Hamlet 
 
By William Shakespeare
 
In "Hamlet", the Prince of Denmark, the protagonist,
exhibits a puzzling duplicitous nature. Hamlet contradicts
himself throughout the play. He endorses both of the
virtues of acting a role and being true to ones self. He
further supports both of these conflicting endorsements
with his actions. This ambiguity is demonstrated by his
alleged madness, for he does behave madly, only to become
perfectly calm and rational an instant later. These
inconsistencies are related with the internal dilemmas he
faces. He struggles with the issue of revenging his
father's death, vowing to kill Claudius and then backing
out, several times. Upon this point Hamlet teeters
throughout the play. The reason for this teetering is
directly related to his inability to form a solid opinion
about role playing. This difficulty is not present,
however, at the start of the play.
 
In the first act Hamlet appears to be very straightforward
in his actions and inner state. When questioned by Gertrude
about his melancholy appearance Hamlet says, "Seems, madam?
Nay it is. I know not "seems" (1.2.76). This is to say "I
am what I appear to be." Later he makes a clear statement
about his state when he commits himself to revenge. In this
statement the play makes an easy to follow shift. This
shift consists of Hamlet giving up the role of a student
and mourning son. Hamlet says, I'll 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 live Within 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 of his fathers death. There is no
confusion about Hamlet's character. He has said earlier
that he is what he appears to be, and there is no reason to
doubt it. In the next act, however, Hamlet's status and
intentions suddenly and with out demonstrated reason
becomes mired in confusion.
 
When Hamlet appears again in act two, it seems that he has
lost the conviction that was present earlier. He has yet to
take up the part assigned to him by the ghost. He spends
the act walking around, reading, talking with Polonius,
Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the players. It is not until
the very end of the act that he even mentions vengeance. If
he had any of the conviction shown earlier he would be
presently working on his vengeance. So instead of playing
the part of vengeful son, or dropping the issue entirely,
he hangs out in the middle, pretending to be mad. This is
shown when he says to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ÊI know
not-lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exerciseË
(2.2.298-299). Later he tells them that he is just feigning
madness when he says, "I am but mad north-north-west, when
the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw"
(2.2.380-381). Admitting so blatantly that he is only
feigning madness would imply that he is comfortable with
it. He also seems to be generally comfortable with acting
This is evidenced when he says, "There is nothing either
good or bad but thinking makes it so" (2.2.251-252). Hamlet
is saying that behavior shapes reality. It is puzzling that
Hamlet is comfortable with playing at this point but not
with the role that he said he would play earlier. If he is
to play a role why not the one that his father gave him?
When the players come in a short wile later his attitude
changes.
 
Hamlet is prompted to vengeance, again, by the moving
speech that is given by one of the players. About this
speech he says, 

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should
weep for her? What would he do Had he motive and cue for
passion that I have? (2.2.561-564)
 
In this praise of this player's ability to act, Hamlet is
saying that if he were such an actor he would have killed
Claudius by now. This link between vengeance and acting
that is present here is what Hamlet struggles with until
very near the end. He is then moved to swear that he should
kill Claudius when he says, I should "a' fatted all the
region kites With this slave's 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 be revenged and he shoots it down
in the next line. This passage is the model of Hamlet's
cognitive dissonance. After all of this swearing and
support of the value of acting and words, he backs out of
it again. He can't decide whether to play the role or not.
Words are further condemned when he says, "Must, like a
whore, unpack my hart with words" (2.2.587). So he is now
condemning role playing. Being caught in the middle he
decides that he needs more proof of the Kings guilt when he
says, "The play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the
conscience of the King" (2.2.606-607).
 
Before the mouse trap is to be played, Hamlet runs into
Ophelia and makes some telling statements. Upon the issue
of Ophelia's beauty Hamlet says, "That if you be honest and
fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your
beauty" (3.1.109-110). He is saying that Ophelia can be
honest and fair, but that, honesty being an inward trait,
and fairness being an outward trait, cannot be 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 show or
exterior, will transform one's inner self to match the
exterior show. He says this just after denying that words
and acting are important. By what he says here, if he would
only act the part he wouldn't 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 forth between supporting acting and denouncing it.
Whenever he is in support of acting he is also ready for
vengeance. When he swings back to support acting again he
says, 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 vengeance and acting
going together. 
 
