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Hamlet's Inability To Decipher Right From Wrong - College Essay

Hamlet's Inability To Decipher Right From Wrong

There are many different versions of the story of Hamlet. Most, including Shakespeare’s, address the important issues of adultery, madness, and revenge in relation to Hamlet’s supposed love for Ophelia. Although Hamlet claims to love Ophelia, his crazed and sometimes violent actions would suggest otherwise. Even though Hamlet has been portrayed as a “…man who could not make up his mind” in Laurence Olivier’s version of the play, he seems to be quite decisive throughout most of the story. What is interesting about Hamlet is that he seems to be two different people: a loving, artistic scholar, and a barbaric man who continuously treats Ophelia badly.
In Act II, scene I, Ophelia tells ...

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he had been loosèd out of hell
To speak of horrors, he comes before me.”

According to Ophelia, his apparent condition was one of distress. I thought this section interesting because although Hamlet supposedly loves Ophelia, and his act of going through her closet was out of his “love-madness” for her, it truly scares Ophelia and has the opposite affect on her than what Hamlet ultimately intended. Polonius declares that Hamlet suffers from “the very ecstasy of love”, yet his “love” has scared Ophelia from wanting him.
In Act II, scene ii, Polonius reads a love letter to the King, which Hamlet wrote to Ophelia. By doing so, Polonius hopes to convince the king that Hamlet is indeed mad with love for Ophelia.

“ ‘To the celestial and my soul’s idol, the most beautiful
Opheia’ – that’s an ill phrase, a vile phrase, ‘beautified’
is a vile phrase. But you shall hear—‘these in her excellent
white bosom, these’.”

This section, I thought, illustrated Hamlet’s madness in a more ...

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Hamlet's Inability To Decipher Right From Wrong. (2008, February 7). Retrieved June 14, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlets-Inability-To-Decipher-Right-Wrong/78645

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"Hamlet's Inability To Decipher Right From Wrong." Essayworld.com. February 7, 2008. Accessed June 14, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlets-Inability-To-Decipher-Right-Wrong/78645.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 2/7/2008 03:24:11 AM
Category: Arts
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 743
Pages: 3

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