A list of Hamlet's external conflicts is relatively easy
to generate. He has conflicts of some sort with nearly every character on the list
except his good friend, Horatio. The internal conflicts are a bit more complex and
subtle.
Here is quick list of what is creating his conflict
with each of the characters. You can find quotes to illustrate the conflict by
reviewing the scenes where those characters interact with
Hamlet.
- Claudius -- the man who killed Hamlet's
father and very quickly married his mother, making his uncle his father. Hamlet is very
disgusted by the marriage and finding out the truth of the murder from the ghost makes
them mortal enemies. - Gertrude -- his mother's quick
remarriage to Hamlet's uncle is appalling to Hamlet's sense of morality and dignity. He
eventually confronts her with what he perceives to be all her wrongdoings at the end of
Act 3. - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern -- his supposed
childhood friends who are only at court at the request of the King and are actually
serving as spies for Claudius. Even when they are confronted about their motives, they
lie to Hamlet. - Polonius -- courtier to King Claudius and
father to Ophelia, he is always trying to spy on Hamlet and he has so little faith in
Hamlet that he commands his daughter to break things off with
Hamlet. - Ophelia -- the girlfriend of Hamlet who breaks up
with him because her father tells her to. Later she seems to betray Hamlet by lying to
him about where her father is when Hamlet suspects that he is actually spying on their
conversation. - King Hamlet -- his arrival as a ghost who
then tells the story of how Claudius murdered him is both awful and dangerous. Hamlet
knows that ghosts may only be the devil in the disguise of a loved one who is trying to
damn his soul, so he must prove that the ghost is telling the truth.
- Laertes -- after Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius,
Laertes' father, Laertes is out for vengeance and plots together with Claudius to bring
about the death of Hamlet in a fixed sword
fight.
As for his internal
conflicts:
- Hamlet is torn between thoughts of
suicide and God's commands against such an act. - Hamlet
wants to fulfill his father's command for justice yet has a hard time acting swiftly
because he feels he must have proof. - Hamlet is torn
between thinking and action. The "To be or not be soliloquy" is essential to this
point, but it is a theme that runs throughout the
play. - Hamlet wants to think he can control everything in
his life, but comes to realize that all he really do is be ready -- "the readiness is
all."
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