Hamlet’s Excellent Opportunity Missed
Futures are not as malleable as most people would hope. Hamlet’s hubris is not that of his inability to act but unfortunate circumstances that prevent him from doing the job and getting away alive. The first of which occurred when Hamlet chose not to kill Claudius because Claudius was praying at the time. This was unfortunate timing on Hamlet’s part. Next, Hamlet inadvertently killed Polonius thinking that he is Claudius. Finally, Hamlet does kill the king, but it was already too late. Usually circumstances allow for a hero to overcome all obstacles and defeat the enemy. In Hamlet, the circumstances oppose the hero from his goal.
Hamlet encounters a dilemma when an excellent opportunity to avenge his late father offers itself. He finds Claudius knelt down and has the appearance to be praying; however he is not praying. Observing this, he restrains his murderous intentions because he believes Claudius is absolving his sins.
Hamlet: A took my father grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broad blown,
/…But in our circumstance and course of thought, ‘tis heavy with him,
and am I then revenged, to take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and seasoned to take passage? No. (III, iii 80-87)
Hamlet could have killed the king but the circumstances did not make it feasible. Claudius had killed Hamlet’s father while Old Hamlet was still carrying his sin; thus Hamlet did not want to send the man who had sent his father into purgatory, to heaven.
Ghost: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
…/ The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
Now wears his crown. (I, v, 25, 38-39)
Hamlet is provided with another chance to kill Claudius when Hamlet catches him spying behind the arras. Hamlet thinks he cathcs Claudius in a sinful act of spying so he kills him; however, it is not Claudius behind the arras but Polonius.
Hamlet- " How Now? a rat? Dead for ducat, dead!
Polonius- "O, I am slain?"
Hamlet- "Is it the king?"
(Sees Polonius)
"I took the for they better." (III, iv, 25-33)
Hamlet was again foiled, but this time because the right people were not in the right place.
Finally, favorable geometry comes together and Hamlet does kill Claudius; however, at this point his death is imminent.
In the essay titled “Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals” published in the Morality and Moral Controversies course textbook, Immanuel Kant argues that the view of the world and its laws is structured by human concepts and categories, and the rationale of it is the source of morality which depends upon belief in the existence of God. In Kant’s work, categorical imperative was established in order to have a standard rationale from where all moral requirements derive. Therefore, categorical imperative is an obligation to act morally, out of duty and good will alone. In Immanuel Kant’s writing human reason and or rational are innate morals which are responsible for helping human. Needless to say, this also allows people to be able to distinct right from wrong. For the aforementioned reasons, there is no doubt that any action has to be executed solely out of a duty alone and it should not focus on the consequence but on the motive and intent of the action. Kant supports his argument by dividing the essay into three sections. In the first section he calls attention to common sense mor...
Hamlet’s decision to keep the murder of his father a secret to himself, along with the betrayals of many of his close friends and family, leads to his eventual downfall. If someone was there for him, whether it was his mother Gertrude, his girlfriend Ophelia, or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, maybe his timeless death could have been prevented. Instead, his mother sides with Claudius who wants to kill him, Ophelia won’t go behind her father, Polonius’, back to be with him and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern go behind Hamlet’s back and spy on him for Claudius.
Throughout Kant’s, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, some questionable ideas are portrayed. These ideas conflict with the present views of most people living today.
Kant starts by explaining the three divisions of philosophy which are: physics, ethics, and logic. He clarifies that physics and ethics are a posteriori while logic is, a priori, but there is a third variable that interacts both which is also the foundation of morals. This is the categorical imperative or also known as the synthetic a priori. The categorical imperative or the moral law is the reason of individuals’ actions. Kant goes on to say “I should never except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law” (Immanuel Kant, Page14 (line 407-408)). This indicates that an individual should not do anything that is not their own laws or rules that cannot become universal to all individuals. Throughout the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant defines what categorical imperative is, but also its four distinct articulations.
It is clear Hamlet can be interpreted from a multitude of perspectives on numerous levels. I cannot quite grasp Mr. Bloom's contention that this is a work of near biblical importance nor can I accept his allusions to Jesus or the Buddha. "Hamlet remains apart; something transcendent about him places him more aptly with the biblical King David, or with even more exalted scriptural figures."(Bloom, 384). My immediate response is that when Mr. Bloom shuffles off this mortal coil, I don't believe Billy Shakespeare will be waiting with a pint of ale.
Immanuel Kant was an eighteenth century philosopher whose ideas redefined philosophical views of morality and justice, and provided a base for modern philosophers to argue these ideas. In Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, he argues against Hume’s idea of utilitarianism. Kant also explores the idea of freedom, free action, moral action, and how to determine if our actions are moral by use of the categorical imperative.
