In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, many central ideas were developed, including mortality, madness, and revenge. These central ideas were developed throughout the five acts of this play and they impacted the characterization of the characters in the play. The main characters impacted by these central ideas were Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, and Laertes. In Act I, mortality was introduced when the ghost is first seen. The ghost of the former king, Hamlet, is seen while the men are on the night shift. “Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch, in the dead waste and middle of the night, been thus encountered: a figure like your father,” (1.2.207-209). Horatio tells Hamlet that Marcellus and Barnardo saw a figure that resembled …show more content…
Ophelia is asked, “Mad for thy love?” (2.1. 95), to which she replies, “My lord, I do not know, but truly I do fear it,” (2.1.96-97). This demonstrates Hamlet’s madness because Ophelia fears Hamlet has gone insane due to his desire for her. Polonius and Ophelia tell Gertrude and Claudius their thoughts on the reason for Hamlet’s madness. He tells them that Hamlet wrote her a letter but Polonius told Ophelia not to respond and Hamlet went insane from the rejection. “Then I prescripts gave her, that she should lock herself from his resort, admit no messengers, receive no tokens; which done, she took the fruits of my advice, and he, repelled… into the madness wherein no he races and all we mourn for,” (2.1.151-160). Polonius is saying that Ophelia ignored Hamlet which drove him to his madness. Gertrude agreed that that could be the possible cause but she also realized that there was more to it than that. She says, “His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage,” (2.1.59-60) when discussing his madness. Hamlet still wanted revenge for the death of his father. He says, “For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with the most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle, I’ll observe his looks,” (2.2.622-625). This means that although the murder can not speak, it can be heard and the truth will come out. Hamlet devises a plan to allow the …show more content…
He tells him, “If Hamlet from himself be ta’en away, and when he’s not himself does wrong Laertes, then Hamlet does it not; Hamlet denies it. Who does it, then? His madness” (5.2.248-251).By saying this, Hamlet is saying that it is not his fault he hurt Laertes because he was overtaken by madness. Hamlet tells “An earnest conjuration from the King,...Without debatement further, more or less, he should those bearers put to sudden death, not shriving time allowed” (5.2.43-52). Laertes says, “I am satisfied in nature, whose motive in this case should stir me most to my revenge” (5.2.259-261). “Laertes wounds Hamlet. Then (in scuffling they change rapiers,) and Hamlet wounds Laertes” (5.2.330-331). The Queen’s dying words are, “No, no, the drink, the drink! O, my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poisoned. (She dies)” (5.2.340-341). Hamlet tells the King, “Drink off this potion. Is (thy union) here? (Forcing him to drink the poison.) (King dies)” (5.2.357). Hamlet tells Horatio, “And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain to tell my story” (5.2.383-384). He then says, “O, I die, Horatio!”
Throughout the play, Laertes is as an extremely caring member of his family. His strong emotions for family have an opposing side to it, a shadow that has repressed feelings of anger which cause him to add to the disaster in Denmark. An example that depicts this is when Laertes attempts to request more rites for Ophelia’s funeral. After he is denied, he starts a commotion by calling the priest “churlish”, explaining that Ophelia will be “A ministering angel” while the priest will “liest howling”(5.1.217-218). His compliments to Ophelia shows how much he loved her, while his nasty insults to the priest show his repressed rage. While this is occuring, Hamlet hears Laertes’s mention of Ophelia during the commotion and throws himself into a brawl with Laertes. It is the conflict built up from there that causes Claudius to target Laertes as his next weapon to kill Hamlet with. Laertes’s deep anger for Hamlet makes himself the best candidate for Claudius’s manipulation. Once Laertes’s sides with Claudius, he shows his dark intent by requesting Claudius to not “o'errule me to a peace”(4.7.58). On the day of the duel, Laertes undergoes a confrontation of his shadow while he clashes with Hamlet. His realization of his shadow comes too late into the duel when both Hamlet and Laertes are struck by poison, as this happens he declares that he is “ justly killed with mine own treachery (5.2.337).” In the moments that he is still alive, he dismisses his shadow and ends the circle of murder by announcing the true nature of Claudius. Laertes’s repressed anger guides the play into the duel where many deaths occur including Hamlet’s.
In Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” Hamlet and Laertes act as dramatic foils, where their similarities are used to highlight their differences. Each character learns that his father has been murdered and each plots his revenge against the murderer. In the first act of the play, the ghost of Hamlet’s father tells him “Let not
...dness” (Shakespeare, 116). Before Hamlet and Laertes dueled, Hamlet asked Laertes if he can forgive him for his crime. Hamlet also admits to his insanity and hopes Laertes can understand. This shows that by the end of the play, his mind is fine again and he can function properly.
