Hamlet’s Wrong Moves Creates His Awful Death

In Hamlet, Hamlet dies a tragic death. Most readers wonder what or who is the reason for Hamlet's dreadful death. Even though some people might say that the person who is at fault is Hamlet's mother, the queen, who is unfaithful to Hamlet's father, King Hamlet or King Claudius with his evil scheme has killed King Hamlet. In realization, Hamlet's action which leads to his death is based on his id, ego, and superego. Hamlet's consciousness from his ego makes him so weak that he backed out on almost all of his plans to kill King Claudius. Some readers might think that Hamlet is mad which brings a catastrophic death to his end. In reality, Hamlet's madness is a bogus. His madness is his cunning way to hide what he is really up to and what he knows. Hamlet is smarter than some readers might give him credit for, even though he is absurd in some cases where he could take action to kill King Claudius. Hamlet's id, ego, and superego cause him to be his worst enemy, because he is the one who brought his tragic death upon himself with his action.

A person's actions are all based on his/her id, ego, and superego. The id is the true wanting of a person. The id only judge a situation with the feelings of what the person wants and thinks. The super-ego is the judgments with society advice or suggestions. The ego is the combine of both the id and the superego like what Sigmund Freud suggests that "the ego looks at both the person's feelings and his/her surrounding to choose which path he/she should take "(15). This also goes for Hamlet. Hamlet looks at both what he wants to do and what other expects of him. Then he chooses which path he should take either kill Claudius at that point or just wait until the next time. Like his famous speech "To Be or Not To Be":

"To be or not to be–that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep–no more–and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to–'tis a consummation devoutly to be wished… "(123).

In this speech Hamlet is wondering should he act now and tell everyone that Claudius is the one who has murder his father or should he just wait until the next opportunity to come by. Even though the ego is the combine of both the id and the superego it is not always stable. The ego is always changing; it does not stay constant (Freud 15). The ego is a combination of both the id and the superego. It can either combine more with the id or it can combine more with the superego. It depends on which one have the most influence on the person, which in this case is Hamlet.

Hamlet is the type of person where his ego is scare, his id is weak, and his superego is not that strong enough to influence him to take action. Critic William Hazlitt agrees that Hamlet is made up of weakness and sadness, and that he is not the type to be cruel; Hamlet is the perfect example of misanthropes" (4 par. 8). Hamlet is miserable because he did not want to come back to the palace because he was enjoying himself with his studies. Critic E.K. agrees that "Hamlet is very educated and he really enjoys reading. He can read for hours without getting tired. The only reason why Hamlet return is because his father passes away" (1 par 2). If his father did not pass away Hamlet would have stay at the university and keep on studying. Once Hamlet return back to the palace he was depress that started his id going toward hatred. Hamlet's id is a combination of melancholy, detestation, and annoyance. Critic Francis Jacox added that "the ghost words bring a spark for Hamlet to have another reason to dislike Claudius even more" (4 par. 7). To add on to Hamlet's id the ghost which is the superego create Hamlet's ego. Even though his father's ghost did give him a motive to dislike Claudius but it was not that much of an influence to set Hamlet in the motion to take revenge on Claudius for his father's death. Once Hamlet's superego adds to his id then his ego turn out to be confuse and scare because even though his id does have hate, anger, and sadness combine but it is still too weak for his ego to be strong and firm. Critic Francis Jacox agrees that "Hamlet was already upset with his uncle being in his mother's room and sitting on his father's throne and the murder of his father set him on the rage to kill his uncle, but because of his mother's feelings he lets some opportunity to act pass" (4 par. 7). Hamlet is a strong person but his mind is weak with feelings for his mother. He does not want his mother to be hurt because of his action.

There is the reason of his mother feelings that keeps Hamlet from acting but that is not the only reason. According to Critic Francis Jacox "Hamlet could not bring himself to the point where he could accept that his father, King Hamlet, was murdered instead of being a 'circumstance and accident'" (3-4 par. 6). Hamlet came back to the palace for his father funeral which he was told that his father die because of a mere circumstance but once the ghost of his father comes to tell him that Claudius, with the help from his mother, has murdered King Hamlet, Hamlet could not himself to believe it. Even though Hamlet could bring himself to expose Claudius to everyone in the court of his scheme that has killed King Hamlet, because like critic E.K. Chambers points out "Hamlet is loved by his people and is in good terms with the court" (1 par. 2), but he's ego could not make a decision. Everyone in the court and the people of the kingdom loves Hamlet because they saw him grew up and they know how Hamlet is. The people know that Hamlet is a good prince and that he is the type that they can be loyal to. The only reason that Hamlet could not make a move is because his superego and his id could not make a decision.

