What was Hamlet's internal conflict?

Answer 1

Hamlet's father was king of Denmark before he died. Hamlet's uncle Claudius stepped in and married Hamlet's mother and became the De facto king, cutting out Hamlets rightful ascension to the throne. Hamlet had plenty of reason and motive to want Claudius dead, but to make things worse the ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and informs him that it was Claudius who killed the king. Even though Hamlet is brought to see the ghost by his friend Horatio and two others who have also seen the ghost, it is, after all, a ghost story and Hamlet is rightfully wary of the information he received from a ghost. Swearing his friends to secrecy, he sets about investigating the truth in an attempt to prove his fathers murder before granting the command of his fathers ghost to exact revenge. Hamlet wants Claudius dead but wants him dead for the right reason and not blind ambition. He must feign madness and create distance between the ones he loves in order to accomplish his goals and increasingly his inability to make a decision and act upon it brings about intrigue and murder, and more murder, ending in a tragic blood bath where few survive. Hamlet could not decide whether it was right and just to kill Claudius and this indecision cost him the loss of the woman he loved, the loss of her father, the loss of her cousin, the loss of Hamlets mother and finally after discovering that he himself is dying from a poisoned tipped sword and that it was Claudius who commanded Tybalt to poison the sword Hamlet kills Claudius. People will say that Hamlet killed Claudius because his father the ghost told him to, but in truth, Hamlet killed Claudius with his last dying breath because it was Claudius that killed Hamlet. Sometimes it is better to make the wrong decision than make no decision at all.

Answer 2

The following answers are spoilers so I would suggest watching a movie version or reading the play before looking!

Hamlet's problems change as the play goes on. From the beginning of the play to the end of Act 3, he has these problems:

1. The ghost of his father wants him to kill his uncle.
2. Unfortunately his uncle is the king, and will be difficult to kill.
3. His uncle is suspicious of him and has engaged everyone he cares about as a spy.
4. His girlfriend Ophelia is one of them.
5. He isn't sure he can trust his mother, because she is married to his uncle.
6. He isn't sure whether to trust the ghost either.
7. His uncle won't let him just walk away from it all.

At the end of Act 3 he kills the king's advisor Polonius. This adds more problems:

1. The king becomes even more hostile.
2. As a result he decides to send Hamlet out of the country, but not to where Hamlet wants to go.
3. Since Polonius is Ophelia's father, there goes Hamlet's love life down the tube.
4. Ophelia's brother now wants revenge against him.

Answer 3

Her main problem is: "Go with dad, or go with the boyfriend?" Dad wants her to dump Hamlet in Act 1, then in Act 3 he wants her to spy on him (after trying to dump him). Neither of these behaviours is calculated to make Hamlet like her.

It's not much of a dilemma for her, since she does exactly what her father tells her, then is confused by Hamlet's rude and downright obscene behaviour to her in the nunnery scene and at the play.

Poor girl, she's not overbright and she's into something way over her head.

Answer 4

Hamlet makes a number of resolutions over the course of the play. But it seems that he can only act on the spur of the moment, whether in killing Polonius, fighting the pirates, altering the orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern carried or finally killing his uncle. When he tries to plan things out and make resolutions about them, nothing seems to happen much.

Answer 5

Answerto be or not to be The verb to be in this case means to live. Hamlet struggles with the question of living or dying by suicide.

Answer 6

Hamlet is famously unable to make decisions about anything.

In the famous soliloquy beginning "To be, or not to be" he is trying to decide whether or not to kill himself.

Answer 7

Hamlet is contemplating suicide. He is deciding whether he should kill himself, "not to be", or to live, "to be". He doesn't kill himself because it would be a sin.