Hamlet, the timeless tragedy by William Shakespeare, has at its core an amazing internal struggle within its title character. As a result of this quandary, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, contradicts himself many times throughout out the play. As well as trying to be true to himself, Hamlet is proficient at acting out roles and making people falsely believe The roles that he plays are ones in which he feigns madness to ultimately accomplish his goal. While one second Hamlet pretends to be under a strange spell of madness, seconds later he may become perfectly calm and rational. These inconsistencies are directly related with the internal dilemmas that he faces. He struggles with the issue of revenging his fathers death, vowing to kill Claudius and then backing out several times. His actions throughout the play support this duplicitous nature. His dual persona is the foundation of Hamlets madness, and ultimately the play itself. There are many examples that illustrate how Hamlets fraudulent nature results in a tragedy because of his inability and reluctance to choose which role to play. One such example occurs near the beginning of the tome. In Act One, Hamlet appears to be very straightforward in his actions, inner state, and role. When his mother questions him, Hamlet says, "Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not seems" (Act I, Scene 2). By saying this, Hamlet lets Gertrude know that he is what she sees, distraught and torn over his fathers death. Later, he makes a clear statement about his state of mind when he commits himself to revenge. "Ill wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, that youth and observation copied there, and thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain" (Act 1 Scene 5). In that statement, Hamlet is declaring that he will be committed to nothing else but the revenge of his fathers death. There is no confusion about Hamlets character. He has s...