In the next scene the conflicting action is similar, but
less obvious. When Hamlet is advising the player on how his
lines should be read he says, "Suit the action to the word,
the word to the action" (3.2.17-18). If Hamlet would follow
his own advice he would not have a conflict. This shows
that he is not consistent within himself. Hamlet is saying
one should not distinguish between word and actions, but he
does maintain this separation. Yet when Hamlet speaks with
Horatio he praises him for being objective, levelheaded,
and for having a consistent character. He is praising
Horatio for being true to himself, not being an actor.
Hamlet says, " Give me that man That is not passion's
slave, and I will wear him In my heart's core, ay, in my
heart of heart, As I do thee." (3.2.69-72) Hamlet is
saying this because he wants Horatio to watch the King at
the play. He is unsure of his uncle's guilt, and he wants
proof. He wants it from someone who he thinks is honest
throughout. It comes back to acting and vengeance or in
this case he has failed in his vengeance and needs Horatio
to agree with him. Hamlet says to Horatio, " Observe mine
uncle. If his occulted guilt Do not itself unkernnel in
one speech, It is a dammed ghost we have seen".
(3.2.77-80) 
 
Proof, however, does not have any thing to do with the role
Hamlet is supposed to play, but there is more to it than
that. The interesting thing is that his uncle will be
judged by how he acts during the play. If the King is a
good actor, and does not show his guilt, he will most
likely not be killed. However, the King is not a good actor
and when he rises Hamlet responds with, "What, frighted
with false fire?"(3.2.254). It's as if Hamlet is saying
it's only a play, it's not real. He does say something to
this effect a few lines before. "Your majesty, and we that
have free souls, it touches us not"(3.2.229-230). This new
proof drives Hamlet to use more words. He is again to talk
of killing, and he says, "Now I could drink hot blood"
(3.2.379). He again associates this with a role, that of
Nero. "The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom" (3.2.383).
Later Hamlet again talks himself out of character and does
not kill the King. He puts it off until later and says, "
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, At gaming,
swearing, or about some act That has no relish of
salvation in it, Then trip him that his heels may kick at
heaven, And that his soul may be dammed and black"
(3.3.89-94) He is waiting until Claudius fits the part of a
villain. 
 
His action is paralyzed whenever something does not fit the
part. He needs his revenge to be dramatic so that he may
get into it and finally play it out, and it takes him the
next scene and an act to finally do this. After Hamlet
backs out of killing Claudius, Hamlet says to his mother,
"O shame, where is thy blush?" (3.4.72). He is voicing his
distaste for Gertrude not only for marrying his uncle but
for not being true to herself. She should show some shame
for her sins but does not. Hamlet is contradicting himself
in this. He has been duplicitous and untrue for two thirds
of the play. At this point he is still not sure as how he
is to proceed. Hamlet is caught in the middle of acting and
objectivity. 
 
Hamlet finally gets his act together, and decides to act
the part his father had given him, after he sees the
soldiers going off to war to die. " The imminent death of
twenty thousand men That, for fantasy and a trick of
fame, Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot 
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, Which is not
tomb enough and continent To hide the slain. O, from this
time forth My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!"
(4.4.51-57) Those soldiers fight and die for an
insignificant plot of land, and they do it because they are
soldiers, no other reason. Hamlet realizes that he should
do what his role dictates strictly because it is his role.
He does not falter in his conviction after he returns and
fully embraces the act. Upon confronting Laertes he says
"This is I, Hamlet the Dane" (5.1.53-54). The "Dane",
meaning the King. He is claiming his right to the throne.
This is the appropriate action for someone as wronged as
he, albeit late. 
 
In reaction to Ophelia's death he is again behaving as he
should have. She was his love interest and as such he
should have loved her more than her brother. This is shown
when Hamlet says "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers
/Could not, with their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum"
(5.1.256-258). Hamlet should have loved her, but he did
not. Had he loved her he would not have treated her so
poorly earlier. He is now committed to acting, and loving
Ophelia fits the role. 
 
In the rest of the play, Hamlet does not mess around. He
barely has time to tell his story of escape to Horatio
before he is challenged. He does not refuse the challenge
because as nobility, which he is finally claiming to be, he
cannot refuse and keep his honor. Hamlet goes to the match
and because he has now accepted the role he does not
hesitate to kill the King when prompted to. It would seem
that being a good actor is paramount to survival in this
play. Polonius could not stick to the role of adviser and
was trying to convince the King that Hamlet was in love
with his daughter. This leads him to spy on Hamlet, and
because he could not do that right either, is killed.
Ophelia could not handle the role of mourning for her
father, goes mad and dies as a result. The King could not
cover up his guilt, so Hamlet has the proof he needs to
spur him on. Finally Hamlet, who if he would have acted as
the ghost instructed him to in the first place, instead of
flip flopping, would have killed Claudius outright. Had
Hamlet been truly comfortable with acting, Claudius would
have been the only casualty.