Hamlet: A Man Of Many Qualities

Essay by meA-, January 1994

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Hamlet is a man of many different qualities and he reveals

only certain qualities to certain people. Hamlet draws his

audience, the reader, into noticing the different qualities that he

has. His qualities are shown through his conversations with other

characters as well as through his soliloquies. These words of

wisdom and revealance help to distinguish how Hamlet feels about

each other character that he encounters. The phrases and speeches

that Hamlet addresses are both poetic and piercing. So when Hamlet

is speaking, he is constantly revealing his qualities which range

from love, to respect, to hate. Hamlet's most powerful qualities

seem to be revealed through his conversation with the people that

he cares about, namely his family and friends.

Á ÁThe queen, Gertrude, is hamlet's mother and she is probably

the living being that he cares about the most. Unfortunately, one

of Hamlet's qualities, which is revealed in conversation with his

mother, is a negative one and that is anger.

His quality is

displayed through Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 131©

161. Hamlet is angry at his mother for marrying a new husband, his

uncle, Claudius, so quickly after his father's death. This anger

shines through in such phrases such as 'Frailty, thy name is

woman!'(Act 1,Sc 2, L148) and 'Like Niobe, all tears.'(Act 1, Sc 2,

L151). At the end of his soliloquy, Hamlet switches qualities from

one of anger to one of fear. This is evident when Hamlet states,

'With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!', and 'It is not, nor it

cannot come to good', and finally 'But break my heart, for I must

hold my tongue'(Act 1, Sc 2 L157© 161). Hamlet expresses his fear

for his mother's hasty marriage. Hamlet realizes that his mother

marrying his uncle can have no good result.