The Bold and Courageous Hamlet Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The young Prince Hamlet is the protagonist of the play and is portrayed as a very emotional soul, a bold and courageous character with a violent temper. Hamlet is a very emotional young man struggling to deal with the death of his beloved father. not only my inky cloak, good mother, / nor the customary robes of solemn black, nor windy gasps of forced breathing, / No, nor the fruitful river in the eyes, nor the dejected attitude of the face, / together with all the shapes and moods, shapes of pain, that can truly denote me. For these seem to be, / for they are actions which a man might perform; but I have that within which the spectacle passes, / these are but the ornaments and garments of pain (Ii82-91). He lets it be known that no matter how grief-stricken he might appear on the outside, his appearance cannot hold a candle to how miserable he feels on the inside. Claudius, speaking as one who is incapable of reaching the depth of Hamlet's emotions, states that Hamlet is taking his mourning over his father's death to extremes: Commit these mourning duties to your father; /But you must know, your father has lost a father;/ That father has lost, he has lost his, and the survivor is bound/ in filial obligation for a time to obsequious grief (I.ii.94-98). The king tells Hamlet that death is part of the natural order of things and should overcome it. In his mental state, Hamlet is very troubled by the fact that his mother does not share his sense of pain and loss. Once he learns of the murder, he berates himself for not stepping forward and avenging his father's death. Hamlet wonders, “How am I then, /That I have father slain, mother stained” (IV.iv.58-59). He wonders what kind of person he is if he can allow his father to be murdered and his mother married to his uncle so soon after his father's death. He got married. Oh, treacherous speed, to dispatch/ with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!/ It is not, nor can it come to fruition./ But break my heart, for I must bridle my tongue (I.ii.162-165)!Hamlet believes that the marriage is not good, nor can this marriage between Claudius and Gertrude lead to anything good.