1. explain both the literal and symbolic meaning and importance of pouring poison in a person’s ear in hamlet.
2.what purpose do the soliloquies that hamlet delivers over the course of the play serve? what do readers and audience members learn about hamlet from what he says in these speeches?
3. in drama, a character’s tragic flaw is the character trait that leads directly to his or her downfall in the work. many critics and scholars argue that hamlet’s tragic flaw is his tendency toward inaction—his inability to act. do you agree? why or why not? cite specific examples from the text to support your response.

Start With Three

I don't agree. Consider all the things he is up against.

His mother has remarried, and Hamlet does not much like step father, but he also does not understand her position very well. It does not help that she is a little bit on the dense side, but she has a powerful survival instinct. She marries Claudius not because she loves him, but because he can protect her. I think he feels a male obligation to extend that protection, and that makes him hesitate on taking any action.

What about that ghost? That's an alarming occurrence. You have to remember that Hamlet (and the whole court in the play and the audience) were all Roman Catholic, and many key events depend on that fact. So where does that ghost come from? Heaven? H*ll? Purgatory? Limbo? Where? The truth of the matter is not clear to Hamlet. If the ghost comes from H*ll, its objective will be quite different than if it comes from any of the other 3 places. And Hamlet must know. He can't act without that question resolved. He must be on the side of good. The suggestion of revenge is even going a bit far.

He must be guided by the events he finds as they unfold.

Hamlet already has killed Polonius.  He accidentally kills him because he discovers Polonius hiding behind a curtain and thinking it was Claudius, he kills him. There is no hesitation. There's no inaction, but there is a mistake. Hamlet is determined to get it right the next time.

And that leads up to this instance. One more instance that I could cite. It is one of my favorite parts of the play, because the irony couldn't be any stronger. It is when Hamlet comes upon Claudius praying. Hamlet lets you in on his thinking. He can't kill Claudius now: Claudius is praying. He is in a state of Grace. That is the last thing that Hamlet wants, that is for Claudius to die in a state of grace (remember all that business about being Roman Catholic?), because then Claudius will go to heaven That can't happen.

So Hamlet can't act. Circumstances forbid it. Revenge is uppermost in Hamlet's mind. He is completely engulfed by it. He must wait. He must be patient. Another opportunity will come.  

Why do I disagree with what scholars say? I do this because they are looking and are guided by the ending where Hamlet finally must act, so everything up to this point looks like a  delay of action. They overlook the circumstances and the motive for acting which is a far stronger argument.

One

First of all, what is poured in Hamlet (Sr.)'s ear is not poison in the specific case.  That has a far different meaning than ordinary poison administered orally. The ear is always turned on. It is always able to listen. It can take in anything that is uttered. So when the King is poisoned in his ear, he will die and that was Claudius' objective. But symbolically the ear hears truth and lies as though they were uttered in the same way. They are indistinguishable as far as the ear is concerned. So all the lying and all the half truths and all the deception enters through the ear and Hamlet could be said to be a play about lies. In any event, the tone is set for the rest of the play with the symbolic method of poisoning.

Two

I think I should leave you with the the soliloquies. I will mention one and that is the one beginning "To Be or Not to Be." Here we find Hamlet overwhelmed by the circumstances that have happened so far. He is contemplating taking his own life. You have to understand that this is a remarkable stance for him to consider and it the best place those scholars have of claiming that Hamlet has a fatal flaw of inaction. I would point out that Hamlet is a teenager. The choices that he has would make anyone consider taking their own life. So Hamlet here is revealing how complex his world is and how depressing he's finding it. We could discover this information no other way.

If you get the chance to see the Academy Award Winning 1948 film of Hamlet staring Laurence Olivier, don't miss the opportunity. This speech is especially memorable. I remember when I first saw it (I was about 14 I think) this speech stuck to me like glue. Olivier is magnificent delivering it. He is outside on a castle balcony and the sea below him punctuates each line as he speaks it. I always come back to it when I think of this particular speech.  Olivier the director and Olivier the actor are inseparable.

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