The Tragedy of Hamlet - Essay Example

Introduction There are different types of forces that affect human life. Internal and external forces have played important role in the development of human characteristics. External forces generally tend to change thought of people and interfere in their course of action. On the other hand, internal forces help to shape the characteristics of people by incorporating different emotions. In life both external and internal forces contribute towards development of characteristics of people. In the end; course of action completely depends on the decision making process of a person. In Hamlet, external forces have affected the life of different characters. In case of Hamlet, the Society played an important role and made Hamilton react without proper sense. Another important part of the story was the internal force that made Hamlet hate Claudius because he was in love with his mother. Therefore, it can be said that forces are beyond people’s control and they shape character developments. This essay justifies the thesis statement. Thesis Statement “The tragedy of Hamlet happened due to the impact of supernatural and social forces that were beyond his control”. Discussion External and internal forces contributed on a large scale towards the character Hamlet. In the story, the forces that are beyond Hamlet’s control, such as the supernatural and society are the external forces. The internal forces are those, which developed within the character. The play opens after the death of Hamlet’s father. Hamlet experienced his father’s death with sorrow and immediately saw his mother marrying his uncle. Initially Hamlet was emotional and his life was in control. However the inception of external forces in his life led to several deaths in his kingdom. The play provides substantial evidences to prove that forces affect life of people. Hamlet is one of the longest and interesting plays written by William Shakespeare. According to the story, King Hamlet was killed by his own brother Claudius. Claudius married Gertrude, the king’s wife and took over the throne. Prince Hamlet was unhappy with the proceedings but he was unaware of the circumstances. The story took an interesting turn when the truth was revealed before prince Hamlet by the ghost of his father. As described in the story King Hamilton’s ghost appeared to dictate his political murder. This instance proves that there are external forces that can bring severe changes in the developments of a person. As mentioned in the story the appearance of King Hamilton’s ghost is the resemblance of supernatural force. It shows that due to the existence of supernatural force, Prince Hamilton was forced to think differently and it provoked him to take actions against Claudius. External forces incept in mind of people and force them to act accordingly. As discussed earlier, forces help in the development of human actions. External forces can make strong determinations in human mind by invoking internal forces. Prince Hamilton loved his father and it led him to find evidences against Claudius in order to take revenge. The appearance of King Hamilton’s ghost had a huge impact on the emotion of the young prince and this affected his life because he was determined to kill Claudius for his sin. Apart from the emergence of spiritual force, there was another force that worked on Prince Hamilton. Prince Hamilton was living in a society where he had very little respect. Claudius loved Hamilton’s mother and married her however it was not fair in front of society. Prince Hamilton cursed his mother for accepting Claudius and marrying him and simultaneously he wanted to avenge the wretched king. Social acceptance is one of the largest factors for everyone and after knowing the truth, the development of Prince Hamilton was affected (Brint 72). Appearance of the ghost of Prince Hamilton’s father convinced him partially about the reason of his death. Therefore, he decided to get complete evidence before he could take any further actions. Prince Hamilton hired a group of artists to perform on the stage of court in order to check the reaction of Claudius. According to the story, Prince Hamilton narrated the entire play and at the end when the technique of murder was brought forward, Claudius left his chair and walked away. Prince Hamilton was completely convinced after checking the reaction of his uncle and decided to kill him instantly. From the above two works, it is clear that external forces are beyond human control and can affect human development tremendously. Supernatural forces can set new ideologies in human mind (Kapp 12). They are also capable of demotivating people by inducing anger aggression against someone or something. It is clear from the story that Prince Hamilton’s mind was intruded by his father’s ghost and he wanted to avenge Claudius for his wrong doings. The significance of spiritual force is greater than internal forces and it can overcome emotional and peaceful mind. On the other hand, another external force; the society also had a great impact on Prince Hamilton’s mind. In the beginning of the story, it was observed that Prince Hamilton was an emotional young man and his life was in control however the controversies in the kingdom disturbed his mind. Prince Hamilton slowly and gradually realized that Claudius was not a well-wisher for him. Despite Claudius being his uncle, they did not have proper communication between them. Prince Hamilton did-not have proper respect in the society because his mother married immediately after the death of his father with her brother-in-law. These circumstances became painful for the young