How Characters are Manipulated by Hamlet
The question is, who does Hamlet manipulate and why? Hamlet is very smart and is aware of how he must act around certain people. His mission is to find out who really killed his father. In order to achieve this goal, he manipulates and uses tactics to reveal the truth. Hamlet’s father’s ghost comes to tell Hamlet that he was killed by Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. Hamlet won’t kill Claudius himself, but will manipulate other characters until the truth is revealed. Readers begin to question whether or not Hamlet is truly mad because he acts sane and normal around certain characters and completely insane around others. Towards Horatio, he acts sane because he has already told him his secret. Around Claudius, Gertrude and Polonius, he acts absolutely insane.
Hamlet is outraged that just after his father’s death, his mother remarries his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet subtly brings up his mother’s marriage in Act 1 and wants her to feel guilty about her new marriage to Claudius. “Soft! now to my mother. O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom: Let me be cruel, not unnatural: I will speak daggers to her, but use none; My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites; How in my words so ever she be shent, To give them seals never, my soul, consent”(3.2.384-91)! He uses her guilt as a way to manipulate her to get what he wants. He acts violently towards her, screaming about all the sins she has committed and how wrong she was for marrying his uncle. He uses this as a tactic to intimidate her and have her question her marriage with Claudius. The question is, is this extreme anger caused by his madness or is he using it as a tactic for Gertrude to leave Claudius?
Hamlet is outraged that just after his father’s death, his mother remarries his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet subtly brings up his mother’s marriage in Act 1 and wants her to feel guilty about her new marriage to Claudius. “Soft! now to my mother. O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom: Let me be cruel, not unnatural: I will speak daggers to her, but use none; My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites; How in my words so ever she be shent, To give them seals never, my soul, consent”(3.2.384-91)! He uses her guilt as a way to manipulate her to get what he wants. He acts violently towards her, screaming about all the sins she has committed and how wrong she was for marrying his uncle. He uses this as a tactic to intimidate her and have her question her marriage with Claudius. The question is, is this extreme anger caused by his madness or is he using it as a tactic for Gertrude to leave Claudius?