Hamlet_Action_Inaction_and_Duty

Student Number 251 | English Advanced Module B: Critical Study of Texts - Hamlet | Essay Question: “To what extent has your own interpretation of Hamlet been informed by Shakespeare’s dramatic exploration of two of the following ideas: * Duty * Corruption * Action/Inaction * Deception * MortalityIn your response, make detailed reference to the play.” | Due Thursday June 9th 2011 | William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic presentation that is grounded with worldly issues such as filial duty and stagnation, and through an exploration into these universal themes, varying views and interpretations have been produced. I propose that Hamlet is a tragedy of inaction – whereas revenge must be taken quickly and efficiently, Hamlet makes a huge mistake in over-thinking and pondering over the consequences of what he has to do because of his inability to comprehend the certainty of death and his filial obligation to serve his father (the Ghost). Hamlet’s filial duty to his late father and his struggle to find certainty in death attack his mind and instigate his suicidal contemplations (his conscience getting the better of him), which ultimately cause his inability to act in a decisive manner. My perspective of Hamlet’s inaction being caused by his duty to his father and his struggle to accept the definite nature of death is supported and informed to a large extent by the dramatic exploration of the themes Duty and Action/Inaction by Shakespeare, as seen in several language and dramatic techniques throughout the play that demonstrate Hamlet’s struggle with his filial duty and the nature of mortality. Duty plays a large part in the play, especially as its role as a filial (father-son) act seen between Laertes and Polonius and Hamlet and Old Hamlet. Through its presentation in language and drama, the duty aspect of the play informs my interpretation by showing that part of Hamlet’s constant dwelling on his actions and their consequences was activated due to his strong, filial duty to his father; Hamlet makes a solid effort to fulfil his father’s commands (“..That youth and observation copied there..”), so when he comes around to completing a duty, he consider the repercussions of the act and slips into a stage of madness and inaction. This un-binding pledge of obedience is expressed by Hamlet when he vows to take close “observation” and pay dutiful, obsequious attention to The Ghost. This commitment expressed by Hamlet and his willingness to perform for the Ghost informs my interpretation as it shows how easily Hamlet can be exceeded by duty – he commits to complete the murder just as easily as the concept of murdering his new father swallows him up. Shakespeare has explored this affirmed father-son duty between Hamlet and the Ghost in the play by showing the audience that Hamlet views what he has to do as a job for his father - he is binded as a son to serve to his father. I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past/ And thy commandment all alone shall live... This verse is effective in accentuating how much Hamlet is willing to do in order to seek revenge on his father’s killer, by “wiping away” and forgetting all unimportant “records” and “books” that could distract him, so that the “commandment all alone shall live” in his mind and nothing else. This is further expressed through the repetition of “all” throughout the verse – Hamlet is committed to give his all in fulfilling the ghost of his fathers’ request and to perform his duty. This exact concept of filial obedience informed my personal response to the play to a large extent, as it is this obligation of father-son duty that causes Hamlet to focus on the consequences of his actions, breeding the inaction of the tragedy. Inaction is a reoccurring theme present in the play, predominantly seen in the character Hamlet, causing his revenge or acting on his suicidal thoughts not to be quick and efficient, but prolonged and suspenseful. Hamlet’s inaction changes in his character as the play progresses, beginning as an ambivalent, confused soul, to being very decisive and defined, as seen in Act 1 scene 4. This inability to act by Hamlet in stages is caused by his struggle to find the certainty of death, as well as Hamlet conquering the duty of serving his father, which therefore affects how he can act in a decisive fashion. This dramatic exploration of Hamlet’s inaction and the cause of his inaction have informed my interpretation as they show how not only Hamlet’s filial duty to his father affects the way he acts, but how his own personal struggle with the definite nature of death. Hamlet expresses his struggle with mortality in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy in Act 3, where which is effective in presenting Hamlet’s suicidal thoughts on what he believes to be what happens when we die to the audience. Ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled of this mortal coil, Must give us pause. In this verse from his soliloquy, Hamlet expresses how uncertain he feels about death, communicating that if he doesn’t know what happens when he dies, how can he act' Hamlet states that what comes in the “sleep of death” is the “rub” or the problem – seeing as he compares sleep to death, Hamlet believes he will dream. And so he decides that if he will dream, it will most likely be riddled with the mad, depressing things that already fill his life, and therefore, there is no point in killing himself, or confronting himself with this “mortal coil” – death. This, yet again, consideration of the consequences of his actions by Hamlet, combined with his struggle to accept the certainty of death, affects his ability to act because the repercussions of his actions infect his thoughts and persuade him to back-out. In the same soliloquy, Hamlet explores, in an antithesis, what he experiences, giving the audience an insight into his struggles with contemplation and action. 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 pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. This explanation by Hamlet informing the audience what he goes through when taking the time to think about his actions is a vital in contributing to my personal interpretation, as it clarifies what has caused his inability to act all along – knowing the consequences of his actions. He describes how “the native hue of resolution” in his world “is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought” when he becomes aware of the consequences of the actions he would perform, and how his thoughts of “current” “lose the name of action” when he thinks too much about the rights and wrongs of the action he’s supposed to be engaged in. This fittingly contributes to and informs my interpretation of the play as Hamlet’s exploration into his thoughts and feelings identifies how the inaction of the play affects him, and more importantly, the central cause of his inaction – awareness of the consequences of his actions. The themes Duty and Action/Inaction are prominent and reoccurring throughout the play Hamlet, and have informed my personal interpretation, based on the central causes of Hamlet’s inability to act, to a large extent. Shakespeare constructs various soliloquies and other language and dramatic techniques effectively to convey and accentuate that Hamlet’s delayed and inefficient revenge is instigated by his filial duty to serve his father, his uncertainty when dealing with the definite nature of death, and ultimately, his awareness and exploration of the consequences following his actions. Together, these factors of Duty and Action/Inaction combine to infect Hamlet’s mind and ‘bully’ him out of performing his actions in a decisive manner, or at all, and inform my personal interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.