Jache 1
Christopher Jache
5/2/2015
English 105
The Cleanse
In a Shakespearian tragedy, the audience witnesses the protagonist deal with a dilemma
and hardship. He makes decisions ul$mately resulting in a resolu$on rampant with death. The
resolution rights the wrongs made by the main character and other characters, as well, and is
the price which must be paid by the protagonist for his ‘aw in character. The protagonist must
feel loss and su(ering and realize he is in part responsible because of his character ‘aw for all
that has happened around him. Such is the case with the tragic protagonist in Shakespeare’s
Hamlet. Hamlet endures the death of his father, the unwanted and too sudden marriage of his
mother to his uncle, the damning responsibility to avenge his father’s killing, the loss of his love,
and the realiza$on of the dysfunc$on and dishonestly within his family and himself. A-er being
sent away to die, yet escaping his own death and returning home, Hamlet returns a man who
eventually understands, a-er an encounter at a graveyard, the reality of death and the necessity
of it in order to rid Denmark of the disease he now recognizes within himself and those around
him. In the resolution of the play, Act V, Hamlet’s original goal is met, but the cost to fulfill his
duty to avenge his father’s murder is great. By the end of Act V, all those who Hamlet believes
are a part of the sickness, as well as the woman he loves but wrongly abuses, and he are dead
and Denmark is cleansed and ready for the young For$nbras to rebuild it to its original
greatness.
Jache 2
Throughout the story, Hamlet faces many individuals who appear to be what they are
not. Hamlet is most disappointed with and disgusted by his mother, Gertrude, when she marries
the brother and supposed murderer of Hamlet’s slain father. Unable to deny nor withhold his
contempt for her, he shares his feelings of u5er disappointment when he tells her she is” the
queen, your husband’s brother’s wife; / and would it were not so! You are my mother” (3.4. 15-
16). As a result of his mother’s action, Hamlet’s view of women has been tainted. His
uncontrollable disgust and mistrust of his mother unfortunately transfers to his thoughts and
treatment of his love, Ophelia. Hamlet’s realiza$on that women, such as his mother, are
manipula$ve and evil is evident when he instructs Ophelia, “if thou wilt needs/ marry, marry a
fool; for wise men know well enough/ what monsters you make of them.”(3.1.39-41). Hamlet
has lost the ability to treat, not only Ophelia, but all women with respect. In A. C. Bradley’s
essay, “What Actually Happens In The Play,” the writer argues that Hamlet’s “whole mind is
poisoned. He can never see Ophelia in the same light again: she is a woman, and his mother is a
woman” (170). Hamlet’s rela$onship with his mother has, unfortunately for Ophelia and for
Hamlet, sprouted into resentment towards all women. It is all too late that he realizes how his
feelings for his mother have caused his words to ul$mately result in Ophelia’s death.
Feeling as if he has authority and holds an equal position within their ques$onable
rela$onship, Hamlet confronts his mother with all of the wrongs she has committed. Hamlet,
sickened by Gertrude’s action, cannot hold back his anger towards her and uses his words to
hurt and punish her. Hamlet accuses Gertrude of her inability to see the problems of her ways
unless being held up to a mirror (3.4.18-20). Hamlet believes his mother embodies all that is
wrong and unjust. Hamlet bluntly expresses his thoughts regarding his mother:
Jache 3
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes o( the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage vows
As false as dicers’ oaths—oh, such a deed
As from the body of contrac$on plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words. Heaven’s face doth glow
