2.2.380-381). Admitting so blatantly that he is only feigningmadness would imply that he is comfortable with it. He also seems to begenerally comfortable with acting This is evidenced when he says, +there isnothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so+ (2.2.251-252). Hamlet issaying that behavior shapes reality. It is puzzling that Hamlet is comfortablewith playing at this point but not with the role that he said he would playearlier. If he is to play a role why not the one that his father gave him? Whenthe players come in a short wile later his attitude changes.Hamlet is prompted to vengeance, again, by the moving speech that isgiven by one of the players. About this speech he says,What is Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,That he should weep for her? What would he doHad he motive and cue for passionThat I have? (2.2.561-564)In this praise of this players ability to act, Hamlet is saying that if he weresuch an actor he would have killed Claudius by now. This link between vengeanceand acting that is present here is what Hamlet struggles with until very nearthe end. He is then moved to swear that he should kill Claudius when he says,I should +ai fatted all the region kitesWith this slaveis offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!O, vengeance!Why, what an ass am I? (2.2.581-585)He makes this big buildup of what he should have done and how he will berevenged and he shoots it down in the next line. This passage is the model ofHamletis cognitive dissonance. After all of this swearing and support of thevalue of acting and words, he backs out of it again. He canit decide whether toplay the role or not. Words are further condemned when he says, +Must, like awhore, unpack my hart with words+ (2.2.587). So he is now condemning roleplaying. Being caught in the middle he decides that he needs more proof of theKings guilt when he says, +The playis the thing / Wherein Iill catch theconscience of the King+ (2.2.606-607).Before the mouse trap is to be played, Hamlet runs into Ophelia andmakes some telling statements. Upon the issue of Opheliais beauty Hamlet says,+That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to yourbeauty+ (3.1.109-110). He is saying that Ophelia can be honest and fair, butthat, honesty being an inward trait, and fairness being an outward trait, cannotbe linked. He goes on further to say that Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd that the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. (3.1.13-15)So not only can the inner and outer self not be linked, but acting, or the showor exterior, will transform oneis inner self to match the exterior show. He saysthis just after denying that words and acting are important. By what he sayshere, if he would only act the part he wouldnit have a problem taking action.Then he contradicts himself yet again when he says +God hath given you one face,and you go make yourselves another+(3.1.146-147). He just said that appearance
is all and now chastises women for changing it. He is bouncing back and forthbetween supporting acting and denouncing it. Whenever he is in support of actinghe is also ready for vengeance. When he swings back to support acting again hesays, It hath made me mad. I say we will have no more marriages. Those that are married already-all but one-shall live.(3.1.149-151) The +one+ Hamlet is referring to must be the King. So it returns to vengeanceand acting going together. In the...
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