Hamlet by William Shakesphere

<< In the play Hamlet by William Shakesphere, the main character, Hamlet, has a high level of intelligence. In Denmark, Hamlet is the son of the king who had recently passed away, and the queen who betrayed her husband to marry Hamlet's uncle soon after his death. Hamlet is hurt and uproared by his mother's betrayal and his uncle's rise to become king. He has an extraordinary understanding and comprehension of others and himself.

Hamlet understands himself and uses this as a strength for his revenge. He feels very strongly about his father's murder and hopes to seek a confession from King Claudius. "i'll wipe away all trivial fond records, all saw books, all forms, all pressures past that youth and observation copied there" <act one, scene five> this is when hamlet becomes determined to carry out the revenge after he speaks to the ghost. He shows strong signs of a studious nature and plans to carry them out against claudius. which he does, but not by blantent confrontation. He's wise enough to know claudius would never admit his sin that "is rank, it smeels to heaven", so he divises the mousetrap play. This plan shows he thinks straight but will not act too quickly on this. He gives this plan great thought and makes careful decisions. Hamlet's understanding of others helps discover the murderer of his father. His quick instincts tell him that the childhood friends Claudius wanted him to reunite with were spies. By asking them simple questions, Hamlet found Rosencrantz and Guildenstein weren't who they said they were. They seemed flustered and couldn't answer obvious questions. Hamlet's knowledge proved they were only spies. Also, Hamlet's smart decision to act crazy would take Denmark's attention and keep it on himself.

In conclusion, Hamlet's intelligence is shown to benefit him greatly. His plans and discoveries were all due to his knowledge of himself and the other people of Denmark. >>