168k views
1 vote
At several points in “Hamlet,” a character has to make an important decision. Using the chart below, identify a choice one of the characters in the list makes, explain why he makes that choice, and list the consequences of the decision.

At several points in “Hamlet,” a character has to make an important decision. Using-example-1

1 Answer

2 votes

Answer:In telling the story of a fatally indecisive character’s inability to choose the proper course to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet explores questions of fate versus free will, whether it is better to act decisively or let nature take its course, and ultimately if anything we do in our time on earth makes any difference. Once he learns his uncle has killed his father, Hamlet feels duty-bound to take decisive action, but he has so many doubts about his situation and even about his own feelings that he cannot decide what action to take. The conflict that drives the plot of Hamlet is almost entirely internal: Hamlet wrestles with his own doubt and uncertainty in search of something he believes strongly enough to act on. The play’s events are side-effects of this internal struggle. Hamlet’s attempts to gather more evidence of Claudius’s guilt alert Claudius to Hamlet’s suspicions, and as Hamlet’s internal struggle deepens, he begins to act impulsively out of frustration, eventually murdering Polonius by mistake. The conflict of Hamlet is never resolved: Hamlet cannot finally decide what to believe or what action to take. This lack of resolution makes the ending of Hamlet especially horrifying: nearly all the characters are dead, but nothing has been solved.

Step-by-step explanation:

User Lew Bloch
by
6.9k points