Hamlet's Decisions in Hamlet by Shakespeare KING: Bow, stubborn knees, and heart with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe! All may be well. (He kneels) HAMLET: Now might I do it pat, now 'a is a-praying; And now I'll do 't. And so 'a goes to heaven, and so am I revenged. At this moment the main problem of "Hamlet" could be ended. Hamlet could kill his Uncle Claudius and avenge his father's death, and the case would (excepting the case of some unknown tragedy) be closed. He would not accidentally kill Polonius, and perhaps he, Ophelia, Gertrude, and Laertes would not end up dead. The play might not have such an entirely tragic ending after all. However, Hamlet chooses not to. HAMLET: Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed, At game a-swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in 't -- Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be as damned and black As hell, whereto it goes. By most accounts, this passage would be taken to mean that he does not kill Claudius because at this time the King is praying, and when praying one's soul will ascend to heaven if one should die. Hamlet wants Claudius to burn in hell; for him to go to heaven would make his revenge void. He will avenge his father's death when Claudius is engaged in some other less holy act, in order to insure the King's place in hell. Of course, by his delaying his revenge, the entire plot of the play goes in a different direction. Immediately after this scene Hamlet speaks with his mother, unknowing of the fact that Polonius is hiding behind a curtain in the room with them. When the Queen becomes frightened by Hamlet's irate demeanor she cries out for help, as does Polonius. Hamlet mistakes Polonius for Claudius and stabs him to death. This, of course, causes a landslide of tragedy in the play. Claudius exiles Hamlet to England and sends sealed letters to the King of England telling him to kill Hamlet upon his arrival. Ophelia goes insane. Laertes, Hamlet's brother, returns from France with an army, demanding to know why Polonius was killed. Claudius enlists Laertes to kill Hamlet. Ophelia commits suicide. Hamlet and Laertes duel at her funeral; both of them are mortally wounded, Gertrude kills herself and Hamlet kills Claudius.
...the king. By killing the king, they put Denmark in better hands, and they save both of their lives. Also, Ophelia and Hamlet could get married and take the throne. Just by changing Laertes decision, the ending of Hamlet completely changes. Everyone is alive and healthy, except for King Claudius, and Denmark is not taken over by Fortinbras, an officer of a foreign country.
One of Hamlet’s flaws is that he over thinks things a lot and it is first shown the most at the prayer scene with Claudius. Once Hamlet sees how Claudius reacts to the play he knows that Claudius killed his father and that the ghost was right, he has a chance to kill him and doesn’t take it . His only proof was the ghost and even though others saw the ghost no one else heard it talk except Hamlet. Hamlet was also considering a lot of other things at this time, like how if he killed Claudius now Claudius would be free of sin and would go to heaven. He was also thinking if his father didn’t get to die free of sin it wouldn’t be fair for Claudius to die free of sin either, which shows how vengeful Hamlet’s character is. At the same time, Hamlet has morals and understands the consequences so that’s why it’s harder for him to perform the act . After a l...
According to the bible, if you repent of your sins you will be forgiven and go to heaven when you die, Hamlet believes this and that is why he does not kill Claudius in this scene. Another reason he does not kill his Claudius based on the reason above, he will not give Claudius the glory of going to heaven when Claudius did not give his father the choice to repent of his sins before he was killed.
In the prayer scene, Hamlet misses his best opportunity to kill Claudius and avenge his father’s death. With no guards around, Claudius is alone and he is unaware that Hamlet is lurking in the shadows. The scene is set for Hamlet to take vengeance for his father’s unsettled spirit. However, Hamlet does not kill him, because Claudius is repenting for his sins, allowing him to go to heaven when he is to die. As one’s religion often dictated the afterlife of one’s soul, King Hamlet is doomed to an eternity in purgatory. Hamlet does not feel it is fair for Claudius to go to heaven, while his father is at unrest, so he decides instead to kill Claudius while he is doing something sinful. This is ironic because Claudius says he is not really praying; he is just going through the ...
Troubled by royal treason, ruthless scheming, and a ghost, Denmark is on the verge of destruction. Directly following King Hamlet's death, the widowed Queen Gertrude remarried Claudius, the King's brother. Prince Hamlet sees the union of his mother and uncle as a "hasty and incestuous" act (Charles Boyce, 232). He then finds out that Claudius is responsible for his father's treacherous murder. His father's ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death and Hamlet agrees. He plans very carefully, making sure that he doesn't kill Claudius when in he has already been forgiven for his sins. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, the King's advisor, thinking that it was Claudius hiding behind a curtain spying on Hamlet and his mother. This drives Ophelia, Polonius' daughter and Hamlet's love interest, insane. She then drowns in a suspected suicide when she falls from a tree into a river. Laertes, Ophelia's brother, teams up with Claudius and plot revenge on the strained prince.
