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The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a dramatic tragedy that has made a long lasting impact on the theatre community for hundreds of years. In the beginning of the play the main character Hamlet discovers his father King Hamlet was murdered. Hamlet finds out his father’s murderer was his uncle now king Claudius. Hamlet fakes going mad to cover up his plans on how to kill Claudius. Murder for personal gain can lead to revenge, which can cause tragedy.
Murder for gain can cause moral guilt. Claudius is praying to God, explaining his reasons for his actions and seeking forgiveness for them, he says “I am still possess’d of these effects for which I did the murder-My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen”( III, iii, 56-58). Claudius admits he killed King Hamlet. Claudius lists his reasons for
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Hamlet is talking to the ghost of King Hamlet. Hamlet is trying to figure out who killed his father. Hamlet tells the ghost, “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge”( I, V, 33-35). Hamlet tells the ghost he wants to avenge his father's death this shows his loyalty to his father. Hamlet desperately wants to know who killed his father. Hamlet who is still grieving for his father’s death, wants revenge for his father’s murder. Later on in the play we see Hamlet's true intentions toward Claudius,when Hamlet is spying on him praying. Hamlet tells the ghost, “A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven” (III,iii,79-81). Hamlet is thinking to himself that if he kills Claudius now while he is praying he will unintentionally send Claudius to heaven. Hamlet does not want that to happen, he wants Claudius to go to hell for killing his father. Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius and wait for a moment when Claudius is sinning to kill him. Furthermore, revenge can make people act rashly and make
The first stage of Hamlet’s metamorphosis of turning to a being fuelled by revenge is that he begins to believe he has a divine right to engage his vengeance on Claudius. In the text Hamlet is told by his father’s ghost from purgatory, a spiritual place of unsaved souls, “ If thou didst ever thy dear father love- revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” (Shakespeare I.v. 23-25). This line gains interest to the act of revenge by Hamlet. He is already willing to execute his act of vengeance on his father’s murderer by stating “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge.” (Shakespeare I.v. 29-31). Hamlet basically reveals that he is indeed ready to carry out revenge as soon as the ghost reveals the murderer’s identity. The ghost tells Hamlet his murderer was his uncle, Claudius. The ghost informs Hamlet “But thou howsoever thou purest this act, Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge To prick and sting her.” (Shakes...
Guilt is a powerful word that takes over one’s life until the source of the pain is relieved. Guilt builds up inside of a person, and causes major damage to oneself. One is only able to contemplate how to eliminate its misery. Its origin stems from the fact that someone else suffers due to the actions for which one is responsible for. The actions can either be ones that an individual committed or ones that they thought about but have not followed through with. An example of guilt in Hamlet, is when Hamlet creates the mousetrap play to expose Claudius for being guilty of killing his father. Claudius cutoffs the play in order to pray for forgiveness in his room and plead his guilt for his action of murdering his brother so that he could take
Hamlets fathers ghost comes to him and requested Hamlet TO, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Murder? Murder most foul, as in the best it is, But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. Haste me to know 't, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge.” (I.V.XXXI-XXXVII). Hamlet is showing how eager he is to avenge his fathers death, and he knows to kill Claudius the new king; in the back of Hamlets mind he still wants to avenge his mother for marrying Claudius. But at the same Hamlet has doubts about what he has been told by the ghost, “the spirit that I have seen May be the devil: and the devil hath power To 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. I 'll have grounds more relative than this. The play 's the thing wherein I 'll catch the conscience of the King” (II, II, DCXXVII- DCXXXIV). Hamlet is still having doubts on whether or not the ghost of his father is telling the truth or not, or if the ghost leaving him astray. To make sure that the ghost is telling him the truth hamlet makes a plan to trick his uncle through the use of a play. It turns out that Claudius was the one to kill his uncle, and make his
One particular human emotion can cripple humans mentally and physically. It can cause people to do things they do not want to do. It can lead them to twist the truth and lie not only to themselves, but people around them as well. It is something that they cannot hide. It is more like a disease, however, it is better known as guilt. Along with guilt, comes dishonesty, shamefulness, peculiar behavior, and even suicidal thoughts. Guilt is a recurring theme in both Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Every individual will experience guilt sometime in their life, but it is how they cope and handle it that defines who they are. Humans must face the feeling of guilt, accept
Within the play Hamlet, the ideas of vengeance and revenge are very apparent. In fact, Hamlet “is in a grip of an inner compulsion” (Greenblatt 106) where he is obsessed with this idea of getting revenge for the death of his father, which he learns about the murder in Act I by his ghost. This is also when the audience learns how the current king, Claudius, killed his own brother with ear poison. During the last few scenes of Act I, the ghost has Hamlet follow him through the forest so that they can speak in private. Before King Hamlet’s ghost tells Hamlet the truth about what happened, he says, “So art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear” (1.5.8). He is telling Hamlet that he will want or need to get revenge after the story he is about to hear. A few lines later the ghost tells Hamlet, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.25). This is a critical point in the play because the ghost is telling Hamlet that he must get revenge for the horrible murder that had occurred.
