Character Analysis of the Main Characters in Hamlet

I really enjoyed watching Hamlet.I’m not into Mel Gibson as of late, but I think he did an excellent job in Hamlet. His eyes and his expressions really portrayed emotion. I was very pleased with the rest of the cast as well, although I think that Kate Winslet probably played a better Ophelia than Helena Bonham Carter did in this version.

It was interesting to watch Hamlet’s spiral into madness. It was unfair of King Hamlet to ask his son to exact revenge. This desire for revenge destroyed Hamlet and everyone Hamlet loved. Hamlet was already emotionally vulnerable and disturbed that his mother would marry his father’s brother and so soon after his father’s death.

The ghost ruins Hamlet’s life and the life of all those around him. Hamlet is unsure whether the ghost is his father or is sent there to trick him. He sets up the trap to prove his uncle guilty. I am not so sure that the ghost wasn’t there to trick him. I would think that a father would not want to endanger the life of his son. Even if almost all of the other characters had not died, Hamlet would surely be in major trouble for killing Claudius. The ghost was selfish and thinking only of himself. Hamlet wasn’t emotionally strong enough to carry out this grim task.

Hamlet slowly declines into madness while he contemplates carrying out this revenge. He delays killing Claudius, I’m not sure if it’s just doubting the ghost. Hamlet probably doubts himself a little bit as well (“Conscious does make cowards of us all.”). He is already depressed and this ghost is the final straw. Hamlet fluctuates between moments of mania and moments of depression. He talks about death and wanting to die in his “To sleep perchance to dream” monologue.

“Frailty thy name is woman,” is the perfect way to describe Gertrude. She married her husband’s brother before his body was even cold. She seems to be ruled by her sexual needs rather than by her brain. She doesn’t seem to care who sees her desires. Throughout the movie she is constantly kissing on King Claudius or trying to lure him to the bedchamber.

I’m not sure if Gertrude notices Hamlet’s reactions to her behaviors. Hamlet is already disturbed by the fact that Gertrude is incestuous, but she and the king constantly flaunt it in Hamlet’s face. I think that Hamlet has an Oedipus complex. There are looks that pass between him and Gertrude that have sexual overtones to them. When he is arguing with her in her chamber it has sexual tones to it as well. Hamlet is also way more interested in his mother’s sex life than a normal son would be.

His mother’s hasty marriage and deviant behavior gives Hamlet a negative view of women. He loved Ophelia but turns on her and tells her to be a nun. He is very angry and tells her that women are monsters and they ruin men. Later he lays his head in her lap and acts like he cares for him again. He doesn’t know what he wants and he is either intentionally or unintentionally toying with Ophelia’s feelings.

King Claudius has already proven he is a bad man by killing his own brother and taking his brother’s wife as his own. He also seems to only care about merry-making. His house is a constant party. He reprimands Hamlet for grieving his father’s death when “all people die.” He sends Hamlet’s own friends to have Hamlet executed. Later he plays with Laertes emotions so that Laertes will do his dirty work. He obviously doesn’t love the queen very much for he only says, “Do not drink” when Gertrude goes to drink from the poisoned goblet. He doesn’t really do anything to prevent his wife from dying a horrible death.

Polonius is a busy body. He uses his own daughter and her love of Hamlet to try to discover Hamlet’s problem. I found it really funny when he is in the library with one boot on ripping pages from a book. Polonius comes in and Hamlet insults him and then throws pages from the book at him. Polonius takes a letter that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia and reads it to the King and Queen. Although pierced by Hamlet’s sword, Polonius’ eavesdropping is the true cause of his death.

Laertes is just a tool. The only reason his character is needed is so that Claudius will have someone to use to kill Hamlet. Laertes is angry at Hamlet and blames him for killing his father (rightfully so) and for his sister’s suicide. He wants to seek revenge (the second revenge in this “revenge tragedy”). Laertes is not a man of honor. If he was a man of honor he would not have slashed Hamlet when he wasn’t paying attention. That showed lack of sportsmanship. Some people feel it was honorable for Laertes to confess in the end. He only confesses to Hamlet after he is already dying, so how is that honorable. Hamlet forgives Laertes, when Laertes would not forgive him, showing that Hamlet is honorable.

In the end Hamlet exacts his revenge on Claudius. I tend to think that he sought revenge not only for his father, but now also for his mother, Laertes and Ophelia. Because of Claudius seven people are dead (including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). The only thing positive I can take from this is that possibly the whole family is together again in some Renaissance version of heaven.