Main Crisis

[sidneymysnake]

Can someone help me out in figuring out the main crisis of Hamlet? I read it and I can't figure out if the main crisis is. I'm leaning towards the main crisis being the internal conflict within Hamlet, but then again I'm really not sure because I have such a hard time with Shakespeare in general. If you can help me out that would be wonderful. Thanks so much in advance.

[huntress4eva]

I dont think theres just one but the one i find most prominate is

Madness vs melencony
of course theres:
the whole supernatural (ie ghost)
conflict between family
demark becoming run down (ie poision in king ear huge metaphor for demark being poison from inside out.)
deception.

[Gladys]

Hamlet's "main crisis" is expressed in "To be, or not to be". Whether to strike out against a "sea of troubles" placing his own life in jeopardy, or to complaisantly live a long and relatively peaceful life.

[aeroport]

Hamlet's "main crisis" is expressed in "To be, or not to be". Whether to strike out against a "sea of troubles" placing his own life in jeopardy, or to complaisantly live a long and relatively peaceful life.

But it wouldn't be 'long and relatively peaceful'; rather, he would have to 'suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'. Y'know?
Regarding the 'Main Crisis', I think the number of lines given to Hamlet alone should demonstrate that external conflicts are, at best, secondary. The death of Old Hamlet is a given, a mere setting of the stage. One might make a case for Fortinbras (especially considering that he's one of the very few characters alive at the end), but there are plenty of more direct sources of conflict, particularly in the mind of the title character. (And yes, the "To be..." soliloquy does indeed capture the essence of the matter.)

[Gladys]

But it wouldn't be 'long and relatively peaceful' A life much longer and more peaceful than that following the murder of one's king!

[aeroport]

A life much longer and more peaceful than that following the murder of one's king!

But one haunted by the ghost of a father telling him how worthless he is for not avenging his old man. Nah, far better to knock off the Usurper...

[seeme101]

How do we define a crisis?
personal crisis?
national crisis?
global crisis?
Which type of crisis will affect more people?

Clearly the main crisis would be the crisis that we are made aware of at the beginning of the play, continues during the play and was not concluded at the end of the play.

The impending invasion of Denmark from Fortinbras nephew of Norway.
This crisis would affect far more people then any other crisis we are made aware of.
Had Hamlet Sr the Dane of Denmark not been murdered by Claudius would the royal family still be alive to fend off an attack from Fortinbras?

The speeches of Horatio serve as bookends to our story.
Look to Horatio's first speech for the main crisis of the play.

Had Russia not sent ICBMs to Cuba, would there have been a Cuban missile crisis?
How do we define a crisis?

[Darkwingpuck]

What is Hamlet's Flaw? Look for that and it will help. There is another character in the play who's father is murdered. He is close in age and education to Hamlet and in truth shares many qualities with the Dane, yet his reaction to his father's murder is much different than Hamlet's.

Hamlet's struggle is primarily with thought v.s. action. He chides himself several times for not acting soon enough and for letting chances pass him by. There are several times throughout the play when Hamlet has a chance to end things but insists on first thinking it through,

"And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought"

Hamlet speaks not only of his brief consideration of suicide, but the entirety of his actions thus far.

The finest example of Hamlet's battle with thought vs action comes directly after the play within the play. Hamlet sees Claudius praying and has the perfect chance to bring about his revenge, and yet he does not. His ever working intellect fights against him and makes him think it better to wait. If Hamlet had simply killed Claudius at this point then he could have spared the lives of many characters and his job would have been complete.

Now look toward the very next scene. During a fit of passion Hamlet stabs an eavsdropping Polonius. Not only did Hamlet fail to check who was behind the curtain but he failed to remember that he had just left Claudius alone in another room in prayer. It would have been impossible for Claudius to have arrived in Gertrude's chambers before Hamlet. He acted on passion and cast aside thought.

Hamlet is character of extreme's who seeks balance. His crises is between Action and Thought. You can find several more examples. Look to Hamlet's soliloquy regarding Fortinbras for more.

[Gladys]

His crisis is between Action and Thought. And between living to stale old age or killing himself in taking 'arms against a sea of troubles'.

[Darkwingpuck]

And between living to stale old age or killing himself in taking 'arms against a sea of troubles'.

His immediate concern in that particular soliloquy: "To be or not to be" is indeed a consideration of suicide, yes. But what it expresses is representative of his overall struggle against his personal disproportion of action and thought. His inability to take his own life is a symptom of his primary flaw.

[JBI]

It is a spiritual journey of the title character as he makes his journey towards death. Everything is finally revealed in the end, signifying a final peace within the character, and a final acceptance of what is going on. The conflict is his problems with the course of events, or his lack of problem with the course of events. He is mad that certain things are revealed, yet also mad they they were hidden. He is torn between going and staying, living and dying. All this is stuck in with the death of his father who he regarded as the supreme of man, and a lack of direction in his life. The journey begins with his return, and ends with his death, and everything that comes his way seems to be readying him for that moment.

[Gladys]

His immediate concern in that particular soliloquy: "To be or not to be" is indeed a consideration of suicide, yes. But what it expresses is representative of his overall struggle against his personal disproportion of action and thought. His inability to take his own life is a symptom of his primary flaw. I'm not necessarily suggesting suicide. Hamlet is certainly weary of life throughout the play, not just during the soliloquy, and in contemplating regicide (‘taking arms’) he cannot expect longevity. “To be, or not to be” almost equates to whether or not to kill Claudius.

Hamlet is not simply indecisive. His ‘disproportion of action and thought’, to some extent, derives from the consideration: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come...Must give us pause". Doubts about the nature of the ghost, considerations of timing (Claudius at prayer) and more, contribute. A primary flaw? I think rather a noble mind at work.

But what about his heinous actions?

[byquist]

His dad-Ghost says "kill" but he's not a killer by nature.