Confusion as a Leading Motif in Act 2 of Shakespeare's Hamlet

Throughout Act Two of Shakespeare's Hamlet, ploys of intrigue and deception are developed into complex webs of lies and confusion. At the end of the Act, even the main character, Hamlet, is confused by the events that he himself put into play. However, in Hamlet's great soliloquy, readers experience the plethora of emotions running through Hamlet's head and begin to understand the path that he chooses for himself.

He begins to doubt the foundation of everything he believed for fear that he would find the "stamp of one defect" upon him that would lead to his downfall. Hamlet shows cunning to match that of his main adversary, Claudius, yet doubts the course of action he planned for himself.

After the conversation with the ghost that demanded to speak to him, Hamlet was overwhelmed with emotion and wanted to revenge his father. His immediate course of action was to take on a sense of insanity for reasons not yet revealed. However, at points in the play, readers are forced to wonder weather Hamlet is acting insane, or actually losing his sanity as a result of stressful recent events. At the start of the play, Hamlet put the blame of the events following his father's death on Queen Gertrude, his mother.

However, after the revelations he receives from the ghost, all of his ideas are reversed so that the blame of his father's death falls directly upon the newly crowned King Claudius. However, Hamlet realizes that "The spirit that I have seen May be a and the hath power T' assume a pleasing shape." Therefore, afraid of committing his fatal flaw, Hamlet develops a plan to test the conscious of Claudius to see if his revenge is justified. His original course of action, to make swift justice of Claudius is put into question as he second-guesses himself and reflects on all recent events.

The maelstrom of emotions within Hamlet best displays itself as he raves about his conflicting emotions. As he says, "Yet I, Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, And can say nothing-no, not for a king Upon whose property and most dear Life A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?" At this point, Hamlet is not sure what to make of himself. He wonders if needs to immediately avenge his father's death, or look into the actions that he so rashly ran into.

In the lines that follow, Shakespeare creates vast imagery by having Hamlet asks himself if there is anybody who will take action in the situation he is in, while all he does is curse and complain. It is obvious to the reader that at this point in the play, Hamlet is unsure of what to do, and what his true intentions really are.

However, by the end of the soliloquy, Hamlet makes some sense out of the confusion that had enveloped him. The apparent madness melts into a sense of understanding and intrigue. Hamlet finds a course of action to justify his plan, thereby freeing him of any doubt or guilt in the revenge of his father's death. This plan leaves Hamlet with hope that he has not failed his father, or himself by acting hastily. Although he is still visibly distraught by recent events, his soliloquy allows him to understand and examine all of the evidence that is in front of him. His ultimate solution leaves him with hope for the future, and determination to keep pushing forward, regardless of his doubt.

In this moment of utter confusion, Shakespeare gives Hamlet enough reason to realize the predicament that he has fallen into, and take action. Knowing that Hamlet is a tragedy, readers understand that everything seems to finally be falling properly into place as Hamlet reasons out his problems, yet they know that he is ultimately doomed.

Shakespeare shows the reader that in these times of intense psychological pressure, people are forced to find their motivation in whatever is in front of them. For Hamlet, this motivation lies in the revenge of his father, but is always shadowed by the moral issue of committing a heinous crime in which the culprit is actually innocent of crimes charged against him. Therefore, one can reason that Hamlet's justification is merely an excuse for him to take action.