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Dichotomy In Hamlet's Self

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The Interior and Exterior Self: One Does Not Equal the Other In Hamlet, the court, like all others, is established as a place where people put on false personas in order to appear more likable to whomever they’re interacting with. It’s rare that anyone in that situation would display what they truly think of a person or a situation – for Hamlet, Polonius is the best example of this concept. Hamlet, from the opening of the play, is focused on this dichotomy of falsehood and truth. When the play is observed only from Hamlet’s perspective, it seems as though he is alone in his ability to discern the truth of a situation. Why does no one else still mourn his father? Why does no one else see how evil his mother and uncle are? Why does no one else …show more content…

When Hamlet first encounters it, he doesn’t require much confirmation that the ghost is who it says it is. The ghost tells him that his uncle killed his father and Hamlet believes it, not expressing any disbelief; in fact, he calls it “an honest ghost” without doing anything to investigate if what the ghost said was true or not (1.5, 137). The reason Hamlet trusts the ghost in this way? He and others have always perceived his father as a good man. For Hamlet, this would mean that, because the ghost resembled him, Hamlet trusts him. He even acknowledges that “one may smile...and be a villain” but he does not even begin to consider that the statement could apply to the ghost before him (1.5, 109). In fact, he simply uses what the ghost has told him in order to strengthen his belief in the villainy of his uncle. It doesn’t occur to Hamlet, despite his friends’ various warnings, that the ghost could potentially not be his father. It doesn’t matter to him that, once alone with it, the ghost could “assume some other horrible form,/which might deprive [his] sovereignty of reason” (1.4, 72-3). Hamlet wants to see his father and so he sees him. This, more than his opinion on his mother or uncle, solidifies Hamlet’s tendency to never adjust his opinion of someone. In some cases, he supports this by claiming to know the truth of a situation, but in many cases he feels this way without any proof. Even prior to the ghost’s appearance, he doesn’t like his mother or uncle. Because the ghost told him what he wanted to hear, Hamlet trusts him, and it certainly helped that the ghost resembled his

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This is explained by the Ghost when Hamlet learns of his father being murdered in Act 1 Scene 5, in lines 35 -39, “’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life . Now wears his crown.” 2) The soliloquies that Hamlet provides over the sequence of the entire play allows us to distinguish what Hamlet was thinking about and display how he was losing his sanity.

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A few soldiers on guard report to him that his father’s ghost has been seen, and he sees the ghost when he goes with them the next night. The ghost tells him that his uncle killed him to get his crown and his wife, and makes Hamlet swear to avenge his death. Hamlet decides to pretend to be

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Throughout the play, Hamlet is forced to make difficult decisions; as he is conflicted with almost every decision he makes, his uncertainty and unsophisticated thoughts will eventually lead to his downfall. Man vs. Self is a common theme in Shakespeare’s work, and Hamlet is no exception. The most distinct example of this sophisticated concept is Hamlet himself. When analyzed thoroughly, Hamlet is his greatest obstacle and enemy. The earliest of his internal conflicts is when his mother married his uncle, Claudius, in such a short window of time after his father’s death.

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I say, away! Go on. I’ll follow thee. ”(Shakespeare 1.4.29) Knowledge of what the ghost wants from Hamlet, is offering him stability after his father's death and Hamlet values knowledge even over his own life, expressing “Why, what should I fear?

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Hamlet at first was a little bit weary of the ghost but when the ghost told Hamlet that he was stuck in purgatory until revenge was sought out, hamlet was on board. Hamlet adored his father so when the ghost asked him to seek revenge, and when it told him to murder claudius it's all he focuses on for the majority of the novel. The effect seeking justice had on Hamlet was profound. He became obsessed with finding a proper way to kill the king. His first attempt was to put on a play where he hired actors to recreate the old king's murder to see how the queen and Claudius would react.

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