Hamlet: A True King

The tale of a child growing up to take the place of his father has been told and retold many times. In many of these stories, the child would grow up to gain the traits of his father, allowing him to fulfill the unfinished goals left to him. In Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet, the titular character would, if he had been given the chance, taken his rightful place on the throne and “prov’d most royal”. Shakespeare initially presents the character as scholarly and learned, but hesitant to act, however as the play progresses, his character becomes more mature and more willing to act beyond his words, overcoming the personal feelings, his morals and beliefs, that hold him back from the throne.

When Hamlet is first presented, he is described as intelligent and scholarly, wishing to return to his studies at university at the first news of his father’s death. His mother wishes against this, whom he obeys. “Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet./I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg”(I,ii,118-19). Hamlet is loyal to his family, even though he is upset with his mother’s hasty marriage to Claudius so soon after King Hamlet’s death. These character traits show that Hamlet does have some makings of a “proper”, idealistic king - loyalty, intellect and able to hide, to an extent, some of his displeasure. However, he was not ready to take the throne at the time of King Hamlet’s death. Instead, the apparently less deserving of the two, Claudius, takes the throne.

When he meets the ghost of King Hamlet and the details of his father’s murder, Hamlet is at first shocked, but then doubtful of the words of this spirit. He vows revenge for his father, but immediately backtracks on it, believing that the ghost may be lying to him, an ...

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...sarily to become a better, more moral person. Inarguably though, these allows him to mature as a person. The throne is not given to the one who acts the more morally, but rather the one who acts with most power. Hamlet learns this, and would, if he had survived, indeed taken the crown of Denmark. Hamlet’s change from a moral and almost idealistic young thinker to a headstrong and unyielding man of action shows what was expected of a true king, and he certainly would have “serv’d most royal.”

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, and Roma Gill. Hamlet. 1992. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.

Reedy, Gerard. "Alexander Died." Shakespeare Quarterly 24: 128-134. JSTOR. Web. 19 May 2014.

Tkacz, Catherine Brown. "The Wheel of Fortune, the Wheel of State, and Moral Choice in "Hamlet"." South Atlantic Review 57: 21-38. JSTOR. Web. 19 May 2014.