Some Hamlet help.. If you could be so kind.. :)

[APTK]

So because I'm new I hopefully do not come off as some highschooler with homework help....

Even if that is somewhat the case. Haha...

Anyway guys. I was wondering if you could help me out a little bit, and of course engage in some constructive discussion about the topic.

What do you guys think: Is Hamlet a coward? Why?

Personally I think he is not a coward but rather a careful thinker. Especially in scenes such as when he could of killed Claudius while he was praying. He was only hesitant not because of fear but because of the fact that he would be sending him to heaven. What he did not think of, is that he wasn't fit to judge Claduius' fate.

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance. :yawnb:

[Silas Thorne]

Hi!
I think there is already a thread on this. Use the search and look for Gladys and white chapel, I think..or they might come to you. :)

[APTK]

Oh, I'm sorry, i should of searched first. My mistake.

Thanks.

But if anyone wants to add anything to this thread, feel free :)

[Gladys]

Follow the link: Is Hamlet a Coward? (www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40757)

Your contribution, APTK, would be welcomed.

[whiteangel]

Ha, though that thread is somewhat stumped at the moment.
well I mean the best advice I can give is that make your mind up on Hamlet as a character and then defend that view.....whatever it is, you will not fail for it is your own opinion then that you defend-- there is evidence of both in the text.

[prendrelemick]

He's a Renaissance Man surrounded by Vikings.

[whiteangel]

haha.....he is?

[APTK]

whiteangel, you mentioned in the other thread that hamlet fears his own inability. can you elaborate on that?

[whiteangel]

well there are moments in the play when he questions himself.... "am I a coward?"
"what an *** am I" "I am pigeon liver'd and lack gall" "O what a rouge and peasant slave am I" .... all these psychological attacks on himself imply he himself understands he is weak..... Just work with what he says of himself and you will perhaps see my line of though on him.....

[Gladys]

all these psychological attacks on himself imply he himself understands he is weak Alternatively, 'all these psychological attacks on himself imply' that all humanity, even a man with the noblest mind, are weak. Weakness is a human characteristic - we aren't robots.

[whiteangel]

why is he attacking himself?
think about that in HAMLET'S context not ours than perhaps there will be no need to claim "we aren't all robots". Robots do not philosophise things as much

We have no filial duty to avenge our parents. He did.


quite weakly explained...I admit but well I lack energy to type it basically comes down to this.......

Hamlet being a coward is open to both sides because the text allows it to be so....it is simply a matter then of forming your strands of argument