Hamlet's Conflicts Resolved

HamletЎЇs Conflict Resolved

In Shakespearean tragedies, characters often are confronted with problems they must resolve. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is one tragedy that reveals a tormented hero who suffers greatly during the course of the play. Hamlet, the tragic hero, must resolve many conflicts, which include confusion and anger at his motherЎЇs hasty remarriage, horror at the ghostЎЇs request to avenge the murder of the his father, and a general disgust with life as he contemplates suicide. Before he can accept the responsibility of setting his world aright, Hamlet must resolve his internal conflicts.

The first dilemma Hamlet must resolve results from the loss of his father. Hamlet is first seen dressed in black as he mourns the death of king Hamlet, his farther. Hamlet cannot understand why no one besides himself and Horatio continues to grieve for his father. What is even more upsetting to Hamlet is the court is celebrating the coronation of Claudius and his royal marriage to HamletЎЇs mother, Queen Gertrude. Hamlet is especially infuriated with his mother, who he thinks has not mourned her husbandЎЇs death sufficiently. In an important monologue in Act I, scene ii, Hamlet complains that even a beast ÐŽowould have mourned longerÐŽ± than his mother did. And he reveals his disgust with both her and Claudius when he calls their hasty marriage both ÐŽowickedÐŽ± and ÐŽoincestuousÐŽ±. Throughout the play, Hamlet continues to find their marriage itself and its hasty occurrence after his fatherЎЇs death consistently painful to think about.

A second internal conflict with which Hamlet deals is the problem presented by the ghost. When Hamlet first encounters the ghost he asks whether the ghost is ÐŽoa spirit of health or goblin dammedÐŽ±. Before anything else, Hamlet has to resolve the problem of the ghostЎЇs good or evil nature, of whether he can trust the ghost to be honest and truthful. Once he decides that the spirit is really the spirit of his dead father, Hamlet faces an even greater problem: to act on the command the ghost gives him to avenge the foul murder committed by Claudius. Hamlet is appalled by the story the ghost of his father tells about how Claudius murdered him to acquire first his crown and then his queen. The absolute evil of ClaudiusЎЇs actions and HamletЎЇs disgust with his motherЎЇs behavior lead him to recognize that ÐŽosomething is rotten in the state of Denmark.ÐŽ± Hamlet describes his predicament in the following lines:

The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,

That ever I was born to set it right.

Before Hamlet can set things right, however, he has to come to terms with the world of destructive evil that ClaudiusЎЇs act typifies.

HamletЎЇs greatest conflict occurs as a result of his indecision over what to do about his mother and how to avenge his fatherЎЇs murder. Even though these both distress him greatly, he suffers from a deeper and more pervasive disgust with life. Because of ClaudiusЎЇ crime, he sees evil all around him, especially at court. Because of his motherЎЇs action, he thinks of all women as sinful, even the innocent Ophelia. He expresses his general dissatisfaction with life many times. On one occasion right after describing man as ÐŽonobleÐŽ± and ÐŽoparagonÐŽ±, after comparing him with angels and gods, Hamlet says ÐŽoand yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me.ÐŽ± Later, he considers the question of whether it is better to live or to die:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether ÐŽ®tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them.

These and many other lines in the play reveal Hamlet disappointed with the injustice and cruelty of life. His anger and frustration lead him to think constantly about death and to make plans to avenge his fatherЎЇs