Examples Of A Decisive Moment In Hamlet

Dictionary.com defines a climax, when relating to a dramatic or literary work, as a “decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.” More specifically, it is the pivotal moment when the rising action turns into the falling action, the moment the essential conflict turns and slows down. Hamlet has many climactic moments, moments when a conflict reaches its peak, creating intense action and tension, the important questions are what is the most dramatic moment, what is the most essential conflict, and which point has the most intensity in regards to plot development.

There are two moments in Act 3 that are possible climaxes and one is when Hamlet kills Polonius and his interaction with Gertrude in scene

4. This is the point in which he seals the deal, there is essentially no turning back from this. Up to this point he had been debating killing Claudius, he has backed out of killing him, stalled it as much as possible, but this is the point that he unleashes his pent up emotions and commits himself to murder and brings himself into unavoidable conflict with Claudius. His hesitancy, all of a sudden, goes away and he willingly, without hesitation, killed a man he thought to be Claudius. This sudden change of heart is most likely due to the situation he is in; he is finally revealing his feelings to his mother. “Mother, you have my father much offended,” is said by Hamlet to Gertrude and his pent up anger and frustration towards her is starting to be released, it causes him to make rash decisions and be willing to kill Claudius even though he had very recently declined the chance to do so. After killing Polonius he shows no remorse and instead reverses it onto Gertrude, expressing his extremely negative feelings towards her. This could be argued as the “emotional” climax of the play because this is the point where, not only he releases his feelings that he had been holding back for the whole play, but he also murders without remorse. However, this is also a turning point in a different way because, as of previously, Hamlet had just been acting mad, but, now that this happens, it's relatively hard to argue that he's still just acting. This is the point where Hamlet's madness is revealed to be reality and not an act, everything after this is just what comes out of his descent into insanity.

The other point in act three that resembles a climax is when Hamlet sets up the play within the play, The Mousetrap, revealing that Claudius is guilty and serving as his first action towards revenge and when in the next scene, even though he knows he's guilty and comes as close as he had ever been to killing him, he doesn't murder him. He had every reason in the world to kill him and he didn't. This action that should give him certainty to kill Claudius followed by overly cautious hesitation could be seen as the climax because he reaches a state of rage that is more intense than it had been in the play beforehand and he still hesitates. This would mean that the falling action is composed of the results and consequences of his hesitation, all of the deaths and all of the betrayal are just a result of Hamlet's inaction which is solidified in this sequence.

These two climaxes, however, are only for the main conflicts, the conflict within Hamlet that is his rage for his family and his thirst for revenge against Claudius; there are a few other conflicts in the play that do reach climactic moments, such as the conflict in Hamlet over the want of death. Throughout the play, Hamlet debates suicide quite frequently yet he always decides against it because of several reasons, but one of the main ones that is hit on heavily in the “To be or not to be” speech is the unknown of what will happen in death, “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,/ Must give us pause. There’s the respect/ That makes calamity of so long life.” Hamlet continues to go through much debate of suicide and what happens after death in a few other soliloquies throughout the play, but this conflict does climax and there are two possibilities for that moment as I see it.
One of the possible climaxes of this inner conflict is in Act 5 scene 1 when he sees the skull of Yorick and comes to a sudden realization that all men must die and will become only dust, or as Hamlet puts it, “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make loam.” However, while this is the point which Hamlet realized the inevitability of death, it still came as quite a shock to him so this isn't where Hamlet really accepts it, that moment is scene 2 when he accepts the challenge to the duel with Laertes.

Both Hamlet and Horatio have a feeling that there will be foul play involved and Horatio advises him to refuse, but Hamlet, in return, accepts the duel, saying to Horatio, “There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come.” This reveals that Hamlet accepts death as inevitable and, in a way, accepts his own death because even though he is accepting the duel, he still feels like something will go wrong as seen by when he says, “But thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart. But it is no matter.” Instead of refusing the duel because he feels something will go wrong, he still accepts it, essentially accepting his

death.

One final climactic moment in the play is in the latter half of scene 2 of act 5, the moment when Hamlet kills Claudius, the moment when Laertes kills Hamlet, the moment Claudius kills Gertrude, the moment everyone but Horatio and Fortinbras dies. This scene is the most action and tension filled scene. Hamlet finally enacts revenge as well as Laertes, Claudius and Laertes are destroyed by their own treachery, Gertrude dies by the same means and the same person as the person who killed her past husband, and Fortinbras becomes king of Denmark. However, even though a lot of crucial moments happen in this scene, making it exciting and climactic like, it is more like the resolution of the play than the climax. All of the things that happen are in fact resolutions to the conflicts in the play, revenge finally being achieved, Gertrude being punished for her incestuous actions, Hamlet accepting his death, and, most importantly, Hamlet being punished for his inaction. Every conflict is resolved in this scene, so, while it may seem climactic, serves as the resolution as opposed to the climax.

All of this being considered, the absolute climax of the play is the scene where Hamlet kills Polonius and unleashes his anger towards Gertrude. It is one of the most dramatic moments, it is the climax to the major conflict which is Hamlet's inability to kill, and it is the turning point for Hamlet in regards to his inaction and in regards to his madness. This is the point in the play where it is obvious that Hamlet's madness had gone farther than acting and the point when he steps over the line that is murder.