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Post by maysamyounis on Feb 27, 2016 5:44:23 GMT
This week in cluncool we talk about Hamlet age, Although the text gives us that Hamlet is about 30 years old.How a 30-year-old man wouldn't act like he does during the play. So my question is, if Hamlet was really over 30 years old, how would he act differently? I think that he would've acted in a very straightforward manner without planning to act all crazy and dramatic. What's your thoughts? AND you think age is a matter of revenge. Do you think Hamlet act as teens age or crazy person because of his father murder?
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Post by jonah21 on Feb 28, 2016 5:15:38 GMT
I don't think it's right to be judgmental over what a 30 year old would or wouldn't do. Instead of going straight up and saying that "Hamlet can't be 30 because he acts this way", I rather feel sympathy towards Hamlet. When I was reading, I feel that Hamlet was just under a lot of stress. When stressed, sometimes people just don't know what to do. Some of the symptoms of stress are moodiness, short temper, and depression. Hamlet, to me, shows these symptoms and it could explain why he acted how he did. Sure it may be crazy to us, but to him, it's like releasing all that stress out.
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Post by christopher on Feb 28, 2016 11:01:48 GMT
I don't know how would Hamlet behave differently if he was over 30. Personality and characteristics would most likely continue to puncool on through age. So there is a possibility that Hamlet would act the same regardless of age. I agree with Jonah that Hamlet is a miserable character. He was under constant stress because he couldn't find the balance between his thoughts and action. It's still a mystery whether he was crazy or not, but Hamlet is indeed a tragic character.
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Post by andrewcho77 on Feb 28, 2016 12:03:45 GMT
Yeah, I agree with Christopher. Your personality and characteristics does not change over time and it's likely to continue in your age. No matter how old you get there will always be some similar personality between your 50 year old and 30 year old. Hamlet is also acting crazy because of his father death. He might of been crazy because of lot of stress or he is just crazy.
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Post by timmy on Feb 28, 2016 12:13:49 GMT
Some people do change over time, in fact. We just don't see much of it because majority of humans do not change that much, especially in personality. If Hamlet lived on to be older, without a significant event that changed his life, I think he would have acted the same way anyway.
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Post by Tharu on Feb 28, 2016 12:26:13 GMT
I agree with topher's idea, even though we consider Hamlet is over 30 years of age, and that doesn't mean he supposed to act differently since he is an adult. The way behave, whether we consider it is dumb or childish, or cunning, it's how Shakespeare wrote his character, which was probably a normal person in this age and in this era would behave. So we can't really judge his behavior.
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Post by graceyichen on Feb 28, 2016 12:42:04 GMT
I can't say what's the right way for a person a certain age to act...but I think it makes more sense that Hamlet is around 18~22 in the play. It's generally known that teenagers think a lot, get emotional a lot, worry a lot, and are really idealistic. Hamlet seems to be this way throughout the entire play. I agree with you that if Hamlet were older, he might not go through all this worrying and internal conflict, he would either kill Claudius right away, or not kill him at all.
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riyadh
Junior Member
Posts: 59 
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Post by riyadh on Feb 28, 2016 13:02:27 GMT
his age was 17 or something around that be he was older then 16 and he was teen ager too. and if he was alive those days his age is around 394 years .. hh
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Post by Jessica (Yeeun) Kim on Feb 28, 2016 13:08:36 GMT
I don’t think it is a good idea to judge Hamlet’s age because his revenge can be same regardless of age. Hamlet has strongly honored King Hamlet and he could not accept that King Hamlet was murdered by Claudius, who he believes the useless and weak person. His belief will not change although Hamlet is over 30 or not. Therefore, the age of Hamlet is not that important in this story.
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Post by anniee on Mar 5, 2016 14:50:17 GMT
As others before me have mentioned, I don't think setting a standard for what 30-year-olds should act like is a wise idea. Humanity is made up an infinite number of personalities, and each personality has different traits that allow them to act differently. At 30, one might already be the CEO of a new up-and-coming company, or still studying in school, or raising a family, or even living homeless on the streets. Based on guessing on your vision of a 30-year-old, Hamlet would have been one to instigate direct confrontation.
I also don't think age is a factor for wanting revenge. What matters more is the relationship with the person that got hurt. Hamlet looked up to his father as his role model as future king. King Hamlet was well-respected in the land, and he probably wanted to follow in his footsteps in making Denmark into a great nation. However, the circumstances of his father's death didn't make it seem like he died of natural causes, so I think he wanted revenge to destroying his dream of kingship.
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