Even though Hamlet's ego does have enough information to act but if his id could not bring itself to believe his superego then there is no way Hamlet could act. According to Sigmund Freud "The ego has limited power over the id. If something is asked of a person to the point where it is too much for that person to handle then that person will either object or be unpleased while doing the task" (108-109). Even though Hamlet does have enough information to just take revenge on Claudius for his father's death but because he does not feel like he can get a firm grip on the task to act that is why he would not act. No matter how many times opportunity comes to Hamlet for him to take actions he back away because his ego could not combine his id and superego together to the point where his ego can make a concrete decision to act. Even though it is true that "a person action leads back to his/her ego" (Freud 84), but if the ego could not make a decision because the superego is not that much of a influence and the id is sort of in the same direction with the superego but could not believe the information that the superego is giving it then the ego could not make a decision. Like Sigmund Freud says, "Sometimes ego and superego come together and superego can work against the ego of a person." With Hamlet, his superego gives him information that he could not believe that is why he could not act. Especially since Hamlet is weak mentally, the information just set him confuses.

Confusion is one of Hamlet's weaknesses but it is not the only one. Another one is that he could not trust love or people in general, because of his mother actions. His mother was unfaithful to his father which makes Hamlet believe that everyone is like that. Critic Francis Jacox agrees that "because of Hamlet's mother's action Hamlet has lost his firm standing on the human world. Her action has completed his confusion on the world." That is the reason why Hamlet decides that he would not tell everyone that Claudius is a murder who has killed his father. Hamlet has lost faith in everyone just because of the queen is not loyal to his father. Hamlet is very dependable just that he could not trust other once he sees that his mother is not that dependable either. Critic E.K. Chambers agrees that "Hamlet is the type of person who would carry-out the task given to him before he think of his own happiness. He put the task of killing Claudius before his love for Ophelia" (3 par.7). Hamlet will not tell anyone what he really found out about the actions that takes place for his father death. "The more Hamlet unveil the hidden secrete that his mother and uncle hid from everyone the more he loses his belief" (2-3 par.3). Hamlet thinks that if he tells people about what he finds out then they would betrayed him. Hamlet believes that everyone, especially the women, is untrustworthy like his mother. Hamlet does love everyone like the commandment for the bible but he makes an exception to Claudius. "The commandment to love one's neighbour as oneself" is within the superego. The commandment made people either obeying it but does make the person unsatisfied while listening to it or they just make a loop around the command" (Freud 108). Hamlet loves his people and the court just that he does not like Claudius at all because of the awful secrete. He believes that Claudius is the one that he needs to kill. Even though his mother is at fault too but because his father's ghost told him not to kill his mother and let the heaven above deal with her.

Not just that Hamlet loves his mother so he cannot even kill her. "After Hamlet talks to the ghost he was taken from everyone point of view. Once he notices the situation that he was in he lost his courage to take on the task that he was given to carry-out" (Chambers 1-2 par. 3). Hamlet discovers that his uncle and mother did kill his father but he could not bring himself to just kill his uncle. The opportunity for him to kill his uncle is right in front of him but he stills cannot carry-out the tasks. Critic Francis Jacox agrees that "Hamlet is the type of person who would reason instead of taking action 'Hamlet has no firm belief either in himself or in anything else'" (6 par. 12). He does not think that he could take on the task on some of the opportunities that was there for him. He will not take the opportunities to kill Claudius. He just takes the time of those opportunities to find a way out of it so that it. He finds a way that makes it looks like as though he have a good purpose not to act.

"Hamlet is the type of person who talked when he should have acted, and acted when he should not even have talked, who with a bosom wrung with sensibility was unfeeling, and in his very passion for justice unjust, who in his misery had leisure for ridicule and in his revenge for benevolence" (Jacox 6 par. 13)

Hamlet is the one who would just rather be in misery because he could not carry out the task that is given to him, yet he will not act no matter how many times the opportunity comes to him. Hamlet will find one way or the other to just to reasons himself out of killing Claudius. Like critic E.K. Chambers suggested that "Hamlet just tries to find any ways he can from taking action. Like when he try to tell Ophelia but end up acting as a mad man when he found out that he could not tell the truth to his beloved Ophelia" (2 par. 5). Hamlet could not even find a way to proceed with the task because he is too busy looking for ways to escape the opportunity to operate his plan to execute Claudius. Even with Ophelia he could not bring himself to tell her what is going on and why he is performing as a mad man.

