Hamlet: A Man of Many Qualities :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Hamlet: A Man of Many Qualities Hamlet is a man of many different qualities and he reveals only certain qualities to certain people. Hamlet draws his audience, the reader, into noticing the different qualities that he has. His qualities are shown through his conversations with other characters as well as through his soliloquies. These words of wisdom and revealance help to distinguish how Hamlet feels about each other character that he encounters. The phrases and speeches that Hamlet addresses are both poetic and piercing. So when Hamlet is speaking, he is constantly revealing his qualities which range from love, to respect, to hate. Hamlet's most powerful qualities seem to be revealed through his conversation with the people that he cares about, namely his family and friends. The queen, Gertrude, is hamlet's mother and she is probably the living being that he cares about the most. Unfortunately, one of Hamlet's qualities, which is revealed in conversation with his mother, is a negative one and that is anger. His quality is displayed through Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 131Â © 161. Hamlet is angry at his mother for marrying a new husband, his uncle, Claudius, so quickly after his father's death. This anger shines through in such phrases such as "Frailty, thy name is woman!"(Act 1,Sc 2, L148) and "Like Niobe, all tears."(Act 1, Sc 2, L151). At the end of his soliloquy, Hamlet switches qualities from one of anger to one of fear. This is evident when Hamlet states, "With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!", and "It is not, nor it cannot come to good", and finally "But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue"(Act 1, Sc 2 L157Â © 161). Hamlet expresses his fear for his mother's hasty marriage. Hamlet realizes that his mother marrying his uncle can have no good result. Respect is another quality that Hamlet displays in conversation with his mother. This occurs when his mother asks him to remain at home rather than return to school(Act 1, Sc 2, L120Â ©121), which he agrees to do. This shows that although he disagrees with his mother and her marriage, after such little mourning for her husband, Hamlet Sr.'s, death, he still respects his mother and will do what she asks. Later in the act, Hamlet encounters another character who goes by the name of Horatio. Horatio is a good friend, as stated in Act 1, Sc 2, L163, and the first quality which Hamlet reveals is his respect for Horatio. In line 176 of Act 1, Sc 2, Hamlet states "I know you are no truant.