External Conflict In Hamlet

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Hamlet The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, which was often shortened to Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare sometime between the years of 1599 to 1602. It is known to be Shakespeare’s longest play and most recognizable work. In fact, one of the reasons it stands out above the rest is because it is considered a great tragedy; there is no happy ending for any of the characters in this play. The story follows the tragic hero, Hamlet on his quest for revenge against his father’s killer. Throughout the story, it is unclear whether or not Hamlet is actually insane or acting. What is clear is that Hamlet does eventually go mad because of all the struggles he is put through. Even though Hamlet is faced with multiple external struggles …show more content…
Claudius sends Hamlet to England, where people are waiting to kill him, however Hamlet continues to survive. After Hamlet accidently kills Laertes father Polonius for spying on him. Claudius sets up a rigged duel between Hamlet and Laertes, who wants to help kill Hamlet for killing his father. During the duel Hamlet quickly defeats Laertes, which angers him. This drives Laertes to cheat and cut Hamlet with the poisoned sword when he had his back to him, proving he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Hamlet in the duel. Only because of his lateness to act on his revenge does Hamlet get himself killed. If he would have acted sooner, maybe he would have saved him and his mother’s life. For Hamlet killing Claudius and getting his revenge was not physically a problem for him, it only became a problem when he was unable to act upon it because of his own self-doubt. As supported by Campbell “This internal conflict leads to a lot of the external conflicts that Hamlet has to face throughout the rest of the play. The internal and external conflicts are closely intertwined in this play”. When Hamlet had to deal with external conflicts he handles them very well. He often overcomes them quickly and with ease. They don’t seem to have as heavy of an impact on him mentally like the internal conflicts do. Once the problem is finished, he moves past instead of dwelling on them and letting them drive him mad. He is faced with less external issues, then internal however the ones he does face are very
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