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Throughout the course of the plot of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character continuously searches for the truth of King Hamlet’s death. King Claudius is guilty of Hamlet’s heinous accusations. The Ghost of King Hamlet speaks to his son to inform him of the misconduct of the current king. King Claudius acts peccant for murdering his brother. In Act 1, Hamlet is overcome with joy as he meets his father’s ghost. Consequently, this can be considered to be the downfall of his reputation and his relationships with other characters in the play. He learns of the true nature of King Claudius’s selfish motives. The Ghost of King Hamlet returns to him because he has unfinished business: “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder…The serpent that …show more content…
By Act 3, Hamlet has made it is destiny to discover the truth of his father’s death: “Suit the action, the word to the action, with this special observance…reform it all together. And let those that play your clowns speak no more for what is down for them…” (Shakespeare Act 3 Lines 18-21, 40-2). Hamlet informs the players that he yearns for them to act the best they have ever acted in any play ever before. He needs the characters they portray to be as real and relatable as they can be so it could potentially strike emotions in Claudius as he watches the performance. Hamlet and Horatio believe that if Claudius has an anxious expression and/or body language then he is guilty of murdering the Ghost for selfish gain. If he has no reaction, he is innocent. King Claudius is guilty of the murder of King Hamlet: “The King rises…Give o’er the play. Give me some light. Away!” (Shakespeare Act 3 Lines 291, 294-5). The King expresses the reaction Hamlet is seeking. On the grounds that Claudius stops the play mid-performance, Hamlet is certain that Claudius is the culprit. Why would Claudius be overcome with so much anxiety that he was forced to stop the show? This is a question that Hamlet must continue answer. Shakespeare also gives depicts an ironic situation for readers. The common play that resembles the accusations of King
Soon after young he discovers his beloved father was murdered by his uncle, Claudius, the Ghost instructs Hamlet to avenge his death, while avoiding harming his mother, and by doing so, the deceased King Hamlet can escape from purgatory and rest ...
In the beginning of the play, Hamlet's father comes to him as a ghost from the grave. He tells Hamlet of his uncle's betrayal of him and tells Hamlet that he must kill Claudius to set things right. Through this event, Hamlet...
Hamlet, after conversing with the ghost of his dead father, learns that Claudius killed his father and swears revenge on Claudius. By Hamlet putting on his antic disposition he is able to get closer to Claudius so he can be sure of the tragic murder of his father was done by Claudius, and when given the perfect opportunity he can take his vengeance. Hamlet was able to find out that it was Claudius by setting up a trap for him involving a play.... ... middle of paper ...
The Ghost appears briefly throughout Hamlet by William Shakespeare, yet his presence is significant to the development of the play. King Hamlet, The Ghost, controls the dilemma even after death, influencing young Hamlet’s actions. “So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear (Shakespeare Act I: 31).” King Hamlet makes young Hamlet commit to avenge his death. King Hamlet was murdered before the play began.
During the first act, Prince Hamlet meets the ghost of his father, King Hamlet. His father's ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius poured poison in his ear while he slept. The spirit also explains that he wishes for Hamlet to avenge his death, but not to punish Queen Gertrude for marrying Claudius. He tells Hamlet that she will have to answer to her conscience, and eventually God for her incestuous actions (absoluteshakespeare.com 1 of 4). It was believed during these times that when a person died, especially in such a tragic fashion, that their spirit lingered about while suffering in Purgatory. This could cause a normally virtuous person's spirit to become filled with malevolence and begin to meddle in living men's affairs (en.wikipedia.org 4 of 9). This belief caused Prince Hamlet to want to investigate his father's spirit's claims to ensure that they were indeed true. In order to do this, Prince Hamlet feigns madness in order to remain hidden from members of the court's suspicions while he plots his revenge on King Claudius (www.sparknotes.com 1 of 3). He also takes advantage of a group of actors who come to Elsinore Castle to perform by rewriting a play to recreate the scene of his father's murder. He does this with the hope of flushing a confession out of Claudius' guilty conscience. When Claudius sees the play, he stands up and leaves the room (en.wikipedia.org 5 of 9). After many more events, Claudius' guilt becomes more obvious. Claudius then begins to change his focus towards killing Hamlet, as he is beginning to become aware of the Prince's plans to kill him. Claudius then arranges a fencing match between Hamlet and Polonius' son Laertes and has Laertes poison the blade of one of his swords to be used in the match (Hamlet).
Hamlet does not take the opportunity to slay Claudius as he prays because he believes it will save his soul. His contemplative nature takes over regarding the ghost’s revelation and he decides to devise a play to pique Claudius’ conscience and make sure he is really guilty.
