Knowledge can be defined as the assurance to guarantee the beliefs one champions. Just as Hamlet seeks answers, everyone likes to be assured of their so called “answers”. But sometimes, oblivion is debated as the better solution for peace and harmony. As there is to all questions, there are always answers. But those answers cannot always satisfy the craving of the solutions. Not everyone can solve their problems in benefit of their personal needs. The only thing that can be assured is that “knowledge” brought nothing but destruction and chaos to the characters in Hamlet. The journey of attaining knowledge is an ongoing motif in the play Hamlet. Many characters including Hamlet yearn for the assurance of their beliefs. The most concrete example is Hamlet’s assurance of the existence of the ghost. Despite his traumatisation of the ghost’s shocking dialogues, Hamlet’s actions were held back by his quest for knowledge. And this led his surrounding characters into chaos as well. While his impotent characteristics were masked by his acts of being “insane” it stirred up turmoil amongst the surrounding characters. Their curiosity arose as their fate descended through the sword of Hamlet. However, his “act” is debated as his actual characteristic as well. Hamlet’s struggle to recognize his sanity or insanity only convinced Hamlet to be self destructive. It is clear all of the characters’ curiosity led to their own destruction. Therefore the attainment of “knowledge” brought nothing but devastation and the characters’ curiosity only conveyed revenge and destruction which eventually led the characters into their ultimate doom.
It is displayed that Hamlet’s pursuit for knowledge about the ghost only sabotages his quest for revenge. Ironically, Hamlet’s quest for revenge was demanded from the ghost. This is evident, when the Ghost states “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder (1-5)” which demonstrates the very moment when the ghost commands Hamlet for revenge. Despite this command, Hamlet continues to doubt the ghost’s existence revealing Hamlet to be a suspicious and hesitant heir who is wasting his time on “assurance”. In the scene when the ghost first encounters Hamlet, the ghost directly reveals himself as the spirit of Hamlet’s deceased father. However, throughout this act, Hamlet never mentions the ghost as a link to “father” despite the fact that Hamlet is aware of the ghost’s “existence”. This is shown when Hamlet states in scene 5
O all you host of heaven!
O earth! What else?
And shall I couple hell?
Oh, fie! Hold, hold my heart,
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me stiffy up.
Remember thee!
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe.
Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory. (1-5. 92)
Hamlet assures his mission of revenge. However, from the quote there is a sensible factor of tremulous tone which indicates his indecisive decisions at the moment. Also he approaches the ghost as a “poor ghost” rather than his once “glorious father”. This delays Hamlet from fulfilling his ultimate goal of revenge because of his caution of doubt. He is doubting the ghost as a devil as shown in the quote
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe mine uncle. If his occupied guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a dammned soul that we have seen,
And my imaginations are foul. (3.2-82)
In this quote, Hamlet insists Horatio to observe Claudius during the act since there is a possibility that the ghost they encountered was a devil. However, the “play” Hamlet organizes to spy on Claudius only brings further suspicion on Hamlet’s plans due to Hamlet’s outburst of his emotions. And this even concluded Hamlet to be exiled from Denmark. All of Hamlet’s suspicions directed delay of the revenge and the aftermath of the exile resulted in tragedy.
The quest for knowledge also led other characters to their doom, and the curiosity which arose around Hamlet was the main reason for the doom of all the characters including Hamlet. After receiving a demanding message from the ghost, Hamlet starts to act crazy. As a result, people revolving around him began to worry and became curious. Hamlet’s most prominent scene of insanity is well illustrated in the quote
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm
And with his other hands thus o’er his brow
He falls to such perusal of my face
As’ would draw it (2.1-86-90)
The quote above shows the deep “love” Hamlet shows Ophelia. By the time, the king and queen brings in Hamlet’s old friends in order to try figuring out what is happening inside Hamlet’s mind. As the quote “My too much changed son” (2.2-36) states Gertrude is very worried and yet curious about Hamlet’s strange behaviours. And from this, Polonius convinces Claudius and Gertrude that Hamlet’s insanity was brought due to Hamlet’ obsession for Ophelia. This assumption is shattered when Hamlet insults Ophelia while being spied by Claudius and Polonius as shown in the quote
You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so
Inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you
Not. (3.1-120~123)
This disturbs Ophelia greatly. Later on, Polonius was once again spying on Hamlet in Gertrude’s room, and as a consequence Polonius was pierced through Hamlet’s sword. Not so long after being insulted so brutally by Hamlet, Ophelia is once again heartbroken to find her father murdered by her “love” and it eventually lead Ophelia to commit a suicide. After the death of Ophelia and Polonius, Laretes who has lost his entire family in a flash, joins Claudius to take a part of Claudius’s plan of killing Hamlet. Ultimately, the involvement of characters who requested the knowledge of Hamlet’s “plans” joins the path of a twisted tragedy. This concludes in a tragedy of death for Hamlet as well as Claudius, Gertrude Laertes and Polonius.
Lastly, Hamlet struggles to define his inner knowledge which is the line between his sanity and insanity. This leads Hamlet to his ultimate doom. After the encounter with the ghost, Hamlet claims his actions arising from his “acting” of insanity. In the beginning of the play, He claims to be very poised and clever. However, later in the text, his actions inevitably guide Hamlet in the direction of a lost control of sanity. The sense of his sanity slipping into insanity is first accused in the quote
Get thee to the nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of
Sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could
Accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had
Not borne me (3.2-124~127)
This quote shows Hamlet insulting his “love” Ophelia in a very grotesque manner. If Hamlet was well aware of his actions, the insult toward Ophelia and her father was a very bizarre action. That caused suspicion and spectators began to doubt his ability control his temper and actions. Later on in the text he approves the existence of insanity in the quote
Who does it, then? His madness. Ift be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged.
His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy (5.2-223~225)
In the quote, he directly blames his biggest foe “insanity”. Perhaps this was done to conceal his plans even till the very end. However, considering the fact that it was the last scene of the play where Hamlet’s doom laid, it is as if Hamlet has been conquered by his insanity. As shown, his actions throughout the play are very indecisive. He acts and talks with the poise of the heir of Denmark, and yet makes very poor decisions acting on his temper. His anger detonated during the conversation with Gertrude as shown in the quote
No, not by the rood, not so.
You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife,
And- would it were not so!-you are my mother. (3.4-14~16)
And this event led to the scene when Polonius is murdered. Some critics complain Hamlet to be a perfectionist and some complain him to be too doubtful of his ability. This vague characteristic which Hamlet portrays led Hamlet into his own grave. If Hamlet has been consistent, there wouldn’t have been as many speculations around him which in consequence led everyone to be deceased. Hamlet was born again as an insane character in a tragic mask of the Heir of Denmark.
Everyone in the play Hamlet searched for answers. Those answers were believed to be the assurance of their doubtful speculations. Ophelia waited for Hamlet’s true feeling while Hamlet went insane waiting for the assurance of the purpose of his revenge. Claudius and Gertrude both questioned Hamlet’s behaviours while Polonius ended up speared to Hamlet’s sword while spying on Hamlet’s words. All of these conjectures gathered everyone in a bubble of tragedy. Hamlet’s journey for knowledge only delayed him from fulfilling his ultimate revenge. That led to other people’s snooping and his inner fight against his sanity and insanity arose with the tag of tragedy. The assertion of Ophelia being the most tragic character created by Shakespeare can be debated. It is Hamlet who wears the jagged throne of tragedy, who has been drowning in his own blood, gasping for his last breath of assurance.
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