Hamlet Vs Claudius

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Hamlet learns that his father’s death was not due to a natural cause like everyone believed it to be in Act 1, Scene 5. In the scenes prior to that, Horatio tells Hamlet about a ghost that he believes to be King Hamlet’s. When Hamlet finally gets the chance to speak to the ghost, he promised his father that he would avenge his death by killing the person responsible for his murder. As we learn in the end of this play, Hamlet’s hesitation to fulfill his commitment is what got him killed. He allowed the situation to get out of hand. His hesitation to kill his uncle gave Claudius a great advantage over Hamlet because unlike him, Claudius was more about actions than he was. Hamlet’s heroic trait of always wanting to do what is right was the reason …show more content…

He began to act crazy, this caused uncertainty in his uncle Claudius, he began to suspect that Hamlet knew a lot more about his father’s death than he was letting on. Claudius called for Hamlet, old friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find out why Hamlet was acting so strange” Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him” (Act 2, Scene 2) Claudius’ paranoia was a disadvantage for Hamlet. This gave Claudius a heads up and enough time to plan Hamlet’s death before Hamlet exposed the truth or acted upon his anger. Although Hamlet found out about the real reason behind his father’s death, he decided not to take immediate action. Hamlet kept stalling and tried to justify his uncle’s actions because subconsciously he did not want to kill his uncle or carry the guilt …show more content…

After this play Claudius and Gertrude learn that Hamlet knew the truth about King Hamlet’s death all along, suddenly all of Hamlet’s strange behavior made sense to them. Claudius was praying for forgiveness for killing King Hamlet after he becomes aware of what Hamlet knows. Hamlet justifies not killing his uncle because he was praying at the time. This was a good enough reason for Hamlet to let him live because he did not want Claudius to be forgiven for his actions. Hamlet believed that if he killed Claudius while he was making amends, he would not suffer the way King Hamlet was suffering. King Hamlet was killed off-guard with no time to repent for his sins, Hamlet wanted the same for Claudius. Although Hamlet tries to convince himself that there is a reason great enough not to kill his uncle, this is actually one of his weaknesses. Hamlet is not a murderer; he would never attempt to do something of this magnitude of evil.
Not being able to kill Claudius haunts Hamlet because he believes he is letting his father down. Hamlet’s complex personality plays a part in his hesitation to kill. On one hand, Hamlet knows that after killing his uncle, he will only loath himself as well as his fate to come from committing the crime, but there’s also avenging his father to honor him. Hamlet does not think it is fair for his uncle to live the life he stole from his father, but

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