Hamlet Essay

Despite being written almost 415 years ago, the revenge tragedy "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare has universal themes and character relationships that are relevant to society today. It can be said that in general any intense human relationships that are portrayed in any text or movie will in some way or another will have a significant effect on the growth of the character and the plot, which in this case is true when it comes to Shakespeare's "Hamlet". These relationships over time have been the subject of interpretation since by people of different perspectives since "Hamlet's" conception in the Elizabethan Era. However all these interpretations are somewhat different most, if not all have reached the same conclusion that relationships are filled with distrust, are dysfunctional and ultimately are destined to crumble over time. These relationships between the various characters in the play "Hamlet" ultimately allows the reader to evaluate the relationships of the time it was written as well as compare them to the relationships in modern society which may possibly lead to an better understanding of the human psyche.

Perhaps one of the most significant and influential intense relationship in "Hamlet" is that between mother and son. It is his relationship with his mother which ultimately affects his relationships with other characters in the play It has been said by various critics such as T.S Elliot that "Hamlet's" mother, Gertrude is the driving force behind Hamlet's misogyny and her sinful behavior is responsible for the main internal dilemma that Hamlet is facing1. Its Gertrude actions in her choice to marry Hamlet's uncle Claudius just after his father's suspicious death that makes Hamlet feel that she has betrayed her relationship with Hamlet's father and Hamlet himself. Hamlet's overall characterisation and opinion of the relationship between his mother and his uncle Claudius is revealed in the personification of the incestuous sheets in the lines "She married. O, most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" It is the personification in this line that shows Hamlet thinks of his mother's and uncle's relationship as nothing more than that of incest. Gertrude's actions are ultimately the catalyst of Hamlet's misogynistic attitude toward all women and the belief that all women are weak and it is this that ultimately leads to his ill-treatment of all women. This is revealed in the line "Frailty, thy name is woman!--" through the use of the dramatic technique of a soliloquy in Act One , Scene Two. Critics like Janet Adelman have even gone as far as to compare Gertrude actions to that of Eve in the biblical tale in which her body is acting as a garden in which her husband dies and her sexuality is the poisonousness weeds that kill him, poison the world, herself and her son.2 It has been speculated the Freudian idea to which Ernest Jones interpreted that Hamlet may have an Oedipus complex.3 This complex is the idea that all children unconsciously desire to sexually possess the parent of the opposite sex. This idea has led to the closet scene of Act three Scene one having Hamlet act in a sexual nature towards his mother. Despite Gertrude's incestuous desire she ultimately cares deeply about her son and he ultimately wants to protect her as well. Hamlet is a very indecisive character by nature, meaning he only acts when he has finished weighing up the pros and cons of an action he is going to make, however he acts swiftly whenever his mother is involved. This is seen in the closet scene when Hamlet get so angry he kills Polonius who was spying on them and he also swiftly kills Claudius after his mother dies from drinking from the poisoned chalice. It can be said that from this Hamlet's mother is detrimental to his overall character and sanity.

One of the lesser intense relationships but still influential on Hamlet's actions is the relationship of that between Hamlet and his father. Despite his father having been murdered at the very beginning and little information being revealed on the subject, Hamlet's strong relationship that he had with his father is still very clear. Even in death the amount of amount of respect Hamlet displays of his father indicates there relationship was on good grounds. Hamlet continued to mourn the loss of his father long after the entire court stopped and even went so far to vow revenge on Claudius for his murderous act at the request of the ghost which he believed was his father. The extent of Hamlet's