Introduction
William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet has been explored from a wide variety of angles, particularly in terms of his level of sanity and in what it means to be a tragic hero. One area in which the play is not often studied is in the area of Hamlet’s existing relationships with the adults around him, particularly those adults who have adopted, in some way, a parental role toward him. In this play, the young prince of Denmark is informed by the ghost of his father that his Uncle Claudius, now married to Hamlet’s mother, murdered his father with poison.
The death of his father, the actions of his mother and his existing relationship with his uncle all have Hamlet confused regarding the true nature of the world. What he thought he once knew has been proven false and he is unable to discover what or who to believe. To discover the truth, Hamlet creates a plan in which he’ll act insane, but he also remains uncertain of his mental stability.
By exploring the evidence of the relationships he shares with those individuals who have adopted a parental role, Claudius, King Hamlet, and Gertrude, it is possible to discover why Hamlet seems so confused throughout the play as his foundational belief in human beings has been torn out from beneath him.
Hamlet’s character description
When the play opens, Hamlet appears to be an intelligent young man who is maybe a little spoiled. He is aware of his duties as a prince and a son and he had once a bright future ahead of him as his father was king of Denmark. At the same time, he is quickly associated with the idea of a rebellious child. His first spoken words in the play, “a little more than kin, and less than kind!” (I, ii), are spoken in an aside to himself, indicating the disdain in which he holds his uncle, also his new step-father.
Responding to his uncle, his next words, “Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun” (I, ii), demonstrate his ability to turn a phrase and indicates the degree to which Hamlet has found it necessary to hide his true self behind flippant replies. In his attempt to catch the guilty conscience of a king, Hamlet “places an inordinate importance on doing and knowing perfectly; throughout most of his experience, he also places the responsibility for that knowledge and that doing solely on himself” (Hassel, 1994: 610) such as when he writes new lines for the Mousetrap play.
“Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you overstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her feature, scorn her image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure” (III, ii, 16-23). In these care instructions to the players, it can be seen that Hamlet does not want them to perform a simple play, but instead wants it to be as realistic as possible. However, he is also already well-aware of his own mistrustful bias of Claudius and perhaps is attempting to assure himself that he is not simply creating reasons to commit regicide.
Claudius’ family fidelity is not so narrowly defined as Hamlet’s. Following the play, the king immediately prepares to send Hamlet away with two of his most trusted guards to England but with no intention of allowing Hamlet to live free.
In his closing soliloquy in Act 4, the king indicates he holds great power in England as well as Denmark and how he intends to use it. “Our sovereign process, which imports at full by letters congruing to that effect the present death of Hamlet. Do it, England, for like the hectic in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me” (IV, iii, 62-66). Having already plotted against Hamlet to catch the reasons behind his madness, the king is now convinced Hamlet knows the truth about the old king’s death and actively plots to have him killed once he’s left Denmark’s shore.
Uncle and nephew relationships
Without any kind of warm sentiment between uncle and nephew, Hamlet demonstrates an almost suicidal depression regarding his father’s death and his mother’s betrayal, only kept from killing himself by his religious upbringing: “O that this too sullied flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, / Or that the Everlasting had not fixed / His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter” (I, ii). His depression indicates he shared a close bond with his father while his knowledge of his father’s figure, his every expression of every mood, also suggests a man who holds some degree of fear towards his father.
When Horatio tells him of the ghost, Hamlet asks detailed questions about the ghost’s appearance – “Armed, say you? … From top to toe? … looked he frowningly? … Pale or red? … And fixed his eyes upon you? … Stayed it long? … His beard was grizzled, no?” (I, ii).
Hamlet’s quick appraisal of his father’s message based upon this description indicates he is very observant, very intelligent, and is very familiar with every nuance of his father’s bearing. In keeping with his father’s instruction, Hamlet requires that both Horatio and Marcellus swear on his sword never to tell anyone about the ghost and “here as before, never, so help you mercy, / How strange or odd some I bear myself / (As I perchance hereafter shall think to meet / To put an antic disposition on)” (I,v) regardless of how this might affect others.
