Adversity And Ambition In Shakespeare's Hamlet

In Hamlet, Shakespeare presents Hamlet, a complex protagonist, who faces adversity and is destined to murder his uncle. While aware that he must avenge his father’s death, Hamlet prolongs this daunting task. Through Hamlet’s soliloquies, Shakespeare reveals that Hamlet’s ambition is futile if is not coupled with action. In Act 1 scene 5, Hamlet is filled with passion and ambition to avenge father's death. This occurs after his father’s ghost informs him about the senseless act which his own brother carried out. The ghost tells Hamlet of a Cain and Abel- like story, in which Claudius betrays his own brother in order to attain power over the kingdom of Denmark. When Hamlet sees the figure of his father’s ghost, Hamlet acts in a calm manner,

Doran (BBC 2) movie version, Hamlet realizes that he is videotaped and rips camera out. He sits down, speaking loudly and then gets up and moves his arms wildly. He criticizes himself and even walks up to the camera questioning: “Am I a coward?”. It’s as if he’s asking audience/ viewers their opinions of him. He breaks the fourth wall. He is also depicted in a mad way, as he jumps around, punches the air, lies down, and then gets up again sporadically. The entire soliloquy seems chaotic. Viewers can witness the anguish in his palpable and haunting eyes. His feet are bare, and his act is overly dramatic. He motions as if he is holding a dagger and pretends to kill the king. He also speeds up his speaking when he gets closer to a solution; when he conjures up the plan to catch the king’s conscience. After he comes up with the plan, he runs away quickly, to depict his anxiousness and passion to carry out the plan. In the Bill Colleran version, he turns around and round as he talks, and his soliloquy is coupled with gripping screams and cries that seem very dramatic. Furthermore, Hamlet succeeds with his plan as he does catch the conscience of the king and does witness him admitting his sin out loud in the form of prayer. However, Hamlet does not murder the king because he wants him to die, just as his father died- in a state of sin and

He comes to the realization that Fortinbras and his soldiers have so much passion for a futile piece of land, similar to the actors who are full of emotion for “Hecuba”, a fictional character. Hamlet looks at the world and all the signs around him signal that his actions are wrong. “Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, / Looking before and after, gave us not/ That capability and godlike reason/ To fust in us unused”(4.4.38-41). Hamlet reflects on human nature here. He states that God did not bestow the ability to think, and to reflect upon humans, just for them to dissipate it. Hamlet eulogizes human wisdom and reason, calling it “godlike”, and alerts himself and the audience, that if it is unutilized, it will eventually “fust” (rot away). Furthermore, Hamlet states that he cannot fathom how he can live knowing his duty, while having the cause, strength, and desire to accomplish it, yet the deed is still not accomplished. Hamlet proceeds to look at Fortinbras’’ army and ponders how they are able to risk their lives for a worthless “eggshell” of a land (4.4.56). His father was murdered and his “mother stain’d” with incest, and Hamlet realizes that he must take action (4.4.60). Hamlet is filled with shame as he sees twenty thousand men fight for a trivial matter. He, who is fighting for something real, has done nothing. In the article, “Melancholy, Ambition, and Revenge in Belleforest's