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  • Essay / The Isuue of Honor Shakespeare's Hamlet

    In the fourth act of Shakespeare's Hamlet, many lines are filled with character development, plot, and themes. But more importantly, this act was sophisticatedly written to develop the theme of honor, revenge and justice and foreshadows the disastrous ending of the play. A phrase which is of great importance and above all of great relevance is uttered by Hamlet during a soliloquy: “Rightly to be great / It is not to stir without great argument / But greatly to find quarrel in a straw / When honor is at stake." These few lines spoken by Hamlet are extremely relevant to the heart of the play and this soliloquy because they show a change in his attitude and lead the reader to question his mental stability after his horrible action of murdering Polonius. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay Hamlet's change in attitude and character shows how he was once a person who feared expressing his thoughts and was very quiet while keeping his emotions to himself. This quote describes his character development as it shows Hamlet becoming very harsh and shows his attitude towards others as he tries to justify his murder and says he doesn't need a big argument or of a reason to fight and murder even though he is an extraordinary and honorable man. Furthermore, the expression of a quarrel in a straw shows that fighting can be justified and for honor, no matter how small and insignificant it may be. Hamlet's false beliefs and his childish mindset seeking vengeance and honor further lead him to believe that his family is not honorable and will only be so after Claudius's murder. These lines show how Hamlet goes through a transitional phase and goes from being a depressed, grieving son to an irrational man seeking honor and revenge that could hypothetically lead to justice in his mind. Although Hamlet is considered auspicious in archiving his goal of killing Claudius in the fencing match, he fails to preserve his honor as in the process of killing Claudius; the entire royal family is also killed. In the process of recovering honor and seeking justice, Hamlet convolutes the concepts of honor, justice, and revenge. The change in his attitude and thought process leads to a disastrous ending in the play which is further amplified by Hamlet's convoluted definition of honor and justice..