After Polonius dies, Ophelia loses her mind. Because Hamlet has broken her heart, she unknowingly kills herself. In outrage, Laertes ends up dying avenging his father’s death. However, Laertes realizes that he did not understand the circumstances of Hamlet’s situation and asks for forgiveness. Because of his selfishness, Polonius not only brought death upon himself, but also upon his family. A hypocrite and two-faced servant, Polonius portrays many of the ignorant citizens of Denmark at the time. They quickly accepted Claudius as their new king and abandoned the noble King Hamlet. Prince Hamlet, one of the few characters that knew the truth, dies for a noble cause while Polonius died for an ignoble one.
Murder is always more than a dead body; but majority of the time, people focus more on the reason behind the murder, not knowing that the method of killing can also reveal useful informations, such as cause, motive and significance. In the last two acts of Hamlet, many characters die in various ways under William Shakespeare’s pen. Polonius, the former courtier for the late king Hamlet, is killed by Hamlet behind the arras when he is eavesdropping for Claudius in Gertrude’s closet. His death inflict pain on Ophelia, causing her to suffer and allegedly commit suicide. But they are not the masterminds of any plan, they are merely tools. Later, Claudius is killed with double doses of poison; and Hamlet dies of poison after knowing that justice
With his thinking mind Hamlet does not become a typical vengeful character. Unlike most erratic behavior of individuals seeking revenge out of rage, Hamlet considers the consequences of his actions. What would the people think of their prince if he were to murder the king? What kind of effect would it have on his beloved mother? Hamlet considers questions of this type which in effect hasten his descision. After all, once his mother is dead and her feelings out of the picture , Hamlet is quick and aggressive in forcing poison into Claudius' mouth. Once Hamlet is certain that Claudius is the killer it is only after he himself is and and his empire falling that he can finally act.
Following the performance of “The Mousetrap”, Hamlet is summoned to his mother's chamber. Upon arguing with Gertrude over the intentions of his play, and his reasons for wanting to distress the king so openly, Hamlet kills Polonius. “How now? A rat? Dead for a ducat, dead (III.iv.27-28)! Perhaps Hamlet did not know whom he was killing. “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! / I took thee for thy better”(III.iv.38-39)! Perhaps Hamlet thought he was killing the king.
...m to put his life in danger to find out more information about Hamlet, which ultimately leads to his death. Claudius also planted the idea of murdering Hamlet into Laertes’ mind, and this became the main goal of Laertes towards the end, which leads him to his death. Hamlet has hurt the women that he loves, both Ophelia and Gertrude die. Claudius and Hamlet also die, which is ultimately how the corruption of the nation of Denmark ends, through this it can once again be the great nation that it once was.
Polonius’ trite and meddlesome behavior leads to his death. Explaining that Hamlet is heading to see the queen, Polonius expresses to the king his intentions to listen in on the queen’s scolding of Hamlet. He goes to Queen Gertrude’s room,
At first, Hamlet sees the circumstance as a perfect opportunity for revenge against Claudius. Hamlet knows that Claudius truly committed murder after seeing his reaction to the play ...
He gets a chance to kill the crown, and thinks ‘’Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven/ And that his soul my be as damnes and black/ As hell, whereto it goes’’ (3.4.98-99). But he hesitates, Claudius prays so he might go to heaven if Hamlet kills him now; he wants Claudius to burn in hell and wants himself to go to heaven. He looses his temper and kills the person behind the curtain, ‘’ How now, a rat? Dead for ducat, dead’’ (3.4.25-30). He assumed that was Claudius who sneaked into his mother’s closet and now he goes back to being a sinner so he can kill the crown now, but the one behind the curtain turns out to be Polonius. Hamlet does not care about him although Ophelia loves Polonius. Hamlet decides to take action after he sees Fortinbrass and his army ‘’O, from this time forth/ My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth’’ (4.4.68-69). He sees that they go to death willingly and he does not stand up against Claudius, with this he sets his mind to killing Claudius. Sadness comes with the loss of Ophelia and he goes in a duel with Laertes. Horatio tries to change his decision, but Hamlet says ‘’Not a whit, we defy augury. There is a/ Special providence in the fall of a sparrow’’ (5.2.233-234). Hamlet decides to do the duel and he thinks that he cannot run from his destiny. He gets into a duel full of cheats, Hamlet looses his mother to
Hamlet has been pretending to be mad, and goes to his mother chambers. Hamlets mother Gertrude is upset with him for offending his stepfather/uncle. Hamlet begins to get angry and hostile towards his mother. The two of them begin to argue and out of grief and revenge the first death of the play happens. Polonius has a knack for spying on people. Polonius is hiding behind the curtain spying on Hamlet and his mother. Polonius is determined to suggest that Hamlet is mad because he is deeply in love with Ophellia. Unfortunately when Hamlets mother yells out in distress is get Polonius attention, “What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?/ Help, ho!/ What ho! Help!” (Act 3.4.26-28), this alerts Hamlet that there is someone behind the curtain. Hamlet in is fit of revenge thinks that it is the King, and stabs the man through the curtain. Hamlet finds out that it was not the King, but Polonius. This death was directly involved by Hamlets mind being clouded by revenge. Hamlet is overrun in his mind with the idea of revenge for his father’s murder, his uncle, that he lashes out without knowledge and kills an innocent Polonius. This murder is the first, but it will not be the last for