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Ricky Lison
Ap English
Mrs Rolfs
April

Changing of the Mind

The fight against the society one knows well is a popular theme among literature, yet
these pieces of literature do not focus on the setting, but rather the characters. Montag and
Hamlet are prime examples of this emphasis on development within one's mind. Each one
struggles to define themselves while their friends and family who turn against them. Montag and
Hamlet face the worlds in which they live with little to no assistance and each of them stands
against all else in their own ways that tie the two together and shape them into the uniqueness
they are.
Trouble stirs in the kingdom of denmark as Hamlet's father, the king of Denmark, has
been slain in cold blood. Hamlet is driven into a state of madness by all people around him
Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take
arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them (II.ii.65-70) so mad in fact that he is
driven to the point of contemplating suicide, the loss of his father pushes him to believe his own
life might not be worth the troubles. Montag does not contemplate death, but rather, seems to
fear death and all things it entails You can come with me (Bradbury 36) hear, Montag begs a
woman who is about to let herself burn in a fire to come with him as he is afraid of seeing this
innocent being be put to death.
Hamlet is driven to madness by death, but instead of fearing death, he embraces it.
Hamlet wishes to show those that have conspired against him and his father death and shows no
remorse for them, nor does he show any hint that he believes in the value of life if it is not his

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fathers, not even his own. Montag fears the idea of death even when his society teaches him to
see it as a normal occasion, it is nothing to them, death is not deserving of any notice for the
people are nothing to each other. All characters in the dystopian society of Fahrenheit 451 are
taught to live life without noticing one another another human's life is meaningless and as much
contact as possible must be avoided in order to maintain their Utopia. Montag becomes friends
with a girl who also challenges the society, friends is not something usually seen to them, at first
Montag is scared that he will be punished for the social interaction, but learns to love and
embrace the kindness of another human. Soon after encountering this young woman Montag
discovers she has been killed, and he finds out four days after she has been killed due to the fact
that no one in their community cared that she had died Run over by a car. Four days ago. Im
not sure, But I think shes Dead I forgot all about it. (Bradbury 44-45). Montags wife is the
one who informed him about the woman's death, and forgot to tell him until four days after the
death had happened, Montag's own wife does not even care about how he would feel about the
woman's passing, just that she herself does not worry.
While Hamlet does not live in a dystopia like Montag, Denmark begins to feel like one to
him. With the world changing so suddenly Hamlet is not driven to madness, but rather, he is
unable to adapt to these changes, especially when one of the many changes is his mother
marrying his father's murderer. Hamlet's life becomes a dystopia as he becomes Mad as all his
friends, loved ones, and minor acquaintances begin to corner him into a hole in which he cannot
escape, leaving Hamlet with one option, Madness. Hamlet's madness is driven by the disgust
he feels for his uncle and aunt mother who have wed recently after Hamlets fathers death.
Changes crawl up Hamlets spine and twist him left and right as he attempts to adjust to this new
Denmark that seems to despise his every being, all of Denmarks citizens appear to be turning on

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Hamlet while the only solace he finds is within his fathers ghost. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil, and the devil hath power T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, Out of
my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn
me. (II.ii.627-632) This solace that Hamlet finds in the ghost is not nearly enough to bring his
mind to a sensibill state, so Hamlet chooses that he shall go mad.
Montag finds himself in a similar situation, instead of pretending to go mad however,
Montag pretends to be clueless to many friends. Montag realizes his society is not the
perfection that all citizens within it praise it to be, Montag finds himself trapped within a
dystopia, a dystopia he must free himself from "I'm going to do something," said Montag. "I
don't even know what yet, but I'm going to do something big." (Bradbury 62). Originally Montag
believed that his life was perfect and it could not be better, then when a young girl challenges his
mind, makes him think, something nobody ever does in his world, Montag begins to rebel
against what everyone else believes. Montag, just like Hamlet, has been faced with a change of
heart, will Montag continue on living life, pretending everything is alright, or will Montag fight
against this corrupt government that pushes away everything he has grown to believe. Montag
follows the same path as Hamlet, and chooses that the only course that will be right and just is
the course that leads him to take action.
Both Hamlet and Montag are spoonfed reasons to revolt against those they once saw as
friends and family band against them. Hamlet fights those who wish to kill him due to his
discovery of the source of his fathers death, and Montag struggles against his wife whom he
falsely believed that he was in love with, his boss that he used to admire, and the entire
government of his society. Hamlet is cunning, being well adjusted to sporadic events happening
within Denmark he is able to quickly produce solutions to many of the problems thrown at him.

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Montag on the other hand is very slow witted when it comes to adjustments, he is unable to
comprehend everything in his life that is changing and must face the terrors that are before him
with little help or knowledge.
In order to survive the new obstacles in Hamlets way he must do the only sensible thing
in his mind, abandon all emotional ties with other humans for they may all be against him. To a
nunnery go. (III.i. 162) Here Hamlets speaks to his beloved Ophelia, the woman Hamlet had
loved for a large portion of his life and whom he had planned to marry, but here he does not
speak to her in a loving tone, he speaks to her with hatred in his tongue as he spits venom
through his teeth. Hamlet does the same to his incestuist mother A bloody deed-Almost as bad,
good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother (III. iv. 34-35) Hamlet wrongfully pushes
away Ophelia due to the fact that Hamlet believes that Ophelia could be conspiring with her
father and plotting to help kill Hamlet, his mother on the other hand is deserving of this
bitterness. Hamlets mother assisted Hamlets uncle in the murder of Hamlets father, then
proceeded to quickly marry the uncle in order to keep Hamlet out of power and to put the uncle
into the throne of the king.
Montag grows towards the realization that he has never loved his wife. As time goes on
in Fahrenheit 451 it dawns on Montag that he cares about his wife, but he does not love her.
Montag becomes afraid of the fact that if his wife, the woman he wanted to spend his entire life
with, were to die, he would not cry. All humans in this dystopia are so emotionally unattached to
one another that even husband and wife are drawn to another, as if the only reason to marry is to
reproduce and fit within the norm. Montag pushes his wife away after realizing that they have no
emotional connection and embraces the fact that he is an outlaw in the eyes of his government
and wishes to keep her away from the trouble, even if he does not love her.

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Both characters push away those that they love in order to survive the world that grows
dark over them. Hamlet and Montag do what they can to survive, but also are successful in
achieving ulterior motives along the way. Hamlet discovers the plot that was conducted by his
uncle and manages to kill almost everyone involved before he too has his life taken from his
body, but pays the price of losing the woman he loved when she has done nothing against him.
Montag gives up everything he once knew to find what he believes is freedom. Montag craves
something the world has never given him and that craving is freedom, the freedom to do
anything he wants, even if that freedom is just as simple as reading a book. Montag and Hamlet
both want to break away from the normal life they have grown to see as average and become
free.