Hamlet

            
             Among the works of William Shakespeare, Hamlet stands out as a paradigm of .
             human fault through the focus on the inability to control human emotion. The power of love can be healing but can also be used as a sense of noble revenge. The love of hate also dissolves family lines and leads to incestuous fornication. Throughout the play Shakespeare also demonstrates the fragility of women and characteristics of women are often used as derogatory remarks regarding men. The criticism of Hamlet encompasses the degradation of the human soul while reflecting several themes of religion and poetic justice.
             Religion pervades all aspects of Hamlet. The protagonist of this epic hypothesizes "that the Ghost is indeed the Devil."" (Klein) Hamlet begins his seemingly fruitless revenge attempt at an incarnation's request. Hamlet loved his father which becomes increasingly evident throughout the play. He follows Christian tradition which says honor thy father. The apparition comes to him as the person he valued most in life and therefore makes his vengeance and act of God himself. His divination gives him the power to enact his retribution but he still lacks the ambition to complete the task at hand. It is ironic that in the end his lethargy causes a circumvolution and his role is reversed from being the methodic predator to the victim of several murder ploys on his uncle-father's behest. Emotions "provoke him- to commit the murder of Polonius, but he "so little trusts emotion- that he hesitates in his actions to avenge his father (Levy). His inability to control his emotions and paradoxically his lack of will to allow his emotions to control him culminates when the newly maladjusted Laertes exacts his revenge at the climax of the play. Poetic justice is served amongst all the players involved with Hamlet including his incestuous mother.
             Many critics note the Oedipal conflicts within the verse of Hamlet. Again Hamlet's conflict of "medieval chivalry- (Blits) and the Christian belief system becomes apparent as "he censures both Gertrude and Claudius for improper surrender to the passions of concupiscence.