One could call the play Hamlet a coup of conscience this means that very few actions are made throughout the play, yet many, many plans are made in the main character, Hamlet‘s, brains After learning that his father was murdered by none other than his uncle, whom married his mother afterjust a few short months of his father’s death, Hamlet begins his very strange mental journey. ”Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to stiffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,” Hamlet is obviously very troubled by this situation Suicidal thoughts enter Hamlet’s mind giving him a (excuse my modern language) yolo/you only live once type of attitude, Hamlet is on the verge of wanting to die so he does not care about any actions he makes.
This being said, Hamlet understandably wants to kill his uncle and has no second thoughts about doing so, yet he cannot help but desire super fantastic revenge. The whole play is now building off of Hamlet‘s desire to make this big move, or this coups The issue here is that Hamlet never makes a move! He is so inside his head and can bring none of his thoughts to reality, meaning that he wants to kill Claudius, his uncle and the king, but he keeps putting it off for one reason or another. He has had ample opportunities to finish the job for instance when Hamlet finds the king praying. The king was in the perfect position and he did not notice Hamlet. However, Hamlet chooses not to kill the king then because this would mean that the king would go to heaven for he is repenting his sins.
This is not a wicked enough death for Hamlet, so he continues to add to this coup of conscience Interestingly enough, Hamlet is not the only character in this play who adds to this coup of conscience Though Hamlet is the worst case scenario when it comes to this coup of conscience, king Claudius also is a contributing factor in the play. He wants nothing more than to send Hamlet off to England and be rid of him. However, Hamlet knows that Claudius killed his father and has made it clear to Claudius that he knows. When actors come to the kingdom to perform and entertain, Hamlet assumes the role as director and edits a play to fit the situation at hand, He reorganizes the script so that the king poisons his brother in the same way that Claudius killed his brother.
127 our experts are availableright now
Hamlet wants to see the reaction of the king and queen as they watch the truth of what has happened in the kingdom, Chaos erupts when the king really has nothing to say about what has been seen. This is a sticky situation for the king, The king and Hamlet are really very good at faking a smile when they both know the truth of what is really going on “Thus conscience does make cowards of us allii.” This very famous line in Hamlet perfectly describes Hamlet’s thought process, Hamlet is adding to this coup of conscience, for if he can get the king to break what a fantastic revenge! Hamlet putting on the play is only adding to the pressure cooker, provoking, as if the kings conscience eating him up inside is not enough.
They are both strong characters though, and hold it together, though some may disagree for Hamlet seems to be having a mental breakdown throughout the play (it is argued that this is all apart of his plan and that he wants people to think he is going crazy, all the more adding to this coup of conscience). Hamlet keeps contributing to the coup of conscience by continuously making plans to kill the king yet never acting upon them, and the king is contributing to the coup of conscience by first making plans to send Hamlet to England, and then also making plans to kill Hamlet.
The definition of coup is a highly successful, unexpected stroke, act, or move; a clever action or accomplishment. To call Hamlet a coup of conscience is to say that there is a big plan being made in the conscience of characters, It is true, Hamlet makes plans to kill the king, the king makes plans to kill Hamlet, even Laertes, son of Polonius (advisor to the king) makes plans to kill Hamlet, and later the king, How interesting that at the end of the play people die left and right! It is said that thoughts are actions, and though in Hamlet they take quite a long while to kick off, the coup of conscience eventually does become and actual coup.
