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Aimee Caine
Explore Shakespeare’s use of conflict in Hamlet
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Conflict is a main theme that is present throughout the
entire play, although the theme of conflict takes on many forms such as
emotional, external and internal conflict
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The most obvious and perhaps the most important conflict of the play is
the physical conflict between Hamlet and King Claudius
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The central conflict between Hamlet and Claudius initially begins
as an internal conflict yet gradually develops into an external and physical
conflict as the play progresses
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The idea of revenge and a
conflict with Claudius is introduced by the ghost at the end of Act 1, and in
Hamlet’s second soliloquy he describes his uncle Claudius as a “smiling
damned villain” and swears to remember and obey the Ghost’s wishes;
however here the conflict is just an idea
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By Hamlet’s last soliloquy he comes to the
realisation that everyone has a purpose to fulfil and that this conflict with
Claudius is his
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This soliloquy is a
pivotal moment for Hamlet as it is the moment where he stops fantasizing
about the conflict and revenge and starts acting on his thought as he vows
“from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!”
However, this infamous conflict only takes place at the very end of the
play; romantic critic Samuel Coleridge argues that this is because Hamlet
is a man “whose intellectual energy and alertness understandably made
action impossible”
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Claudius wishes to have Laertes kill Hamlet for him and so Claudius
flatters Laertes
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This central conflict is a physical display
of pure hatred that ultimately results in not only the loss of their own lives,
but also many of those around them
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This was
especially true for Elizabethan audiences as it is said that they enjoyed
and responded particularly well to violence
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Additionally, Shakespeare explores the theme of conflict through an
emotional battle between various characters
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Although
she is clearly in love with Hamlet, her brother and father both command
her to have nothing to do with him
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Essentially, Polonius makes Ophelia powerless over her body, her
relationships and even her own speech and views as she has no choice
but to “obey” her father
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Likewise, Hamlet experiences an
emotional conflict with his feelings towards his mother being unclear
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” However, although he resents his mother for moving on from his
father so quickly he knows that she is not the true object of his aggression
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Therefore, her marriage to Claudius was not necessarily out
of spite on her behalf, but more of convenience
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” Hence Shakespeare explores conflict through the emotional
struggle of his characters in deciding what is moral and correct
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Hamlet’s indecision can be seen as his hamartia as he
fails to act on his revenge due to conflictions over his orders from the
Ghost and his dedication to the Christian religion
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However, at the start of the play
Hamlet is inherently suicidal as he thinks that death may “end the
heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”
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In Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy he asks the philosophical question of “to be or
not to be” to express his inner conflict between carrying out his revenge on
Claudius and risking being killed, or religion and beliefs
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The deliberation between life and death, coupled with Hamlet’s
indecisiveness and procrastination contributes to his internal struggle and
makes the revenge even harder to act on
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Hazitt describes Hamlet as a “prince of philosophical
spectaculars” as most of the conflict in the play happens within Hamlet’s
philosophical mind
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Ultimately, without Hamlet’s internal conflict and struggle, the final external
conflict would be far less powerful
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Overall, Hamlet’s internal conflicts lead to
many external conflicts and so they are closely intertwined

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