Morality And Selfish Decisions In Hamlet By William Shakespeare
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In Shakespeare's revenge tragedy Hamlet, characters will often confront decisions bound by different desires and selfish ambitions. The protagonist, Hamlet, is put against two desires which ultimately lead to an outcome for his revenge. Hamlet's conflict of living morally versus avenging his father's death illuminates the meaning of how indecisiveness may torment an individual's attempt to make a correct decision.
Hamlet's desire of living morlaly proceeds to be a grand conflict. Hamlet, throughout the play, deals with an act for revenge, which goes against his Christian principles and morality. Firstly, Hamlet considers "self-slaughter" during his first soliloquy in Act I, but this is immediately dismissed because of his Christian faith and once again his morals. However, when Hamlet is ordered to kill Claudius' by his late father's ghost, Hamlet grows doubt and questions if this is correct, obviously considering his morals. During that time period, revenge was not well accepted by his faith considering the religious importance in Denmark during that time period. Furthermore, killing Claudius could result with Hamlet himself going to hell for committing…show more content… Once aware of the true nature of his father's death, Hamlet is frankly asked to kill Claudius by the Ghost who appeared before him. Enraged and saddened by the truth, Hamlet carefully plans to kill Claudius, however, his doubt does not allow him to carry on with the murder numerous amount of time, as seen during Claudius' confession in Act III scene iii. Thus leading to the preparation for a play, presented before the King, to prove if the Ghost's claims are indeed true. Through the use of dialogue and character development, Shakespeare establishes how conflicted Hamlet truly is and his indecisiveness only lead him to constantly doubt whether he is following the righteous decision or he is being hexed by the anger and grief he