Introduction
In Hamlet, a William Shakespeare tragedy, the character spends more time thinking than acting, which almost costs him everything. The play parallels real-life personalities where people commit immoral acts that always result in hurt and destruction. Unlike most characters in his era, Hamlet’s actions mirror a more intellectual enlightenment age that allows for reason rather than deed.
Discussion
Hamlet uses a rational, intellectual approach to moral problems, which more closely corresponds to the later era of intellectual enlightenment with the search for learning opportunities. Hence, the character denies Claudius’s claims that the king died of natural death and conducts a further inspection to uncover his father (Evans 85). In Act III of the play, Shakespeare describes how Hamlet obsesses over the idea of revenge for his dead father (Marić and Steve 279). However, as the character needs to justify his actions – he uses his moral conscience, which is a sense of personal integrity that accounts for his hatred of deception. He develops his plans based on his knowledge, which shows Hamlet as a man with independent thinking for his era.
In his wait for the perfect revenge, Hamlet plans to reenact Claudius killing his father; however, the plan might be considered procrastination. Hamlet hesitates to kill his uncle when he verbally confesses his sins of murder by contemplating how his action would send Claudius to heaven. Even without anyone to intervene, Hamlet overthinks the consequences of his actions. Hamlet considers the plan to disturb Claudius and convince the audience of his guilt distracting attention from prayer and confession. The existence of moral conscience and a new type of individual thinking are evidenced here: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so page” (Shakespeare Act II, Scene 2). Such innovations permeate the entire text, which allows the reader to assert that Hamlet did possess unconventional thinking for his and modern times.
Conclusion
Hamlet’s thoughts allow a person to find an approach to the text relative to space and time relative to how people focus on culture (AOB/IB Concepts). Hamlet thinks independently of the public, making him a representative of the new way of thinking. The same concern spreads over culture and identity and how Shakespeare captures them. The writer’s skill in depicting the character has made him individual and unusual for his time. Also, it allows modern readers to reflect on the relevance of this nature at present.
Works Cited
AOB/IB Concepts.
Evans Robert C. Hamlet. Salem Press; Grey House Publishing, 2019.
Marić, Jasminka and Steve Agnew. Philosophy in Hamlet. Jasminka D. Marić, 2018.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Edited by G. R. Hibbard, Oxford UP, 2008.