A Darker Side of Our Soul Exposed in Hamlet Essay

A Darker Side of Our Soul Exposed in Hamlet We live in a curious age of, tabloids, talk shows, and TV sound bites that purvey a shocking type of tawdry news. These sources of scandal make a lucrative business out of outrageous headlines. But this is nothing new. Mankind has always had burning desire for uncovering secret truths--even in the time of Shakespeare. For as Polonius said, If circumstances lead me, I will find/Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed/Within the center (2.2.158-60). The implication is that we are somehow better off in knowing the furtive facts. But are we better off in knowing such things? Since the time of Shakespeare, human nature has remained fairly constant. With this in†¦show more content†¦Nevertheless, it is clear that Hamlets woes intensified from that moment. Was it not enough that he lost his father? Or worse still that his mother so quickly remarried his uncle? Was this ghostly disclosure even necessary? Eventually, would he not have suspected foul play of his own insightful intellect? Yes, and clearly he does! Do we not see inquisitive distrust in his statement, I am too much in the sun (1.2.67). That is to say, Hamlet was not so much in the dark as the king supposed. This was a pointed retort sallied directly at the king, which declared that Hamlet was not so easily fooled. Nevertheless, there is a huge difference between suspicion and knowledge. The murdered King reveals to Hamlet that a virulent poison was put into his ear, and that it was Hamlets murderous uncle who was responsible for this. Yet, in revealing this to his son, the fallen king infects Hamlets ear with a virulent poison as well. This secreted knowledge acts like a contagious virus that rapidly multiplies into a profusion of a self-destructive cognitive dissonance. This analogy is significant, for this infected thinking is the beginning of the end of Prince Hamlet. This one piece of divination could not satisfy him. As often is the case, one infectious piece of evil elicits an intense addiction for more. This hellish truth taints Hamlets troubled mind and provokes himShow MoreRelatedOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagestheory. I strongly recommend it to anyone seriously interested in the different intellectual traditions that contribute to our understanding of organizations. Professor Tomas Mà ¼llern, Jà ¶nkà ¶ping International Business School, Sweden . McAuley, Duberley and Johnson’s Organizational Theory takes you on a joyful ride through the developments of one of the great enigmas of our time – How should we understand the organization? Jan Ole Similà ¤, Assistant Professor, Nord-Trà ¸ndelag University College