To Be or Not to Be Meaning: A Literary Analysis of Hamlet

Set in Denmark, the play exaggerates the revenge of Hamlet which is called upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet. Claudius had murdered his own brother in order to seize the throne, also doing immoral things like marrying his deceased brother's wife. Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play, and is considered among the most powerful and influential works.

What made this play so influential and to gain its popularity is the interesting way Shakespeare uses his characters, and mostly Hamlet, to give an example on the workings of the human mind. Hamlet is a very complex character that deals with a lot of philosophical issues in the play. When "to be or not to be" (Soliloquy 1, Act 3, Scene 1) is taken, it can be seen that Hamlet is directly addresses to a more of a fundamental question on the part of humanity, asking What is mortality: is it really better to live a life full of struggle or is it even better to commit suicide. What Shakespeare really wanted to present here is this human condition of always looking for better answers, even though when there are none. Hamlet is a character that is mainly obsessed with grief, anger, and revenge, and that part of his human condition is pretty much appalling. Taking the way of troubles than just trying to end everything, he steps against his and Denmark's way of humanity understanding:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

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Shakespeare, with the usage of many amazing elements of writing, sets the stage from the very beginning of the play for Hamlet's internal dilemma, and with that tries to give this question of how humanity and human mind works. Morality and disillusionment, which both belong to the individual's own point of view on life and his own mindfulness from a psychological viewpoint is that these two cause Hamlet's deferment, and put the actual idea why Shakespeare wanted to perceive as putting the important emphasis on the individual's mind. With the opening of the first Soliloquy it can all be seen that a question of what makes us all more of a human nature is not really answered but left to be interpret by some individuals, and give this insight on how and why something can trouble one's mind.

When taking the problematic understanding of humanity and mind in this play, one problem always needs to be faced, and that is the problem of identity. With the usage of Hamlet's postponed revenge for his father, Shakespeare as a great playwright could actually give space for the human mind to develop itself. Meaning, if Hamlet had killed his uncle at the first opportunity there would be very little chance for Shakespeare to develop this amazing internal dilemma that is pretty much put on the emphasis, and that is the complexity of the human mind, and the real control of the person's mental perspective can have on the events in the life of the individuals.

Shakespeare really gave Hamlet as a general play all different kinds of roles on playing with humanities understanding of life itself. In the play, Hamlet uses words of darkness such as:

And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged.- That would be scann'd:
A villain kills my father, and for that,
I, his sole son, do the same villain send
To heaven, (Act 3, Scene 3, 75-80)

The way Hamlet uses these words of dark actions is to describe and present the audience what he is really thinking and getting the revenge for his father. Not only, that Hamlet wants to kill his father's murderer but wants to make him suffer. What is interesting in this quote is how Hamlet changes throughout the entire play with just usage of language. This role of humanity in his words can be taken to be really terrifying, because of the way of what can a human mind really think of doing. With that said, it is realised that "Hamlet lacks faith in God and in himself", which means that as a human he lost his ways and really confirmed that he does not have any point of self-consciousness when taking his actions in hands.

To sum up, what Shakespeare wanted to create with the role of Hamlet and his actions is very complex. Identifying oneself is what really matters all throughout the play, and Hamlet is a character that has his human nature be taken down to this dark hole of sorrow and seek for revenge. Human nature and a role of humanity is troublesome thing and Shakespeare succeeded to show it as it is. Usage of rich language and monologues and the insight of characters mind and his thinking is what gave an example how can an individual suffer from the actions of others and mainly himself.

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