Act 1: Hamlet

As I was assigned Hamlet, the main character of the play (and the name of it as well), we see a lot of him through out the first scene and start to see the character he is.

After hearing about his fathers death and the marrying of his mother and his fathers brother, Claudius, Hamlet returns home from college for his fathers funeral and the celebration of knighting Claudius the new king. During Claudius speech to the people of Denmark, Hamlet is off to the side and Shakespeare's first lines for Hamlet are in the format of aside as he describes Claudius in the middle of his speech, by saying:

"A little more then kin and less than kind" (1.2.67)

This is the first time we are introduced to Hamlet, and I think this really sets the stage for the whole play. Like anybody Hamlet is suspecting foul play between Claudius and his mother concerning the death of his father. He obviously is bitter and is not a fan of Claudius. This line is a very nasty line, one that would only be used with anger and with absolute certainty. At this point we know very little about Hamlet, but this first line sets up his character to be a very dubious and angered character filled with a lot of ambiguity that he wants to explore. This also sets the stage for the relationship (or lack of one) between him and Claudius, one that will not be positive.

Right after Claudius and his mother talk to him about being a man, forgetting about his father's death, and staying in Denmark as he is the next inline for the throne, Hamlet has a great rant about his mother further showing the anger and ambiguity he has towards the whole situation that is currently in front of him:

"(O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer!)" (1.2.154-155)

Hamlet is confused and angered by the fact that his mother has been so fast to stop mourning and marrying her deceased husbands brother 2 months after his death. He refers to his mother here as worse then a beast in this line, even though this might be out of anger of the moment this is showing a lot about Hamlet and his character. He is confused to the point where he is asking for gods help, as I see him as someone who is asking for a devine intervention at this point. His relationship with his mother is obviously hurting now, as he his putting her below a beast. The anger and ambiguity mentioned before continues here.

After hearing about Marcellus and Horatio seeing the ghost of his dead father the night before they invite Hamlet to go out tonight to see if the ghost will come back. Hamlet agrees to go with the two of them, and the ghost of Hamlet does come back. After Horatio and Marcellus encourage Hamlet to stop pursuing the ghost, he does not and the ghost tells Hamlet the story of his death. He tells Hamlet that his brother and now king, Claudius, killed him and wants his son to get revenge on Claudius, as he is not able to. Hamlet responds by saying this:

"So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.It is 'Adieu, adieu. Remember me'. I have sworn ’t." (1.5.117-119) 

Here we see that Hamlet will take on the ghosts orders and take revenge on Claudius for his father. This shows the utmost loyalty from Hamlet to his father. Hamlet has taken this event very personally, and will remember his father and never let his memory die. This exchange truly reveals another trait of Hamlet, the loyalty he has towards his father.