Of all of Shakespeare’s characters within Hamlet, there is none of more interest to the audience than the title character himself. Hamlet represents the very essence of the play’s story, in that he is the mechanism of calculated vengeance against the play’s several antagonists. It is not his role in working against the evil that Shakespeare has designed to convey the various themes and messages that the play incorporates that makes Hamlet such a fascinating character, however. The most interesting aspect of Hamlet’s character is rather his thoughtful and calculating nature, consistently outlining his thoughts and plans to a listening audience in order to allow them insight into the thoughts of someone that had been betrayed and hurt so significantly. Hamlet’s character is indeed a man of thought much more so than a man of action, and that reality only sees a very minor shift towards the end of the play.
What is likely the most significant reason behind Hamlet’s initial status as a man of thought is the fact that he demonstrates his thought process to be immensely in-depth and relatively clever, particularly in comparison to the play’s other characters. As such, Hamlet tends to greatly over-analyze experiences, situations, and potential modes of action to the point of apparent obsession. Of course, that obsession is often justified, especially in regards to Hamlet’s thoughts over how and when to avenge his father’s death and to secure solid evidence of Polonius’ involvement. Hamlet goes well out of his way to find this evidence, conjuring up an extensive—although ultimately faulty and ineffective—plan to do so following a comprehensive planning stage. This all serves to show that Hamlet is very much not like the rest of Shakespeare’s characters within this play. Hamlet almost never acts on impulse or without expressing the factors influencing his behavior and decision-making. Only upon the onset of his own insanity does that see somewhat a change, although even at that point of the play, Hamlet continues to relay—or at least attempt to relay—his thoughts and motivations before taking any significant action.
As Hamlet’s character progresses throughout the course of the play, and especially when his own insanity takes root within him, his careful thoughtfulness and premeditation begin to disintegrate. Although Hamlet continues to convey his thoughts to some extent on various occasions even past this point, there are numerous instances when impulse does come to take over and influence his actions. The most prominent example of this comes when Hamlet makes the decision to attack who he only believes to be Polonius without even actually verifying his identity first. Scenes such as this highlight the fact that although Hamlet’s character is consistently thoughtful to some degree, that thoughtfulness is at times very situational and focused rather than a more broad and general trait. When influenced by certain emotional responses and motivations, Hamlet most often disregards his adherence to premeditation to instead act thoughtlessly. His descent into madness also serves to skew his focus, diluting his thought process and allowing for one of carelessness and ambiguity to take over.
In totality, it is accurate to state that Hamlet’s character is overwhelmingly a man of thought, even though several examples within the play would suggest that he is a man of action. Those examples merely serve as exceptions, brought forth by changing circumstances and the influence of his deteriorating mental state as the plot progresses. As a character, Hamlet is undoubtedly very complex, showing great variation in his thoughts and attitudes towards others and to the circumstances he finds himself in. It is his constant relaying of those thoughts that demonstrate, though, that he is very much a man of thought.
- Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Barron’s, 2002.
