The self is a very difficult subject to describe favorably. It is essentially understood through a collective experience rather than a concrete definition. Society refers to each person's "personal identity" as what makes each person the person they are, what makes each individual different from others. Hamlet, William Shakespeare's tragic play, features a variety of characters struggling to define their inner selves. The play's protagonist, Hamlet himself, is a character whose actions and inactions are motivated by his struggle to define himself within the dichotomy between inner and outer identity. The question of "who is there", a question initially posed externally from one character to another, is the question Hamlet asks himself throughout the play, and Hamlet's thoughts and actions are windows into this state of mind. Hamlet is a character threatened by this question and by the dichotomy of the definition of identity between the outer man, which is the man who is a cultural subject, and the inner man, who is consciousness. Over the course of the play, Hamlet is at war to find meaning in these dual concepts of identity, but Hamlet's thoughts, words, and actions, in opposition to himself and the other characters, show that for Hamlet , the reality of identity resides within the individual, and that at the end of the play, when he declares: “It is I, / Hamlet the Dane!” ", it ultimately reinforces the philosophical assertion that identity exists in consciousness and in the self. Personal identity, particularly Hamlet's conversation with his father's ghost, the implications of Hamlet's madness, and Hamlet's final fights with Laertes near Ophelia's grave, show the progression of Hamlet's mentality over personal identity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay The opening lines of Hamlet, “stand up and unfold,” immediately open up the theme of identity in the text. The question of internal or external identity is made complex by the very nature of the problem because, in this context, identity is not simple, but polarized. In other words, it compromises an overall concept whose two contradictory aspects are the public and the private, or what the character Claudius calls the “outer” and the “inner man.” To address this question in Hamlet and answer the question of identity at a fundamental level, the connection and dichotomy of the inner and outer dimensions of identity must first be determined. The 17th century philosopher John Locke, in his philosophical work "An Essay on Human Understanding", gives an argument for inner identity, stating: "Consciousness creates personal identity...For since conscience always accompanies thought, and that it is this which makes each person what he calls himself, and thus distinguishes himself from all other thinking things, is in this alone personal identity, that is to say the identity of a rational being: and as much as this consciousness can be extended back to any past action or thought, it reaches the identity of that person; it is the same me now as then…” In this statement, Locke says that identity does not exist only in consciousness, wherever it can exist, but that it consists entirely in consciousness. Contemporary philosophy professor Elizabeth Wolgast, in her philosophical article "Personal Identity: Many Criteria," explains many of the ways society defines the self, from practical to idealistic criteria, and states: "Each of us is an individualspecial and lasting. person. We change in many ways over time… but our identity remains the same… a center that houses that which is most intimately involved in one's conscious life. In this statement, Wolgast makes a similar point to Locke's, that although one changes in many ways over time, identity remains constant within oneself. In contrast to these points of view, English theorists Jeffrey T. Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux, in the chapter on "subjectivity" of their analytical theory-based textbook The Theory Toolbox, discuss the dichotomy between “self” and the “subject”, as identity factions. , stating: “We tend to view the “self” as that which is primary, untouched by cultural influences. We like to believe that our identity is the essence of our unique individuality: the intrinsic, singular qualities that define us as who we are... understanding "self" as an internally generated phenomenon, a notion of personality based on the particular (but strangely abstract) that make us who we are. On the other hand, the subject is an externally generated concept, an effect, an understanding of personality based on the social laws or codes to which we are obliged to respond…always understood with reference to pre-existing social conditions and categories. This statement provides a counter argument to that of Locke and Wolgast, that humans are cultural subjects and the product is identity. Thus, through these three points of view, I posed the conflicting question of external and internal identity. In Hamlet, the plot focuses on Prince Hamlet's struggle to keep his promise to his deceased father, to take revenge on his uncle and thus claim his destiny, or decide which destiny he will choose, or determine whether or not he has a destiny. The first major clue to Hamlet's identity crisis appears in the scene where Hamlet encounters his father's ghost, thus raising the question of identity for the rest of the play. In the darkness, the ghost speaks to Hamlet, claiming to be the spirit of Hamlet's father, calling on Hamlet to avenge his death. The ghost's story confirms Hamlet's fears about his murderous uncle, and when dawn breaks, the ghost disappears, and Hamlet, intensely moved by the daring reality of the situation, vows to remember and obey the ghost. As he leaves with Marcellus and Horatio, Hamlet laments the responsibility that now falls to him: “Time is disordered: O cursed spite / That never was I born to remedy it! ". Hamlet's identity is instantly affected by the newly imposed responsibility he bears, and this is evident through the statement "that I was born to remedy it" which represents Hamlet's claim to his identity as it was presented to him externally. The ghost's request to Hamlet for revenge on Claudius, and Hamlet's subsequent reaction, constitutes the crucial event of Act I and sets in motion the main plot of the play while defining the question of personal identity of Hamlet, because his mission to kill his uncle has made him a cultural subject, a product of external forces, as he attempts to reconcile this image of himself with his inner identity. The relationship between appearance and reality, or between outer and inner identity, is of crucial importance when examining one of the central tensions. in Hamlet's identity conflict: his madness. Hamlet's inability to derive morality from the act of vengeance he has been asked to perform leads him to the idea of ​​feigning madness, which becomes his primary mode of interaction with others for the most part. of the following three acts, and constitutes a tactic.