Conflict+is+essential+to+drama.+Show+that+Hamlet+presents+both+an+outward+and+inward+conflict.

Conflict is essential to drama. Show that hamlet presents both an outward and inward conflict.



 * Examples of Conflict, With appropriate support.**

1) The first and most obvious conflict of the character of hamlet is his contemplation of suicide. This is an example of inward conflict in Hamlet. Hamlet has recently lost his father to death and his mother to his uncle Claudius. He learns that his father was murdered and by his own brother no less. He's learned of his fathers demise from his fathers ghost! Now he is obligated to take revenge on Claudius... and the list goes on. Obviously Hamlet has an extreme ammount of food on his plate of moral dilemma and he contemplates suicide because he does not want to deal with it. (His //contemplation// makes this inward conflict.)

Supporting Quote: "To be, or not to be, that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them" - AIIIsi lines 63-67, Hamlet

On this opposite side of this conflict is the fear of the afterlife. Hamlet speaks of man as mules willing to bear the burden of the misfortunes of life for fear of what is to come, for fear of the unknown! To Hamlet this is what keeps him from taking his life.

Supporting Quote: "Who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns, puzzles, the will, and make us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of" - AIIIsi lines 83-89, Hamlet

2) Another example of conflict in the character of hamlet is his exacting revenge upon his mother for marrying Claudius so soon after his fathers death, dismissing the man that had been her husband in a mere two months. The Ghost of his father had bid Hamlet to Leave his mother to her own conscience, claiming that the inner turmoil she would endure would be revenge enough. This is inner conflict

Supporting Quote: "Leave her to heaven, and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her." AIsv lines 91-93, Hamlet

Hamlet does not feel that the passive revenge by way of his mothers conscience is effective enough or suiting to her offense, so he takes matters into his own hands and confronts his mother, this also making this an outward sign of conflict.

Supporting Quote: "Come, come, and sit you down, you shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass Where you may see the inmost part of you." AIIIsiv lines 20-22, Hamlet

Notes, Spark. "SparkNotes: Hamlet." __SparkNotes__. SparkNotes. 23 Feb 2007 <[|http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/section15.rhtml>.] Shakespeare, William. __Hamlet__. First. New York: Signet Classics, 1998. Doc, Slash. "how does shakespeare use conflict in Hamlet as a way of exploring ideas?"May 12, 2004 07:45 AM.<[|http://www.slashdoc.com/documents/83740>.]
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