There are three possible turning points in Hamlet: the players’ scene when Claudius’ guilt concerning the murder of King Hamlet is confirmed; the prayer scene when Hamlet forgoes the opportunity to kill Claudius; and the closet scene where Hamlet first takes action, but kills Polonius inadvertently. In the players’ scene, the ghost’s story is proved to be true, allowing Hamlet to avenge his father’s murder. In the prayer scene, Hamlet misses a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, giving Claudius time to act against Hamlet. In the closet scene, Hamlet’s actions give Claudius the impression that he poses as a major threat to his continued succession on the throne. The death of Polonius also triggers a series of repercussions by altering the characters’ mindsets.
Kant is a deontological philosopher; that is, in examining morality he says that the ends must not be looked at, only the means. Kant began by carefully drawing a pair of crucial distinctions among the judgments we do actually make. The first distinction separates a priori from a posteriori judgments by reference to the origin of our knowledge of them. A priori judgments are statements for which there is no appeal to experience in order to dertermine what is true and false. A posteriori judgments, on the other hand, are statements in which experience determines how we discover the truth or falsity of the statement. Thus, this distinction also marks the difference traditionally noted in logic between necessary and contingent truths.
Even though Hamlet is a prince, he has little control over the course of his life. In that time many things were decided for the princes and princesses such as their education and even who they married. This was more or less the normal way of life for a child of the monarch. But in the case of Hamlet, any of the control he thought he had, fell away with the murder of his father. Having his father, the king, be killed by his own brother, sent Hamlet into a state of feeling helpless and out of control. Cooped up in a palace with no real outlet, he tries to control at least one aspect of his life. Hamlet deliberately toys with Ophelia's emotions in order to feel in control of something since he cannot control the situation with Claudius.
... of treachery and, luckily, Hamlet realizes the king’s subterfuge, crushing the plot and flipping it back on him. Claudius remains steadfast in his efforts to remove Hamlet, going so far as to set up a false fencing competition and foolishly pushing the poisoned wine without considering the suspiciousness of the action. In his short-sighted and rash decision making, Claudius shows that he allows his inflated sense of regality and self-worth to cloud his judgment.
That would be scann’d” (Act III: Scene iii, 74-76). After watching Claudius’ reaction to the play, Hamlet is convinced of Claudius’ guilt. Hamlet is on his way to Gertrude’s bedroom when he sees Claudius kneeling down. Because Claudius is kneeling, Hamlet mistakenly thinks that Claudius is praying for forgiveness and decides not to kill Claudius. This is the most important quote in the play that proves Hamlet’s tragic flaw is procrastination. One can argue that the cause of Hamlet’s downfall in the rest of the play results when he does not kill Claudius when given the perfect opportunity. The importance of the quote is extended with its dramatic irony. The audience knows that Claudius is not praying for
Hamlet is a play by William Shakespeare about a prince named Hamlet who was spoken to by the ghost of his dead father telling Hamlet to kill his uncle Claudius (the new king) because Claudius killed him. The story revolves around Hamlet's dillema of how to kill his uncle while being deceptive enough so that no one finds out about the ghost. This essay will prove how deception is often used in Hamlet for many reasons. Claudius uses deception to protect himself from being prosecuted for his crime of killing the King. No one knows what the deal is with Gertrude because she deceives everybody by keeping to herself all the time keeping everyone from knowing anything. By using quotes from the book I will prove how these two (Claudius and Gertrude) and among a few others , use deception for different reasons and in different ways. A lot of the times it is to protect someone, or themselvs because they believe that the truth will hurt more than their lies.
This scene is in fact a visual representation of Hamlet’s problem throughout the play, this focal problem is open to two different interpretations: either Hamlet has the ability and passion to kill Claudius but he doesn’t have the right time to do it, or Hamlet doesn’t have the self-assurance and courage to do ...
Claudius, the envious brother of King Hamlet, seeks the royal advantages of life and plans to gain them by killing King Hamlet. Once Hamlet’s death is completed, Claudius acquires the throne and wife that belonged to King Hamlet. The series of events that follow are all a result from Claudius’ acts.
Immanuel Kant’s ethical theory is referred to as deontology, which is where one acts according to one’s principle. He believes that the will has ethical priority over the body and soul. The only way a will is a good will is to the extent that the person acts from a sense of duty and functions with reason. By determining what is good, Kant uses categorical imperative in order to help in ethical deliberation.