Hamlet always finds a reason to cancel his opportunity. Hamlet is the type of person like critic William Hazlitt believe "'the one whose powers of action have been eaten up by thought.' He had the best resource to act but he just let it go" (1 par. 2) He plan it all out with the players to act out the scene when his father die but once that conform that what the ghost told him was true he still does not even take reason to execute Claudius. He had some many opportunities like when he could tell the whole court what answer his researches give him or the one time when Claudius is by himself and had his back to Hamlet. Hamlet cannot bring himself to kill his uncle at all he just figures out a way to just get rid of the chance. "Hamlet is the type who is strong just weak when it comes to killing his uncle who holds his mother's heart" (Hazlitt 1 par. 2). Hamlet loves his mother dearly to the point where he cannot make her sad or heartbreaking because he murders the man that she loves. He cannot bring himself to that point of being cruel to him mother. Critic E.K. Chambers agrees that "Hamlet's weakness is his mind and his feelings for his mother. He is smarts but the problem is he uses his thinking at the wrong time. He chooses to think about the time period when at the time being is for him to act" (3 par. 8). He thinks that just maybe it is not the right time for him to act. He reasons with himself to let the opportunity to just pass away.

Once Hamlet gets a chance to get rid of Claudius he finds a way to motivate himself not to take the chance. During the play readers can tell when the opportunity come Hamlet talks to himself about what he should do. Like what critic Francis Jacox notice is that "There is always a 'transaction between Hamlet himself and his moral sense' with everything he does" (5 par. 10). While there is a period of time for Hamlet to act he takes that time to converse between his id, ego, and superego. He thinks back should he take that time to kill Claudius and would the time be right for that action. He thinks to himself, is this the right opportunity to take or should he just wait. Critic Francis Jacox says that "'whatever happens to Hamlet…he applies it to himself as a mean of general reasoning.'" He thinks back on all the opportunity for him to act. Like for the one in the church Hamlet reason himself out of the process because he think that Claudius did not let his father prey for forgiveness before he die so why should he let Claudius get that opportunity to go to heaven. "'Confessedly, Hamlet is sensible of his own weakness, taxes himself with it, and tries to reason himself out of it'" (Jacox 5 par. 11). That is Hamlet main weakness. He would rather think then to act. He is the man that thinks too much. He even notices his own weakness and yet he fell to overcome his weakness to proceed with his task. Critic E.K. Chambers also believes that Hamlet is "covering his weakness with unreal reasons" (2-3 par. 6). Instead of taking his weakness by the head he let his weakness get the best of him. He let his weakness allow him to reasons himself out of every opportunity he gets. He is not a man of action at all; he is a man of thoughts. Critic William Hazlitt agree that "'Hamlet's ruling passion is to think, not to act; and any vague pretext that flatters this propensity instantly diverts him from his previous purposes.' He can get himself distracted easily even with one distraction" (2 par. 6). Once he reaches his opportunity he thinks of how his action can be wrong so he just brush it away.

Every occasion he can get he let it exceed him. He rather have the occasion pass then to take the chance. Critic William Hazlitt believes that "Hamlet is the type who could not reach his goal because his mind keeps on changing. Hamlet has all the resources and the opportunity but he just crosses it all out and let it go because he knows his weakness" (2 par. 5). He knows that he cannot proceed with his plan that is why he just let all the opportunity pass him one by one. Once that keeps on Hamlet cannot complete his task unless he take the opportunity and forget his weakness. "Hamlet is not a character of action or passion. He is a character of refinement of thought and sentiment" (2 par. 4). He is the one most people will see thinking everything deals over instead of taking action when the opportunity is given. He is the type that most people sees losing the battle because he over think the situation. If he takes every opportunity that he has like he did with the way he took with Polonius and the letter that was sent with him to England to be execute then everything will be fine but unfortunately that was not the case. He just keeps up with his performance of madness.

Some readers think that Hamlet's performance is real and that is why he receives a tragic end. Truthfully speaking, Hamlet madness is a fake. According to Sigmund Freud, "Human beings have to go through either one of these stages in life: misery, misfortune, and/or unreasonable assignment" (23-24). Hamlet is going through all three of these stages at once. Hamlet is feeling misery because he cannot study at the university, misfortune because his father pass away and the one who murdered his father is his uncle and his mother helped, and unreasonable assignment, to Hamlet, is to take revenge on his uncle for his father's death. Sigmund Freud also stated that "there are three actions that one can choose to take to make one's life easier; think the best of the worst, solve the problem, or just plain ignore it all together" (23-24). The reader can tell that Hamlet cannot do neither think the best or it nor can he just ignore it, so Hamlet went with solve the problem so he think of a way to solve it but he also think of a way where he will not make Claudius suspicious of him. To solve that problem he acts like as though he is mad. "Hamlet did not want anyone else to know about the truth other than those who already knew" (Chambers 2 par. 3). Hamlet does not want to create chaos within the kingdom so he creates chaos within himself by acting mad. "No one understands him. Hamlet is in the world of his own. No one knows the information that he has discovered" (Chambers 2 par. 4), even if he did tell everyone the truth about his father death no one will believe him because of his acting. They will not be sure if he is in his right mind to be saying that his father was murder. Critic E.K. Chambers point out that "'Shakespeare did not mean for Hamlet to be mad in any sense which would put his actions in a quite different category from those of other men.' Hamlet is not mad; he just fails to act when he should act" (1 par. 1). Hamlet is not what he acts to be; he is just a coward to afraid to act. Shakespeare did not mean for Hamlet to be a mad man. He just wants Hamlet to be acting mad not a real mad man. "Madness is a flower of evil" (Atrens 1 par. 1). Madness is a form of evil. This just adds to the reason that Hamlet is not truly mad because as the reader can tell Hamlet is a good and very educated man. "Madness is what people would combine with witchcraft so people try to reject it all together" (Atrens 1 par. 1). During Hamlet's time people view madness as bad so they did not want to deal with Hamlet when he acted as though he is truly mad.

