Literature Assignment: Character Analysis Essay Hamlet (Essay Sample)

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Character Analysis Essay - "Hamlet"
William Shakespeare literally works are arguably the best in the literature world. His art of moulding characters to depict the message he wants to convey cannot be rivalled. The playwright unique style can be derived from the way he uses Hamlet, a compelling character. As a complicated character, Hamlet brings it out in the play, when he says, "Tis not alone my inky cloak…/nor customary suits of solemn black, /Nor…forced breath/No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,/Nor the dejected ‘havior of the visage…/with all forms, moods, [and] shapes of grief,/That can denote me truly" (Shakespeare, Harold., and Jeakins I.ii.77-84). He further insists that he has countless psychological and logical sides, when he struggles to understand and accept all of his weaknesses but warns other characters from undermining him to a single and predictable type.
Hamlet is a paradoxical and astonishing character since he undermines others' expectations and at no time he regrets. His speech also estranges others with an obsessive cynicism that begins to bring conflict with other characters that leads to rhetoric questions about his role in the play. In a superficial discussion with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet contends that Denmark is a prisoner and the world has become a "foul and pestilent/congregation of vapours" (Shakespeare II.ii.314-315). He further adds that the place torments him and asks men why should they visit him at such a place. The way Hamlet sarcastically interacts with other characters portrays him as a pessimistic charm.
Hamlet is also emotional, he declares to revenge his father's death, but other characters find it difficult to handle him. Polonius discovers Hamlet's responses puzzling, and exclaims, "How pregnant sometimes his replies are!" ( Shakespeare et al II.ii.211). Polonius further states that Hamlet's dialogue is confusing and states, "happiness that often madness hits on, which/reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of" (Shakespeare et al II.ii.212-214). Immediately after the ghost of his father's death, Hamlet says, "wipe away all trivial fond records, / All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past/…And thy commandment all alone shall live/Within the book and volume of my brain,/Unmix'd with the baser matter" ( Shakespeare et al I.v.99-104). He further orders Horatio and Marcellus, the two witnessed the ghost's disclosure, to circumvent from acknowledging him, "put[ting] an antic disposition on…/with arms [and mind] encumbered" (Shakespeare et al I.v.172).
Hamlet is also in the process of understanding his complexity nature, his choices that he drafts to avenge his father's demise brings out the character of confusion. In a touching monologue, Hamlet questions his intentions and character: "I am pigeon-livered's and lack gall/…Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, /That I…Must, like a whor...