Friday, May 8, 2009

Who is Hamlet to me?

Being of the perfect age to study the character of Hamlet, I have developed a patience for understanding his motivations and emotions. It may be hard for an adult to look at his character and wonder why he didn't take a more mature approach to the situation, but I can assess his predicament with all of my teenage hormones, under developed sense of decision making, and my wild emotions.
Hamlet turns the phrase "over whelmed" into the understatement of the year, the boy would be half crazy with grief, remorse, anger, abandonment and every other emotion that follows the death of a loved one. For me, the feeling would be a depressive state of loneliness. It would be hard for me to accept condolence from any one, let alone mingle with friends or family, it would be an all-consuming time of emotional blankness as well, where the pain is numbing. In the time of his helplessness, the unthinkable happens. His "grieving mother" remarries, and moves forward from this dark time of despair with no looking back. A teenage needs time to vent, to release their emotions before the get so heavy that they crush you. If there is never a time for grieving, or a time to release the anxiety, it only stores itself away for later use, ready to erupt at the first sign of further distress. This happens to Hamlet, his mother practically slaps him in the face, taking away his precious time of emotional uncertainty, and leaving him so angry that he shouldn't be able to properly control himself. I should weep for Hamlet because this situation is more than any teenager can bear, we are not at a level in which we can deal with daunting emotions, and we cannot form rational ways to react to situations as such.
Hamlet to me is every teenager that feels the immense pressures of life, and does not get the chance to resurface from drowning in emotional turmoil. He is not super human, and he does not have an over developed ability to deal with stress, so he should be given the chance to deal with things his way. The hard thing to think about is that Hamlet is not given that chance, he MUST move on, and he has to bury his emotions to put on a happy face for his mother. Hamlet is selfless in that sense, but inside, he struggles more than he lets any one see. This is what drives teenagers to the point of depression, the inability to release built up emotion, and the deprivation of some one to turn to. Hamlet experiences the unthinkable, and for me, what ever he chooses to do with that emotion is any bodies fault but his. We are not built to deal with emotions like that, and his behaviour is mitigated quite justly.

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