Hamlet as Very Much a Play about Seeming and Not Doing - Essay Example

Hamlet is very much a play about seeming and not doing. Discuss the difference between seeming and doing, and how those caught up in seeming are paralyzed and unable to act. Are those who act indifferent to public perceptions of them The beauty of Shakespeare's Hamlet lies much on its main character's plans and indecision. Disguise is lavishly employed in the play especially on the part of Hamlet. However, despite his knowledge of the truth and his deep contemplation upon executing his revenge, he ends up to have never accomplished anything to save the ones he loves and all of them ends tragically in death - Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, Ophelia and Hamlet himself. Hamlet, even at the onset, is disappointed as much as mournful about the turn of events (Act I, scene ii (129-158). He is not there when his father dies and when he gets home his mother has married his uncle. He gets suspicious that the marriage is rather done in haste That it should come to this! But two months dead!-nay, not so much, not two. He really cannot understand why Gertrude could not have waited longer and mourned for the death of her husband Let me not think on't,-Frailty, thy name is woman!- A little month; or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father's body Like Niobe, all tears;-why she, even she,- O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer,-married with mine uncle. Instead of confronting his mother and demanding an explanation, he just keeps his miserable feelings and doubts to himself. He seeks for justification but does not let it out so he becomes all the more burdened with so many questions and no answers. Besides, he also feels antagonism towards his mother and his uncle's decision to let him stay in Denmark. It was in these depressing moments that he first thinks of committing suicide O that this too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!" He thinks of ending his life but he is reminded of God's law against suicide so he just thinks about it but does not commit it. On the other hand, in Act I, scene iii (59-80) 2, Polonius advises his son, Laertes, to be careful and not to bare out himself to others Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. This is another form of seeming but not doing. He advises his son not to let others see his true feelings and to act with caution Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. His advice seems contradicting though because he tells his son to appear in certain manners and then he ends by saying This above all,-to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Back to Hamlet, when he comes face to face with his university friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act II, scene ii (287-298), he expresses his melancholy I have of late,- but wherefore I know not,- lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory." It is in this scene that he shares his opinion that humankind is more impressive in "apprehension" or understanding than in "action;" he himself being an epitome of this idea for he is more prone to apprehension than to action too. He keeps delaying for so long before putting to action his revenge on Claudius. The most famous soliloquy of Hamlet in Act III, scene i (58-90) displays his hesitations that leads more to his delayed action. It is also in this passage that his reasons for delaying his actions are enumerated. The very familiar line, "To be, or not to be: that is the question," speaks of Hamlet's reflection on whether he would choose to live (to be) or to commit suicide (not to be). To die means to end one's sufferings and pains on earth: Whether '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-To die,-to sleep,- No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to,-'tis a consummation He likens death to sleep which means inactivity and rest. By dying, he perceives that he would be freed from all the difficulties that living entails. However, he pauses to remember the possible consequences of death. He thinks of what kind of dream that he would have when he sleeps or the things that await him in the after-death Devoutly to be wish'd. To die,-to sleep;- To sleep: perchance to dream:-ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, He does not know what lies ahead. He seems to be afraid that the after-death experience may not be better than the present life, how ever unbearable it may seem. This hesitation brings him to think that the present suffering may be better borne than to venture into the unknown But that the dread of something after death,- The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn No traveller returns,-puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of He holds the conscience to be responsible for his hesitance for it is the one that gives warning of not committing suicide. His prolonged inner deliberation and contemplation lead him to more delays and inability to pursue his plans Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; And enterprises of great pith and moment, With this regard, their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. Much thinking, much rationalization, much of his personal intellectual reasoning cause him to lose his chances and opportunities of achieving his plans. The appearance of his father's ghost and the reaction of his uncle in the play he devised could have been enough motivation for him to take his revenge but he has the tendency to always stop and think and rationalize. Although his feigning of madness is effective in causing unease on Claudius and Polonius and even his mother Gertrude, he still does not accomplish much. All these seeming delays are his doing and so in the end he dies along with his "enemies." He has indeed to some point executed his revenge on Claudius but he does not live long enough to benefit from the long-planned revenge. Hamlet is so self- absorbed that he is misunderstood by the people around him including his mother and his lady love. He only realizes their worth when they actually die. The play moves the audience to empathize with Hamlet's melancholy and understand his hesitation. The tragic end justifies for all the evil deeds of the villains but the innocent also have to be afflicted. As some would argue, Hamlet could have saved his loved ones had he acted on time. Read More