Crawling Inside the Mind of Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- GCSE Coursew

Crawling Inside the Mind of Hamlet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Much of the dramatic action of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet is within the head of the main character, Hamlet.  Ã‚   His wordplay represents the amazing, contradictory, unsettled, mocking, nature of his mind, as it is torn by disappointment and positive love, as Hamlet seeks both acceptance and punishment, action and stillness, and wishes for consummation and annihilation. He can be abruptly silent or vicious; he is capable of wild laughter and tears, and also polite badinage. One of the first things which a reader learns about Hamlet is that he uses words with startling agility. He plays on words that sound alike, or nearly alike: King. But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-- Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind. King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? Ham. Not so, my lord; I am too much in the sun. (I.ii.64-67) The king withdraws from this exchange, and his mother begins more lovingly, on a different tack. But still Hamlet takes words that others have used and returns them changed or challenged: â€Å"Ay, madam, it is common./. . . Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems'† (I.ii.74-76).   Although the prince is speaking in public, he uses verbal rhetorical devices most critics in Shakespeare's day would consider unseemly. Hamlet's first words are rhetorically complicated, and also challenging and puzzling. Does he pretend to be flippant or boorish in order to keep his thoughts to himself, or to contain his pain? Or does he express rational criticism in savagely sarcastic comments spoken only to himself? Or is the energy of his mind such that he thinks and speaks with instinctive ambiguity? Words are restless within his mind, changing meaning, sh... ...espeare, William. 1985. Hamlet. The New Cambridge Shakespeare edn, edited by Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vickers, Brian. 1993. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Quarrels. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Watson, Robert N. 1990. 'Giving up the Ghost in a World of Decay: Hamlet, Revenge and Denial.' Renaissance Drama 21:199-223. Wright, George T. 1981. 'Hendiadys and Hamlet.' PMLA 96:168-193. Shakespeare, William. The Tradegy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark.   New York: Washington Square Press, 1992 Weiten, Wayne. Psychology: Themes and Variations, Fourth Editon. Boston: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1998 Watson, Robert N. 1990. 'Giving up the Ghost in a World of Decay: Hamlet, Revenge and Denial.' Renaissance Drama 21:199-223. Wright, George T. 1981. 'Hendiadys and Hamlet.' PMLA 96:168-193.