The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Over 400 years ago “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” was written by William Shakespeare. One of the most important parts of the play is Hamlet’s “Dram of Evil” speech. This is where he outlined the three types of “moles” a human might suffer from. The first is where the person has no control over their innate deficiency, the second is an imbalance in humours, and the third is where the person is overindulgent in behaviour, causing them to have a lack of virtue.

The first “mole” that a person can have is being born with an inherited or innate deficiency. Therefore these people are victims of fate and are not accountable for the bad acts that result from their disability. Ophelia was not born with a deficiency. The news of her father’s death causes her to become truly mad, and results in her suicide. When with the queen, she sings a song that tells the story of what is perceived to be about both her father, and Hamlet, who have both been removed from her life. “At his head a grass-green turf, at his heels a stone.” This refers to her father, and the grave that he is buried in. “Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes, and dupp’d the chamber-door; let in the maid, that out a made never departed more” This is now referring to Hamlet, and the possibility that he might have had a romantic encounter with her, and yet did not want to marry her, after taking away her virtuous quality. To the ear, it seems insane, the topics which she sings about, however it makes perfect sense. She exits the scene, but renters with different flowers in her hands, which represent characteristics, handing it out to the different people in the room, to remind them of their own traits. Ophelia’s madness adds to her downfall, because she is unaware of what is going on, and when she walks to the brook to hang her crown of flowers, she falls into the water, unaware of what is happening at first she sings, while her dress keeps floats in the water until “her garments, heavy with their drink, pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death.”

The second “mole, in which a person can suffer from is an imbalance in humours you are partially accountable for the evil, which occurs from this flaw. You may be held partially accountable, because you have some control over how you act, and can avoid situations which bring this imbalance. Hamlet seems to suffer from the mole, since he is very melancholic in nature. From the beginning, when he enters in Act 1 Scene 2, you see that his character is very distraught due to his father’s death, and shows it in his outward appearance. Unfortunately, he does not avoid situations that would make his imbalance worsen. His foil characters, Laertes and Forinbras, remind him of his inability to exact revenge, causing Hamlet to become even worse off. In his famous “To be, or not to be” speech, you see his struggle with death, and the “appeals” of, where as the unknown is what stops him, and all of us, from making that bold step. When he receives news of a possible ghost, he entertains the thought that it might be his father, returning to tell the “true reason” for his death. Hamlet has the players act out “The Murder of Gonzago” and the reaction of the King, shows that he did murder Ur Hamlet. At the end of the play, when