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Not What You Meant?  There are 26 definitions for Hamlet.  Also try: The Conscience of the King.


Hamlet Study Guide

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by William Shakespeare
About 308 pages (92,332 words)
Hamlet Summary

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Character Studies

The reasons for Hamlet's delay have led to various critical interpretations of his character. One critical perspective treats the prince as atragic hero having three prominent characteristics: awillpower that surpasses average human beings, an extraordinarily intense power of feeling, and an unusually high level of intelligence. Each of these traits can be found in Hamlet, but the ambiguity surrounding his tragic flaw, or the defect in his character that leads to his downfall, remains the subject of critical debate. One argument is that the prince's fatal error which causes him to delay killing Claudius is his preoccupation with moral beauty and, with its loss in Denmark, his desire to die. Hamlet's obsession with death and suicide thus demonstrates that even before he encounters the Ghost, he has lost the will to involve himself in worldly affairs......

This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 724 words. This study guide contains 92,332 words (approx. 308 pages at 300 words per page).

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Hamlet from BookRags and Gale's For Students Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

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