Once Hamlet has learned of his father’s death, he is faced with a difficult question: should he succumb to the social influence of avenging his father’s death? The Ghost tells Hamlet to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.31) upon which Hamlet swears to “remember” (1.5.118). Hamlet’s immediate response to this command of avenging his father’s death is reluctance. Hamlet displays his reluctance by deciding to test the validity of what the Ghost has told him by setting up a “play something like the murder of (his) father’s” (2.2.624) for Claudius. Hamlet will then “observe his looks” (2.2.625) and “if he do blench” (2.2.626) Hamlet will know that he must avenge his father’s death. In the course of Hamlet avenging his father’s death, he is very hesitant, “thinking too precisely on the event” (4.4.43). “Now might I do it…and he goes to heaven…No” (3.3.77-79) and Hamlet decides to kill Claudius while “he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed” (3.3.94-95). As seen here, Hamlet’s contradicting thought that Claudius “goes to heaven” (3.3.79) influences him to change his plans for revenge. Hamlet eventually realizes that he must avenge his father’s death and states “from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth” (4.4.69). From this, Hamlet has succumbed to the social influence and has vowed to avenge his father’s death.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.
Throughout the story, different events give contradictory views on whether or not Claudius ever really truly feels remorse and/or guilt. I believe that at one point in the story, Claudius felt true remorse, and that was when he was praying. I believe that Claudius does truly feel sorry for murdering King Hamlet, but he is too greedy to admit it to the people and Hamlet. His possessions are the only thing that stops him from ever revealing the truth. It is hard to really tell if Claudius ever reaches a real point
In the play, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle Claudius. Claudius killed Hamlet’s dad and then married his mom to become the leader of Denmark. Later in the play, Hamlet sees his dad’s ghost and is informed of the horrific act committed by his uncle. Hamlets’ dad’s ghost says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I. V. 25). Hamlets’ dad says this to Hamlet so that his uncle could get retribution for his action. Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius but is unable because of the wrong timing. While Claudius is praying, Hamlet has an opportunity to slay him but doesn’t because if he killed him in his prayers he will make him go to heaven instead of hell. Another minor reason for Hamlet’s revenge against his uncle is his affection towards his mother. As the play progresses, we are able to determine that Hamlet’s relationship with his mom is close to incest status. With this information, we are able ...
For most people, when they sit down to begin reading William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they expect a vivid tale of humor, love, and even a bit of death. However, this gruesome play contains only the latter. The story begins at night in a watchtower where two guards are patrolling. Suddenly, the ghost of the late King Hamlet appears out of thin air. Feeling very shaken and concerned the guards bring Prince Hamlet to the spot of his father’s appearance. Like before, the ex-king appears. He has surprising and startling news for his son. He reveals that he was brutally murdered by his own brother, Claudius, who is now married to Hamlet’s mother. So, Hamlet becomes infuriated and determined to kill Claudius. Unfortunately, in all of Hamlet’s pity attempts, eight people are killed either directly or indirectly. In the end, even young Hamlet is impaled by a poisonous sword and, after witnessing the death of his own mother and killing Claudius, dies. For those who would have been expecting a story of death and love, like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, they would have been greatly displeased due to the amount of revengeful intentions, madness, and moral corruption. On the contrary, these three themes have managed to ensure the success of Hamlet for hundreds of years.