After the ghost told young Hamlet what happened, Hamlet had to design a plan to figure out if the ghost was from heaven or hell. He then decided to use “the players” as bait in order to see how the King acted to the play. After the plan was in place, Hamlet asked Horatio to join him and watch his uncle during the play in order to see his reaction Claudius’s reaction was clear, “Give me some light. Away!” (III, ii, L 295) This reinforces Hamlet’s observations about the King’s guilt. Horatio then gives news back to Hamlet about the Kings reaction. Now, Hamlet may plan his revenge.
Throughout the play Hamlet is in constant conflict with himself. An appearance of a ghost claiming to be his father, “I am thy father’s spirit”(I.v.14) aggravates his grief, nearly causing him to commit suicide and leaving him deeply disgusted and angered. Upon speaking with his ghost-father, Hamlet learns that his uncle-stepfather killed Hamlet the King. “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown”(I.v.45-46) Hamlet is beside himself and becomes obsessed with plotting and planning revenge for the death of his father.
When we analyze a work, it is easy to judge the characters by the standards of our time, but this is not very fair to them. They do not follow our rules; they follow the standards of their societies. In addition, unless the characters’ thoughts are revealed to us in soliloquies or asides, we cannot tell if the person knows of his or her actions’ consequences. To determine if a character is “good” or “bad,” we must set a standard and evaluate it for each text we examine. We shall define “goodness” as performing actions whose outcomes are net positive, intended or not, and “badness” as the opposite. Through this lens we shall examine King Claudius of Hamlet, discovering that while Claudius might be a good King, he is definitely not a good person.
The question of why Hamlet delays in taking revenge on Claudius for so long has puzzled readers and audience members alike. Immediately following Hamlet's conversation with the Ghost, he seems determined to fulfill the Ghost's wishes and swears his companions to secrecy about what has occurred. The next appearance of Hamlet in the play reveals that he has not yet revenged his father's murder. In Scene two, act two, Hamlet gives a possible reason for his hesitation. "The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T' assume a pleasing shape" (2.2.627-629). With this doubt clouding his mind, Hamlet seems completely unable to act. This indecision is somewhat resolved in the form of the play. Hamlet comes up with the idea of the play that is similar to the events recounted by the ghost about his murder to prove Claudius guilty or innocent. Due to the king's reaction to the play, Hamlet attains the belief that the Ghost was telling the truth the night of the apparition.
Hamlet: The Ghost A very important topic in Hamlet is the ghost of his father, the king had got killed by Claudius which was the kings brother. Claudius killed the king by pouring poison into his ear, this made his blood and caused his skin to develop horrible sores. " Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. " The king says, when the ghost first appears he tells Hamlet he wants revenge for his Murder.
In Hamlet, William Shakespeare presents the main character Hamlet as a man who is fixated on death. Shakespeare uses this obsession to explore both Hamlet's desire for revenge and his need for assurance. In the process, Shakespeare directs Hamlet to reflect on basic principles such as justice and truth by offering many examples of Hamlet's compulsive behavior; as thoughts of death are never far from his mind. It is apparent that Hamlet is haunted by his father's death. When Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, their conversation raises all kinds of unthinkable questions, for example murder by a brother, unfaithful mother, that triggers Hamlet's obsession. He feels compelled to determine the reliability of the ghost's statements so that he can determine how he must act. Ultimately, it is his obsession with death that leads to Hamlet avenging the death of his father by killing Claudius.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet revolves around Hamlet’s quest to avenge his father’s murder. Claudius’ first speech as King at the beginning of Scene 2, Act 1 introduces the themes of hierarchy, incest and appearance versus reality and plays the crucial role of revealing Claudius’ character as part of the exposition. The audience is left skeptical after Horatio’s questioning of King Hamlet’s ghost in the first scene of the play. By placing Claudius’ pompous speech immediately after the frightening appearance of Hamlet’s ghost, Shakespeare contrasts the mournful atmosphere in Denmark to the fanfare at the palace and makes a statement about Claudius’ hypocrisy. Through diction, doubling and figurative language, Shakespeare reveals Claudius to be a self centered, hypocritical, manipulative and commanding politician.
Furthermore, it is possible to propose that Shakespeare merely uses this scene to provoke irritation and consequently suspense from the audience. If Hamlet wasn’t given this opportunity to kill Claudius we would have not this insight into Hamlet’s indecisiveness, possible cowardice and inability to kill Claudius in cold blood. It is probable to suggest that through this soliloquy we are shown that Hamlet’s initial passion for revenge after the Ghost’s visitation has faded as the play progresses to merely thinking about killing Claudius.
In Act I scene V, Hamlet is told by his father’s ghost to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The ghost then goes on to tell Hamlet that as he was “sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me” and that “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.” Hamlet is told by the ghost to seek revenge, telling him that Claudius has corrupted Denmark and corrupted Gertrude, having seduced her in the foul lust of their incestuous marriage. The ghost urges Hamlet not to act against his mother in any way, telling him to “Leave her to heaven, And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, To prick and sting her.”