This is the story of a man who could not make up his mind. "O wicked spite that ever I was born to set it right," Is a quote from Hamlet Even agreeing that he wished he did a lot of things way differently. Hamlet dies in the play because Laertes stabs him with the poisoned sword. Laertes stabs him because they are having
Ophelia was driven mad by the death of her father Polonius and how Hamlet betrayed her love with his own wave of madness which was just an act. In her madness, Ophelia talks about her father and his death and about the “Tricks in the world” (terrible things that happen to people). Ophelia’s madness was also the extent of her being used by her father so he could spy on Hamlet to see if he was truly crazy and then by Hamlet when he claimed he no longer loved her and that he didn’t send her any letters (remembrances). Ophelia’s speech and her fragments of songs are unsensible. Her song was about her father’s death “He is gone, He is gone” (4.5.220), and a maiden who is tricked into losing her virginity with a false promise of love and the possibility of marriage. “To be your valentine, then up he rose and donned his clothes and duped the chamber door” (4.5.56-58)
Aftering listening in on one of their conversation, Claudius states, “Love? His affections do not that way tend; / Nor what he spake, though it lacked from a little, / Was not like madness” (III.i.176-8). Hamlet intends for Claudius to be deceived into thinking that his love is not that because of his madness, which allows Ophelia to be free of the scheme. He uses his madness to remove Ophelia from potential harm and useage from Claudius or her father. He simply acts insane in order to protect Ophelia, which is a result of the deep affection for her. Hamlet cares about his girl, and even though he must show it subtlety, the love will always be there because he is trying to do what is
His father was killed by Hamlet and his sister was driven insane due to the series of events that took place because of Hamlet. Like Hamlet, Laertes wants to avenge his father by killing the man who killed Polonius. As described earlier, Hamlet is slow to act. Laertes, on the other hand, acts quickly and with precision, wasting no time in acquiring his target and formulating a plan. Robert Palfrey Utter, Jr., puts it best, Hamlet and Laertes both come to the same conclusion that murder must be carried out, but Hamlet reaches that conclusion only “after he has had a few minutes to think it over.” (140) Once Laertes finds out that the man who killed his father was Hamlet he is ready to charge in and kill him as soon as possible. He is only stopped by Claudius, who advises him on a more subtle approach. Straight off the bat it is clear how efficient Laertes is compared to Hamlet. Hamlet wastes a large amount of time scheming up complex ideas on how to get a confession out of Claudius and how to kill him. Laertes on the other hand wastes no time in getting a straight and to the point plan that he can execute immediately. After spending more than half the play watching Hamlet squirm around on the stage getting almost nothing accomplished, the audience would be acutely aware of the stark difference between Hamlet and Laertes even though they share the same motivations. Laertes has his speed but he shares in Hamlets lack of critical thinking when he gets hot headed. He is in such a blind rage that he doesn’t think on what he is agreeing to do with Claudius. Just like Hamlet, his brash actions cost those around him his life. In carrying out the plan, the King, the Queen, Hamlet, and he all die to the poison that was used in the duel. Hamlet was slow and reckless while Laertes was quick and reckless. Wilds sums up the relationship between Hamlet and Laertes perfectly, “Laertes and Hamlet have been foils to each other
By not speaking anything, Hamlet at once strengthens his image as a madman, as well as shrouding his real intentions towards those around him. Just following this passage comes a place in the text where we can see how the character of Ophelia has been manipulated by Polonius. After his "hint" that he might be doing this out of frustrated love, Ophelia says that that is what she truly does fear. (87) Her feelings of pity and concern are shaped by her father in order to fit his case of madness against Hamlet.
In Act 5 Scene 2, everyone around Horatio was dying. He got worked up in the moment and was about to kill himself when Hamlet said:
In the remaining moments, Hamlet learns of the Poison, "The point envenome'd too! Then, venom, to thy work." (134) exclaims Hamlet as he strikes Claudius down, and they all parish. Hamlet gets his revenge. But to do so, he must sacrifice the lives of Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes and himself. He consequently entrusted his "Faith" into both the right place, and the wrong place because got what he wanted, however died during the
Hamlet agrees to a sword match with Laertes, not knowing that Laertes will have a sharp, poisoned sword while he will be given a blunted sword. To make sure that their plan to kill Hamlet works, Claudius poisoned a drink to give to Hamlet but Gertrude ends up drinking it causing their plan to unravel. Laertes then wounds Hamlet with the poisoned sword, but in the scuffle they exchange weapons and Hamlet slices Laeretes with the toxic blade. He then slashes Claudius with the poisoned blade and forces him to drink from the toxic cup. The four of them die but with his dying breath, Hamlet pleads with Horatio not to drink from the cup so he can tell his tragic story and announces Fortinbras as the King of Denmark.