The ghost of late King Hamlet came to Hamlet to inform him that Claudius had murdered him and demands Hamlet to execute him. Now, Hamlet is planning to avenge his deceased father by killing King Claudius, but does not know if he has committed the crime or not. Thus, having Prince Hamlet to change the scene in a play and have the actors play out late King Hamlet’s death called “The Mousetrap”. “Give me some light’ ‘Away!”(Shakespeare, pg 153, line 295). For example, this quote justifies that King Claudius had to do something with late King Hamlet’s death, because after the play Claudius cried for the lights to be turned on and then stormed out of the room. Hamlet knew Claudius was guilty by his sudden conscience outburst. By now, Hamlet is on a full rage to proceed with his actions of avenging his father’s passing. Later on throughout the novel, Hamlet achieves his promise to his deceased father by slashing Claudius’s across the neck and had him forced to drink the poison cup. Finally, the first motivation was Hamlet to King Claudius because Hamlet needed to find out if Claudius was guilty of murdering his father and to avenge late King Hamlet’s
Hamlet is almost positive Claudius killed his father and for that reason he wants revenge. Yes, revenge might not be a very noble concept, but the way Hamlet deals with it certainly is. Hamlet wants to make sure Claudius is guilty before he makes the move to kill and does not want to just be “prompted to [his] revenge by heaven and hell” (2.2. 571), so he sets up an elaborate plan to prove to himself that Claudius is in fact the guilty one. If Hamlet succeeds with his plan and is able to “catch the conscience of the king” (2. 2. 592) then, and only then will Hamlet make his move to get his revenge. The way Hamlet deals with this circumstance does indeed show how he truly is a noble prince because he is able to put his animosity and anger to the side in order to ensure he does not commit an act on somebody who does not deserve it. Some people would take the ghost 's word for it and do the deed, but alas good old Hamlet needs more than a ghosts word. He needs concrete proof, discovered first hand in order to feel comfortable enough to commit such a heinous act against his own father 's
At first, Hamlet sees the ghost of his dead father and vows to avenge his death. “Christianity forbids followers to seek out spirits for advice or communication” (Ja) Hamlet has his faith tested because he is unsure about what his father is telling him. If the truth is that Claudius is the one who murdered Hamlet’s father then Hamlet will need to commit murder himself in order to fulfill his promise to his father’s ghost. “Hamlet, after the shock of his discoveries, becomes virtually another person and re-evaluates the situation in accordance with his religious views. Perhaps the ghost is just an illusion or mental disorder making him imagine this tale, and the murder of his father is illusory because he is not able to accept this kind of marriage and he wants to justify his crimes.” (****) Hamlet wrestles with his feelings and decides he must arrange for Claudius to admit to the murder instead of murdering Claudius himself. He is aware of the moral dilemma he finds himself in, if he kills Claudius then he, Hamlet may go to hell. If he refuses to kill Claudius then his father may be sent to hell. Hamlet knows from his religious background that murd...
In Hamlet’s hunt for revenge, his inability to follow through and act is Hamlet’s tragic flaw (quizlet.com). Because Hamlet overthinks everything, this causes him to procrastinate. Theoretically, Hamlet is more than willing to accept the duty of getting revenge for his father. Hamlet promises to prove his love to his father and do his given duty. After hearing the story of the murder, he plans revenge: "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift, As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge" (Shakespeare, trans. 1987 1.5.29-31). However, Hamlet can not carry out with this. When Hamlet has a chance to kill Claudius when he is kneeled down praying, Hamlet deters from murdering Claudius because he believes he will be sent to Heaven. Hamlet not only wants to murder Claudius, he also wants Claudius to suffer in Hell. He begins to feel guilty about not avenging his father’s death
Hamlet is a revenge tragedy which focuses primarily on Hamlet’s desire and attempt to avenge his father’s death. Prince Hamlet, the protagonist of the play, is mourning the loss of his father and bitterly regretting that his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married his uncle Claudius. The ghost of his father appears to reveal that he has been murdered by Claudius and urges him to take revenge. The play essentially centers in the character of Hamlet himself. As a prince of Denmark, he acts the part of madness with power; however, he is so often indecisive and hesitant; his weaknesses are too apparent as he avenges his father’s death. During his quest for revenge, he has difficulty to make decision but he learns how to deal with the contradiction