Despite the intensity of his emotion, Hamlet is also contemplative and almost obsessive with respect to details of all sorts. For instance, although Hamlet believes instinctively that Claudius murdered his father, he goes to great lengths to investigate his suspicion in order to confirm it, and he sets up an elaborate ruse that is intended to provoke the revelation of Claudius’s guilt. “The play’s the thing/Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,” he says at the end of Act II, Scene II (633-634). The play that Hamlet arranges is cleverly designed and he guides the players as skillfully as a director with an almost maniacal sense of purpose and attention to small particulars.  He urges the actors to convey the authenticity of their characters, issuing the directive that they should, as stated in one of the important quotes from “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you…./Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand,/for/in the very torrent, tempest, and…/the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness” (II.i.1-2; 5-10). Still, even his seemingly singular dedication to bringing the play to the stage is not entirely straightforward.

Hamlet is deeply conflicted about the choices he is making to avenge his father’s death. In a moving monologue, Hamlet pauses and takes the time to examine his motives and his very character: “I am pigeon-liver’d and lack gall/…Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,/That I…Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with/ words,/And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, a scullion!” (II.ii.602; 611-617). Yet just before the play begins, Hamlet is giddy with anxiety and anticipation, as Ophelia notes: “You are merry, my lord” (III.ii.128). In sum, one of the most interesting and compelling aspects of Hamlet as a tragic character is that he is not quite sure who he is and spends the play working on developing a sense of self—a difficult task given his circumstances. Clearly, Hamlet is still in the process of learning about his own complex identity, and is struggling with self-acceptance. At the time of his death, he has not fully resolved or accepted these complexities. In fact, it is his uncontrolled behavior and failure to resolve his emotions that precipitates his own death.

Hamlet also recognizes the complexity of other characters. He helps the reader, albeit in an indirect manner, to see these complexities. In fact, Hamlet may be even more successful in recognizing others’ multi-faceted nature than accepting his own, with the notable exceptions of his mother and Claudius, for whom he can only feel a singular disgust. When confronted by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about the King’s and Queen’s reaction to the play, Hamlet affirms that he “lack[s] advancement” in understanding his own troubles. However, there are many examples of Hamlet’s acknowledgment of others’ complexity. When Horatio praises Hamlet’s father as a “goodly king,” (I.ii.187), for instance, Hamlet, who did respect his father deeply, replies, “He was a man, take him for all in all” (I.ii.188). Unfortunately, Hamlet lacks the ability, and never develops it, to turn such insight inwards.

It is not unusual for characters in literary works to appear more one-dimensional than people in real life actually are. Authors often develop a character type as a means of exploring a particular human quality, whether this type is positive or negative. The different character types are then situated within a physical and temporal setting and a plot, and are cast against one another with the purpose of eliciting the reader’s empathy or disapproval, thereby conveying moral or social lessons to the reader. Although this technique of character development is often successful, it can also be limiting. As this thesis statement for Hamlet suggests, one of Shakespeare’s many achievements was creating characters who were complex and believable, even though their lives and circumstances are so distinct from those of the contemporary reader. Rather than reduce his players to a single character type, Shakespeare trusted that the reader could, along with the character, explore the shallows and depths of each person’s complexity. In doing so, the reader gains an appreciation not only for the full range of feeling and experience in this work, but also in his or her own life.

Other essays and articles in the Literature Archives related to this topic include :  Hamlet as a Tragic Hero •  The Power of Words in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Othello   •   Perceptions of the Ghost in Shakespeare’s Hamlet    • Analysis of the “To Be or Not to Be” Soliloquy in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Volume 2. 597-634. New York: Nelson Doubleday Inc., 1853.