The Central Question of Hamlet Essay -- Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

The Central Question of village small towns tragedy is a tragedy of failure-the failure of a man placed in critical circumstances to deal successfully with those circumstances. In some ways, Hamlet reminds us of Brutus in Shakespeares Julius Caesar. Hamlet and Brutus are both good manpower who wear in trying times both are intellectual, even philosophical both men want to do the right thing both men intellectualize over what the right thing is neither man yields to passion. But here the comparison ends, for though both Brutus and Hamlet reflect at length over the need to act, Brutus is able immediately to act while Hamlet is not. Hamlet is stuck thinking too precisely on th event-. Hamlets father, the king of Denmark, has died suddenly. The dead kings brother,Claudius, marries Hamlets mother and fleetly assumes the throne, a throne that Hamlet fully expected would be his upon the death of his father. Hamlets fathers ghost confronts Hamlet and tells him that his death was not natural, as reported, but instead was murder. Hamlet swears revenge. But rather than swoop instantly to that revenge, Hamlet pretends to be insane in order to mask an investigation of the accusation brought by his fathers ghost. Why Hamlet puts on this antic disposition and delays in killing Claudius is the central question of the play. But Hamlet did not swear to his dead father that he, detective-like, would investigate. Hamlet swore revenge. And he has more than enough motivation to exact revenge. Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon-He that hath killed my king, and whored my motherPopped in between th election and my hopes,Thrown out his rake for my proper life,And with such cozenage-ist not perfect cons... ...play that is flawed, not our understanding of it. The central question of the play is, then, a question without an process if one is seeking the answer within the play. Shakespeare was supposed to supply us with an answer, or at least with a reason why there i s no answer. He offers us neither. Instead, this close celebrated of Shakespeares plays offers us a literary mystery which has captured the attention of all who have come into contact with it. Its time to file the question under open Mysteries. But for those who persist in analyzing the plot of the drama, or Hamlets psychology, or both in order to explain this particular enigma, I suggest that youre looking in the wrong place. Try history. Works Cited *A. C. Bradley, Shakespeares Tragic Period-Hamlet, Shakespearean Tragedy, MacMillan and Company Limited, 1904, pp. 70-101