prince and he decided to avenge his uncle for his wrong doings against their family. The story written by Shakespeare definitely provided suitable grounds to prove the existence of forces that can become hurdle in personal development. The death of Hamlet’s father and disrespect of Claudius towards Hamlet let him believe that he was responsible for his unhappiness. The appearance of the ghost of Hamilton’s father misbalanced him mentally because Claudius was involved in the death of his father and Hamilton had to respect him. The marriage of Claudius and Gertrude was also a political mileage in-order to rule the kingdom peacefully without any interruption from the society. The circumstances provoked Hamilton to kill his uncle and take revenge for his family. Undoubtedly the facts provide sufficient evidence about the forces that exist in real world. The occurrence of these forces exists in the life of each and every person and people have been victims of the forces because of the incompetency to deal with them (Demkovich 28). Every person in the world plans his or her life in a systematic manner but forces keep intruding time to time and act as barrier. External forces, such as nature, society etc. tends people to react unnaturally that results in adverse situations. In order to deal with the forces, people should have strong and clear ideas of life. It is also necessary to relax and think before acting in order to mitigate the effects of forces in life. There are many people who are afraid of supernatural powers and they lose focus very easily. It has also been observed that people get irritated of their social life and their society, which results in disturbances of civil life. Forces may come from inside or from other person but it is important to know that they shape life of people and make their personality better or worse. In the Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the occurrence of different forces and change of personality made the story interesting. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s characteristics have changed and finally he was forced to attain a different personality than he previously had. Hence it shows that people have been victims of forces and individuals must be strong and patient in order to deal with the effect of forces. Hamlet made a decision to kill his uncle but he was incapable to take the revenge. Hamlet delayed the action, which resulted in further consequences. After the appearance of his father’s ghost, Hamlet tried to kill Claudius but he could not do the same because he was not convinced completely hence he decided to judge before acting. This situation let him and others suffer. This shows that Hamlet gave up his responsibility for control and most of the people do the same. External forces misguide people from their goals. It has been observed constantly that due to interference of these forces, people cannot keep focus and it leads to wrong determinations that affect the future and life of people. Apart from the external forces, the internal forces also play important role in shaping life of people. It is very necessary to understand the implication of forces in life (Anderson 32). The internal forces exist within a person. Internal forces, such as emotions are very important in the life of people. Internal forces motivate people to move forward in life with determination. In the story, Hamlet’s internal forces were weak due to which he could-not make his life worth living. It is necessary to understand the implication of different forces so that they can be dealt properly before making any kind of decisions. According to the play, Hamlet’s character was influenced by external forces but it was necessary for Hamlet to understand the consequences within himself. The delay in making decision went against his will and finally he was sent to England by Claudius. Hamlet had to face these situations because of his own incompetency to deal with circumstances. Undoubtedly forces made him react inappropriately but he could try to control his emotions in order to achieve his goal and avenge Claudius. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that there are different types of forces in the world that affect life of people. Forces that shape life of people are mainly divided into two types; internal forces and external forces. Internal forces are the forces that exist within a person however external forces are the forces that come to a person from other people or surrounding environment. The play Hamlet shows how forces can affect the life of a person. According to the play, Hamlet’s father was killed by his uncle Claudius. Moreover, Claudius married his mother and became the ruler of their kingdom. The circumstances and society were not favorable for Hamilton because he did not receive proper respect from his uncle after the advancements. The appearance of the ghost of Hamilton’s father initiated the impact of supernatural force, which made his situation worse. Hamilton was unable to use his internal forces to overcome the external forces. This type of situation is common in life of people and proper use of the forces can only help people sustain and develop in their life. Hence the tragedy of Hamlet happened due to the impact of supernatural and social forces that were beyond his control. Works Cited Anderson, Christopher. The Two Forces of Creation. London: Rutledge, 2012. Print. Brint, Steven. In an age of experts. London: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print. Demkovich, Michael. A Soul-Created Life. London: Kogan Page, 2010. Print. Kapp, Reginald. Mind, Life and Body. London: Sage, 2010. Print. Read More