Hamlet: The Story of an Emotionally Exaggerated Teenager
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s finest works and regarded as one of the most impactful plays written of all time. That of course is almost irrelevant to what I am going to talk about, which is in fact the most unusual behaviour of the main character in Hamlet, young Hamlet. While most of Shakespeare’s plays showcase a wide variety of characters and interesting person’s, not many seem to depict human characters that one could relate and go “Oh that seems most like me!” Of course, even the language that is used in Shakespeare seems a little unusual compared to nowadays, but the behaviour of Hamlet is still seen today in a lot of our younger society, specifically teenagers. Hamlet in my eyes seems to be the world’s first master procrastinator as well as his increased ability to perceive and show emotion.
As the plot unfolds Hamlet begins to acquire bits and pieces of information but never seems to get the full picture and thus is led to find out the remaining information, he is most unsure of. These leads to many misinterpretations, irrational decision making and prolonging of the story and Hamlet’s true end goal which he had originally planned on executing immediately upon hearing his father’s ghost tell him of what happened, quite foolish of him but many of us would act like this after such circumstances Hamlet had gone through with his father and all. So naïve was Hamlet at times and yet very cunning, much like some of the people my age, so smart and upright and then downright stupid in a matter of seconds.
The earliest point in which we see the distinct behaviour of Hamlet is in Act 1 Scene 2 when his mother marries his uncles, old Hamlet’s brother. While this occasion was quite joyful for his uncle and mother and all the participants, Hamlet was reluctant to see his mother marry his dad’s brother. He would fly into a fit of emotions which we see from his soliloquy early on. His state of mind appearing unstable and deteriorating. A few lines from his first soliloquy show this. “Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d, His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. O God! God!” This line means simply put that he would have put himself to an end had not God set a rule against suicide. After that line it is followed by another that also expresses Hamlet’s feelings at the time; “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world!” This is Hamlet saying that everything in this world is useless to him, nothing more, nothing less. Another line, “But two months dead — nay, nor so much, not two — ”, alludes to the idea that Hamlet is so engulfed in his own emotions that his thinking is clouded much like that of a modern teenager or even adult. Hamlet was usually depicted as a teenager or a young adult in the various iterations of the play. Often throughout the play we will hear Hamlet mention the “incestuous” relationship that her mother had created with her husband’s brother despite it being not entirely so but rather that it felt so wrong to Hamlet that he might label it so.
As we continue deeper into the play Hamlet becomes engulfed in his own thought unable to act yet developing a somewhat cunning attribute that he uses to his own advantage while yet remaining much like an modern teenager.
There comes a time in the play where Hamlet is met by a group of actors as you might call them and Hamlet using his cunning, asks them to perform a story which is similar in nature to that of the way that he was told by the ghost of his father the way that his father was killed by his uncle. This shows that Hamlet despite delaying his initial goal to avenge his father through murder because of self-doubt that had arisen inside him. This self-doubt is what I believe ultimately led Hamlet to his downfall in the end. The act of procrastination simply put, led Hamlet to his end.
Further evidence of Hamlet’s unruly behaviour and shaky state of mind is shown immaculately throughout various scenes such as the scene where Hamlet goes to confronts his mother. He sees his father “praying” and despite initially going in for the kill he backs up, seeing his uncle praying. Thinking now that his uncle may go to heaven if Hamlet murdered his uncle, then and there. Hamlet did not know that his uncle was indeed not praying but rather accepting that he cannot ask for forgiveness for what he has done.
“Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying.
And now I’ll do ’t. And so, he goes to heaven.
And so am I revenged. — That would be scanned.
A villain kills my father, and, for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.”
Act 3 Scene 3
We see in Hamlet his doubt in himself and his actions. His second-guessing nature which has arisen under the circumstances that have passed and are still coming. He then goes on to confront his mother, leaving aside his uncle to live a little longer only worsening Hamlet’s own fate. He confronts his mother in most rebellious fashion, one that would put most rebellious modern teenagers to shame. Various plays showing Hamlet raising his voice far louder than most teenagers would dare yet retaining the same likeness for sudden outrages of emotions such as anger which Hamlet portrays often. Upon hearing an eavesdropper Hamlet is quick to act but does not stop to think a moment. He realises soon after that he has killed Polonius. This act lands him in such a predicament and yet he continues to “act” mad. His actions show such a duality in him. He acts with such doubt in his step, taking second guesses, trying to be absolutely sure when the situation is so much simpler and when the situation is dire, he acted quickly without hesitation. Hamlet is showing such an exaggerated version of a teenager, his emotions, actions, the rapid change in his behaviour, such created the masterpiece of a play known all around the globe, one of the most impactful plays on the world Shakespeare has ever written.
Shakespeare’s greatest work in the eyes of many revolves around such a character as Hamlet, yet if we look closely as I do, I see a teenager, no different to the teenagers of now, surrounded by those who do not understand him. I see Shakespeare’s greatest play as one who takes reality of humanity and puts it into a play, a story to be told throughout the ages. Hamlet is a fantastic play, a tragedy, of an emotionally exaggerated teenager who happens to be royalty, yet it is more than that, but at the same time it is not much more than that plus a little bit of Shakespeare’s artistic creative touch. Who would have thought the greatest work in the English language would be a play as such as this, an emotionally exaggerated teenager in over his head, to avenge his father, unironically also named Hamlet. Interpret that how you will.
Bibliography:
-www.sparknotes.com. (n.d.). No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 3 Scene 3 Page 3. [online] Available at: https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/hamlet/page_190/.
-Understanding Hamlet