Hamlet - Is there Indecision? Essay -- GCSE English Literature Coursew

The Bard of Avon has in the character of Hamlet (in the tragedy of that name) a hero who has been accused of hesitation and indecisiveness. Are such accusations let? L.C. Knights in An Approach to Hamlet explains the modern appeal of the tragedy in terms of the indecisiveness of its hero Hamlet is a man who in the event of life and of death can make no affirmation, and it may well be that this irresolution which goes far deeper than irresolution about the performance of a unique(predicate) act this fundamental doubt, explains the great appeal of the play in modern times. The point has been made by D.G. James in The Dream of Learning. Shakespeares play, he says, is an image of modernity, of the soul without clear belief losing its way, and bringing itself and others to great distress and finally to disaster it is a tragedy not of excessive thought notwithstanding of defeated thought, and Hamlet himself is a man caught in ethical and metaphysical uncertainties. Now I am sure t hat Mr. James is right in accentuate the element of scepticism in Hamlets makeup the weighing of alternative possibilities in such a way as to make election between them virtually impossible . . . . (64) Is there a connection between verbal hesitation and hesitation in action and decisions? Lawrence Danson in the essay sad Alphabet discusses the hesitation in action by the hero as related to his hesitation in speech To speak or act in a world where all speech and action are equivocal seeming is, for Hamlet, both perilous and demeaning, a kind of whoring. The whole vexed challenge of Hamlets delay ought, I believe, to be considered in light of this dilemma. To a man alienated from his societys most basic symboli... ...ions Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. impertinently York Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Tragic Form in Shakespeare. N.p. Princeton University Press, 1972. Rose, Mark. Reforming the Role. Modern Critical Interpretations Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Ch elsea House Publishers, 1986. Rpt. from Homer to Brecht The European Epic and Dramatic Traditions. Ed. Michael Seidel and Edward Mendelson. N.p. Yale University Press, 1977. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts plant of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos. West, Rebecca. A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT Yale University Press, 1957.