Hamlet Impulsive In Hamlet

“To be or not to be—that is the question” (Shakespeare 3.1.64). Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare and was published in 1603. This play is tells the story of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. The story begins with Hamlet’s father being murdered, and his uncle, Claudius, marrying his mother. Hamlet formulates a plan to get back at the newly crowned king, which involves acting like a “madman.” Throughout the play, Hamlet interacts with a number of people, whom he always ends up ruining his relationship with them. This includes his mother, Ophelia, Polonius, and others. In the end, Hamlet dies from the wound given to him from Laertes. Upon completing the reading of this tragedy, there is one major theme that I enjoy and two of Hamlet’s …show more content…
The audience first comes to see Hamlet’s impulsiveness in Act One Scene Four. In this scene, Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus are standing together on one of the castle’s platforms, when they come upon the ghost that has been roaming around the grounds for the past few nights, frightening those on guard. The ghost beckons for Hamlet to go away with it, and Hamlet consents to this, but those that are with him beg of him not to comply with the ghost. Hamlet’s response to this beckon is as follows: “It will not speak. Then I will follow it… Why, what should be the fear… It waves me forth again. I’ll follow it” (Shakespeare 1.4.70-76). Horatio and Marcellus attempt to hold Hamlet back from leaving with the ghost, but Hamlet ultimately breaks free from their grasp and exeunt the scene with the ghost. Another important incident that shows Hamlet’s rashness is when he kills Lord Polonius with alacrity. In this moment, Hamlet believed that he was about to murder his uncle, King Claudius, but in turn accidentally killed Polonius. Hamlet can be described as being impulsive in this situation because he never looked behind the arras, where he believed the man to be hiding, to make sure that he was actually murdering his uncle, and not some arbitrary man. After the murder occurs, Hamlet belittles his mother about marrying his uncle so soon after his father’s death; “(Hamlet) Nay, I know not. Is it the …show more content…
He seems to be incredibly disappointed in his mother for marrying Claudius so soon after the King’s death, and makes this obvious at multiple occasions. The first of these happens during one of Hamlet’s soliloquies: “And yet, within a month (Let me not think on’t; frailty, thy name is woman!), a little month…O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer, married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules (1.2.149-157). Hamlet expresses his displeasure with his mother for not only marrying his late father’s brother, but for doing it so soon after he has passed, and feels that she didn’t give him the dignity he deserves by doing so. I have a feeling that Gertrude had done this so early because she wanted to alleviate her grief and try to become happier as her own person. Another part of the play that shows Hamlet’s melancholy feeling is when he repudiates Ophelia in the harshest way possible. In Act Three Scene One, Hamlet and Ophelia have this interaction: “(Hamlet) I did love you once. (Ophelia) Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. (Hamlet) You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so (inoculate) our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. (Ophelia) I was the more deceived” (Shakespeare 3.1.125-130). Hamlet’s flood of pessimistic emotions throughout the play allows for the