Sample Essay
Hamlet
Prompt: Some writers use violent external action to reveal and explore the complex personalities of their characters;
other writers, in attaining a similar goal, concern themselves more with inward psychological processes. Some
writers intertwine both in the creation of important characters.
Select a work of recognized literary merit, one in which the emphasis is both on external action and on mental
processes. Write a carefully organized essay showing how the protagonist is revealed and explored using both of
these methods.
Although William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been interpretted in many diverse ways throughout history, one
fact remains clear: Hamlet is as much a product of his psychological processes as external actions, and through his
dealings with both his character is developed.
For example, external events paint a portrait of Hamlet as being a thoughtful idealist. His action, or lack thereof,
towards avenging his father’s death shows that Hamlet is either unwilling or unable to fully comprehend or deal with the
Machievellian world in which he lives. Instead, Hamlet continues to indulge in self-centered introspection (discussed
later) and art (such as his love poetry to Ophelia and attention paid to small detail with the players). In the (roughly)
first half of the book, Hamlet’s lack of action portrays him weakly. The vulnerable prince is simply unable to come to
terms with the everyday deceit and treachery found in Elsinore.
But if his lack of action portrays Hamlet as weak in the first half of the tragedy, his abundance of it in the second
half paints a different picture. Suddenly, Hamlet engages in the very deceit he is a victim of, erroneously killing Polonius,
sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths, and even at one point raising his sword against the king. Hamlet
becomes willing to act toward achieving his ultimate goal of the killing of the king. He can be viewed no longer as the
weak, disillusioned idealist, but as the scheming warrior thirsty for blood.
Internally, Hamlet experiences much hardship over his seeming inability to avenge his father. The flurry of
action seen in the second half of the book is only the result of Hamlet being able to whip himself into a psychological
frenzy. “My thoughts be bloody or nothing more!” he says. His character is developed further through the use of
soliloquy, in which Hamlet makes his feelings known. He doesn’t know whom he can trust: his mother is the wife of his
father’s murderer, his uncle is responsible, and the entire court wishes only to please the king. His girlfriend and best
friends from college are all too willing to betray him and help the king. It is perhaps this lack of trust for anyone (except
perhaps Horatio) along with his shock about the cruel world in which he lives that best explains why Hamlet is unable to
take action. He is paralyzed by his melancholy attitude and cannot achieve his goals. Similarly, Hamlet’s insight toward
the end of his life is purely psychological. He is able to appreciate life, and even wishes that his could continue; this is a
stark contrast with his earlier morbid thoughts.
Ultimately, then, Hamlet must be considered both by his external actions and his mental processes. To view
only external actions would show Hamlet to be a madman who finally snaps in a homicidal rage; to view Hamlet purely
psychologically shows him to be only a very depressed, morbid man who overcomes his own self-doubt and finds a new
love for life during death. Instead, Hamlet is fully developed by both means, and only by both means can he be clearly
explored.