Hamlet: The Man who Fails to Understand himself.
... Hamlet’s mother, decided to marry Claudius, not even two months after his husband’s death. Hamlet seems to be angry towards his mother’s actions, and this depresses him. He comments, “Why, she would hang on him as if increase of appetite had grown by what it fed on, and yet within a month” (1.2.143-145), asking how can his mother forget his father so quickly. But Hamlet is not only mad at his uncle or her mother, as a matter of fact he is mad at the whole world, he says, “Man delights not me-no, nor woman neither” (2.2-279) expressing how unsatisfied he is with the world. In spite of everything that is happening to Hamlet, he manages to plan his moves and he tries to be careful. Hamlet, throughout the entire play seems to be crazy, but as crazy as he might seem he is extremely smart. In act I, scene 4, Hamlet gets to see the ghost, who is his dead father before Hamlet actually gets to have a conversation with the ghost, he asks Hamlet to follow him. Here we realize that Hamlet doesn’t care about his own life as he says, “I do not set my life at a pin’s fee” (1.4.65), one can see this as a crazy thought but right after he said that, he affirms, “and for my soul, what can it do that being thing immortal as itself” (1.4.66-67), Hamlet is smart enough to realize that is nothing but a ghost, and a ghost can’t hurt him. In scene 5 the ghost confesses that he was murdered by his own brother. This confession leads Hamlet to his hate against his uncle which encourages Hamlet’s spirit to keep going. As he develops the idea of revenge, he becomes infatuated with it his whole life revolves around his hate towards the murderer of his father, and he doesn’t seem to realize that is affecting his mind. Hamlet is confused, he doesn’t know what to do with all of his thoughts, and he even doubts about the existence of the ghost. As mindless as Hamlet appears, his mind is working perfectly. The smartest move he makes towards his revenge is setting up a play. This play is used to torment Claudius, by showing the whole town how a king was killed by his own brother. Hamlet hires some actors to set up a play, this play re-enacts the death of Gonzago, a duke of Vienna, who was killed by his brother. Hamlet chooses the perfect name for the play, “The mousetrap”. This name reflects the trap he is setting up against his uncle, it also expresses what Hamlet thinks of his uncle saying that Claudius is nothing but a dirty rat. Hamlet magnificent plan works perfectly, Claudius feels guilty and he reacts brusquely. Hamlet is decided to kill his uncle, but he realizes that Claudius is praying. This is another proof of Hamlet’s intelligence, for he knows that if he kills Claudius while he is praying he then would go to heaven, and Hamlet thinks, “now ‘a is a-praying; and now I’ll do’t. And so ‘a goes to heaven, and so am I revenge.” (3.4.73-75) retracting himself from killing Claudius. Hamlet declares that he can be crazy sometimes, but in some occasions he can be pretty smart, “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.”(2.2.330-331). He explains tha...