Essay/Term paper: Personality traits of hamlet

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Papers

In the play Hamlet, Hamlet has many different personality traits. Three of these characteristics are that Hamlet is depressed, clever, and hesitant. Throughout the play you can see these characteristics in Hamlet many times.

It is obvious that Hamlet is depressed in this play. His depression can be seen in Act I scene II lines 129-132, when Hamlet says:

"O! that this too too solid flesh would melt,

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew;

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd

His cannon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!"

In these lines Hamlet says that he would like to commit suicide, but cannot because of the way suicide is looked upon in god's eyes. More of Hamlet's depression can be seen in Act III scene I lines 56-61 when Hamlet says:

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

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;"

In this soliloquy Hamlet once again talks about suicide. He says he would like to get rid of his endless troubles by killing himself, because in death he can sleep and have no worries.

Hamlet also shows that he is clever in this play. One way that Hamlet's cleverness is shown in this play is the way that he reacts after he sees his father's ghost for the first time. He makes Horatio and Marcellus swear that they did not see the ghost and to also swear that they will not reveal that Hamlet is only pretending to be insane. You can also see how Hamlet is clever in his plan to reveal Claudius as his father's murderer. In his plan the players that are visiting the castle will reenact the murder of Hamlet's father in the lines that Hamlet has written for them. This plan works because when Claudius sees the reenactment he runs out of the room in fright, revealing to Hamlet and everyone else that Claudius did indeed murder Hamlet I.

Hamlet is also hesitant in this play. This is seen when Hamlet is about to kill Claudius. Hamlet wants to kill Claudius, but decides not to when he sees Claudius repenting his sins. This can be seen in Act III scene III lines 74-79 when Hamlet says:

"Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;

And now I'll do't and so he goes to heaven;

And so am I reveng'd. That would be scann'd:

A villain kills my father; and for that,

I, his sole son, do this same villain send

To heaven."

In these lines Hamlet says he doesn't want to kill Claudius now because if Claudius repents his sins he will go to heaven, while his father is in purgatory. Hamlet wants Claudius to go to hell.

Hamlet reveals many different sides of his personality during the play. Depression, cleverness, and hesitation are some of his more interesting traits.