Question

Write two to three sentences explaining what makes Hamlet a round character. Use at least one specific example from the text to support your claims.

Answer 1

Hamlet is a round character because Shakespeare gives him conflicting impulses, deep self-reflection, and observable change—he vacillates between moral hesitation, bitter cynicism, and sudden violence. For example, his famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be" (Act 3, Scene 1) reveals intense existential doubt and self-questioning, while his impulsive killing of Polonius (Act 3, Scene 4) and his cruel "Get thee to a nunnery" to Ophelia show contradictory actions that develop his complexity.