In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character Hamlet has both internal and external conflicts. Hamlet grieves for the death of his father and is angry that Claudius killed him. He also contemplates suicide and is constantly thinking about certain tasks he has to accomplish. Hamlet is under a great deal of pressure and anxiety. We see how Hamlet responds to both the internal and external conflicts.
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Hamlet is very depressed because of his father’s death and he is very upset that Gertrude married Claudius so quickly. This leads hamlet to one of his first conflicts, which is suicide. Hamlet initially speaks of suicide in his first soliloquy. He ponders why he should live with all of this chaos but Hamlet overcomes this internal conflict because he concludes that suicide is a sin. “O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. O God! God!” (Act 1, sc 2, lines 131-61.)
Later on in the play, he meets his father in ghost form. His father informs Hamlet that he needs to get revenge against Claudius because he was the one that killed him. Hamlet is shocked and disgusted by this information and wants justice for his father.
In the meantime, Hamlet puts on a show of craziness until he comes up with a plan to kill Claudius. Polonius believes Hamlet is acting crazy because of his recent breakup with Ophelia. When Polonius tries to talk to prince Hamlet, Hamlet acts immature, but Polonius doesn’t know that Hamlet is pretending to be mad. This shows you how clever Hamlet is and how he reacts to his conflicts in various ways.
Throughout the rest of the play he faces many conflicts. He is having trouble with avenging his father’s death and he doesn’t know if he has the courage to kill Claudius. For the second time he contemplates suicide. “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?” -(Act 3, sc 1, lines 64-98) In this soliloquy, Hamlet ponders suicide but, he is afraid of what will happen or where he will go after death. Hamlet is unselfish and doesn’t take action; he overcomes this internal conflict and chooses to live.
Hamlet’s reactions to the internal and external conflicts show him to be an intelligent and complicated character. He is overcome with different problems whether it is internally or externally. Many times he considers suicide but, is troubled by the consequences or the destination of his soul. Hamlet is bothered knowing that he killed more people then just Claudius. If Claudius wasn’t a power hungry person, then none of this would have happened. So as you can see Hamlet has a lot of problems inside and out of him and he confronts them in different ways.
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