Activity 1.6
The obvious motivation for Hamlet’s transformation begins with the death of his father, and gets reinforced when he discovers, through his father’s ghost, that his father was murdered by Claudius, his uncle, who has now become the new king and married his mother. Claudius is correct when he tells Guildenstern and Rosencrantz that nor Hamlets’ interior or exterior are the same, and that there must be more reason behind this transformation than the death of his father.
Internally, Hamlet’s entire world has been shaken. He begins with mourning for his father, and feeling hatred towards his aunt-mother and uncle-father. He feels as though his father has been betrayed, and forgotten. He is in a constant state of anger or misery, and begins contemplating things such as life and death, and the meaning of life. He comes to believe that the reality of mankind is quite distasteful. He becomes possessed with the idea of revenge. We know that Hamlet is highly looked upon, and this must be because he was a kind and loving Prince. Therefore, the fact that Hamlet’s thoughts constantly return to murder is a great change. The thing to note is that there is still much honor and good in the reason behind his revenge. He believes that he must make things right and avenge his father’s death, a great man who was terribly wronged. He wants to restore the justice that has been broken. Although we only hear from others how great he was before, through comparison, we can come to the conclusion that he has suffered quite a large internal transformation, which is very convincing.
His external transformation has posed the question as to whether or not he has lost his mind. To me, it is obvious that he was putting on a show, in one way or another, not only to confuse people, but also because he no longer really respected them and thought nothing of making a fool out of himself, or others around him. His appearance changes in the sense that he almost always wears dark clothing and he often looks sad or crazed with incredible passion in his eyes. As far as his speech goes, it seems like it is constantly a play on words. To others, it is quite scrambled, although there is still meaning within it. He is mostly sarcastic, rude, and mocking when speaking to others, but also goes on tangents, giving passionate speeches. His emotions seem to jump up and down. His actions are also quite strange. At times, they turn to anger. He does “suicidal” acts, such as bravely meeting his father’s ghost. He crazily visits Ophelia when she is in her bedchamber at night and slowly walks away. Mostly, it seems as though his actions are completely unexpected and spontaneous. All in all, whether or not you believe that he is putting on a show, his exterior transformation is very successful and convincing.
Hamlet’s transformation is accepted differently by the people around him. Claudius and Gertrude both believe that Hamlet is crazy, although specifically Claudius questions it at times due to the fact that Hamlet’s words do have sense to them, even though they might be scrambled. Either way, he believes Hamlet to be a threat, and dangerous, and decides to send him away and try to have him killed. This proves that Claudius is convinced that Hamlet has transformed, and that it is for the worst. Gertrude on the other hand is tempted at times to believe that he is not mad, specifically when he tries to tell her the truth behind his father’s death, but is then quickly convinced of the opposite due to Hamlet’s actions, such as talking to a person who she cannot see. She is heartbroken and hurt by her son’s actions. Ophelia believes that he has gone mad from grief as well as heart break. She somewhat blames herself, and is heart broken to see that the man she once loved has been degraded to such a degree. Horatio, knowing the truth, does not believe that Hamlet is mad and might have a better understanding of why he has transformed. It seems that Horatio is more sympathetic towards Hamlet’s state. You can also tell that he is at times a bit worried though, and does not quite understand why Hamlet does some of the things he does. Simply the fact that all of the people who are the closest to him are worried, believe him mad, and do not understand him, are good indications that his transformation is incredibly convincing and successful.
