Essay, Research Paper: Hamlet Criticism

In Hamlet ; Literary Remains, Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes Hamlet as an intricate planner who s thought process is slow and methodical. He describes Hamlet as someone having Supercilious activities of the mind, which, unseated from its healthy relation, is constantly occupied with the world within, and abstracted from the world without throwing a mist over all common-place actualities. Cooleridge is explaining the fact that Hamlet seems to always be in his own fantasy world when it comes to thinking about things that are going on in his life. Hamlet appears to be very caught up in his own thoughts that he doesn t have the time or ability to carry out his plans efficiently and effectively. Cooleridge contrasts Shakespeare s use of a tragedy in Hamlet to the play MacBeth. Cooleridge shows that Hamlet proceeds in his schemes with the utmost slowness, while MacBeth has a pace that is crowded and moves with breathless rapididty. These two plays with themes of Greed and Revenge are both rooted in the same systems of belief but are carried out in totally different directions. Cooleridge goes on to say that perfection is usually only found in one s mind and is rare if impossible to find in reality. This is again shown through the fact that Hamlet s planning seems to take a backseat to luck and fate as the others end up dying from the poison, which they had planned to use against Hamlet. Cooleridge also stresses the inconsistency of Hamlet and his plans for revenge throughout the play. One minute the audience believes that he cares greatly for Ophelia, and the next minute we see him showing a sort of disrespect for her at her funeral. Overall, though, Cooleridge shows the flaws of Hamlet and how the play differs from other forms of Tragedy. This essay, however, also stresses the uniqueness of the play through the intriguing character of Hamlet, and that is what separates it from the other plays of its genre.