Book Report on "Hamlet"
All admirers of Shakespeare must acknowledge the authority of these comments made by Kreyssig, a German critic: “From the rich troop of his heroes, Shakespeare has chosen Hamlet as the exponent, to the spectators and to posterity, of all that lay nearest to his heart.”From Hamlet, we can see Shakespeare’s exceptional command of language, with great philosophic depth, and a miraculous insight into what is most hidden and obscure in men’s characters and motivations. Shakespeare analyzes human’s sensibilities and constrains by portraying vivid images of the fates of a flock of people in a deteriorating society.
The charm of Hamlet lies mainly in its mystery. The mystery which surrounds the play centers in the character of Hamlet, which is regarded as the type and shadow of mystery and perplexity. Hamlet is really an enigma. No matter how we look at each turn when we examine him, no absolute truth emerges.
It is the paradoxical of Hamlet that draws people’s attention. Endowed with the most decent manner susceptible to noble ambition, Hamlet is a man of highly cultivated mind, a prince of dignified proprieties. He is indignant and fanatical; he is disappointed and cheerful; he is depressed and enthusiastic; he is melancholy and energetic; he is humble and ambitious; he is vengeful and contrite. He is gloomy and suicidal, a man, immersed in endless sorrow, who critical about himself and his unfair fate.
At the same time, he is a rational thinker who views these intricate problems in his personal and philosophical terms, which he must accept and deal with on his own. As Goethe put it, “Shakespeare’s intention was to exhibit the effects of a great action imposed as a duty upon a mind too feeble for its accomplishment.”
As a university student whose serene life is broken and spirit has been hurt by the sudden blow—father’s death, mother’s disgraceful remarriage, the crown snatched from him, sorrow for one parent, shame for another and resentment for himself, Hamlet is particularly drawn to difficult questions and questions which can not be answered with any certainty. He is responsible for avenging his father’s murder while exposing his uncle and not in a manner that would bring disgrace upon his mother and himself. All his responsibilities are sacred to him, and this alone is beyond his power. He is continually reminding himself of his overburden commission, which he seems to totally lose the control at last.
These obligations are no easy task. He has no one that he could trust and to feign madness is his last resort. Yet, he is not mad at the physiological term; it is merely the mental disorder of this noble intellect, locked under a burden to heavy to bear. It is Hamlet’s way to escape from the suffering of the overwhelming effects of the disorder in his mind that he finally resolve to disguise himself as a man person. “To be or not to be” when Hamlet is in the dilemma of whether stepping forward or backward on his revenging fate, we can clearly sense the great pain he undergoes.
Words are Hamlet’s constant companions, his weapons, and his defenses. He is extremely good at wielding and manipulating words. He is constantly interacting with Claudius, who obviously senses the potential danger of his intellect, but can not use his small wisdom to defend himself. He overtly mocks at snobbish and cunning Polonius with the play of words, which dodges the courtier’s eye. He also applies his word play to confuse his schoolfellows—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, by his dissertation about ambition to turn their focus away.
Yet, at the same time, words also play as Hamlet’s stumbling block. The play of words leads him to be indecisive. He analyzes and scrutinizes every corner of his situation until exhausts himself. He is constrained by his own wit, frustrated by his mess combined words. He is walking in the circle created by himself.
Hamlet is more a thinker than a doer in terms of his natural temperament. He has a strong sense of integrity and wit to manage and govern his world. But, at the same time, he behaves rush and impulsively. His impulsive action overweighs his abstract intellect. This is true when it comes to his stab at Polonius through a curtain without making clear who he is. Hamlet seems to be very easily fall into a madman, behaving infuriately and erratically, and bewildering with his intentional mocks and innuendos.
The controversy remains on Hamlet’s cruel treatment toward Ophelia. Generally, he has been condemned for his harshness in rejecting Ophelia’s true love, his indifference to her death. But there is still some clue that his cruelty is not against Ophelia, but against her sex. It maybe true that his harshness is generated by his belief in Ophelia is acting as a spy towards him and they both are closely watched. Or perhaps, he just wants to part from Ophelia by behaving so harshly and cruelly, so as to put her under sedation and prepare her to hear the brutal break up, which cannot find a place in his solemn obligation. On the other hand, what we are sure is that he is so overwhelmed by his own sorrow that he could not pay any sympathy to others; what’s more, his outward apathy calls us for his deeply inner melancholy, which comes from his extremely disappointment with his mother and unrest of his country. All these in turn reason for his disgust with and distrust of women in general and his harshness and repudiation towards Ophelia.
We could also notice that Hamlet’s actions and conclusions are not always consistent with the premises in his minds and his senses. An example stands for this lies in Hamlet’s decision not to kill Claudius when he prays. The reason he holds for this is that he will waiting for an opportunity to end Claudius until he can be sure Claudius will be sent to the hell after death. But in his famous soliloquy: “to be or not to be”, he expresses his understanding about death, which is unknown and unknowable.
Once in a while, we could sense Hamlet’s gentle when he behaves at ease with his schoolfellows—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, especially when he suppresses his true feeling, and bursts out the majestic piece of rhetorical: “What a piece of work is man!”, although he knows his friends are sent to him as spies.
Though Hamlet, Shakespeare is not trying to perform us a dramatic play but also trying to decode the essence and subconsciousness of humankinds.
Hamlet exposes us the disasters and tragedies of the characters; the decay and deterioration in human nature. It has fascinated readers for centuries.
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