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.
...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 death is some what a butterfly affect. Once Hamlet kills Polonius is when the whole play shifts and Hamlet truly does seem mad. After Polonius death Ophelia goes mad herself expect she’s is not acting but is truly mad. Her madness eventually leads to her death by suicide in the river. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent by the king to England with Hamlet to have Hamlet killed because he has killed Polonius. While sleeping Hamlets changes the letters so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hand England their own death warrants. Hamlet then returns to Denmark to find out about Ophelia’s death and to see that Laertes is back home and knows the truth of his fathers murder and wants to duel with Hamlet.. Laertes and the king have plans to poison the tip of his sword so that with any single cut Hamlet would be dead. Laertes cannot cut him during the dual So the king tries to offer Hamlet a drink of poisoned wine but Hamlet refuses. Laertes finally gets frustrated and walks up and just cuts Hamlet but just before this Gertrude accidently drinks from the wine glass meant for Hamlet and hints to Hamlet that the king did it. Hamlet with rage runs a sword into the kings chest and forces him to drink the same wine that killed his mother. Moments later Hamlet himself falls over and passes
...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.
Claudius is the antagonist in this play, in easier words, the villain. He is the brother of the now dead King of Denmark, Hamlet. Claudius murders his brother and does it in a way that it seems as though death had claimed him in a natural way. He is then quick to marry Queen Gertrude, as a favor to the state of Denmark. Claudius throughout the play is calculating, and will do anything to stay in power: including murdering the son of his current wife, his nephew, Hamlet. During the play, Hamlet becomes a threat to the crown and power in his possession. To overcome this, Claudius confides in Laertes that Hamlet was the cause of Polonius’s death. In an act of revenge Laertes plans his act “I will do ‘t. And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. I bought an unction of a mounteback, so mortal that, but a dip a knife in it, where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, collected from all simples that have virtue under the moon, can save the thing from death that is but scratched withal. I’ll touch my point with this contagion, that if I gall him slightly it may be death” (4.7.139-148). This works wonderfully in Claudius’s favor. With Laertes plotting to avenge his father, Claudius won’t have to get his hands dirty again, and...
Once Hamlet stumbles upon his uncle praying he says: “Now might I do it pat now a is praying. / And now I’ll do’t, / and so a goes to heaven, / And so I am revenged. That would be scanned. / A villain kills my father, and for that / I, his sole son, do this same villain send / to heaven” (3.4.73-77). Hamlet had the perfect opportunity to commit regicide here yet instead of going to Claudius and killing him Hamlet stays back and once again begins to ponder the possibilities of whether or not this is really a good time to do it. Hamlet’s religious beliefs surely play a strong role here because he starts to question what will happen if he kills his uncle while he is praying. Hamlet does, as the quote reveals come to the conclusion that if he were to kill his uncle now he would go to heaven, and not hell where the ghost claimed to have to return to “My hour is almost come. / When I sulph’rous and tormenting flames / Must render up myself” (1.5.4-6). Hamlet did prove that the ghost was his father so knowing that his father is suffering because of his uncle hamlet has no desire to kill Claudius while he is in a position to go to heaven. Normally religious arguments are based on pure speculation however this is not the case for Hamlet; because he has seen the spirit of his late father who did confess to Hamlet that there was in fact a hell to go to because he has to
Hamlet was a hero trying to do the right thing, but his tragic flaws turn everything around when everyone including himself dies. Hamlet goes back and forth throughout the play between pondering and procrastination to sudden acts out of anger and passion. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and contemplative which leads to his over thinking side. It's Hamlet's ability to reason that keeps him from killing Claudius at one of the prime opportunities in the play. And yet it is Hamlet's act of wrath that leads to Polonius' death. Which than later leads to Ophelia’s death. I think the play establishes that revenge is a wrongful act and not only should it be delayed, it should be dismissed. Everyone in the play would have lived if revenge wasn’t an issue .
...ia goes mad because of her father’s murder, and consequently ends up drowning to her death. Laertes also comes back to Denmark from France to seek revenge for his father’s murder. It is arguable that had Hamlet not murdered Polonius, none of these events would have occurred, including the deaths of virtually all the characters as well as Hamlet.
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
Arriving at Ophelia’s funeral, Hamlet is faced by Laertes' rage. Laertes justly blames Hamlet for the death of Polonius and the subsequent suicide of Ophelia. Again both deaths were due to choices made by Hamlet, Polonius' murder and driving Ophelia insane.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tale of betrayal and revenge, attrition and tragedy. One sees this theme throughout the interactions between each character. While the play’s main tragedy is the death of King Hamlet at the hand of his brother Claudius, the accidental death of Polonius truly initiates the demise of the others. In a tragedy, audiences often seek someone to hold responsible. Polonius is a trusted advisor, Lord Chamberlain, for the king and queen. He has one son and one daughter. His son, Laertes, is a classmate and friend of Prince Hamlet. His daughter, Ophelia, holds the prince’s heart and loves his as well. An old, foolish man whose trite and meddlesome personality cost him his life, Polonius is easily the most loathsome character
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
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 ...
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