Essay: Exploring Hamlet’s Various Emotions and Their Development of His Character

1.Throughout the play, Hamlet has many different emotions and shifts in thought that ultimately develop him as a character. He first shows determination and motivation in the play as in Act 1 Scene 5 he says “So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word./It is adieu, adieu, remember me.’/ I have sworn’t”(1.5.117-119). Hamlet is determined to avenge his father’s death and he will stop at nothing to do so. Hamlets determination is also seen in Act 5 Scene 2 as he says, “I dare not drink yet, madam—by and by.”(5.2.290). Hamlet refuses to drink what’s in the cup because he’s determined to end his fight with Laertes, he doesn’t want to surrender. Lastly, Hamlets loving personality is shown as he says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not with all their quantity of love/Make up my sum” (5.1.285-287). Throughout everything, Hamlet still loved ophelia and stayed loyal to her even with all the pain she put him through. Ultimately, hamlets different emotions develop not only him as a character, but it develops the play also.
2. The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia was very interesting and beautiful. In act 5 scene 1, when hamlet says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not with all their quantity of love/Make up my sum” (5.1.285-287), it really showed the other side of Hamlet’s personality. When Hamlet thought of Ophelia he lightened up and became a different person. He loved her through thick and thin and did not care about all the things she put him through. After she died, he was struggling and in a lot of pain.
3. Horatio is a very important minor character in the play because he is Hamlets closest friend. Horatio being so close to hamlet enables him to answer his questions, make judgment calls, and question his judgment. He has very good sense as he was called to the castle by the
guards because he was a “scholar”. Horatio also offers to commit suicide when Hamlet is dying in act 5. Though hamlet did not allow this, he insists horatio to tell his tragic story. The bond they created really enabled hamlet to make this decision. I feel that without horatio, the play is affected more than if it was without any other minor character.
4. Shakespeare manipulates our sense of time and space a lot throughout the play, specifically during the ghosts flashback. In the middle of the ghost and hamlets conversation, there was a flashback that allowed us to think about the different events that caused his death. Getting a different perspective on what events led to king hamlets death really change the fluidity of the play.
5. The entrance of the ghost of King Hamlet had the biggest impact on the play as it represents the way young hamlet is haunted by his dads memory. The ghost tells hamlet about the murder so hamlet can avenge his fathers death. The ghosts entrance collapses the whole household and leads hamlet to take down his uncle.
6. Shakespeare opened the play by having the ghost enter the plot pretty quickly. He does this because the ghost obviously is going to be a vital character in the play and it’s important for its presence to be known fairly quickly. He also does a great job of setting the mood in a very interesting way as he shows the uneasiness and fear that is in Denmark at the time. he says “who’s there?” in the first line of the play to set up an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust that is seen throughout the rest of the play.
7. The ending of the play had a lot of effects on me as a reader, but for the most part it made me feel like everything that happened throughout the play was for nothing. Although people from the kingdom did get their revenge, it didn’t matter because they died. Everyone from the kingdom died and everything they did no longer mattered. The ending can be classified as tragic in the classical sense because it is a tragedy in itself. Hamlet was on a quest for revenge but his
indecisiveness leads himself into a chain of inevitable events that ultimately cause his death. Just like a tragedy, There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end also as horatio is told to tell the end of Hamlet’s tragic story.
8. Hamlet and Ophelia speak very differently from each other as hamlet speaks with a lot of emotion and intensity. He uses a lot of figurative language in his sentences and changes his mood a lot. Ophelia on the other hand has a very shy tone as she is scared to say anything wrong to Hamlet because she knows he has a lot of power. She makes a lot of references to things like flower and nature throughout the play also. Ultimately, Hamlet has more of an aggressive, intense, and confident tone than Ophelia.
9. A soliloquy has many purposes, but its main job is to let the audience know the emotions, thoughts, or reasons behind the things characters do throughout the play. It gives insight into the mind of the character which is not seen a lot in modern day literature.
10. A soliloquy’s purpose is to give insight into the mind of a character and let the audience know their emotions and thoughts as they are going through something. A lot of things are learned about Hamlet through the use of soliloquy, but his pain and suffering is learned about the most. Hamlet feels isolated and misses his father so much that suicide is starting to become an option. He hates his mom for marrying his uncle so quick, he hates everyone in the kingdom for moving on from his father’s death so fast. Ultimately, a lot of the things we learn about Hamlet in the play is because it’s a soliloquy and we are given insight into the mind of him.
11. In the play “Hamlet”, Shakespeare at times uses a humorous tone to shed light on events, but mostly he uses a depressing and dark tone to show hamlet’s quest for revenge. Throughout the play Hamlet is avenging his father’s death and the mood is suspenseful and dark. For example, when the ghost arrives, the reader is not sure what is going to happen, creating a very suspenseful mood that sets the tone for the rest of the play. All Shakespearean tragedies
involve the death or ruin of a main character, so that being introduced by the ghost early in the novel set the depressing tone. Also, Guilt is seen throughout the play as it seems to work it’s way into the minds of the characters in Hamlet. It is a underlying theme that is seen a lot throughout the plot. For example, Hamlet felt guilty for not being able to act quickly to avenge his father’s death. This lead him to become frustrated with himself throughout the play. Ultimately, Shakespeare uses a very depressing and dark tone to create the mood of guilt and suspense throughout the play.
12. A lot of passages in Hamlet raised tension, but specially in Act 1 when the ghost said “upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,/With juice of cursed hebona in a vial”(1.5.68), a lot of tension was raised. The ghost told hamlet that Claudius killed him, raising tension between Hamlet and claudius because Hamlet was on a mission to avenge his father’s death, and now he knows who did it and he will work a plan to kill Claudius for what he did. Another passage which raised tension in the play was during Act four scene five when laertes found out about the death of his father. This really changed the mood of the play and raised tension because laertes now wanted revenge for his father’s murder and he would stop at nothing to get it, as he says “O thou vile king, Give me my father!”(4.5.201).