Theme Of Irrational Behavior In Shakespeare's Hamlet

In the famous Shakespearean play Hamlet, the main character Prince Hamlet exhibited irrational behavior due to the amount of stress on him. He led everyone in his castle to believe that he had been consumed by madness. Since he was exaggerating his mental state, not all of his insanity was true. Yet, his issues still had a real effect on his well-being. As a teenager, Hamlet had to deal with the loss of a father, an incestuous parentage, and the ostracization of his lover. These problems caused stress, altered his emotions, and even led him to contemplate suicide. Even though Hamlet is an old play, teenagers still suffer the same way Prince Hamlet once did, whether it was caused by friendship or family issues. The death of a parent is always a tragic loss. In Hamlet, the king was killed, leaving Prince …show more content…
He was torn in an internal battle between what was right and what he desired. Discovering from his father’s ghost that his uncle Claudius had killed his father, Hamlet was filled with rage. His anger encouraged him to seek revenge by killing Claudius. However, he later suspected that the ghost could be a demon who was trying to trick him into sinning. This internal conflict caused him to procrastinate his plan of revenge. Teenagers today face similar conflicts when they have to decide whether to do what’s right or to do what they want. In our current society, it’s easy to make the wrong choice with constant peer pressure and decline of morality amongst teens. Hamlet’s emotions were also impacted by Ophelia, his first and only love. She refused to communicate with Hamlet, which led Hamlet to feel confused. The same rule applies for young relationships today. If a girl decides to neglect her boyfriend, the latter would be confused, angry, and would try to figure out what he did wrong. Emotions can be hard to control during the adolescent years, and relationship issues tend to make them