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Tragical History of Hamlet

Prince of Denmark

We see that disclosing one’s identity and unfolding information are at the heart of Act 1.
Polonius and Laertes want to know what is going on between Ophelia and Hamlet. Claudius
and Queen Gertrude want to know the reason why Hamlet insists on mourning the death of
his father. Polonius also spies on Laertes, as he is curious about how his son will spend his
time back in France. Polonius spies on everything either himself or using his private spies.
All of these are accompanied by a sense of uneasiness because most of the characters will
gradually become curious about Hamlet’s ‘madness’.
Following Laertes’ demand to go back to France, Polonius points out to the king that
his son has finally persuaded him to allow for his leave even though he accepts this
reluctantly. Polonius is a character that always uses more words than necessary for self-
expression. In the presence of the king, it is enough to remark that he consents to Laertes’
demand, but he always beats around the bush. His language is full of circumlocution.
At this point, we meet Hamlet for the first time through his conversation with his
uncle, king Claudius. Just like Laertes, Hamlet wants permission to go back to his studies as
well, but Claudius does not consent to this because he prefers to keep an eye on Hamlet. In
this scene, the conversation between Hamlet and Claudius is of great importance because
we slowly get to know Hamlet’s witticism in questioning familial and political issues. In
response to Claudius’ approach of him as “my nephew and my son” (1.2.64), Hamlet utters:
“A little more than kin and less than kind” (1.2.65). With this play on the words kin and
kind, Hamlet indicates that Claudius’ claim of royalty is excessive because he entitles
himself to being a father, not only king and uncle. Hamlet finds this unkind and unnatural,
which is also exemplified by the play on the words sun and son (1.2.67).
When Gertrude wants to know why mourning after the late king ‘seems’ so
particular with Hamlet, he takes up the word against his mother’s comments about grief.
He implies that the grief inside cannot be fully expressed, especially as people are
commonly inclined to perceive one’s emotions and suffering by their immediate actions
and appearance: “Neither my black clothes, my dear mother, nor my heavy sighs, nor my
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weeping, nor my downcast eyes, nor any other display of grief can show what I really feel”
(1.2.76-80). For Hamlet, there is a difference between ‘it is’ and ‘it seems’ (1.2.76-86). He
accuses his mother that she has acted grief in a predictable and commonplace way because
grief can be faked as long as one knows how grief ‘seems’ like. This emphasis on
‘appearance vs. reality’ is a major theme in the play that we encounter in relation to the
issues of political corruption, betrayal, madness, love, family loyalties and theatricality.
We should also remember that this is a very patriarchal society and excessive
grieving is seen as unmanly and feminizing by Claudius (1.2.90-100) because here there is
the assumption that people should accept death and its timing as natural, as the will of God.
Claudius suggests that Hamlet’s insistence on mourning after his father is unmanly, and
that it implies that his father is in hell because Hamlet should sooth himself remembering
that his father rests peacefully in heaven. At this point, Hamlet does not know that his
father is betrayed and killed by his uncle, and thus he is very much disturbed by the issue of
incest rather than the usurpation of the throne. Claudius regards Hamlet’s attitude as a
threat and tries to bribe him, remarking that he is the closest person to the throne (1.2.110-
16). It is only after learning the truth behind his father’s death that Hamlet will
problematize the usurpation of the throne by Claudius whereas Hamlet should have been
the king.

Hamlet’s 1st soliloquy (1.2.129-159)

The soliloquy is a speech of a character in a play that is like a monologue. It gives the
audience the impression that a character provides them with his/her reflections on an
unspoken subject and/or certain issues in the play. We can consider soliloquy as a speech
of self-reflection, and a space of truth telling that discloses what is deep inside one’s soul
and thoughts.
In his first soliloquy, Hamlet reflects on his wish to die, but he is aware that he
would risk damnation by committing suicide: “Ah I wish my dirty flesh could melt away
into a vapour, or that God had not made a law against suicide” (1.2.129-31). He feels the
burden of existence on his shoulders as he finds life tasteless and devoid of meaning at this
point. Remember that in Shakespeare’s tragedies, tragic heroes usually connect their
individual suffering to a larger notion of human condition, and in this regard Hamlet
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reflects a sense of disgust by existence itself. He seems to be quite alienated from his family
and society, and describes the world around him almost as a wasteland, wild and
disorderly as an “unweeded garden”.
Hamlet is overwhelmed by his mother’s remarriage and how quickly it happens. He
talks about his uncle Claudius as an exact opposite of his father who is “as superior to my
uncle as a god to a beast” (1.2.139). He likens his father to Hyperion, the Greek God of sun,
and Claudius to a satyr, which is a nature spirit from Greek mythology associated with
unruliness and lasciviousness. Here, Hamlet portrays an idealized image of his dead father
especially in his relationship with his mother. He remembers his father as affectionate and
protective towards his mother whereas he imagines Claudius as voluptuous and greedy.
Hamlet is also horrified by his mother’s sexuality and her refusal to discriminate between
is father and his uncle as objects of desire as the first thing he remembers about Gertrude’s
attitude towards his father is related to her sexual desire: “the more she was with him the
more she wanted to be with him; she couldn’t get enough of him” (1.2.143-45). As such, he
associates his mother’s hasty remarriage to a state of lack of constancy and sexual appetite:
“Frailty, thy name is woman” (1.2.146). This famous quote from the play exemplifies
standard misogynistic attitude of Shakespeare’s time, and it is a proverbial phrase deeming
women to be inconsistent and morally weak. In the play, we see that only Hamlet and later
the Ghost seem very much preoccupied with the charge of incest. This issue of incest causes
great mental and emotional distress to the young prince. He accuses her mother of being
deceitful, as she jumps into incestuous sheets before the sinful tears on cheeks dry
(1.2.155-59).