William Shakespeares Hamlet :: Excessive Thought in Hamlet

Books upon books have been written about Shakespeares Hamlet. About an compeer number of books, however, have been written about one character Hamlet. A critic of Hamlet once said, a man set out to cross-file all the books about Hamlet would have time to read nothing else, not even Hamlet. What is the great fascination with Hamlet and the characters contained within. The great intrigue comes from the ambiguity of the play and its characters. Hamlet is the tragedy of reflection. The cause of the heros delay is irresolution and the cause of this is excess of the reflexive and speculative habit of the spirit. (Halliday. 217) The primer that there are so some(prenominal) critics is that there are just as many theories and speculations. Even in the twentieth century on could stool or discover a new theory or criticism based on the play or its characters. The character Hamlet, alone, has over both dozen critics from Quinn to Coleridge. Some critics come up with sane interpret ations of Hamlet while others use wild and crazy themes. Some conclude that the problem with Hamlet, and a perfect dissertation used by many disciples, is madness versus sanity. The theories progress from there. The theories range from manic-depressant to homosexual. Some are even very creative such as the thesis that Hamlet is actually a female raised as a male. But no matter how many theories, speculations, or thesis there are, many hold some ground. This thesis paper will not stress on any of the statements I have listed above. However, I will take a stand with Coleridge and speak about Hamlets genius and cognitive activity. Hamlets true dilemma is not one of sanity -Vs- insanity but one pressing his cerebral capacity. Being a scholar, Hamlet is prone to thought rather than actions. Cause of Hamlets destiny. . . in intellectual terms . . . is a tragedy . . . of excessive thought. (Mack. 43) Hamlets role was to make a transcendental move from scholarly prince to man of action. Hopefully this field of study will help open another, or even stress a classic, view as to Hamlets character and his prolonged delay. When a student goes to write about Hamlets character they often begin by hitting a wall. Not the usual writers block in which the mind goes blank, but one of information loaded upon information.