Incongruity In Hamlet

The tragedy Hamlet, by William Shakespeare begins with harrowing preliminary settings and dilemmas. Dysfunctional familial ties are present when Hamlet's uncle marries his mother. Disdain toward his mother and uncle arises within Hamlet because the marriage occurs so soon after his father's death along with the fact that the marriage bypasses Hamlet as the successor to the throne. Moreover, Hamlet is troubled further when the ghost of his father visits him and tells of murder and betrayal. Therefore, the concept of incongruity is fitting in describing Act I of Hamlet because the word encompasses the inharmonious and suspicious aura that surrounds the kingdom in the form of apparitions, familial betrayal, and the struggle for power. The reader first suspects something is amiss in Hamlet when the opening characters speak of being visited by an apparition. However, what is alarming is that the apparition is "In the same figure, like the king that's dead" (I.i.41). It is assumed that the presence of a ghost on earth signifies that some factor is keeping the spirit of whomever died from attaining final peace. This assumption is solidified when

Just as Hamlet's father was usurped by his brother, so too must Hamlet usurp his uncle in order to avenge his father. Hamlet exclaims "My fate cries out, / And makes each petty artery in this body / As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve" (I.iv.82-84). Hamlet views it as his destiny to avenge father and restore his kingdom to it's normal state. His hunch is proven when the ghost of his father calls him to action. Hamlet makes it his personal agenda to avenge his father and his nation, saying "That ever I was born to set it right" (I.v.190). Fate is guiding Hamlet through a personal storm of interior and exterior chaos and for this reason momentary incongruity is no match for the justice that will inevitably be