Hamlet: a Victim Or a Murderer?

The first obvious evidence is that Hamlet has to see just enemies and reject any manifestation of friendship or sympathy. Why did Hamlet have to change his mind and see just enemies? Did he have the will to choose or it was his fate? The common idea believes at those times Hamlet had to accept the people and circumstances as fate and did not have any choice. But traditional beliefs were unstable at Hamlet’s times and there were many theological and philosophical views with different attitudes to human freedom, will and choice possibilities. The variety of existed perspectives and theories reflected in human minds and Hamlet was not the exception. Hamlet clashes with circumstances and cases which make him act accordingly or leave him the possibility of choice and freedom of decision.

At first it seems that Hamlet does not have a choice to judge either Claudius or somebody else because he must believe the Ghost who is his father. But while thinking after while the question appears: why must Hamlet believe the Ghost? The simplest and most obvious answer is: it is his father and he wants to be revenged by his son. Taking into consideration blurred boundaries between honesty and betray, love and hate, respect and abasement in Hamlet’s mind the only decision he has to make is to follow the Ghost’s will to be revenged and insensibly judge Claudius. The next question that prejudices Hamlet’s absence of choice is: if Hamlet does not have any choice why he does not just kill Claudius and creates his own play engaging all people around him in its scenery. Hamlet does not want just to kill, he wants to make Claudius, Laertes, Polonius, Gertrude feel the same as he feels while losing the loved people.

The next evidence is Hamlet’s attitude to Ophelia. Hamlet rejects Ophelia upon his decision and not the Ghost’s. His own will to rudely repudiate Ophelia’s love can be explained by Hamlet’s common attitude to all women because of his mother’s betray and marriage. Hamlet comes to the thought that all women are very poor and weak and can not fight for their love and freedom. Why does Hamlet believe in women’s weakness so easily? Is his belief supported just by his mother’s deeds? The answer can be found in ideological views of Renaissance times that proved the man’s responsibility to judge woman’s behavior and decide if she was right. The Renaissance man had rights to punish even physically his wife if he can see the crime in the woman’s actions. It was very difficult for Hamlet of the sixteenth century to leave the judgment of his mother’s actions for her own will and decision. The common attitude of all women’s crimes was only Hamlet’s will. So Hamlet’s Mousetrap to revenge and his attitude to Ophelia are made upon his own will but not fate. May be Hamlet comes to the clear understanding of his own responsibility for his behavior by the end of the play when he apologizes to Laertes and explains that his actions were not in harmony with his mind. Hamlet’s recognition of the separation between his thoughts and feelings and his deeds only proves the recognition of his guilt.

In his play Shakespeare demonstrates the primary inevitability of circumstances that makes people start acting but the choice of how to act and what to do still remains for person. In the beginning of the play Hamlet faces definite situation which makes him react in some way. He has the choice to not stay in Elsinore but continue his study. In this case the Ghost might not follow him and demand the revenge. The other way to be a murderer and escape the tragedy was to accept the circumstances and people as they are and leave the power to judge for the God or the court. This way seems impossible for Hamlet for two reasons: he cannot rely on the God’s judgment because he does not know which God to believe and is not even sure if the God exists; and he does not have to respect the Elsinore’s court because it has demonstrated its corruption and treachery. Hamlet has different choices of how to find the way out keeping his hands clear. Therefore, it is obvious that Hamlet becomes a murderer by his own decision.

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