Hamlet, Ophelia’s lover, accidentally kills her father and “confesses” he never loved her, Hamlet toys with Ophelia's emotions intentionally and unintentionally to solidify his madness. Even though she was the who initiated the “breakup”, her sorrows of the relationship are much more public than Hamlets. Hamlet’s madness scares Ophelia away which he used as a defense mechanism to not be hurt anymore. His madness looks as though he had been "loosed out of hell to speak of horrors" (2.1.83-84) and she "truly [did] fear it"(2.1. 86). His insanity and rudeness suffocated any love she had for him. She admits that their "their perfume [has been] lost" (3.1. 99). This helped Hamlet solidify his insanity by cutting ties with the ones he loves, and having them tell others he is mad. This comes with the cost of discontinuing his relationships: especially with Ophelia. Both have hinted around in the text of an intimate affair. This makes the emotions and breakup even more difficult for both of them. Their relationship was a love, not an innocent crush or courtship. Poor Ophelia initially thought she caused Hamlet's madness due to the abrupt ending of their affair. But because of her naivety, she lacks to see his other internal struggles. Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet left her heartbroken. Hamlet’s agenda of or getting justice for his father occupied his mind more than Ophelia did. Which left her feeling
During the final scene and act of Hamlet, both foils are engaged in an alleged friendly battle, where the king has placed a bet on Hamlet that he will win over Laertes. After their battle Laertes manages to hit Hamlet with the poisoned tip of his foil and in turn Hamlet gets him back. After the queen falls and dies, Laertes states to Hamlet “Hamlet, thou art slain: ...here I lie, never to rise again: thy mother’s poison’d: I can no more: the king, the king’s to blame” (5.2.306-313). Laertes tells Hamlet that he is going to die due to the poisoned blade, also that he himself is also going to die for the same reason and that Gertrude is also going to die for drinking the poisoned cup that was intend for Hamlet. He also states that Claudius is the one who devised everything. This line symbolizes how Hamlets prolonged revenge caused the deaths of so many innocent lives that had nothing to do with his father’s death. If he killed Claudius in the church or before that, then Hamlet wouldn’t have had so many lives lost during the cross-fire. After Laertes got wounded by his own sword he stated that “Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric: I am justly kill’d with mine own treachery’ (5.7.299-300). Laertes admits that his plan backfired by killing him. He caused his own death, but unlike Hamlet, Laertes didn’t kill any innocents along the way with his plan except himself. Finally after all his time spent acting mad, choosing to live or not, hesitating to act upon chance Hamlet finally kills Claudius “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?’’ (5.2.318-319). Hamlet killed Claudius with the same weapon he had killed his father being the poison. Even though after such a prolonged mission, Hamlet kept his word that he promised to himself during Claudius’s confession “or about some
The causes of Ophelia's decent into madness start long before she is raving and signing rude songs. It is a madness brought of mistreatment; a mistreatment that started with her father. Upon first hearing of Hamlet's affection for her Polonius is very dismissive of it. He even tells her not to waste her time with him as a result "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth Have you so slander any moment leisure As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet." (Shakespeare & Bevington, 2009, pp. P1105 L133-135) This is given as an order, which Ophelia says she will obey. The earlier exchange is quite dismissive of the affection between Ophelia and Hamlet, despite her defending it in terms of Hamlet having shown that love both in words and gifts and the defense of him courting her in an honorable fashion. Polonius is again quick to dismiss his daughter's view of the world saying "Affection? Pooh! you speak like a green ...
Ophelia is manipulated by Hamlet to display to the King and the rest of the court that he is in fact mad. When Hamlet enters her room wearing disheveled clothing and acting quite strange towards her, he knows that Ophelia will tell her father and the King. Ophelia then reports this strange occurrence to her father, telling him about his strange composure of taking her “by the wrist and” holding her hard and then “shaking” when he was about to let go. (Act 2, Scene 1 Lines 86-91) The team of Polonius and the King also exploits Ophelia in order to dig deeper into Hamlet’s madness.