Essay: Explore Hamlet’s Journey in Shakespeare’s Tragedy: “Avenge His Father, Explore His Past and Unveil His Fatal Flaw

Hamlet
Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, depicts an innately moral man, Hamlet, who is conflicted with his desire to avenge his father’s murder by the hand of his uncle Claudius, as revealed to him by his father’s Ghost. Victim to the Oedipus complex, Hamlet’s mother’s marriage to Claudius acts as a catalyst for his psychosexual feelings, resulting in a greater desire for Claudius’ vanquishment. Central to Hamlet’s vengeful plot is his antic disposition, displayed by his emotional fragility and abrupt changes in personality. As majority is told in Hamlet’s perspective, Hamlet paints himself as the victim from the beginning, betrayed by his Christian beliefs and those he loves. Further intensified through the use of Hamlet’s soliloquy, readers are inclined to pity him through having insight into his suicidal rhetoric used to communicate his preference to damnation over his current “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable” (1.2.133) existence. However, due to Hamlet’s devout Christian beliefs and his scholarly and philosophical intellect, he cannot execute his suicidal plan, exemplifying his fatal flaw of indecisiveness. Hamlet faces dilemmas that are not cognitive, but rather are in deep conflict with his Christian beliefs, acknowledging suicide as impermissible, yet justifying his thirst for revenge under divine law and providence. Blinded by his false sense of honor, Hamlet has played a hand in the death of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two people whom he considered to be trusted accomplices, whose deaths did not “near [Hamlet’s] conscience; their defeat does by their own insinuation grown” (5.2.62-63). Through his downward mental and moral spiral, Horatio is his one true ally, with whom he entrusts to tell his tragic story. In his revenge-stricken state, Hamlet is morally debased, violating his beliefs as he confuses vengeance with honorable justice. Hamlet’s death is fitting retribution for his sins of revenge and murder.
 
To A Daughter Leaving Home
Linda Pastan’s poem, To A Daughter Leaving Home, tells a mother’s recollection of teaching their daughter how to ride a bicycle when faced with the emotional journey of letting go as their child transitions to adulthood. Initially, the speaker uses warm and positive rhetoric when there is little distance between them and their daughter, representing their closeness as the mother gently guides her daughter on wobbly wheels. The mother’s words show pride as the daughter pulls further away on her own starts to learn how to be independent. As the child continues to ride further away and the mother finds herself sprinting to catch up to the daughter embarking on her own path, the poem is told with a mournful and nostalgic tone. As the sentence progresses and the daughter becomes more distant, there is a larger use of critical language, emphasizing words such as “breakable”, “distance”, and “screaming”. Furthermore, the tone is shown to shift through violent auditory images of the bicycle crashing, demonstrating the parental fear that accompanies childhood independence. The poem, composed of a single 24-line stanza, uses a stretched-out sentence filled with emotive imagery to better communicate the long path to adulthood, yet seemingly fleeting experience. The bicycle lesson acts as a metaphor for life, inclusive of the potential dangers that come with moving forward. Pastan uses enjambment to provide the stanza structure with visuals similar to the peddling of gears, flowing in a fluctuating manner, additionally mirroring the tribulations and joys from childhood to adulthood. The enjambment can also be interpreted to represent the breakage of parental dependence, forcing the reader to pause at different moments in time to experience the feeling of amazement to saudade alongside the mother. Juxtaposing her daughter’s hair with a “handkerchief waving goodbye” is symbolic of the bittersweet emotion that accompanies lifelong change and the separation experienced between mother and child.