Transformation of Hamlet

William Shakespeare- Hamlet

Shakespeare ‘s most famous character Hamlet , suffers a transformation in the play after the events that take place , that goes from resistance to what he has to face to an attitude of almost passivity at the end of the play . Critics have noticed many times that what best defines Hamlet as a character is his hesitation when he is called to take action and revenge the murder of his father

Hamlet is a scholar with a philosophical and meditative disposition used to contemplate the world rather than to take [banner_entry_middle]

active part in it . He sees the world idealistically , in a Platonic manner . This fact is best expressed in his monologue on the nature of man , where he praises the qualities of human spirit , which are close to the divine image , but at the same time , he remarks that man delights him not since , in the end man is nothing else but a quintessence of dust

What a piece of work is a man , how noble in reason , how infinite in faculty , in form and moving how express and admirable , in action how like an angel , in apprehension how like a god–the beauty of the world the paragon of animals ! And yet , to me , what is this quintessence of dust ? Man delights not me–no , nor woman neither , though by your smiling you seem to say so (Ham . 2 .1 . 301-306

The same view is extended to life in general and to the world . For Hamlet ‘the majestical roof fretted with golden fire ‘ is only a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours (Ham . 2 .1 . 298-299

It is obvious thus that Hamlet cannot find delight in the world although , paradoxically he believes that both man and the world are wonderful . This means that he is aware that he himself projects his idealistic view on the world , while at the same time the world may be a wonderful place but not a perfect one

Hamlet ‘s disposition may have been the same before his father ‘s death and the marriage of his mother to his uncle , but these are what actually triggers the full manifestation of his melancholic disposition

The undeniable proof of sin and evil that is set before him when the ghost delivers its message is what actually make Hamlet look at the world in this manner . It is what also makes him soliloquize about whether life actually deserves being lived , or if to choose death would not be the best after all

Hamlet . To be , or not to be–that is the question

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them ? To die , to sleep– No more and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to– ’tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished : to die , to sleep

To sleep , perchance to dream (Ham . 3 .1 . 57-65… [banner_entry_footer]