Hamlet

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist exhibits a puzzling, duplicitous nature. Hamlet contradicts himself throughout the play. He endorses both the virtues of acting a role and that of being true to one's self. He further supports both of these conflicting endorsements with his actions. This ambiguity is demonstrated by his alleged madness for he does behave madly. Hamlet becomes perfectly calm and rational in all scenes where he is allegedly mad. However, Hamlet’s inconsistencies are related with the internal dilemmas he faces. He struggles with the issue of revenging his father's death by vowing to kill Claudius and questioning the Ghost’s word. Upon this point Hamlet stammers throughout the play. The reason for his indecisiveness is directly related to his inability to form a solid opinion about role-playing.
In the first act, Hamlet appears to be very straightforward in his actions and inner state. When questioned by Gertrude about his melancholy appeara...