William Shakespeares Hamlet :: Excessive Thought in Hamlet

Books upon books run through been written about Shakespe ars sm either town. About an equal number of books, however, micturate been written about sensation character juncture. A critic of juncture once said, a man set out to read all the books about Hamlet would have time to read nonhing else, not regular(a) Hamlet. What is the great fascination with Hamlet and the characters contained within. The great intrigue comes from the equivocalness of the play and its characters. Hamlet is the tragedy of reflection. The cause of the heros delay is irresolution and the cause of this is excess of the reflexive and speculative riding habit of the mind. (Halliday. 217) The reason that there are so many critics is that there are just as many theories and speculations. Even in the twentieth coulomb on could create or discover a new conjecture or criticism based on the play or its characters. The character Hamlet, alone, has over two dozen critics from Quinn to Coleridge. almost critics come up with sane interpretations of Hamlet while others use wild and crazy themes. Some conclude that the problem with Hamlet, and a classic thesis used by many students, is insaneness versus sanity. The theories progress from there. The theories range from manic-depressant to homosexual. Some are even very creative such as the thesis that Hamlet is really a female raised as a male. But no matter how many theories, speculations, or thesis there are, many clinch some ground. This thesis paper will not stress on any of the statements I have listed above. However, I will take a stand with Coleridge and speak about Hamlets genius and cognitive activity. Hamlets true dilemma is not one of sanity -Vs- insanity but one pressing his intellectual capacity. Being a scholar, Hamlet is prone to thought rather than actions. Cause of Hamlets destiny. . . in intellectual terms . . . is a tragedy . . . of excessive thought. (Mack. 43) Hamlets role was to make a transcendental move from pedantic prince to man of action. Hopefully this report will help open another, or even stress a classic, view as to Hamlets character and his prolonged delay. When a student goes to write about Hamlets character they often begin by hitting a wall. Not the usual writers block in which the mind goes blank, but one of information loaded upon information.