For Hamlet, the mere fact that a ghost has appeared is not sufficient proof that he is being told the truth. “One part of him says that he must take revenge, another part finds it horrible; he attempts to reconcile these conflicting feelings by saying that he fears the Ghost may be a devil” (Westlund, 1978: 252). The only way to be certain that the image of his father is truly his father and not the devil is to test the information he’s been given.
While he is marginally dedicated to his idea of his father, he is mistrustful of both parents. His mother’s betrayal seems obvious enough in her hasty marriage, but the ghost may as easily be just another trick meant to lead him astray. Although he attempts to reject the reality of the ghost, he cannot deny the actions of the mother who has treated him so callously to this point. Gertrude, in her opening lines, appears to be very cold regarding the death of her previous husband. “Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. / Do not forever with thy vailed lids / Seek for thy noble father in the dust (I, ii, 68-71).
She tells Hamlet to stop mourning, even though his father hasn’t been dead more than two months, and she tells Hamlet death is common, seemingly indicating that his father was equally common. Hamlet constantly criticizes Gertrude from the beginning and throughout the play, about the incestuous relationship she shares with his uncle and Gertrude’s former brother-in-law.
His anger at his mother is revealed as he berates her for her error in judgment regarding Claudius: “What devil wasn’t / That thus hath cozened you at Hoodman-blind? / Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, / Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all” (III, iv, 77-80). He gives her no room for human desire, no consideration of any political motivation, and no mercy for ignorance.
His disappointment in his mother may also have the sting of knowing she is not upholding her assigned virtues – women have traditionally been expected to be pious, pure, loyal, and submissive (Welter, 1966). Her willingness to lie with her brother-in-law so soon after her husband’s death directly refutes the first three of these attributes while the fourth is called into question with the knowledge of the king’s murder rather than accidental death.
Yet, Hamlet still seeks verification that his actions are correct as he rages at his mother for her lack of knowledge and perfect action by insisting that she recognize the truth of her new husband’s character.
Conclusion
Throughout the play, it can be seen that Hamlet did not share a truly close relationship with any of the adults in his life. His relationship with his uncle is an adversarial one from the beginning.
While it is expected that this would be the case given Claudius’ taking up of the crown that is rightfully Hamlet’s, it is unknown at the opening of the play whether this is a deep-seated relationship or one that is newly contentious. As the play progresses, it becomes clear that there has been no love lost between these two men. Hamlet’s relationship with his father is deemed to have been of a much closer type.
He is intimately familiar with the various expressions of his father’s moods and appearances. Hamlet knows from the specifics of how his father’s face appeared what his emotions are and what he might be seeking from his son. This indicates a man who has both shared a close relationship with his father and has had reason to study the various expressions to be prepared for any eventuality that might arise. That he believes his father’s image might be used to fool him also suggests that Hamlet has had reason to be mistrustful of his father in the past as a man who has always been close to a trustworthy man would not have faced such doubt when presented with the information he is given.
This doubt may, however, be the natural result of having another beloved parent revealed as deeply untrustworthy as Hamlet’s mother jumps into an inappropriately hasty marriage with her former brother-in-law. Given that there was likely a long-standing contentious relationship between Claudius and the younger Hamlet, this action of his mothers would have been considered particularly brutal and upsetting. Throughout the play, Hamlet can be seen to be grasping at straws, attempting to find a solid foundation in a world full of shifting sand.
Works Cited
Booth, Stephen. “On the Value of Hamlet.” Selected Papers from the English Institute. Norman Rabkin (Ed.). New York: 1969.
Hassel, R. Chris Jr. “Hamlet’s ‘Too, Too Solid Flesh.’” Sixteenth Century Journal. Vol. 25, N. 3, (1994), pp. 609-622.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Complete Pelican Shakespeare. New York: Viking, 1969, pp. 930-976.
Westlund, Joseph. “Ambivalence in the Player’s Speech in Hamlet.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Vol. 18, N. 2, (1978), pp. 245-256.
Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” American Quarterly. Vol. 18, N. 2, P. 1, (1966): pp. 151-74.