Everything a person does refer back to their id, ego, and superego. "'Ids and egos have been largely displaced by neurochemical concepts.' People try to explain Madness with science but most people just think that it is just an excuse to act badly" (Atrens 1 par. 2). Ids and egos theory made it difficult for people to believe neurochemical concepts. Scientists try to explain madness with science but it is impossible. "There are a bunch of brain factors that have been implicated in madness could produce the symptoms of madness. But no one can prove that this is true" (Atrens 1 par. 4). Madness is not an easy thing to define and understand how it comes to be. There is no way to prove that a person brain have been impacted to the point where they just go mad. "People believed that when a person behave badly mean that they are mad. Protestations of sanity are often considered evidence that a person is mad" (Atrens 2 par. 9) but that has not been proven to be true yet. A person can behave badly but that does not truly mean that they are mad. They could be going through something or it could be that they just feel like they want it that way. "People will not think that other people can be going through tough time or have problems but they just jump to conclusion that person is mad. It is a weird thing for people to have diseases in the brain to cause them to act a certain way" (Atrens 3 par. 17) People do not take the time to think that for a person to be acting a certain way could be because they are having problems with at home, school, or at work. People do not stop and think about how mysterious it is for a person to act a certain way because of a brain disease. "Madness is very hard for people centuries ago to understand and it is still going on now. Scientists are still trying to categorize madness" (Atrens 3 par. 13). Madness is so hard to understand and to figure out that scientists are still trying to figure it out for centuries and still going on now. They still have not found the right way to explain how madness comes to be and how it is function.

Hamlet tragic is not because of his madness. Hamlet does not have a problem with his brain. Hamlet is in depression but that does not mean he is mad because of the depression. Hamlet may have let plenty of the opportunity goes by but that does not mean he is mad. Hamlet act as though he is mad for a reason like Sigmund Freud say, "One's own feelings could not guide one down a path; one must have had a spark to put the influence in one's way" (85). A person could not just decide to take a path without influence from the superego. There is either a person's action or words can make a person decide to do certain action. For Hamlet, it was the queen, the queen is unfaithful that is why Hamlet acted as a mad man. Sigmund Freud agrees that "sometimes the motive for one to act depends on one's helplessness and dependence on another" (85). Hamlet depends on his mother actions to judge everyone else and because of that Hamlet does not trust anyone so he acts as a mad man.

Even though Hamlet does let a great deal of opportunity pass, just before his tragic death he does one thing that show that he can let go of his weakness and take action. Freud has mentions that, "the ego includes both the id and the superego and later on it can leaves off the surrounding environment of the person" (15). The reader can see this happen to Hamlet at the end of the play after Laertes stab him with the sword that King Claudius poison in order to kill Hamlet permanently. "Before Hamlet dies he actually acts without thinking or reasoning. He actually carried-out the task and did a noble thing by stopping Horatio from dying and save his country" (Jacox 7 par. 16). Hamlet saves Horatio from dying and also pass on words from him to Fortinbras and the ambassador from England that Fortinbras is free to take the kingdom and that there will be no war to fight. Critic E.K. Chambers point out that "Hamlet's tragedy is the ruin of a great person because he did not have the courage to act" (3 par. 7). Hamlet is a great prince and son. The only flaws that he have that cause his tragic death are his id, ego, and superego could not make a decision and another is that he is too weak to act earlier in the play.

Hamlet is his own great enemy because he did not take the opportunities given to him to proceed with his plan. He just finds ways to reason himself out of all the opportunities. His id, ego, and superego makes him confuse and weak. His reasoning is his way to hide the true reason why he cannot kill Claudius, which is his weakness. Hamlet tragic death is not because of madness. Madness is only an act and it is not true. Hamlet is a smart, very educated, and a good person. His flaws that cause his tragic death are his weakness, reasoning, and confuse id, ego, and superego.

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